BSO-03/OSOU

BSO-03: INDIAN SOCIETY

Brief Contents
Block No Block Unit Unit
No
1 Religious composition, Linguistic
1 Composition of Indian Society and composition &Racial composition
Approaches to the study of Indian 2 Unity in diversity
Society 3 National Integration--Meaning & Threats
(Communalism, linguism, regionalism)
4 Approaches to the study of Indian society:
Structural-Functional, Marxian and Subaltern

Block No Block Unit Unit

No
5 Varna Vyavastha and relevance
2 Historical Moorings and Bases of 6 Ashrama and relevance
Hindu Social Organization 7 Purusartha and relationship with Ashramas
8 Doctrine of Karma

Block No Block Unit Unit

No
9 Hindu Marriage as Sacrament, Aims of
3 Hindu marriage, Forms of Hindu Marriage.
Marriage and Family in India 10 Hindu Joint Family-Meaning &
disintegration
11 Marriage among the Muslims& Tribes
12 Changes in Marriage and Family in India

Block No Block Unit Unit

No
13 Meaning, Definitions & features of Caste
4 The Caste System in India 14 Functions & Dysfunctions of Caste
15 Factors affecting Caste System
16 Recent Changes in Caste System
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ODISHA STATE OPEN UNIVERSITY, SAMBALPUR

Programme Name: Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Sociology

Programme Code: BASO Course Name: Indian Society

Course Code: BSO-03 Semester: II

Credit: 6 Block No. 1 to 4 Unit No. 1 to16 Pages: 1 to 200

This study material has been developed by Odisha State Open University as per the state
model syllabus for under graduate course in Sociology (Bachelor of Arts Examination) under
Choice Based Credit System (CBCS)

COURSE WRITERS

Ms. Soumya Sucharita Bhanja Dr. Sipra Sagarika

Academic Consultant, OSOU Assistant Professor in Sociology,
Fakir Mohan University, Balasore

Mr. Pratap Kishore Mohanty

Academic Consultant, OSOU
OER

OER Source- https://epgp.inflibnet.ac.in/

http://digitalkkhsou.in/kkhsou.ac.in/eslm/E-SLM-for-
Learner/1st%20Sem/Master%20Degree/Sociology/PGSO%20S1%2003%20(Block%201).pdf

COURSE EDITORS

Mr. Pratap Kishore Mohanty Ms. Karisma Sahoo

Academic Consultant, OSOU Academic Consultant, OSOU

Mr. Tapan Sahoo

Academic Consultant, OSOU

Printed and Published by

Registrar
Odisha State Open University, Sambalpur
(cc) OSOU, 2023. Indian Society is made available under a Creative Commons
Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0
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BSO-03: INDIAN SOCIETY

Contents
Blocks/Units Pg. No.

BLOCK-1: COMPOSITION OF INDIAN SOCIETY AND APPROACHES TO 1-65

THE STUDY OF INDIAN SOCIETY:

Unit-1: Religious composition, Linguistic composition & Racial composition: Introduction,

Origin of Indian Society, Religious Composition, Linguistic Groups and Racial Composition.

Unit-2: Unity in Diversity: Introduction, Meaning and Origin, Types of Diversity in India,
Main Reasons behind the Unity in Diversity in India., Provisions for Unity in Diversity in India
under Indian Constitution, Importance of Diversity in India and Advantages and disadvantages
of unity in diversity

Unit-3: National Integration-Meaning & Threats (Communalism, linguism,

Regionalism): Introduction, Communalism in India, Communal Riots, Reasons for Communal
Riots, Economic and Social Dimensions, Inter-Community Dynamics, Linguism, Linguistic
Conflict and Language Movements in India, Regionalism, Regionalism in India: A Brief
Background, Causes of the Rise of Regionalism in India and Effects of Regional Disparities in
India

Unit-4: Approaches to the study of Indian Society: Introduction, Development of Sociology

in India, Structural-functionalist Approach, Marxian Approach and Subaltern Approach

BLOCK-02: HISTORICAL MOORINGS AND BASES OF HINDU SOCIAL 66-99

ORGANISATION

Unit-5: Varna Vyavastha and relevance: Introduction, Origin of Varna Vyavastha, Class in
the west and caste in the East, Varna Vyavastha, Varna Dharma and Varna Vyavastha
according to Vinoba.

Unit-6: Ashrama and relevance: Introduction, Ashrama Vyavastha, Brahmachary ashrama,

Grihasth ashrama, Vanaprasth ashrama, Sanyas ashrama and Relevance of Ashrama Vyavastha

Unit-7: Purusartha and relationship with Ashrama: Introduction, Four Purusharthas in

Hinduism and Purusharthas: The Psycho – Moral Bases of Ashrama Theory

Unit-8: Doctrine of Karma: Introduction, Assumptions of Doctrine of Karma and its social
Consequences.
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BLOCK-03 MARRIAGE AND FAMILY IN INDIA 100-154

Unit-9: Hindu Marriage as sacrament, Aims of Hindu Marriage, forms of Hindu

Marriage: Introduction, Hindu marriage as a Religious Sacrament, Aims of Hindu Marriage,
Forms and Types of marriage among the Hindus and Rules of mate selection in marriage

Unit-10: Hindu Joint Family- Meaning & Discrimination: Introduction, Definition and
Features, Functions and Dysfunction of Joint Family System, Disintegration of Joint Family

Unit-11: Marriage among the Muslims & Tribes: Introduction, Meaning, Essential
Conditions and kinds of Muslim Marriage, Divorce under Muslim System and Forms of Tribal
Marriages

Unit- 12: Changes in Marriage and Family in India: Introduction, Changes in the Marriage
System of Hindus, Recent Changes in the Family System in India and Factors Affecting
Changes in the Family

BLOCK -4 THE CASTE SYSTEM IN INDIA 155-200

Unit-13: Meaning, Definition and Features of Caste: Introduction, Meaning, Definition of

caste system, Caste and Varna, Distinction between caste and Varna, Origin, Theories and
Features of Caste

Unit-14: Functions & Dysfunctions of Caste: Introduction, Functions in caste and

Dysfunctions in caste

Unit-15: Factors affecting Caste System: Introduction, Change and Mobility in the Caste
System: Economic and Political Factors and Structural Changes

Unit-16: Recent Changes in Caste System: Introduction, Caste and Continuity, Caste and
Social Mobility, Caste and the Ritual Sphere, Caste and the Economic Sphere, Caste and
Politics, Caste and Change, from a Closed System to an Open System, Caste in Modern Polity,
Caste Associations and Can Castes Exist in the India of Tomorrow?
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Block-1
Composition of Indian Society and
Approaches to the study of Indian
Society

Unit-1: Religious composition, Linguistic composition

& Racial composition
Unit-2: Unity in diversity
Unit-3: National Integration-Meaning & Threats
(Communalism, linguism, regionalism)
Unit-4: Approaches to the study of Indian society:
Structural-Functional, Marxian and
Subaltern
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UNIT-1: RELIGIOUS COMPOSITION, LINGUISTIC COMPOSITION &

RACIAL COMPOSITION

Structure

1.1 Learning Objective

1.2 Introduction
1.3 Origin of Indian Society
1.4 Religious Composition
1.5 Linguistic Groups
1.6 Racial Composition
1.7 Let Us Sum Up
1.8 Glossary
1.9 Check Your Progress
1.10 Reference

1.1 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After going through this unit you will be able to know-

 Religious composition
 Linguistic groups
 Racial composition

1.2 INTRODUCTION

Indian society has two primary characteristics: Firstly, it is very old and is already crossed five
thousand years. Secondly, it is also very complex in its nature. The complexity of Indian
civilization may be attributed to three factors:
 Immigrants from all over the world came for a variety of reasons.
 They were of several races, each with their own set of characteristics.
 They brought their own languages and cultural features with them when they arrived in
India.
 The end outcome was the formation of a unique Indian society with three
characteristics:

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 Presence of different social groups.

 Indian culture is rich in numerous sorts of cultural components.
 Continued development of a great vitality inside Indian culture.
As a result, Indian society is made up of several social groupings that differ in terms of
ethnicity, language, religion, and so on.

