Social Scientist

Varna Ideology and Social Change

Author(s): Suvira Jaiswal
Source: Social Scientist, Vol. 19, No. 3/4 (Mar. - Apr., 1991), pp. 41-48
Published by: Social Scientist
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3517555
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SUVIRA JAISWAL*

Varna Ideology and Social Change**

The traditional view of the varnas is that they are of divine origin,
fixed and universal. The varna stratification pervades the entire
universel and is related to the three basic qualities of nature, satya
(goodness or purity), rajas (passion) and tamas (darkness or ignorance).
These qualities are inherent and inborn in every object or being. Hence,
in its conception varna stratification is both functional and
hierarchical. Occupations have to be hereditary as function and
aptitude are determined by birth and these stand in a hierarchical
relation sanctified by religion. Any transgression is sinful as it means a
reversal of the natural order, which is to be maintained by distancing
the varnas from each other through the practice of endogamy. Thus as
far as the ideology of varna is concerned, social change affecting the
functions or position of a varna is an aberration, a straying away from
the normal, causing the confusion of the varnas.
The question arises as to what was the process leading to the
formation of this ideology, what was its relationship to empirical
reality and how was it related to social change. It also involves the
problem of the internalization of this ideology by those who stood at
the lower rungs of the varna ladder.
As to the beginnings of this ideology, theories which trace it to the
peculiar genius of the Indo-Europeans or of pre-historic or proto-
historic non-Aryans are highly speculative, based on a subjective and
not rarely mistaken interpretation of data.2 This is not the place to
examine such theories in detail but mention may be made of two,
namely, the views of Georges Dumezil and those of D.D. Kosambi as
both have made a deep impression on Indologists and historians.
Dumezil argued3 that the tripartite social order of priests, warriors
and commoners was characteristic of the Indo-Europeans, who had a
predilection towards a three-fold categorization. This typified their

* Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi.

11 Paper presented at the symposium on 'Ideology and Social Change' at the 51st session
of the Indian History Congree, 29 December 1990.

Social Scientist, Vol. 19, Nos. 3-4, March-April 1991

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42 SOCIAL SCIENTIST

world-view and the Indo-European pantheon was a projection of

the tripartite class system, which later hardened as varna in India
and pistra in Iran. A critique of this theory was provided by John
Brough4 who showed that a similar threefold ordering of the social
order into priests, warriors and cattle-herders may be seen in Semitic
societies portrayed in the Old Testament. More recently, Bruce Lincoln5
has shown that the Nilotic tribes of East Africa too have a similar
three-fold division with priests enjoying a hierarchical superiority
over the warriors. His basic argument that the roots of the separation
of the priest and warrior elements lie in the ecology of cattle-keepers
is quite plausible, although it is evident that this separation is only
functional at this stage and is not lineage-based or genealogically
determined. Even Emile Benveniste,6 who agrees with Dumezil in
tracing the tripartite social division to Indo-Europeans clearly states
that these were functional divisions not 'political' or 'genealogical';
these were not kin-based. In his view the Indo-European social units
were family, clan, tribe and country in the manner of concentric circles,
but there was no uniformity in this regard; each group of Indo-
Europeans developed these institutions independently. Nevertheless,
Benveniste like Dumezil traces the dichotomy of priest and warrior
and the notion of hierarchy of social orders to the Indo-European
phase.
But the idea that those who deal with the divine are superior to
those who have temporal tasks is nothing unusual or typical of any one
culture. Varna ideology is much more than a recognition of three social
categories to which a fourth one, that of the sudras, was added due to
the historical circumstance of the Aryans confronting and subjugating
the non-Aryans in vedic and post-vedic times. The basic question is:
what led to the origin of an endogamous caste structure which derived
its legitimacy from the vedic notion of a hierarchical grouping of
occupational groups, when there is no trace of endogamous lineage-
clusters among the Indo-Europeans or in the Rigveda. This is the
question which puzzled D.D. Kosambi. He pointed out7 that the
Yajurvedic four varnas were quite different from the four classes
mentioned in the ancient Iranian sources, namely, the priest, the
charioteer, the tiller and the artisan. Endogamy is nowhere mentioned
in the Yasna and in ancient Iran all the four classes were equally
honoured, but this was not the case with the ancient Indian varna or
caste organization, which had both endogamy as well as hierarchy.
According to Kosambi an internal fourfold caste system among the
Aryan tribes in India developed due to the assimilation of the
survivors of the Harappa culture with the conquering Aryans. The
subjugation of the Harappan agrarian population, identified as the
Dasas of the Rigveda by Kosambi, formed the nucleus of the
Dasa/sudra varna, but the adoption of the 'ritually superior'
priesthood of the Harappa culture by the Aryan tribes proved

