l-27 caste system in india

8/6/2019 L-27 Caste System in India

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mCASTE SYSTEM IN INDIA

ter understanding the basic features of Indian society and its various aspectst r i b a l . rural and urban, inthis l es son you will gothroughan importantaspect ofian soc ia l in stitu tions , i.e . caste system. Inthis lesso n y ou w ilile am th e b asic

of caste system, the differences between V~and Jati;e3ste a n d C~chang ing aspect of caste system an d concepts li ke sanskritisaIi~ westemisation,d dom inant caste. T he w ord caste h as i ts or ig in from th e Spanish word 'casta' ,

'race'. or 'a group having hereditary quality'. Thetenn was appliedtoople o fI nd ia by the Portuguese to denote' Jati'. The w ord caste h as createdn fu sio n in th e se nse that it is used to denote both V am a and Jati. As you m ustve know n, people saying that there are four castes - Brahmin , Kshatriya ,

InfactthesefourareootcastesbutareV arnas. W hatw efind-.- ~day are not Varnas but Jatis, There ~four Vam as and about 4000 Jatis (thestinction betw een V am a and Jati w ill be c le ar la te r o n inth is ch ap ter). W e u see term caste here inth is ch ap ter to d en ote Ja ti.

r reading this lessen , y ou w ill b e ab le to:define caste system;

. describe the features ofcaste system ;differentiate between Vama an d jati;differentiate betw een caste an d class; an dstate the cbangesin the caste system.

MODULE-IVIndilln Society

Notes

CIOLOGY _--~ , . . - . . c ;


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MODULE-IVIndian Society

27.1 DEFINA TION OF CASTEC aste can be defined as hereditary endogam ous group, having a comm on nam e,comm on traditional occupation, comm on culture, relatively rigid in m atters of

\--:::N":"'o~t-e-s-I mobility, distinctiveness of status a n d fo rm ing a single homogeneou s community,How ev er, in the ch an gin g situ ation caste h as adapted to m any new features likeh aving fo rm al o rg anisatio ns, becom in g less rig id and hav ing a link w ith po litics.Thus we may list from the above the following fe atu re s o f c aste s ystem .(i) Segmental division of society - It m eans Indian social stratification is

larg ely based on caste. T here are v ariou s castes h aving a w ell-d evelop edlife style of their own. The m em bership of a caste is determined by b irth .Thus caste is hereditary i n nature .

(ii) Hierarchy - It indicates various castes according to theirpurity an d impurityof occup ation s, are ran ked from hig her to low er po sition s. It is lik e a ladderwhere pure caste is ranked on the top and im pure is ranked at th e bottom.For exam ple the occupation ofB raIunins is th at o f perform in g rituals andteaching. Itis considered to b e the purest o cc up atio n; h en ce th ey a re p la ce dat the top of the hierarchy. O n the other hand Sweeper who se o cc up atio nis cleanin g and scaven ging , is placed at the b ottom of the h ierarch y becauseo f impure occupation.

(iii) Restrictions on food, drink and smoking - U sually different caste donot exchange food and drink, and do not share sm oking of hu~ amongthem . For instance, B rahm ins do not take food from any other caste. It isa com plicated process. F or eexample in U ttar P radesh . am on g K an yaku bjB rahm ins, there are m any sub-divisions. E ach sub-division does not takefood from other sub-division. There are tw o types of food: 'pucca' (foodprep ared in gh ee like puri, kachodi and pu/ao) and kuchcha ( food preparedin wa te r like rice, pu lses, an d v eg etab les cu rries). S om e castes ex ch an geonly pucca food am ong them selves. Invariably, the high caste does nottak e anything from the low caste. T he sam e princip le is applied to sm okin g.

_ ( i v ) Endogamy - I t indicates members o f th e c aste have to many within theirow n caste on ly. Inter-caste m arriag es are prohibited. H ow ever, am ongeducated people,par ticularly inth e u rb an areas, inter-caste m arriages aregradually increas ing.