1.3 ORIGIN OF INDIAN SOCIETY

Indian society is ancient, complex, and plural, with a lengthy history. It is made up of many
religious organisations, racial groupings, and culturally diverse groups. Throughout Indian
history, diverse groups from various regions of the world have reached India, each with their
unique socio-cultural and ethnic characteristics. The Indus Valley civilisation is the greatest
example.
Later, the Indo-Aryans arrived and interacted with the land's prior people. They had their own
sociocultural way of life. They thought of themselves as superior. They lived in their own socio-
cultural structure. They thought they were superior. They created standards and conventions
for several social groupings, each with their own category, as well as for outsiders. That was
the time when Varna's first appeared.
The Indo-Aryans were split into four divisions: Brahmins (priests), Kshyatriyas (kings and
warriors), Vaishyas (trade and commerce), and Sudras (servants of these three groups). Sudras
are said to have been separate from the Indo-Aryan group. This group may have evolved as a
result of the union of Indo—Aryans with the people of the country.
There was also another category, which is the society's fifth category. Their social standing was
different, and they were assigned polluting jobs.
Two things happened gradually:
(a) Each Varna has been subdivided into a number of Jatis or castes, each with its own
hierarchy.
(b) New varieties of Jatis were introduced to the system on a regular basis.
The Indian social structure is thought to be strict in character. It is true in certain inspects, but
there are exceptions. For example, Viswamitra, a kshyatriya ruler, lived a Brahmin lifestyle.
He also wrote a number of Vedic hymns. As a result, he was regarded as a saint. Veda Vyasa,
the author of the famous epic Mahabharata, is of a lower caste. Hinduism, too, was fragmented
into several sects and cults.

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Both Christianity and Islam have an impact on the Indian social system. Both religious
organisations affected the Indian social order, but they were also influenced by the prevailing
socioeconomic realities. As a result, they developed several unique traits in the Indian context.
During the mediaeval period, Islam had an impact on the Indian social order. In his book
"Modernisation of Indian Tradition," Y. Singh divides the influence of Islam on Indian
civilization into three stages:
 Under Islamic governance (1206-1818)
 During the reign of the British (18th 19th and 1st part of 20th century)
 During the Indian independence movement.
During the Islamic period, certain Muslim monarchs followed the strategy of demolishing
Hindu temples. The goal was to propagate the Islamic faith. However, they eventually adopted
a policy of religious tolerance. Some Muslims adopted the Hindu way of life, and some Hindus
accepted the Islamic way of life. Philosophers attempted to identify common ground between
the two religions.
Such endeavours paved the way for cultural convergence of Hindu and Muslim cultures.
Cultural interchange made it feasible for both cultures to coexist culturally. Sufism was quite
beneficial in this situation. The concepts of Sufism inspired Hindus. Sufism's core doctrines
had commonalities with Hinduism, such as emphasising virtue, self-sacrifice, and viewing
material realities as ephemeral.
All of these concepts drew Hindus in. Prof. Y. Singh has stated that certain monarchs from both
religions attempted to combine the best aspects of both religions into one. For example, Akbar
established a new synthetic cult known as 'Din-e-Illahi,' which translates as 'Divine Faith.' It
combined Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, and Zorastorianism. Dara Singh, a Hindu ruler, attempted
to combine Upanishad and Islam.
At the period, Hindus and Muslims knew that living peacefully was critical to maintaining
social peace and order. Many Hindus were drawn to Muslim saints and eventually became their
disciples. Amir Khusru was the first to infuse Hindu Philosophy into Islam. In Hindi, Muslim
poets and authors articulated their thoughts.
The friendly attitude between these two populations altered dramatically during the British
period. Two occurrences transpired among Muslim leaders: They began to lose their prestige
and authority first. Second, they lost their strength and self-esteem. As a result, they abandoned
their liberal attitude toward Hindus and Hinduism. They agreed to the orthodoxy and revivalism
ideals.Islam has become increasingly politicised. Politico-cultural strife between Hindus and

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Muslims resulted in the split of India and the establishment of a new distinct Islamic nation
(Pakisthan).
In numerous ways, the Islamic faith affected Indian civilization. The caste system has become
too strict. To keep Hindus from being converted to Islam, strict caste laws were enforced. There
was no Purdah system in Hindu society prior to the entrance of the Muslims. However,
following Muslim invasion, women were forced to observe purdah and their movement was
restricted. The Sati system, child marriage, slavery, and other institutions were established.
There was a shift in recreational activity. Muslims tolerated gambling and drinking from
Hindus. Similarly, Islamic culture inspired Indian art and architecture, dancing, and music.
Overall, there was a merging of Hindu and Muslim cultural beliefs and lifestyles. With the
arrival of the Portuguese, missionary operations began. When the British expanded their
domain in India, the missionaries were given complete freedom to express their activities. The
primary goal of missionary activity was to convert Hindus to Christianity. Enculturation
resulted through conversion.
They created schools and educational institutes throughout India. However, the goal was to
spread Western culture and Christianity. Converted Christians were cut off from their culture
and heritage. This created animosity throughout society. However, their spirit of service and
devotion drew many in. They inspired Hindu religion, music, and festivals, among other things.
The British had a considerably greater impact on Indian society and culture. It covers practically
every aspect of life. It primarily addresses three issues.
First, there is the behavioural element such as food pattern, eating pattern, attire, hair style, and
so on.
Second, there is the aspect of knowledge, such as science and technology, art and literature,
and so on.
Finally, there are values such as humanitarianism, equality, secularism, and so on.
Overall, the upshot was the collapse of a hierarchical and comprehensive social system. There
was also a shift in the value structure. The society was more open and liberal, with a stress on
equality. Humanistic values were elevated by efforts to eliminate the sati system, human
sacrifice, and other practises.
The British established a new legal and administrative structure. New political notions like as
'Rights,' 'Duties,' 'Liberty,' 'Freedom,' and so on were introduced. It broadened my
understanding of Indian society. Indian society took attempts to generate fresh incentives for
social reform and development.

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The reformers came from various areas of India and spanned two to three centuries beginning
in the 12th century A.D. The Bhakti movement began to battle against societal injustice such
as rigid caste systems and untouchability. It was founded mostly by Vaishnava and Shaivya
saints. Brahmo Samaj, Arya Samaj, and other organisations arose to bring about changes in
Hindu cultural practises and beliefs. Some reformers attempted to comprehend Hindu culture
and religion.
Their motto was 'Return to the Vedas.' Reformers such as Dayananda Saraswati argued that the
Vedas were the repository of all knowledge. However, some reformers aimed to achieve a
synthesis of modern cultural norms and values with old norms and values. However, some
reformers aimed to achieve a synthesis of modern cultural norms and values with old norms
and values. Then India's liberation struggle began in order to liberate the country from foreign
domination. Finally, India emerged as the world's largest democratic country.

1.4 RELIGIOUS COMPOSITION

India is home to nearly all of the world's religious groupings. Indian culture has the ability to
embrace several religions. India has eight major religious groupings. Hindus, Muslims,
Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Zoroastrians, and Tribes are all represented. Each religion
has its own sects, each with its own set of ideals.

1. Hinduism: Hindus constitute the vast majority of Indians. According to the 1991
census, the Hindu population of India accounts for more than 86 percent of the total.
Hinduism incorporates traits from three ethnic groups: Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, and pre-
Dravidian. Hinduism is divided into sects such as Sakta, Shaivya, and Baishnab.
However, all of these groups share some beliefs in common, such as soul immortality,
rebirth, soul transmigration, and so on.
2. Islam: It is a religion practised by Muslims. It originates in the Arab world. Islam had
penetrated India through Muslim monarchs by the end of the 12th century A.D.Initially,
Muslim monarchs attempted to convert Indians through force. But they progressively
altered their minds. They desired to maintain good ties with Hindus. However, the
situation altered during the British period. The partition of India was the result of a
changing environment. The Muslim population in India decreased after partition.
According to the 1991 census, the Muslim community accounts for 11.35 percent of the
country's overall population.

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3. Christianity: Christians may be found all across India. However, they are primarily
found in Kerala. Christianity is practised by almost one-fourth of the state's inhabitants.
They currently account for 2.43 percent of India's overall population.
4. Sikhism: Sikhism was founded by Guru Nanak. It was the sixteenth century A.D. It
arose from a religious movement known as the Bhakti movement. They were originally
associated with Hinduism. They are primarily found in Punjab and Haryana. They
account for 1.96 percent of the entire population.
5. Buddhism: Buddhism was founded in the sixth century B.C. The original is Gautama
Buddha. Because of royal sponsorship, Buddhism expanded both inside and outside of
India. India has fewer than 1% Buddhists.
6. Jainism: It was also invented in the sixth century B.C. Jainism was founded by Lord
Mahavir. Jains are more closely related to Hindus. They practise idol worship and
preserve caste divisions. They make up less than 0.5 percent of the Indian population.
7. Zoroastrianism: Farsis migrated to India from Parsia in the seventh century A.D. They
travelled to India to avoid being forced to convert to Islam. They are devoted to fire.
8. Animism: It is a tribal religion. They revere the spirit and the soul. They also
worshipped rocks, rivers, and hills, among other things.
In India, religious lines are strongly defined. Because each religious organisation has its own
beliefs and customs, religious diversity is prevalent in India.