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 VARNA IDEOLOGY AND SOCIAL CHANGE 43

catalytic in his opinion, for it separated the priesthood from the

kshatriya elite and led to the formation of an endogamous varna-caste
system, 'for otherwise', he remarks, 'there is no reason for demarcation
into endogamous castes.'8
It is curious that a perceptive scholar like D.D. Kosambi failed to
note that his hypothesis regarding the origin of the brahmana caste
hardly explains endogamy. In his detailed study of the brahmanical
gotras he argues that of the seven sages regarded as the primary
founders of the brahmanical gotras only Visvamitra was 'the one real
indubitable Aryan', the rest were non-Aryans. In his view the story of
the miraculous birth of Vasistha from a jar and his description as the
'first brahmana' are unmistakable proofs of his non-Aryan origin. Even
if we grant this,9 we find that the Visvamitras occupy a considerable
space in the gotra lists, hence the Aryan priestly group was not
numerically insignificant. However, what is more important is the fact
that endogamy does not demarcate the Visvamitras from the
Vasisthas, rather the two combine to form one endogamous varna-caste
which is separated from the kshatriya, vaishya and shudra varnas.
Thus ethnic isolation does not explain the emergence of an endogamous
brahmana caste in the first instance. Of course, endogamy does
facilitate the absorption of tribal groups of diverse ethnic origins in a
varna/caste system, which allows their incorporation without the loss
of their separate identity, a point which has become commonplace in
many sociological studies; but as the example of the brahmana caste
formation shows, endogamous varna categories emerged when the
process of social and ethnic fusion was going on at all levels. Kosambi
himself has suggested that a few of the Dasa chiefs eulogized in the
Rigvedic hymns may have been survivors of the Harappa culture who
were adopted into the Aryan tribes; and there is nothing to show that
such absorptions had led to the formation of separate endogamous
castes within the folds of the kshatriya or brahmana varna in the
vedic period. In our opinion endogamy was practised not to demarcate
the Aryan and the non-Aryan but to differentiate occupational
categories of varying status and thus had a socio-economic basis. To
explain the endogamy of the caste society in terms of racial or ethnic
exclusiveness is quite fallacious. Endogamy is both a manifestation and
a tool for perpetuating class and gender exploitation;'0 and once it came
to characterize the varna system, it provided the system both strength
and flexibility. For, the system could go on expanding an hierarchical
society by providing space to alien groups and drawing them in its
vortex without doing itself or the notion of hierarchy any serious
damage. Thus caste endogamy co-existed with hypergamy which
allowed limited mobility in the favour of the upper castes. An
exploitative system which has the capacity to enroll the best of
whatever rank and origin in its own service is far more pernicious and
long-lasting than the one which is absolutely closed and static.

