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How did varna differ from jati in Hindu society?

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Painting depicting Hindu gods Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahma with Ganesha standing and paying homage to Mahadevi, who is seated on a lotus and playing a stringed instrument. — Hinduism Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahma (left to right) pay homage to Mahadevi (the great goddess, in white in the form of Saraswati), attended by the elephant-headed deity Ganesha, in a painting dated c. 1750.

In Hindu society, it is essential to distinguish between varna and jati, as they represent different scales of social organization—one serving as an ideological blueprint and the other as the practical reality of daily life.1

Varna refers to a universal, all-Indian model of four socioeconomic classes (caturvarnya): Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras. It is an ancient, archetypical framework that defines the sacred duties (dharma) of individuals based on their class.213
Jati refers to the small-scale, regional, and endogamous groups that constitute the actual social reality of caste in India. While varna is a theoretical classification, jati groups are defined by birth, often associated with specific hereditary occupations, and governed by strict rules regarding social interaction, such as eating and marriage.21

While traditional texts often attempt to reconcile the two by treating jatis as products of alliances between the four varnas, they remain distinct: varna provides the ideological setting, while jati functions as the practical, lived experience of social stratification.21