1.5 LINGUISTIC GROUPS

In his book "Linguistic Survey of India," George Grierson discovered that India contains
around 175 languages and 500 dialects. Majority of languages are spoken in Northern part of
India. All Indian languages have been divided into many linguistic families. They are not spread
evenly throughout India.
These Indian languages are divided into four groups.
1. The Indo-Aryan
2. The Dravidian
3. The Austric
4. The Sino-Tibetan
1. The Indo-Aryan:
The Indo-Aryan speech family includes a variety of languages and dialects. This category
includes Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Assamese, Bengali, Odia, Gujarati, Marathi, and Kashmiri. The

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most significant language is Hindi. The majority of Indians speak Hindi. Our Constitution also
declares it to be the national language. Hindi is written in Devnagari. The Urdu language is
spoken by those who live in and around Delhi. They write in Persian script. Urdu is related to
Hindi in spoken form but not in writing. Assamese is the language spoken by the people of
Assam. The inhabitants of West Bengal speak Bengali. Odia is Odisha's mother tongue.
Gujarati and Marathi are the languages spoken by the people of Maharashtra. The inhabitants
of Kashmir speak Kashmiri.
2. Dravidian language:
It has four languages: Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam. Andra Pradesh's official
language is Telugu. Tamil is spoken in Tamil Nadu, whereas Kannad and Mulayalam are
spoken in Karnataka and Kerala.
3. Austric languages:
This category includes the majority of the languages and dialects spoken by Central Indian
tribal tribes such as the Santal, Munda, Oraon, Ho, Birhor, and Kharia.
4. Sino-Tibetan languages:
The languages and dialects used by North-Eastern indigenous peoples, such as Aka, Dafla,
Padam, RangamaNaga Angami Naga, and others, are classified as Sino-Tibetan.

1.6 RACIAL COMPOSITION

According to D.N. Majumdar, "if a group of individuals can be recognised from others by
the possession of a number of common physical qualities, even if the members of this biological
group are widely dispersed, they form a race."
A.L. Krober defined race as, “A race is a valid biological concept. It is a group united by
heredity, a breed, genetic strain or sub-species.”
Classification of J.H. Hutton
According to Hutton, the early inhabitants of Indian were most likely Negritos. Then there was
the Australoid race. He argues that the Australoid race produced the Proto-Australoid or pre-
Dravidian race. After the Australoids, the Mediterranean race appeared. The first group of
Mediterranean’s arrived in India, followed by another batch of the same race. The second batch
was more advanced than the first. The subsequent batch of Mediterranean, according to Hutton,
was linked to the Indus Valley culture.

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The Armenoids came after the Mediterranean race. Armenoids belong to the Alpine race. They
also advanced to a high level of civilization. Then two separate races arrived in India, one from
the west and the other from the east. The dolico-cephalic branch of the Indo-Aryan race was
thereafter followed by a number of other races, including the Brachycephalic race from the
west and the Southern Mongoloids from the east.
Risley’s Classification:
Sir Harbert Risley has classified Indian population into seven categories.

A. Turko Iranian: The majority of these people live in Afghanistan and Baluchistan. Both
of these locations are currently in Pakistan.
B. Indo-Aryan: Punjab, Rajasthan, and Kashmir are the most populous states for this race.
This group includes Rajput, Khatri, and Jat peoples.
C. Scytho-Dravidian: Scythians and Dravidians have merged to create this race.
Saurastra, Coorg, and Madhya Pradesh are all home to them. Scythian people belong to
the higher layers, whereas Dravidian people belong to the lower strata.
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D. Arya-Dravidian: It is a cross between two races: Indo-Aryan and Dravidian. They are
mostly found in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The Aryan group includes Brahmins and other
upper caste individuals, whereas the Dravidian category includes Harijans and other
lower caste people.
E. Mongolo-Dravidian: Dravidian and Mongolian races are mixed in this race. West
Bengal and Orissa are their major residences. This group includes Brahmins and
Kshatriyas from these areas.
F. Mongoloid: This race includes the tribal inhabitants of Assam and the North-East
border.
G. Dravidian: This race is predominantly found in South India and Madhya Pradesh.
Risley's race categorization, however, is subject to two major critiques. He said nothing
regarding the Negrito race's presence in India. According to D.N. Mujumdar, this
categorization is more about linguistic separation than racial division.
Classification of B.S. Guha:
B.S. Guha studied many categorization systems and divided the Indian population into six
groups.

A. The Negritos: They may be found on the Andaman Islands and along the country's north-
western border. The people are Nagas, Kadars, and Rajmahal Hills residents from Bihar. They
have a dark complexion, frizzy hair, and big lips.
B. The Proto-Australoid: This race includes the indigenous peoples of India. They are
Mundas, Santals, Savras, Parajas, Khondas, and so forth. They are mostly found in Bihar,
Singhbhum, and the mountainous Vindhya area.

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C.The Mongoloids: They are found in the north-eastern area.

They are of two types:
1. Palaeo-Mongoloid
2. Tibeto-Mongoloid
1. Palaeo-Mongoloid: This includes the long-headed and broad-headed types. The
Angami Nagas are Palaeo-mongoloid peoples with long heads. Paleo-mongoloid
peoples with wide heads are seen among Assamese, Kashmiris, and people residing in
the Himalayan area.
2. Tibeto-Mongoloid: This group includes residents of Sikkim and Bhutan.
D.The Mediterranean: It is one of India's most significant races. The Mediterranean race is
divided into three sub-divisions.
1. Palaeo Mediterranean
2. Mediterranean
3. Oriental
1. Palaeo Mediterranean- This race is mostly found in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
Both places' Brahmins fall within this group.
2. Mediterranean: This group of individuals may be found practically wherever in India.
They are thought to have designed the Indus Valley civilization.
3. Oriental: It is similar to the Mediterranean race. Though the Mediterranean ethnicity
is widespread across India, the majority of them live in South India.
E. The Western Brachycephals
People of this ethnicity arrived in India from the west. There are three divisions of this race:
1. Alpinoid: This group includes the people of Saurastra, Gujarat, and West Bengal.
2. Dinaric: This group includes people from Odisha and West Bengal.
3. Armenoid: This group includes Mumbai's Parsees.
F.Nordic: This race arrived in India from the north. As a result, this breed is mostly found in
Northern India, particularly in Punjab. They are thought to have given fresh views on Indian
art and culture.

1.7 LET US SUM UP

 The Indo-Aryans were split into four divisions: Brahmins (priests), Kshyatriyas (kings
and warriors), Vaishyas (trade and commerce), and Sudras (servants of these three
groups). Sudras are said to have been separate from the Indo-Aryan group.

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 India has eight major religious groupings. Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs,
Buddhists, Jains, Zoroastrians, and Tribes are all represented. Each religion has its own
sects, each with its own set of ideals.
 In his book "Linguistic Survey of India," George Grierson discovered that India
contains around 175 languages and 500 dialects. Majority of languages are spoken in
Northern part of India.
 The Indo-Aryan speech family includes a variety of languages and dialects. This
category includes Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Assamese, Bengali, Odia, Gujarati, Marathi,
and Kashmiri. The most significant language is Hindi.
 Y. Singh divides the influence of Islam on Indian civilization into three stages:Under
Islamic goverance (1206-1818),During the reign of the British (18th 19th and 1st part
of 20th century),During the Indian independence movement.
 There are different races in India. As a result of this, cultural divisions have evolved.
As a result, Indian culture is rich in a range of cultural components.

1.8 GLOSSARY

 Race-Race is a human classification system that is socially constructed to distinguish

between groups of people who share phenotypical characteristics.
 Negritos-Perhaps they were the first of the racial groups that came to India. They got
settled in the hilly areas of Kerala and the Andaman Islands. Kadar, Irula and Puliyan
tribes of Kerala resemble to a great extent with the Negritos.
 The Proto-Australoids-Perhaps the people belonging to the Proto-Australoid race
came here just after the Negritos. Their sources are Australian aborigines.
 Mongolians-who were originally studying in Tibet in the 1950s followed the Tibetans
and fled to India after the 1950 invasion of Tibet and the 1959 Tibetan uprising. Many
of them settled in Kalimpong, West Bengal.

1.9 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. What is the composition of Indian society?

2. How many racial groups are there in India?
3. What are the main races in India?
4. What is the race of Indian people?

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5. What do you mean by racial diversity in India?

