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Caste, Oxford India Short Introductions

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Indian Journal of Human Development, Vol. 7, No. 2, 2013

BOOK REVIEWS

Jodhka, S. Surinder (2012), Caste, Oxford India Short Introductions, Oxford

University Press, New Delhi, India, pp. xvii+201, Rs. 195.

Caste as Tradition
The term ‘caste’ comes from the Spanish word casta, which means race. Hence,
ironically the concept of caste is not of Indian origin—the Portuguese seafarers arrived
in the fifteenth century for trade used the term ‘caste’ in the Indian context. The author
argues that in ancient times, the caste system was very rigid in terms of allocating and
ascribing social roles and positions to different communities on the lines of purity and
pollution. However, with the advent of British rule and thereby the introduction of
‘modern education’ in India, the rigidity of caste has gradually reduced. The author
admits that due to various sectarian political influences and interventions the political
leaders have always used the caste factor for narrow political gains which in turn has
kept the caste system alive.

Western View of Caste

The Western view of caste developed over time with the writings of Orientalists,
missionaries, and colonial administrators contributing in different ways. The author
here brings into context works done by Max Weber (1958), Celestin Bougle (1958), and
Louis Dumont (1998) on caste system in India in an argumentative fashion. Weber
defines caste as ‘status group’ present in all societies where market and capitalist
relations had not yet evolved (p. 12). These status groups, Weber puts forth, enjoys some
social estimation of honour. For Bougles, a caste-based society is divided into a large
number of mutually opposed groups which are hereditary specialised and hierarchically
arranged (p. 15). Louis Dumont viewed caste as Hindu practices, and is concerned with
‘totality’ and ‘holism’. Traditional caste society valued ‘totality’, ‘holism’, inequality and
social differences while modern society valued individualism and equality. He further
argues that the caste system presents a particular type of inequality that is hierarchically
naturalised inequality inherently legitimised by the Hindu religious belief (p. 16).
The social hierarchy is maintained through conception and practices of ‘purity’ and
‘pollution’ thereby exercise of power and status in the society.

Indian Understanding
Sociologists and social anthropologists found that though the village as a social
organisation was hierarchical, its underlying spirit was that of ‘interdependence’ and
‘reciprocity’ among different caste groups. M.N. Srinivas (1976) through the concept
of Sankritisation described the concept of social mobility in which he argued that
mobility is possible in caste against the Varna system (p. 28). He described that caste
392  Indian Journal of Human Development

mobility happens through land-holding, engagement in education, wealth position,

in government and village organisation, age and distinctive personality trait. The
author argues that the national leaders, social anthropologists and academicians today
hold the view of caste as tradition as understood by Colonialists and Orientalists—an
Indian village ritual and religious practice.

Caste as Power
The traditional institutions like the village and caste begun to change initially with the
influence of colonial rule and later with the process of development and democratisation
introduced after independence. Subsequently, the process of transformation challenged
the classical argument and questioned how social status and religious ideology in caste
society could work independent of socio-economic and political power and dominance.
In other words, as the author argues, ‘hierarchy’ and ‘status’ are also dimensions or
forms of ‘power’ (p. 35). The reproduction of ‘status’ in everyday life would have been
possible only through operation of ‘power’—coercive or logistic including religious
ideology. For example, terms like ‘dominant castes’ or ‘depressed castes’ represents
power relations and increasingly caste communities have come to determine the fate of
electoral and democratic politics and governance system. Author argues that, when the
ritual dominance existed by itself, unaccompanied by the other forms of dominance, it
had to be supported by material prosperity. For instance, untouchability is about control
over the lives of untouchables, a relationship of power reinforced with coercion. Author
further argues that the use of coercive violence to discipline the untouchables was
common practice of hierarchical power—which kept the dominant and deprived castes
tied to each other. Hence, Dumont’s concept of caste as distinct entity and superior to
political and economic sphere is challenged by Social Anthropologists like Nicholas
Dirks (1987, 2001) and Gloria G. Raheja (1989) and others.

Caste as Humiliation
Caste system lies in the concept of ‘purity’ and ‘pollution’ which presupposes humiliation,
violence and torture. According to the author, viewed from ‘below’ the most critical
feature of caste is the experience of untouchability—in which the ‘line of pollution’ has
been an important category in the official discourse on caste. In most of the cases, the idea
of untouchability is an obvious extension of the idea of pollution, or of the notion of purity
and impurity. The author cautions that, however untouchability is also much more than
what the notion of pollution suggests (p. 71). The colonial literature remained preoccupied
with the varna system of hierarchy and the challenge was to place the untouchable into
the model. The author argues that though the concept of ‘untouchability’ originated in the
writings of the local reformers, who were mostly from the upper strata, they approached
the question of caste from their nascent democratic imagination (p. 73).
The author then examines the process of legal and Constitutional changes
from untouchables to the concept of Scheduled Castes as its official recognition in
the Government of India Act of 1935. The humiliation and offences associated with
 Book Reviews  393