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44 SOCIAL SCIENTIST

However, Kosambi made a very important observation that 'caste is

class at the primitive level of production.' The division of society into
four categories and the separation of the brahmana and the kshatriya
elite groups in an hierarchical manner need not obfuscate the class role
of this system. It does not mean that the varna or caste system was
rooted in a religious principle, the oppression of the pure and the
impure, as is assumed by Louis Dumont.11 The separation may have its
roots in the religion of pastoral tribes as is argued by Bruce Lincoln.
Cattle-keepers tend to develop two classes of specialists, the fighters,
who specialize in cattle-raids and thus increase the stock of cattle in
possession of their tribe, and the priests who specialize in cattle-
sacrifice and offer to the gods the items which are valued most in their
society and in this way obtain the blessings of the gods and ensure the
increase of the wealth and prosperity of their tribe through divine
favour. It has been shown12 that the crystallization of the vedic
priesthood as the brahmana varna was a process simultaneous with
the growing complexity and elaboration of the vedic ritual of sacrifice.
But the later vedic texts while emphasizing the separation of the
brahmana and the kshatriya also speak of their interdependence and
opposition to the lower varnas.
Thus the varna divisions had a historical origin in the real
conditions of existence; and these conditions gave rise to an ideology
which legitimized exploitation. It was the ideology of the dominant
classes and not exclusively of the brahmanas. As Irfan Habib remarked
in his presidential address to the Indian History Congress in 1982, the
karma theory propagated by Buddhism and Jainism provided a
powerful justification to the caste doctrine, and the principle of
ahimsa or non-violence legitimized the hatred of the land-owning
peasantry towards the hunting tribes, who were forest-dwellers and
who must have come in conflict with the agrarian expansionists
coveting and appropriating the forest land. The early Buddhist texts
denounce the hunters and forest tribes as hinajatis and the Aitareya
Brahmana speaks of such communities as nicyas and apacyas who had
their own chiefs.13 It should be kept in mind that the landowning
agriculturists of the sixth century B.C., the gahapatis of the
monarchical kingdoms and the khattiya clans of the gana-rajyas
constituted the dominant classes and their socio-economic status was
quite different from that of the depressed peasantry of the early
medieval times. It is in the Buddhist Nikayas of the third century
B.C. or thereabout that the notion of the pure and the impure jatis
appears for the first time. Thus the varna ideology of the pure and the
impure castes emerges as the ideology of the donmnant classes; and it is
only natural that the brahmanas being priests and ideologues should
become its chief spokesmen.
We would like to emphasize that we do not regard the varna system
and its ideology as a priestly invention but an expression of the

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 VARNA IDEOLOGY AND SOCIAL CHANGE 45

dominant material relationships prevailing in society. This ideology

pervaded even the Buddhist and the Jain world-views with the
difference that these religions contested the hierarchical position and
the higher ritual status of the brahmanas above the kshatriyas. But
as we have argued elsewhere,14 the varna ideology helped in securing
the structured dependence of the landless labour in the form of
untouchables or the so-called menial castes and sustained the nexus of
jajmani relationship built around the landowner in a petty mode of
production. Hence, even when empirical reality had transformed itself
from the fourfold varna stratification of later vedic times to a complex
jati structure of the Gupta and post-Gupta times, the jati system
derived its legitimation from the varna ideology and the concept of
the panchama (fifth) varna and the varnasamkara (birth of new
castes through intermixing of varnas) were floated15 in order to
provide theoretical explanation of the new situation. One need not
regard these theoretical exercises as the 'diabolical designs' of the
'cunning' brahmana thinkers. People think and act in terms of how
they see the world and consciously try to find solutions within their
own frame of reference. However, the dominant class is able to impose
its own perceptions and its own consciousness on the whole society; and
it is the role of the ideology to secure the acceptance of the exploited.
Nevertheless, how was this ideology internalized by the lower
classes? Why were they not able to perceive its true character? We
have remarked earlier that in actual practice the system allowed the
incorporation of alien and aboriginal peoples into the caste society
without destroying their kin-structure, customs, etc. While the
majority of such groups being poor and backward inflated the
categories of the sudra varna, their chiefly and priestly lineages
gained admittance to the brahmana or kshatriya varnas. This has
been amply illustrated by the well-known studies of the Abhiras,
Gurjaras and the Bhumijs. This kind of mobility added strength to one
system to recruit new members to the ruling and dominant classes
without any need for a revolutionary change or conflict. If there were
tensions and resentment at the lower levels, these could not have done
anything more than increase the feeling of group-solidarity and
cohesiveness. The hierarchy of the varna-jati was based on the petty
mode of production and hence it continued to regulate social relations.
However, varna ideology originated as an ideology of hierarchy
legitimizing social inequality; and it played a seminal role in
transforming semi-pastoral communities into stratified agricultural
communities and the emergence of early states. With the growth of a
more complex socio-political formation in the centuries preceeding and
succeeding the Christian era changed economic facts led to certain
modifications in the traditional notion of the varnas, and it is
interesting to note how the varna ideology has made from time to time
certain adjustments in those spheres which were in conflict with the