6. What is the importance of diversity in India?

1.10 REFERENCE

 Shah, A.M., The Household Dimension of the Family in India: A Field Study in a
Gujarat Villageand a Review of Other Studies, Delhi: Orient Longman, 1973.
 Uberoi, P. (ed.), Family, Kinship and Marriage in India,New Delhi: Oxford University
Press,1993.
 Y. Singh , Modernisation of Indian Tradition, Jaipur: Rawat Publications, 1986
 Ram Ahuja, Indian Social System, Rawat Publications, 1993
 Sharma, KL. Indian Social Structure and Change, Rawat Publication, 2008
 Srinivas, M.N. India: Social Structure. New Delhi: Hindustan Publishing Corporation,
1980
 https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/essay/origin-and-composition-of-indian-
society/47083

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UNIT-2: UNITY IN DIVERSITY

Structure

2.1 Learning Objective

2.2 Introduction
2.3 Meaning and Origin
2.4 Types of Diversity in India
2.4.1 Geographical Diversity in India
2.4.2 Cultural Diversity in India
2.4.3 Religious Diversity in India
2.4.4 Language Diversity in India
2.4.5 Caste Diversity and Unity in India
2.5 Objectives
2.6 Main Reasons behind the Unity in Diversity in India
2.7 Provisions for Unity in Diversity in India under Indian Constitution
2.8 Importance of Diversity in India
2.9 Advantages and disadvantages of unity in diversity
2.10 Let Us Sum Up
2.11 Glossary
2.12 Check Your Progress
2.13 Reference

2.1 LEARNING OBJECTIVE

After go through this unit you will be able to know-

 Meaning and Origin of unity of diversity
 Importance of Diversity in India
 Advantages and disadvantages of unity in diversity

2.2 INTRODUCTION

India is the oldest civilization in the entire world. In this long journey of 5000 years, we were
ruled by many rulers, belonging to different religions and cultures. Further, a lot of people
migrated from other countries, and India accepted them with open hearts. Due to this exchange,

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we can observe a lot of diversity in terms of religion, culture, race, and religion in our country.
However, despite all these diversities, India remained united even in dark hours and faced all
the crises with a united spirit. The thread which binds all Indians together is known as “Unity
among diversity”. In this article, we will explore the meaning of Unity in diversity in India, the
types of diversity in India, what is diversity, provisions of unity in the constitution, its
importance and the hurdle in achieving unity.

From Jammu and Kashmir to Kanyakumari, Indians follow different cultures, different
religions, different languages and different traditions. But living together with love and peace
irrespective of these differences describe the concept of unity in diversity of India.
Before the independence against Britishers, freedom fighters were fighting for the
independence with the help of unity in diversity. During the time of Britishers, every Indian
from different caste, religion, language was working in groups for independence. It was the
unity in diversity which played an important part by bringing unity among all the Indians to
fight for freedom. Many groups were made by people from different religions, castes and areas.
The motive of every person in these groups was freedom only.

2.3 MEANING AND ORIGIN OF UNITY IN DIVERSITY IN INDIA

Unity in diversity consists of two different words that are “unity” and “diversity”. Any
difference between two or more people is called diversity. In simple words, diversity is in which
the people are not the same, there are some differences that can be related to religion, caste,
language, culture etc. Unity means to make a group of people maintain a relationship with
people. So if we mix these two words with each other, it creates the beautiful meaning of unity
in diversity that is a group of people in which different types of people stay together.

The unity in diversity is defined as the spirit of brotherhood without any discrimination. The
term “Unity in diversity” implies the feeling of oneness or togetherness even after having a lot
of diversity. Its spirit unites the people together and this bond shows the path of righteousness.
This Diversity can be in the form of religion, colour, caste, creed, cultural practices, etc. In our
country, these diversified traits are not seen as a conflict, but they are the varieties that enrich
our society and the nation. It is used as a symbol of harmony and unity among people belonging
to different religions or cultural backgrounds.

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Origin of Unity in Diversity in India

The term “Unity in Diversity” was coined in China and North America around 500 BC. It
signifies the unity and oneness among people, despite belonging to different caste, religions,
cultures, and social backgrounds. At the time of independence, this term was widely used by
our freedom fighters to induce a feeling of patriotism in the people. It was depicted that we all
Indians are the son/daughter of the holy “Bharatmata” and it is our prime duty to protect its
soul from foreign invaders.

Canada is following multiculturalism in the country. Joseph-Adelard Godbout was the 15th
premier of Quebec, Canada, who used the phrase of unity in diversity in Canada. After the use
of this phrase by Joseph-Adelard Godbout, Canada has become the best example of unity in
diversity. Canadians are very friendly in nature and they welcome all the foreigners who went
to Canada. Due to the unity in diversity in Canada, there is very low racism and almost no
incidents of hate speech. Staying friendly with everyone makes the country financially strong
because it attracts tourism.

In 2000, the Europeans adopted unity in diversity in Europe as the official motto of the country.
Before the adoption of unity in diversity in Europe, there were many states in Europe which
had different cultures. But after the adoption of unity in diversity, all the Europeans came
together to make the unity irrespective of their culture and other differences.

When we talk about the unity in diversity, we cannot forget about our nation. Undoubtedly,
India is one of the biggest countries which has set the example of unity in diversity. There are
lots of differences related to caste, culture, religion, colour, etc in India. But fortunately,
irrespective of differences, the people of India have been living together since many centuries.
Every person in the nation respects each other without checking their differences. This best
practice is being continued in India which perfectly demonstrates the unity in diversity in India.
Given our widely diverse country, the “unity in diversity model” set by us is an inspiration for
the entire global world. In simple terms, diversity refers to the degree or measure of differences
among various groups. It is a sort of reality created by individuals with the concept of
acceptance and respect. This diversity can relate to ethnicity, race, gender, socio-economic
status, sexual orientation, physical abilities, age, political beliefs, religious beliefs, other
ideologies, etc.

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2.4 TYPES OF DIVERSITY IN INDIA

There are mainly 4 types of diversity in India that is evident in India:

 Geographical Diversity in India

 Cultural Diversity in India
 Religious Diversity in India
 Language Diversity in India

Despite all these diversities, we find that there is unity among them which is as follows –

2.4.1 Geographical Diversity in India

The diverse geographical area is a matter of dispute among various countries like Nepal and
China which are separated by the Himalayas. However, in our country, we accept this diversity
with an open heart that further strengthens our unity.

The geographical area of our country is very vast. There is Himalaya on the top and the most
fertile northern plains and the plateau of Central India. There is a lot of diversity in terms of
rivers and natural wildlife. But, this diversity has nowhere impacted our unity. From the very
beginning, the entire geographical part was known as Bharat Varsha. This name is also present
in our sacred Vedas and Puranas.

2.4.2 Cultural Diversity in India

From time immemorial, there is a large number of diverse cultural and ethnic groups prevalent
in our country. Broadly, the people of India shall be divided into four major groups on ethnic
grounds. The first group is of the Neolithic and Paleolithic men who are living in this country
from the remote past. The second group of people belongs to the Mongoloid type and they are
found in the area of Sikkim and Nepal. The third group of people belongs to the Dravidians
group, which are living in the Southern part of the country. The fourth group includes the Indo-
Aryans group living in the Northern part of India.

Despite having different cultural groups, there is a lot of unity in terms of ideas, philosophy,
literature, etc. and it is the beauty of India that there is unity in cultural diversity in India. Being
the country of festivals, it is observed that people from all cultural backgrounds come together
and celebrate all the festivals. The manner of performance of social ceremonies is usually the
same in all parts of the country. Further, each and every achievement of our country is

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celebrated by all the cultural and ethnic groups. Thus, there is a feeling of Unity in cultural
diversity in India.

2.4.3 Religious Diversity in India

India is a union of all the diverse religions in the world. All the religions ranging from
Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, and Islam to Christianity can be found here. They also
have their sects and sub-divisions. The Hindu religion itself is divided into countless creeds
namely the Vedic religion, the Sanatan Dharma, the Brahmo Samaj, the Arya Samaj.

However, the religious unity is still evident as all the religion provides the same teaching of
good deeds and moral conduct to each and every one. Thus, a peaceful relationship is
maintained among diverse religions in society. Further, the incarnation of God Vishnu and
Shiva is worshipped in various forms in northern and southern parts of the country. Our Holy
books like Mahabharata, Ramayana, Bhagwat Geeta, etc. are read in various parts of the
country. All the religious beliefs preach the unity of India.

2.4.4 Language Diversity in India

In our country, more than two hundred local languages are spoken in various parts of the
country. In northern parts, the main language in Hindi also had its subparts. The tribal people
follow their own language and the hill tribes of Central India speak Austric types of languages.
The southern area is mainly dominant with the Tamil, Telugu Malayalam and Kannada.

Despite the fact that there are numerous languages among various races, there is a feeling of
national unity and togetherness among all the Indians. The feeling of togetherness binds us
together.

2.4.5 Caste Diversity and Unity in India

India is a home of more than 3000 castes or Jatis. A caste is a small social unit that is hereditary
and more often practices a common traditional occupation. This concept of concept is highly
popular amongst the Hindu culture. In the past also, all the communities were divided into 4
categories: Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudrayas. A caste may have its own rules and
norms and a person had to follow this. This jati system is not static and continuous mobility
can be seen there.

However, despite this huge division, we still respect each other’s values and virtues which helps
us to stay united.

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2.5 OBJECTIVES OF UNITY IN DIVERSITY IN INDIA

The Unity in Diversity holds special significance for our country. It serves numerous purposes,
which are as follows-

National Integration
In the present times, it is essential for a nation to integrate all the people in order to survive and
prosper. It is very easy to manipulate and divide people in the name of caste, religion, and sects.
If this happens, the growth of the country gets derailed and the entire nation suffers on account
of this. So, it is essential to inject the feeling of harmony and brotherhood, despite having
cultural, regional or social differences among them. The recent turnaround in Afghanistan
clearly highlights the importance of an integrated nation.