(v) Purity and pollution -It is one of the im porta nt fea tu re s o f c aste sy stem .Purity and pollution are judged in term s of deeds, occupation, language,dress patterns, as w ell as food habits. F or exam ple liq uor consum ption,co nsumin g n on-veg etarian fo od, eating .left-o ver food of the h igh castes,wo rk ing in occupations lik e le ath er craft, liftin g d ea d a nim a ls, sw eep in g a nd


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(ix) Conflict resolving mechanisms- The caste's have their own conflictresolving m echanism s such as C aste Panchayats at the village and inter-village levels.

MODllliE - IVIndlOn Society

Notes

Fill in th e blanks with appropriate words from the brackets:( 1 ) Pucca food is prepared in_~ ( leaves. wa te r, ghee)e n ) The occupation of B rahm ins is {leatherwork, priesthood,

business).(m) Untouchables are t oday identi fi ed as (OBC, Savarana, Dalits)(IV) Membershipofacasteis (hereditary, achieved, transferred).

27.2 DJFFERE:\CE BET\Y[E~ V.\RNA A:\D ,JATIA s men tio ned earlier th ere are fo ur V am as. T he first m ention of V am a is found inR ig -V ed a. i.e , inthe Vedic era around 1500 Be. Varna m eans colour. Initiallythere w e r e no untouchables. TheVarna sys tem was re la tive ly not rigid during theVedic era (1500B C - lOOOBC). Durin g the later V ed ic era, i.e. aro un d lOOOBCthere has been a mentio n o f"A sa t Shudra" (untouchable comm unity). Thusuntouchability started around 1OOOBC. Around 2nd century Be to 1st centuryAD, becau se o f diversified occupations, several o ccu pation al g ro ups em erg edand cam e to be known by different Jatis. Thus Varna Vyavastha is the textualm odel or book view ofIndian social system , i.e. it is found today o nly in te xts.Whereas, Jati is the contex tual view or field view of Indian social system , i.e. w ef ind J atis inreality today and not Vam as. There are only four Varnas whereas,there are about 4000 Jatis. In each region about 200 Jatis are found. The V arnah ad a p an-In dic hierarch y, i.e. B rahm in s are on th e top,Kshtriyas a re a t th e se co ndposition, Vaishyas are at the th ird p ositio n and Shudras are found in the bottom ofth e hierarchy. This hierarchy w as un ifo rm th ro ug ho ut In dia b ut in J ati a un if ormh ie ra rchy th roughout India isnot found. Inth e ch an ging situation , in som e areasBrahmins are on the top. in som e other areas Thakurs (Rajput) are at the top.TP9aY even the D alits are found on the top insom e areas. T hus secular criteria(e co nom ic a nd p olitic al) a re fo un d in th e Jat i sy st e m. On th e oth er h and i' n Vama. , /vyavastharitual criteria (re1igious) is fowxl. InVarna vyavastha inti al ly untouchableare not found. They are placed outside the V am a vyavastha, w hereas. in the Jati

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v yav asth a u nto uc hab les are an in teg ral part of the"system. InV arna vyavastha aperson's status was not changeable. whereas, inth e Jati vyavastha one can changeone's s ta tu s w i th imp roved socio-economic condition. Thus one s ho uld n ot ta keVamaand Ja ti synonymou sly .

27.3 OIFfERENCF BET\\ [E~ CASTf --\1'\[) CL\SSWhile a caste is hereditary, a class is non-hereditary innature. A class systema llows both exogamy and endogamy. pennitsmobility e ith er u p o r dovmth e sy stem .an d a lso allows a n individual to remain in th e status to w hich h e w as born . T hus ac la ss is p rima rily based on socio-economic criteria There are three majo r c la ss esfound: Upper , Middle, and L ower. E ach class is divided into two sub-divisions,They are upper-upper, and lower upper; upper-m iddle and lower-m iddle; andupper-lower and lower-lower. A class is mo re open than the caste in th e sensethat mohili ty is alJow ed in th e c lass sys tem. Itis not a llowed that openly in th ecaste system . Further. caste system is based on ritual criterion w hereas. class isbased on secular criterion. R itual criterion m eans it is based on religious myths,se cu la r mean s non -re lig io us c rite rio n lik e e conomic , political andsociaI criterion.How ever. in changing circum stances caste is also adapting to secular criteria.C onsciousness is found in the class but not necessarily in the caste. H ow ever.today castes are also changing into classes inurb an areas particularly in term s ofeconomic cri te rion .