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46 SOCIAL SCIENTIST

material reality while retaining its formal static appearance owing to

its religious colouring. To elucidate, initially those who were engaged
in cattle-keeping and agriculture were regarded as vaishyag. They
formed a part of the 'twice-born' community and as such were close to
the upper two varnas. The category of the shudras comprised of the
marginal peoples reduced to domestic slavery or landless agricultural
labour providing service to the upper three varnas. But with the
greater availability of surplus the gulf between those who were
engaged in manual labour and those who were able to appropriate the
fruits of such labour by controlling the means of production widened;
and this resulted in the socio-economic degradation of peasants and
primary producers. But as the early Buddhist sources indicate, the
well-to-do peasant could invest his surplus in trade, which brought
him prestige and prosperity. Henceforth, those who used their own or
their families' labour in agriculture or crafts came to be known as
shudras and a vaishya was one who was primarily a trader. We have
suggested elsewhere16 that one of the reasons why the vaishya
communities adopted or patronized Jainism was the fact that Jainism
took the doctrine of ahimsa to its extreme and denounced agriculture as
it involved the killing of the insects. Thus Jainism could help a
vaishya in raising his status above the depressed peasant by
emphasizing his distance from manual agricultural activities.
Changes in the conception of what constitutes a 'vaishya' or a
'shudra' are inter-related and have a profound significance for the
history of the caste system. The original four varna stratification
developed in the later vedic times in the Western half of the Ganga
basin including the Doab in the region extending from nearabout Delhi
to Patna, the area which was known as Aryavarta. To this date this
area has communities assignable to all the four varnas. But in the age
of the Buddha and of the early Pali texts (600 B.C.-300 B.C.) the
hunting and food-gathering tribes were condemned by the peasant
communities as hina-jatis or low castes. Their assimilation in the
expanding Aryan society as 'shudras' meant the increase and
diversification of the shudra varna which came to have depressed
communities at various levels of development. This divergence became
even more pronounced in eastem and the southem India, where Aryan
culture made significant inroads in the Gupta and post-Gupta times and
powerful land-owning peasant communities engaged in agriculture were
ranked as shudras in accordance with the northern notions of varna
during this period. Hence, the Kalitas of Assam, the Kaibartas of
Bengal and the Reddis and the Vellalas of the South were all dubbed
as shudras. This development led to a dilution of the notion of 'shudra'
especially in these areas. These areas also had culturally backward
like the Pallans, Pariyans and Madigas in the South and the
Namasudras, Doms, Abors and Kaibartas in the East. Such a complex
structure could hardly be explained on the basis of the earlier

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 VARNA IDEOLOGY AND SOCIAL CHANGE 47

functional theory of the origin of the four varnas. The notion of the
panchama varna , although floated, could not take deep roots owing to
its lack of scriptural sanction in the Purusha-sukta hymn. But the
theory of the origin of numerous castes of varying statuses from the
inter-mixing of the varnas was found more useful; as in shifting the
emphasis from the occupational criterion to the question of the degree
of purity-impurity arising out of the union of the original founder-
parents, it allowed much scope for the placement of the newly enrolled
communities in an hierarchical manner commensurate with their
material condition. Thus, those who were deemed born of approved
anuloma order following the rules of hypergamy had a 'pure' status
and those who were the children of the disapproved hypogamous
pratiloma unions were impure. It should be noted that the impurity did
not arise from impure occupations; rather, those who were born of
impure unions, that is those who had an impure birth were condemned
to follow impure occupations. Thus the theory buttressed the caste
patriarchies and reinforced the hereditary nature of the hierarchical
social structure. It is only in a situation of such shift in the varna
theory that the Reddy kings of Andhra could take pride in being
shudras having been born from the feet of Vishnu17 and in the
Akkalapundi grant, the panegyrist of Singaya Nayak could claim
that the shudra varna was purer than the other three varnas, as it was
born along with the river Bhagirathi (from the feet of Vishnu)!
Modern industry has replaced the petty mode of production which
favoured craft-exclusiveness on a non-competitive basis. It has eroded
the notions of hierarchy of castes, untouchability taboos on inter-
dining, etc., at least in the urban areas where its impact is felt. But the
prohibition on inter-caste marriage is still practised widely as this
element of the caste system is not in conflict with the capitalist mode
of production. On the contrary, endogamy almost invariably means
arranged marriages on considerations of wealth, power and status and
as such is well-impregnated with the capitalist value system. As a
matter of fact in some aspects the strength of the caste has even
increased in modern times and caste ideology may be said to be
undergoing another transformation. It has been pointed out that the
traditional jajmani type of personal exchange relationships between
the various castes of a village are now being increasingly replaced by
the contractual, pecuniary and impersonal relationships under the
influence of the capitalist market forces, with the result that in times
of adversity one has to depend on the members of one's own caste to
provide group-support. The present day politics too allows the elite of
a caste to exploit the caste-consciousness of their castemen in order to
compete with the elite groups of other castes and communities for
political power. Thus caste ideology gains strength both for political
and economic reasons in spite of the fact that there are increasing
differentiations of wealth and status of individuals within each caste.