Global recognition
Our entire global community has experienced the evils of racism, extremism, and other forms
of social discrimination. From this experience, the biggest lesson that can be learnt is that “unity
in diversity” is the only thing that could remove all these evils from our society. So, a country
that is highly diverse, but remains united not only build a strong platform of growth but also
attains recognition at the global level. It becomes an example for the world to follow.

Ensuring Nation’s Growth

It is an unsaid truth that Unity in Diversity plays a very vital role in achieving the path of growth
and development. The country which is subject to internal issues would be highly distributed
in security matters, and the process of development would be very slow.

Peaceful co-existence
The human resources of a country are its most valuable assets, and it is the duty of the state to
make optimum utilization of them. If the people of the country are safe, and there is a feeling
of harmony, brotherhood and oneness in the society, they could contribute with the best of their
abilities to the development of the country. The peaceful co-existence can only be maintained
through a sense of unity in a diverse country.

2.6 MAIN REASONS BEHIND THE UNITY IN DIVERSITY IN INDIA

India is a diverse country. Due to a continuous period of migration, initiation, and transfer, we
witnessed different cultural, religious, linguistic and functional groups in the country. With this

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influx, we see the rise in faith from the prehistoric period to the Vedic times. When the Aryans
arrived in the country, a different culture with altogether different practices was set up in the
country. Hinduism not only became a religion but it emerged as a way of living life for all the
people. Further, with the migration of strong religious communities like Islam and Christianity,
cultural integration took place, which in turn gave rise to tolerance and solidarity in the country.
Small religions like Judaism are also welcomed with a high spirit of oneness.

The indigenous religions of our country, including Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism played a
crucial role as they always focus on removing the differences and spreading love. The other
cultural and regional groups embrace the new lifestyle and a culture of “unity among diversity
in India” started making highlights.

In the present times, our country is on the path of transformation and modernization. Though
there may be differences of opinions among different groups, it never results in differences of
hearts in the country. We have always respect the legacy of our forefathers and will continue it
in the future also. The feelings of acceptance, tolerance and correction run in our blood veins.

2.7 PROVISIONS FOR UNITY IN DIVERSITY IN INDIA UNDER INDIAN

CONSTITUTION

The constitution of India was drafted while learning from our past hardships and experience. It
was evident from the British colonial period that unity is the biggest strength of our diverse
country. There shall not be a feeling of alienation in any section or subsection of our society as
it may prove very dangerous for it.

In 1938, Jawaharlal Nehru made a declaration that the constitution of our country shall be
formed without any external interference. After this declaration, a meeting was organized,
which was attended by the representatives of almost all the sections of the society including
Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Parsis, Anglo-Indian communities, Indian Christians, SCs, STs and
women. All the representatives supported this declaration in a single voice and a constituent
assembly was set up for this purpose.

The constituent itself is composed of members from various castes, religions, sex, etc. to
represent the views of our diverse society. On the recommendation of the assembly, the
constitution was drafted and it provides for numerous provisions to maintain unity in our

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society. The spirit of our Constitution i.e., preamble provides the term like equality, socialism,
secularism, etc. to protect the rights of our diverse society.
Some other provisions are as follows –

Provisions for Geographical Unity in the Constitution

Article 1 of our Constitution stated that India is an “indestructible Union of the Destructible
states. It simply means that the geographical unity of our country shall be duly respected. The
borders and territory of India always remain intact from internal or external pressure. The states
and the union territories are not empowered to alter their boundaries if it affects the unity of
India as a whole.

Provisions for ethnic and Cultural Unity

The constitution of India is the custodian of our pluralist society and respects its various cultures
and ethnic groups. The constitution provides that our nation is a shelter home for people coming
from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. It also ensures that the principle of equality
and social justice shall have duly complied. Article 29 of the constitution put an obligation on
the state to protect the distinguished culture and tradition of various ethnic groups.

Provision for religious Unity in India

The constitution of India defines it as a secular country. This means that the state will not have
any religion but it will protect and respect all the religions in the society. As per Article 25 of
the constitution, the people are allowed to preach and propagate any religion. The state is not
empowered to interfere in the religious matter of the public. Further, the state is directed to
ensure that there shall be no discrimination on the ground of religion against any person.

Provision for unity in diverse languages

The constitution of India doesn’t impose any single language as it is a heterogeneous
country. Schedule 8 of the constitution recognizes 22 languages of our country. The southern
belt of the country is not comfortable with the usage of the Hindi language, thus the official
working of the parliament and the union is undertaken in the English language as per Section
3 of the official Language Act, 1963.Lastly, the constitution of India gave every citizen without
any discrimination to approach the court for the enforcement of their fundamental rights
under Article 32 of the Constitution. The judiciary has from time to time held that Unity in
diversity is the distinguishing character of Indian society and we shall preserve it.

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Provision for Economic integration

As per Article 19 of the constitution, each and every person, irrespective of caste, religion or
culture, have the freedom of trade, commerce and intercourse in the country. They are free to
trade without any external interference. The recent Goods and Service Tax (GST) have paved
the way for “one nation one tax”; therefore, facilitating unity in the matter of trade among
diversified groups.

2.8 IMPORTANCE OF DIVERSITY IN INDIA

For any cultural and religiously diverse country, it is essential that unity shall be maintained
amongst various groups. The failure of which will lead to the breakdown of the entire state
machinery. The chief importance of Diversity in India is as follows –

Maintaining Integrity and sovereignty

The integrity and sovereignty totally depend upon the sentiments or the feelings of the people
toward the country. In a country having a different ideology and religious background, it is easy
to get them disintegrated with the country. If they feel alienated, then it will be easy for the
internal and external forces to harm our sovereignty. Thus, it is very essential that the feeling
of oneness shall be run in the entire country.

Ensuring growth and Development

The development and growth of a country totally depend upon the efforts made by each and
every segment of our society. So, it is very essential that we shall keep our country integrated
so that each group works with their full efficiency and ensures the development of the nation
as a whole.

To ensure peaceful habitation

It is possible that there may be some internal conflict amongst the people ranging from different
groups and cultural backgrounds. At that time, we need to ensure that our unity comes into play
and we resolve these issues peacefully for the betterment of all.

2.9 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF UNITY IN DIVERSITY

The unity of diversity is the most important factor to run a society by setting the harmony
between each and every single people whether they are the same or equal from one another.
The spirit of unity e with diverse people open the different sources and ideas to live our lifestyle

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in a different way. With lots of benefits of unity in diversity, there are also various
disadvantages of the theory of unity in diversity.

Advantages of unity in diversity

When a person meets another person at a place where he sees that there is something different
between them, at that moment, a person feels curious to know about the lifestyle and the way
of living that person. It is the beginning of the unity in diversity which can give many benefits
such as:

 Increase the moral

Unity in diversity builds the morale of the person with differences. When a person comes
from a different place, he wants everyone to accept him with all his qualities and
differences. When people accept each other irrespective of differences, it automatically
increases the morale of a person.

 Solution of social problems

Social interaction with people who are not the same can help to solve the various social
problems which we are facing in today’s time. These problems can be like water
pollution, air pollution etc. Maybe you have the experience that when you talk with a person
for the first time and tell them about your problem, the person may not be able to solve your
problem but he can give you his life experience related to that problem if any.

 Build relationships
The unity in diversity builds the relationship of trust among the people who are not the
same. Curious to know each other in a better way, we started making bonds with them
which built the team spirit between these people. It is a well-known fact that teamwork
always wins and gives better results.

 Help to grow business

Unity in diversity helps the businessman to grow his business on an international level. To
increase the business in a country where you don’t know anything about the country you
can’t start your business. Here comes the role of unity in diversity which builds the
confidence in a businessman by knowing the culture of that country, which is useful for
him to expand his business throughout that country.

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 Source of tourism
Unity in diversity helps the county to gain tourism which helps the county in financial
growth. A country like India where people from different cultures live together attracts
tourists to see the different cultures just in one country.
 Agricultural growth
It helps to increase the agriculture sector. There are thousands of crops which are produced
in different places. With unity in diversity, these Crops can be produced all over the world
which can solve the problem of agriculture and will grow the economy.

 Advancement in technology
In the present time technology is everything. Unity in diversity helps people to share their
technology so that everyone can use advanced technologies. People can learn various skills
to survive and live a better life.

Disadvantages of unity in diversity

Almost every successful step in life requires unity in diversity. But there are some
disadvantages of unity in diversity which may also create problems.

 The rise in social problems

Unity in diversity can raise different social problems in society. Every person on this earth
is not good, there are some bad people which can take the benefit of unity in diversity which
can raise new social problems in society.

 Corruption
It may cause corruption in the country and also lead to illiteracy in many areas.