Match th e fol lowing:(i) Pan-Indic - Jati(ii) Achieved status Class(iii) Untouchables Varna(iv) F our T housand G roups Dalit

,27..4 CHA:\CES I~ TI-I[ CASTE SYSTE\1Change s inthe caste system have been found inth e la st two c en tu rie s ingeneraland in past 50 years in particular. Several processes like sanskritisation,west emi sa tion, modernis ation. dominant cas te , industr ia lis ation, urbanisation and

y


Notes


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MODULE IVlllditul Society

d emo cratic d ecentralisatio n h ave m a de co nseq uen t ch ang es inth e cas te sys tem .1hey a re as fo llows ;(i) Sanskritization: It is a process by which any low caste could adapt to the

\--~N :-o-te-s-'" behaviourpattem . style of Me, an d culn ze o fh igh caste and c la im membership.:'" inthat high caste. B ut they have to leave theirunclean occupation and otherimpurebabi~ t i k C l I 1 , e 8 t e a t i n g an d taking liquor, dc.TheuntOUChables werenot allowed to sanskritize their status. Thus only m iddle castes couldsa nsk ritiz eth em s elv es. F orsa ns kritiz ati~ a caste mus t h aveth re e conditions :(a) it should have a touchable status, '(b) it should have better econom iccondition, (c) it should m ake a claim to m em bership into a high caste. byp ro pa ga tin g some story or myth. It is a g ro up pro cess a n d not a n in div id ua lprocess. It is a lengthy process and not an overnight process. It does notlead to any structural change, only leads to positional change. It m eans apar ticu la r low caste changes it s positio n in to a h ig h caste in a part icular area,w hereas the caste structure does not change. Through this process a fewlower cas te s indifferent parts of co untry h ave changed th eir status into highercastes.

The Jatavs of A gra w anted to sanskritize in the 194O s. T hey areC ham ars by caste. During the B ritish period. dem and on shoeswent up and th e Jata vs b ec am e econom ically w ell off. Theyclaimed th e Kshatriyastatus by propagat ing a my th : inth e LomeshRamayan written by Sw am i Atma Ram ; it was mentioned thatduring T reta Y ug the Jata\Is wer e Ksh atriy as. When Parshutall\was slaying th e Ksbatriyas;1fae~ hided in the forest and s b u t e c r .w or k i ng with leather craft to save them selves. N ow tbat they havebecom e econom ically better off, hence they want to get backtheir Ksliatriya status. But the lo ca l K sh atriy as 're fu se d to a cc ed eto their claim since they w ere untouchables. L ater on the Jatavsadapted to politicization an d gradually becam e a vote bank. intheareas. Today Jatavs are dom inant in the area. Thus unsuccess fu lsanskrilisationled to politicization and upwa rd mob ility o fth ecm te .

(n ) WestemisatioD: I t i nd icate s adap ting towestern style ofhving.language,dress pattern, andbcbat9our~ I n l J l d i a latgelythe Br it ish inf luencehas been found. The ~0fwestemiSationare: (a) ra tio na l o utlo ok(scientific an d goa l o rie nted outlook ), (b) interest inmater ia l p rog ress , (c)reliance on m odem comm unication process and mass m edia, (d) E nglishmedium edu ca tio n, (e ) h ig h s oc ia l mobility , e tc . T h e higher castes were first