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48 SOCIAL SCIENTIST

Inter-caste relations are now increasingly marked by cleavages and

conflicts in place of the traditional cooperation and a sense of
togetherness of all the communities in the countryside. Thus caste
ideology arising through a historical process is having its 'effect upon
history' through a dialectical interaction and has become a material
force, a formidable impediment to progress. Only when we realize its
true character shall we be able to overcome it.

NOTES AND REFERENCES

1. The Brahdaranyaka Upanisad speaks of the gods belonging to the brahma,

kshatra, vaishya and shudra varnas, 1.4.11-15; R.E. Hume (trans.), Thirteen
Principal Upanisads, 2nd edn., OUP, 1969, pp. 84-85.
2. For details see Suvira Jaiswal, 'Stratification in Rigvedic Society: Evidence and
Paradigms', The Historical Review, Vol. XVI, 1990 (forthcoming).
3. C. Scott Littleton, The New Comparative Mythology: An Anthropological
Assessment of the Theories of Georges Dumezil, University of California Press,
Berkeley, 1973.
4. John Brough, 'The Tripartite Ideology of the Indo-Europeans: An Experiment in
Method', Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Vol. XXII, 1959,
pp. 69-85.
5. Bruce Lincoln, Priests, Warriors and Cattle: A Study in the Ecology of Religions,
University of California Press, Berkeley, 1981.
6. Emile Benveniste, Indo-European Language and Society, London, 1973.
7. D.D. Kosambi, Introduction to the Study of Indian History, Popular Prakashan,
Bombay, pp. 94-95.
8. D.D. Kosambi, 'On the Origin of the Brahmin Gotras', Journal of the Bombay
Branch of Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. XXVI, 1950, p. 50. See Kosambi, Introduction
to the Study of Indian History, pp. 94-95.
9. We find this view highly speculative. For a detailed critique see the forthcoming
article accepted for publication in The Indian Historical Review, Vol. XVI.
10. Suvira Jaiswal, 'Studies in Early Indian Social History: Trends and Possibilities',
The Indian Historical Review, Vol VI, July 1979-January 1980, pp. 5-6; reprinted
in R.S. Sharma (ed.), Survey of Research in Economic and Social History of India,
Ajanta Publications, Delhi, 1986, pp. 43-44.
11. Homo Hierarchicus, Delhi, 1970.
12. K.K. Potdar, Sacrifice in the Rgveda, Bombay, 1953; Padma Misra, Evolution of
the Brahman Class (in perspective Vedic Period), Banaras Hindu University
Sanskrit Series, Vol XIII.
13. Aitareya Brahmana, VIII, 38.3.
14. 'Studies in Early Indian Social History', IHR, VI, pp. 12, 21.
15. Ibid., p. 40-41; also see Vivekananda Jha, 'Candala and the Origin of
Untouchability', IHR, XIII, 1986-87, p. 13 fn. 10.
16. IHR, VII, p. 39.
17. Epigraphic Indica, VIII, inscription no. 3, lines 2-3.

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