The obstacle in the Path of Unity in Diversity in India

The biggest challenge confronted by India is the religious enmity. Some selfish people try to
disturb harmony in the name of religion to get some political gain. The Hindu – Muslim conflict
is the ideal example of this. We also witness religious riots in various parts of the country. They
are mainly undertaken to fulfil their own agenda and create disturbance in society.

Regionalism is also a barrier to achieving unity. It refers to highlighting the interest of a

particular religion over the national interest. It not only hampered the law and order situation
but also cause disintegration in the country.

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In India, the pace of development has never been uniform. Some places have developed a lot
whereas some are still lagging behind. This results in widespread immigration and violence in
less developed areas. Sometimes, the demand for separation can also be heard. The story of
Jammu & Kashmir very much resembles this.
The ethical difference also led to conflict between the groups. Some tribal areas in the country
including, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa want a self-run government as they don’t want
interference in their life. They are under extreme fear that with growing modernization, their
forests will be destroyed and their whole culture would be extinguished.

It is generally believed that that the people belonging to the upper caste are more superior and
they could easily mistreat the lower caste people. In the workplace as well as in the educational
institution, discrimination on the basis of religion, culture, social, etc. can be easily witnessed.
Sometimes, external groups such as terrorists, extremists, etc. also try to hamper the peace of
the country and incite violence there. Manu a times, India has been subject to such an atrocity.

2.10 LET US SUM UP

 After discussing unity in diversity in India, we can conclude that India is a vast country
with different religions and practices. The language of one area is different from that
of another. The outfit was worn by them also tends to differ from area to area.
 The physical appearance is also not similar throughout the country. Despite all these
diversities, the beauty lies in the fact that we Indians feel a sense of unity and oneness
among them and India is a diverse country. There may be differences of opinion but all
the minds focused on the development of our country. Thus, we can conclude that Unity
in diversity is our biggest strength.
 I agree on some points that there are differences between Hindu and Muslim
communities related to their ideology and rituals. But these differences are caused by
politicians who are brainwashing these communities just for their personal benefit. Even
today Hindus and Muslims live together and respect each other’s culture and rituals.
 The whole country celebrates holidays on Eid, Diwali and 30 other major different
festivals. Hindus and Muslims exchange gifts and sweets during these festivals. This
shows unity in diversity in India.
 There is an old adage that United we stand, divided we fall”. So, as a country, we should
try to remain united so that we become less vulnerable to the attack of others.

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2.11 GLOSSARY

 Unity in Diversity- It is used as an expression of harmony and unity between dissimilar

individuals or groups
 Caste- It is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary
transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a
hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultural notions of
purity and pollution.
 Religion- It describes the beliefs, values, and practices related to sacred or spiritual
concerns.

2.12 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1.Explain the importance of unity in diversity?

2. Discuss the types of diversity in India?
3. What are the major objectives of unity in diversity?
4.Briefly explain the advantages and disadvantages of diversity in India?

2.13 REFERENCES

 Shah, A.M., The Household Dimension of the Family in India: A Field Study in a
Gujarat Villageand a Review of Other Studies, Delhi: Orient Longman, 1973.
 Uberoi, P. (ed.), Family, Kinship and Marriage in India,New Delhi: Oxford University
Press,1993.
 Y. Singh , Modernisation of Indian Tradition, Jaipur: Rawat Publications, 1986
 Ram Ahuja, Indian Social System, Rawat Publications, 1993
 Sharma, KL. Indian Social Structure and Change, Rawat Publication, 2008
 Srinivas, M.N. India: Social Structure. New Delhi: Hindustan Publishing Corporation,
1980.

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UNIT- 3: NATIONAL INTEGRATION--MEANING AND THREATS

(COMMUNALISM, LINGUISM, REGIONALISM)

Structure

3.1 Learning objectives

3.2 Introduction
3.3 National Integration: Meaning and Threats
3.4 Communalism
3.4.1 Communalism in India
3.4.2 Communal Riots
3.4.3 Reasons for Communal Riots
3.4.4 Economic and Social Dimensions
3.4.5 Inter-Community Dynamics
3.5 Linguism
3.5.1 Linguistic Conflict and Language Movements in India
3.6 Regionalism
3.6.1 Regionalism in India: A Brief Background
3.6.2 Causes of the Rise of Regionalism in India
3.6.3 Effects of Regional Disparities in India
3.7 Let Us Sum Up
3.8 Glossary
3.9 Check Your Progress: Answer Keys
3.10 References

3.1 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After go through this unit you will be able to know:

 Define the meaning of national integration;

 Discuss the concept of communalism and communalism in India;
 Trace the linguistic conflict and movements in India;
 Highlight the background of regionalism in India and its effects.

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3.2 INTRODUCTION

India is a country marked by huge diversity in terms of geography, culture, caste, class, language,
religion, region, art, food etc. With this remarkable diversity comes the challenge to keep it intact
and integrated. Indian history, despite its belief in ‘unity in diversity’, has shown several traces
of conflicts and clashes over religious, cultural, linguistic and regional differences. State response
to such conflicts has had the tendency to be been knee-jerk. While this has helped to temporarily
cool tempers, it has not offered long-term solutions that have kept in mind the diverse fabric of
the Indian nation or the issues that have been raised by conflicting groups that have mobilized
themselves around these issues time and again. Communities, especially those that perceive
themselves to be marginalized and ignored, feel isolated from government policies that they
consider to be unfair to them and tailor-made for the national or regional elites. This leads to the
genesis of demands for rights, adequate expression, identity recognition and integration with the
national economy (Vinod 2014). This Unit speaks about the meaning and threats of national
integration which includes communalism, linguism and regionalism.

3.3 NATIONAL INTEGRATION: MEANING AND THREATS

India is a multi-ethnic society. There are a large number of ethnic groups which vary in size
from highly localized cast and tribal groups, to very large language and religious groups. No
single group is clearly dominant, and the boundaries between the various groups are not entirely
fixed. In such a situation, the difficulties involved in presenting the theme of principles of
Indian unity are of a fundamental nature. Of late, there has been a tendency in the literature on
political development to focus upon national integration as a policy which seeks assimilation
of the entire population of a state to a common identity and which recognizes only individual
rights, privileges and duties. Such a policy is to be distinguished from one of political
integration, which seeks to maintain the cohesion and territorial integrity of a political unit, but
does not necessarily demand the cultural assimilation of diverse groups to either a dominant or
composite culture. Without going into the validity of these two processes, one can question the
extent to which either individually or together, have contributed to the process of nation
building. In fact, today, one finds that on issues like language, religion, caste, tribe and region
the divisive forces due to their vested interests are threatening to break the very fabric of Indian
unity. In this unit, we look into the historical background of the problems of communalism and

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regionalism in relation to national unity. This is because today these are possibly the greatest
impediments in the task of national integration.

3.4 COMMUNALISM

While discussing the nature of politics in the new states of Africa and Asia, Clifford Geertz, an
American anthropologist (1963 : 105-157), wrote, "When we speak of communalism in India
we refer to religious contrasts, when we speak of it in Malaya we are mainly concerned with
racial ones, and in the Congo with tribal ones". Here the significant link is between communal
and political loyalties. Thus when we talk of India we are talking mainly of religion based
oppositions. Communalism has been described as a sectarian exploitation of social traditions
as a medium of political mobilization. This is done to punish the interests of the entrenched
groups. Thus communalism is an ideology used to fulfil socio-eco politico hopes of a
community or social groups. It requires proposals and programmes to ensure its very existence.
These become active in phases of social change. Communalism arose in India during its
colonial phase. Communal politics bases it strategies on religion and tradition. The
interpretation of history is for purposes of mobilisation. Communal organisations have little
room for democracy. Secondly they may also involve racist contrasts and perpetrate the same.
They consider egalitarianism as abnormal and support patriarchy, as a familial and social norm.
Communalism is therefore a

i) Belief system
ii) Social phenomena

Communalism arises out of a belief system, and assumes great solidarity within a community
which is not always true. We find that there are often intercommunity quarrels. Further, the
protagonists of communalism hold a particular view of history and take care to point out that a
community has been identified with common sufferings and goals as a whole. The
exclusiveness of the community is stressed vis a vis other communities, and it is therefore
considered logical to fight for one's rights in a literal way. Communalism in India has, as noted
earlier, a colonial legacy wherein the rulers (Britishers) used religious contrasts, existing among
the different communities to their advantage by giving them prominence. After Independence
economic modernization of India expanded economic opportunities but not enough to curb
unhealthy competitiveness. Independence from the colonial power unleashed a horrendous

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communal holocaust, caused by the partition of the country into two parts on the eve of
Independence in 1947.