untouchability were addressed by few more legislations including, Untouchability

Offence Act in 1955, Protection of Civil Rights Act in 1976, and Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act in 1989. However, the author argues
that much against the spirit of these ambitious legislations to counteract humiliations
and violence, rural settlements in different parts of the subcontinent were designed
in a manner that those from the untouchable caste communities lived away from the
main settlements, even when their services were required by the village community;
and they lived in miserable and humiliating social conditions. It is not surprising to
see that classical sociological and anthropological accounts of caste-based humiliation
and violence have rarely looked at them beyond the structurally and ideologically
integrated framework of caste. The author also examines how dominant castes resist
democratisation of social relation and citizenship status of Dalits by ‘teaching them a
lesson’ through social boycott to ex-untouchables. However, author believes that the
processes of economic development, urbanisation and political change have introduced
new spheres of social interaction which were designed to be caste-free or open to all
(p. 93). For example, public transport system, state-funded education, healthcare and
other modern-day services to rural areas including tap water were provided to all
irrespective of caste and creed.

Contesting Caste
The caste system like any other social institution has been a fluid structure empirically as
well as conceptually, hence contesting caste was viable. The process of Sanskritisation,
socio-political struggle for prosperity, democratic politics including pressure groups
based on caste identity has brought changes in social hierarchy of power and status
among caste communities. The author examines how protest and movements against
the caste system and Brahmanical dominance started with the rise of Buddhism and then
by saint poets like Kabir, Ravidas and Nanak among others. The modern day reformist
movements against caste system started with Arya Samaj movement through shuddhi
ceremony and then by Adi-Hindu movement. Surprisingly, these movements did not
directly concern themselves with establishing social harmony and equality, rather the
prime objective was to make sure that untouchables remained within Hinduism and
did not convert to other religions. The author then provides a summary of alternative
and radical movements which initially included non-Brahman movements and then
the emergence of Dalit movements in South of India and in Maharashtra.
However, the rise of Dalit consciousness and assertion to break away from the
traditional social structure invoked violence and atrocities against them. The author
also sees that the access to education, jobs, business organisations and political
mobilisations among Dalits resulted in formation of a new class of Dalits who carry
forward the agenda of their identity and rights across the globe. The author views
caste in contemporary India as both a challenge to the modern liberal democracy and
a formidable source of power politics. The author suggests that the modern liberal
democratic system with Constitutional laws including affirmative action legislation
has negated the caste system to some extent.
 394  Indian Journal of Human Development

Caste Today
The author argues that the influence of the caste system has weakened over the years
due to a set of policy interventions. First, the Britishers introduced a new set of revenue
system and property relations along with the introduction of Western style ‘secular’
education, which was further reinforced by the policies of quota and abolition of
untouchability by the Indian Constitution. The caste enumeration and estimation by
Census also gave representational identity to the Dalits, in addition to the rise of caste
associations, anti-caste movements and caste-based intelligentsia. The rise of caste-based
regional political parties in 1960s and 1970s also gave new political voice to the Dalit
political leaders and masses. However, the author quite sensibly argues that these policy
interventions and movements did not help much to the Dalits. Most of the anti-caste
movements were urban-centric with focus on upwardly mobile backward and Dalits
(p. 147). The development planning in terms of land-reforms, affirmative action etc. was
largely ‘caste-blind’—which worked with categories like rich and poor, or peasants,
farmers and laborers. Both in government jobs and in the private sector, Dalits face
discrimination and languages of exclusion. Land reforms, Community Development
Programme, Panchayati Raj and the Green Revolution directly helped the rich and
powerful in the village to further consolidate the position of the local dominant castes.
In summary, the book critically engages with some brilliant literature on caste
system. The author has been able to examine various strands and points of view on
the caste system, thereby engaging a dialogue among both the Indian and Western
literature on caste. The book has fulfilled its purpose of presenting a rudimentary
introduction on caste in India while not compromising the complexities of the subject.
This will be an asset for sociologists, social anthropologists, other social scientists and
the general public interested in making sense of caste in India.

Bharat Chandra Rout

Research Associate
Indian Council of Social Science Research
New Delhi
Email: bharatrouthcu@gmail.co
bharatrout@hotmail.com
References
Bougle, C. (1958). ‘The Essence and reality of Caste System’, Contributions to Indian Sociology, II (1),
pp. 7-30.
Dirks, Nicholas B. (1987). The Hollow Crown: The Ethnohistory of an Indian Kingdom, Cambridge
University Press, New York.
—— (2001), Castes of Mind: Colonialism and the Making of Modern India, Princeton University Press,
Princeton.
Dumont, L. (1998). Homo Hierarchicus: The Caste System and Its Implications. Delhi, Oxford India
Paperbacks (first published in 1970).
Raheja, Gloria G. (1989). ‘Centrality, Mutuality, and Hierarchy: Shifting Aspects of Intercaste
Relationships in North India’, Contributions to Indian Sociology (N.S.), 23, 79-101.
Srinivas, M.N. (1976). The Remembered Village, University of California, Berkeley.
Weber, Max (1916–1917/1958). The Religion of India: The Sociology of Hinduism and Buddhism,
Free Press, Glencoe, IL.

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