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MODULE-IVInditm Society

" , 1 . . c ( 'aste S, stern in India,- ,' "'reservation has been made fo r t he lower cas tes. Th is has given an opportunity

fo r the low er castes to em p ow er them selves.(vii) Caste and politics: Itis not a new phenomenon since politics is a part of

life a lways ,' During th e V ama vyavas tha, Bmhm inical su premacy was anex am p le o f politics. Tod ay it is said that castes have a c lose link with poli ticsbecause castes have becom e vote banks, c aste s h av e b ec ome p olitic allyaware, there have been identification of castes w ith political parties ande ve ry ca ste b as its ow n association. In fact, the link betw een caste andpolitics h as led to 8Il em pow erm ent am ong the low er castes. These castes /- n ev er had any op po rtu nities to ex press th em selv es. T od ay th ey v en tilatetheir feelin gs th rou gh electio ns an d p ow er lo bb y. D alit p olitics is o ne su chexample, wherethe Dalits are trying to assert their i den ti ti es and have becomesuccessful incapturing pow er in various S tates. H ow ever, the negativeaspects ofthls link has been found infac tiona lism, i .e . the high castes a lwayswant to maintain their status quo. They are no t able to accep t the chan gingdom inant position of the lo wer castes. T his h as led to fr eq uent c on flic tsbetween high castes and low castes in several regions of the country.Howev er, th is is o nly a tran sitio na l p hase . Bette r education, mass awarenesscampaign an d good emp loyment oppo rb )n it ie s wou ld ensure smoo th passagetowards a p rogr es siv e s oc ie ty .

_(viii) Caste aDd eronomy: Traditionally. it was said that cas te sys tem has beenfunc ti on al fo r th e s oc ie ty p ar tic ula rly inthe econom ic sense. It isnothingbut the Jajmani system . It is a system of traditional occupation. for thelowe r cas te s, par ti cu la rly th e serv ice c aste . The service caste is know n asKamin and .they used to provide service to the higher castes known asJajmans. The Kamins pro vided sp ecialized sk ills and services to theJajmans and in return used to get rewards in kinds (food grains). Therelationship betweenJqjmans an d Kamins used to be a perm anent andh ere dita ry re la tio nsh ip i.e. a fte r th e d ea th o f the Jajman, h is son used to bea Jajman and the sam e principle applied to the Kamins. Thus it was af imctional relationship invillage India However , dueto in1 roduct iono f marketeconom y and land reform s the Jajmani sy stem g radu ally is b eing ero ded.

In this m anner, caste system has undergone m any changes due to the aboveprocesses and it h as adapted to the new socio-econom ic condition. In urbanareas. today people do not adhere to caste norm s, The only aspect w here castecom es is that during m arriage they still becom e endogam ous. H owever, as'm e ntion ed earlier, som e p eo ple h av e ad opted to in ter-caste m arriag e an d inter- Ireligious marriages.

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Caste Svsrcm in India ':tli:',~~ ~I~~

Fill inth e blan ks w ith th e ap pro priate w ord from th e brackets;( i) Sansk ri ti sa ti on means caste becoming high caste (lower,

middle , upper ).(ii) Westem isationm eansadaptingto values (Japanese, W estern,

Indian).(iiI) M odernisation m eans having a outlook (traditional, conservative,

rational).(iv) A d om i na nt c aste has a ' population (large, small, very sma ll ).

RwlhU"ilWllilMi In this lesson you have learnt about the m ain basis ofIndian social structure.

i.e. the c as te s ys tem . The caste system is an ag e-o ld p hen ome no n o fIn dian so ciety . In the past it produced harm ony between various groups by exchange ofgoods and services. It exhibited a good division oflabour of w ork. H ow ever, the practice of untouchability was criticized. Several changes have occurred in the caste system due to the processes of

s an sk rit iz ati on , west ernis at ion , mode rn is at ion , democ ra ti c decen tr al is ati on ,i ndustr ia li za tion and u rban is ati on e tc ,

the caste system has adapted to the above processes in urban areas. C astesystem has also adapted to som e of the features of the class system s.

1 . What are th e d iffe re nc es b etwe en Var na andJ ati?2. Discuss b rie fly th e d iffe re nc es b etwe en caste an d class.3. What is sanskritisation?4. D iscuss the features of a dom inant caste.


Notes ...-

SOCIOLOGY EM


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rvl0DULE' - IVIndian Society

27.1 (i ) VarnaNotes (it) Class

(m ) Dalit(iv) Jati

27.2 ( 1 ) Ghee(ii) Priesthoodfi) Dalit>(tv) c> Hereditary

27.3 (t ) Lower(n ) Western ;$(m ) Rational(iv) Large

SOClOI.O(i I'

l-27 caste system in india

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