3.4.1 Communalism in India

The ideology of communalism in India was, and still is, that the different communities in India
cannot co-exist to their mutual benefit, that the minorities will become victims of Hindu
subjugation and that the neither historically created situation nor culture will allow cooperation.
Communalism took deep roots in Indian polity during the later phase of the national movement
and this was encouraged by the colonial rulers. This process was a continuation of the weakness
and inadequacy of secularism as conceived and practised during the anticolonial struggle.
Implicit in all the theories has been the assumption that the growth of Hindu-Muslim tension
was not the natural and inevitable outcome of changes taking place in the Indian society.
Partition was the culmination of the conflict which could and should have been avoided. Further
this line of reasoning states that nation building essentially, means obliteration of communal
moulds and creation of a common identity which decries the existence of differentiated groups
based on religion, caste or language. Communal forces are therefore viewed as division and a
sign of political underdevelopment.

Communalism arises when one or two characteristics of ethnic identity e.g. religious beliefs
are taken and emotionally surcharged. Communal movements are often brief and exist in a
dyad, comprising an opposing force or ideology which has to be countered. Unlike
fundamentalism, communalism can only exist dyadically.

Hindu-Muslims riots reflected the religious fears and socio-economic aspirations of the Hindus
and Muslims. Sometimes these riots occur for very minor reasons such as quarrels between
Muslim and Hindu shopkeepers (Ghosh, 1981: 93-94). The important point is that these are not
isolated acts but often deliberate mechanizations of various socio-religious organisations.
Recurrent collisions were engineered on festivals by stopping them and various religious
occasions by interfering in their process. This was done to inflame communal passions and
bitterness. According to Ghosh (1981) the acme of communal rioting was reached in August
1946 in Calcutta when the Muslim League observed a 'Direct Action Day'. Bombay did the
same in the following month. Thus Independence was erected on the corpses of many thousands
of people. With Mahatma Gandhi's assassination the riots abated awhile, and this situation was

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basically sustained by Nehru. Again the passing away of Nehru in 1964 and the deteriorating
socioeconomic circumstances led to the resurrection of communal violence.

3.4.2 Communal Riots

During the late 60s and 1970s there were large scale communal riots in Ahmedabad, Baroda,
Ranohi, Jamshedpur etc. Communal configurations in towns such as Ranchi cast a shadow over
predictions and beliefs in the future of workers unity. Again in Bhiwandi where there was
carnage in 1969, it was a shock for the leftists. The grassroots movement among the handloom
workers fostered by committed communists was unable to stem the on rush of communal
violence. In 1969 itself a communal riot occurred in Ahmedabad. The inflammatory factors
were insults to Holy Scriptures and sacred cows. It was suspected however that these riots were
politically motivated. These riots indicated clearly that there were various political factors
behind the surface level factors of religion based tensions and confrontations. In the
midseventies the communal riots abated a bit both due to the Emergency and the Janata Regime.
The first exercised iron control and discipline the second aroused the hopes of both Hindus and
Muslims. The first ix years of the eighties once more created an upward incline in the riot-
graph. Pitel (1990) feels that Communal violence is backed by religious arguments and
backing. He feels that those resorting to it are neither true Hindus nor true Muslims. Religion
does not preach enmity. However the causes which are often given for communal violence are
hurt religious sentiments. The causes are flimsy such as playing music before a mosque,
insulting the Prophet or the Holy Quran. This is sufficient to provoke violence among some of
the Muslims. So also disturbing by Muslims of a religious yatra is enough to rouse Hindu ire.
(Patel,1990: 41-42).

3.4.3 Reasons for Communal Riots

In the context of our section of communal riots we turn now to some further reasons for the
same. As Ghosh (1981) points out the several arguments have been forwarded for the existence
and continuation of communal riots. These are:

i) Riots ark part of progress in an under developed country. The class struggle is converted into
a communal struggle weakening the solidarity of the proletariat class. Further the middle and
backward classes have acquired greater political and economic strength and influence and these
often assert themselves. Economic conflicts lead to riots as in Bihar Sharif and Bhiwandi.

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ii) Electoral politics determine the objectives and direction of communal violence e.g. Delhi
1986. These explanations cannot be binding-they cannot be held to the necessary and sufficient.
Often economic reasons emerge after (not before) the rioting has begun. Again in a developing
society economic factors where competitive or one lagging behind the other can lead to a riot.
The same applies to reductionist political causes. The idea of behind-the-scene political
manipulation may not be valid.

3.4.4 Economic and Social Dimensions

Regarding gaining economic benefits after the eruption of communal riots we find that in
Godhra, Hindu Sindhi refugees from Pakistan gave competition to Hindu merchants. But riots
have frequently emerged between Sindhis and Muslims. Again in Punjab while Ramgarhia and
other Sikhs have gone beyond the Hindu Khatris in commerce there have been no riots because
of this. Lastly in the Punjab tragedy, the terrorist acts while antagonising the Hindus, are not
considered to be the acts of the Sikh community as a whole. Hindu-Muslim riots in recent times
have been confined to medium sized towns and cities. These include areas like Meerut, Aligarh,
Moradabad, Pune etc. The people in a riot tend to be crowd oriented, and the conflict tends to
be very violent. These people tend to be merciless. A "cause" is often espoused: for – example
in 1969 the handbills have a call for dharmayudha by the Hindu militants. Thus in recent
decades from the 60s onward the trend has been for collective orientation and in-group
loyalties. Moreover, the functional independence of caste and community are disintegrating
and replaced by competitive patterns. This makes for greater tension in interactions between
people let alone communities.

3.4.5 Inter-Community Dynamics

Medium sized towns/cities are being divided on communal lines. We find that the workers don't
have class consciousness. The educated middle class professional acts as a bridge between
Hindus and Muslims. During pre-partition there were Muslim doctors; lawyers etc. who also
attracted Hindu clients-Similarly Hindu professionals were patronized by Muslim clients-Thus,
i) Common bonds developed
ii) There were common networks and patronization.

Again the existence of Muslim professionals, administrators etc. created a positive image for
the Muslims. Post partition mass migrations saw these advantages vanishing. Many trade and
economic activities are run by Hindus and there were no problems so long as the Muslims were

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not competitive. There was interdependence between Hindu employers and Muslim artisans.
However, in recent time economic Competitiveness come from Muslims and has turned into a
religious threat to Hindus. Again channelling of Arab money into mosque renovation and lavish
festival celebrations has resulted in an admixture of economics and religion which creates
intercommunity tensions and eruptions of violence. What the factors are which can remedy the
communal divide in India. Some suggestions have been given (Verma, 1990, 63-65). The
suggestions include that religion should be separated from politics and communal bodies should
be banned. Further the freedom of press should not extend to spreading communal ideas.
Communalism needs to be denounced by political leaders and all leading citizens. Measures
should be taken for raising the economic lot of the minority community. About all overall ethos
should be created which leads to peace between communities and an end to communal violence.
Community leaders should explain the situation to the community and defuse tensions. Let us
now turn to secularism. Thus communalism has an ugly aspect and goes against national
integration. Religion should not become the whipping boy of political ambitions.

3.5 LINGUISM

India is most famous for its social mosaic of diverse religious, linguistic and ethnic
heterogeneities. This means this diversity also becomes a base of multiple social, cultural and
political identities and has its roots in gender politics, sexual politics, ethnic politics, and
religious interpretations, and sometimes a combination of one another. The question we need
to ask is how have we successfully as a nation‐ state been able to survive with such diversity?
More so, this question holds much relevance because when in the past attempts to homogenise
diverse cultural practices in the name of national integration or cultural assimilation have failed
it has often led to revolutionary revolts and agitations. Language has also been an attention‐
grabbing source of identity for many in Indian society. Besides being a channel of
communication, language has two major roles in society. It influences distribution of power
and wealth, particularly in an under‐literate society. It also acts as emotional and cultural
cement for the social compact (Ahire, 2002). In the Indian context, language related issues have
always remained under examined and has often been relegated to the margins especially in the
process of nation building. For this reason, let us first briefly discuss the relationship between
language and identity politics in India.

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Identity Politics is said to “signify a wide range of political activity and theorising founded in
the shared experiences of injustice of members of certain social groups” (Cressida, 2014). It
essentially means a demand for an identity based on differences rather than equality. As a
political activity it is focused to signify a body of political underpinnings to attempt recovery
of social groups striving for a sense of ‘selfhood’ which for long has been subjected to politics
of exclusion and disintegration. Identity politics thus attempts to attain empowerment,
representation and recognition of social groups by asserting the very same markers that
distinguished and differentiated them from the others and utilised those markers as an assertion
of selfhood and identity based on difference rather than equality. Language is one such essential
source of attainting a distinguished sense of selfhood. Language can hardly be treated as a
homogeneous entity. It means much more than simple a means of communication. It
fundamentally contributes to the formation of social and political identities of similar people
belonging to different communities. However we must also understand that it may not always
necessarily unite people. Language successfully divides people as much as it unities. As a part
of the macro dimension of the society, language plays a central role in defining peoples’
national, sub‐national and group identity.

3.5.1 Linguistic Conflict and Language Movements in India

In the United States of America, one of the popular approaches to understand multiculturalism
and diversity is through the salad bowl view which means‐ 1) Creating of a national identity by
recognizing diversities as central pressure points that promote and celebrate national
integration. 2) Reliance on democracy to resolve conflicts, which means upholding the interest
of the masses in a true democratic manner by giving them their right to express, and accept
their demands (Klob, 2009).

In the Indian context, the question of language conflict was handled with a similar approaches
and strategies. Realistically, these strategies have failed miserably to tackle the problem of
language policy in India. In principle, despite such policies for inclusion of linguistic minorities
some groups remain discontented, either because their distinctiveness is not recognized, or if
recognized, not given equal treatment. If multi‐cultureless is a notable fact in India and
linguistic diversity is boasted as a part of cultural heritage then why is it that in the past as well
as today the state continues to deal with language as an obstacle in its successful functioning?
What is the basis of emergence of language movements in India? The Linguistic movement in
India dates back to the 19th century of the pre-colonial era in Orissa (present day Odisha). It is

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one of the best examples to understand formation of states on linguistic basis in pre‐independent
India. Language provided the base for the growing nationalist movement in Orissa during this
period. The common people particularly the intelligentsia resisted Oriya being replaced or
dominated by other languages like Bengali, Telugu and Hindi. The Orissa intelligentsia strove
for a regional, linguistic and cultural identity for themselves.

Finally in the year 1936 the Orissa state came into being under the Orissa Province as the first
Indian state formed on linguistic basis due to the efforts of Madhusudan Das. At this point, let
us try and understand the social and political reasons that lead to linguistics conflicts and
movements (Acharya, ____). King (2008) raises a very prominent question‐what are the
components that lead to language conflicts and what makes language a dominating political
concern? He offers us the following indexes that may lead to language based conflicts across
the world –
1) The existence of more than one language or dialect competing for political, economic, and
cultural ‘‘space” often leads to conflict. Thus, the more the number of languages the greater is
the likelihood of language becoming a worrisome political issue for that nation‐state. In fact,
this is particularly true for countries which are grappling with the question of what the national
language should be.
2) There must be social differences that correlate with language. These social differences
include class in general and caste in particular and perhaps most generally “ethnicity”. In
contemporary usage it’s the most conveniently used elastic cover term for anything that sets
one segment of the society apart from the ‘other’.

3) There is a strong co‐relation between language and economic prosperity. While well‐to‐do
countries like Belgium can have major language problems normally the generalization holds
that the better‐off the country, the greater the likelihood that language will not be a major
political problem.

4) History and awareness of history are peculiarly relevant to the augmentation of linguistic
conflict. If a culture is inclined to “remember” slights from the past those slights easily grow
into language grievances. After Independence, the framers of the Indian Constitution had a
back breaking task to perform‐ the task of ensuring that linguistic diversity is withheld in the
Constitutional Assembly. For this purpose, they had to put together a Constitution that not only
preserved political unity, but also acknowledged and promoted cultural and linguistic diversity.
Agnihotri (2015) argues that the Constitutional Assembly of independent India which held its

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first meeting in 1946 and last in 1950 poorly failed in understanding the complex issue of
language right from its genesis, particularly when they tenaciously debated about the language
question only in terms of language of the judiciary, national/official language, languages to be
recognised in the eighth schedule linguistic, etc. They hardly appreciated multilingualism, as
something which essentially constituted the essence of India and was characterised by fluidity
of this linguistic and ethnic diversity, cannot be represented by forming linguistic states
suggesting each area may have only one single medium of instruction. Much of the debates on
linguistics issues in the assembly centered on the linguistic division of India which the
Nehruvian government never fully rejected.

According to a baseline survey of Indian languages in 2013 by the People’s Linguistic Survey
of India, the country has lost nearly 250 languages in the last 50 years. The whipping of
languages calls for serious attention of the state to ensure that the linguistic diversity of the
country is retrieved. Language development as a part of the nationalization mission in India
should be more inclusive and representative of all the sections of the society speaking languages
and dialects exclusive to their little cultural traditions. Besides, there is a growing concern to
understand in the age of globalisation how local cultures are being easily absorbed. This is true
particularly in the case of English as being a compulsive allay of the new middle class in India.
English continues to be a symbol of cultural capitalism in the global world and thereby brings
a ‘new linguistic order, combining both globalization and localization of languages globally
(Sarangi 2009, 36). What is imperative is to resist this global hegemony and look for avenues
to promote, spread and maintain linguistic heterogeneity especially in a country like India
where language is more than a mere vehicle of communication for the masses. It is more about
access over resources, interests and more importantly the right to choose from many. Some of
the upcoming major challenges for the language debate in India include the relationship
between language and caste, language and gender and newer forms of linguistic nationalism
and conflict especially those unfolding in the North eastern part of India.

3.6 REGIONALISM

The term regionalism has various connotations. At the international level, regionalism refers to
transnational cooperation to achieve a common goal or to resolve a shared problem or it refers
to a group of countries, such as Western Europe, the Western Balkans, or Southeast Asia, that
are linked by geography, history or economic features. Used in this sense, regionalism refers

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to attempts to reinforce the links between these countries. Today, the foremost example of such
an attempt is the European Union (EU) (Bevir, 2009). In the Indian context, the term
regionalism refers to the ‘ism’ which evokes pride in the inhabitants for the region they belong
to. When we-feeling and loyalty of the people of a region exceeds the feeling for the nation that
is regionalism. Thus, it is a regional loyalty in place of national loyalty. At the core of
regionalism is a profound sense of identity, which is real, and as dear, to a people than their
feeling of identity with a state or a nation or a religious group, or a linguistic group. These are
cultural realities, and one cannot just wish them away (Maheshwari, 1973, p.442). Regionalism
is a process in which sub-state actors become increasingly powerful and independent of the
state: power devolves from the central state to regional governments within it (Gochhayat,
2013).

According to Bhattacharya (2005), regionalism has possibly remained the most compelling
force in Indian politics after independence. Regionalism largely has two connotations. In the
negative sense, it implies excessive attachment to one’s region over the state. In the positive
sense it is a political attribute associated with people’s love for their region, culture, language,
etc. In India, the term regionalism largely has a negative connotation. Such feelings develop
among the people due to the feeling (real or created) of continuous neglect by the government
which has led to uneven development among the regions. The existence of a region, does not
per se give rise to regionalism. It is the nexus between people and their socio- economic and
political environment which gives rise to regionalism. The degree of regionalism of particular
areas can increase or decrease depending on regional dynamics, in which global as well as
national/local forces of course have an impact (Majumdar, 1997). Regionalism in Indian
politics is treated by nationalist leaders as a very serious threat to the progress, peace and unity
of the country. It has generally been regarded as something that is anti-national, anti-system,
anti-federal and against the basic interests of a well-integrated and well- developed polity
(Reddy, 1979, p.3).

3.6.1 Regionalism in India: A Brief Background

Contemporary India is witnessing various movements centered on identity issues. These
movements are fought on the lines of region, religion, language, caste and community. These
struggles have found expressions in the changed mode of electoral representation that has
brought the local/regional into focus with the hitherto politically dormant groups and regions
finding voices. A more genuinely representative democracy has led to the sharpening of the

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line of distinction between or among the identity groups and regions (Kumar, 2009:14). The
federal system in India confers more power to the Centre than to the States. As a result there
are various tensions in various regions of India which are different from others parts of India
in terms of culture, language, and many other factors. Regionalism in India is rooted in India’s
manifold diversity of languages, cultures, tribes, communities, religions and so on, and
encouraged by the regional concentration of those identity markers, and fuelled by a sense of
regional deprivation. However, the centre- state relations stand as the root cause of regionalism
in India (Gochhayat, 2013). Regionalism in India has remained a powerful force in the post-
independence politics in India. It has its roots in the history and the geography of India. India
is a land of diverse culture, language, tribes, communities and religions. These are concentrated
in certain parts of India i.e., the identity markers are concentrated in certain regions. The post-
independence, linguistic reorganization of states could not contain all the sub-regions. In spite
of carving states on the basis of language, there remained certain sub-regions which had
different cultures or languages. This led to the demand of separate statehoods. These have often
taken the form of countrywide agitations and campaigns. Secessionist movements rose in
Punjab, Kashmir, Manipur, Tripura and Nagaland and movements for autonomy rose in
Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh, Uttaranchal, and Gorkhaland.

Thus keeping in mind India’s rich linguistic and regional diversity, some of the marginalised
groups have been ignored by the state in the past. They have remained outside the purview of
the state’s development paradigm. To overcome this inequality and to prevent political
instability, past governments have granted special status and provisions to particular ethnic
groups such as religious and cultural rights for minorities, protective discrimination for
marginal groups and grant of autonomous administrative units. This has, however, led to the
increased use of identity as the basis for making demands and obtaining entitlements from the
state. As a result, the heightened competition between identity groups has further politicized
the issue of identity. For instance, the movements for the creation of separate Gorkhaland in
West Bengal – demanding a bifurcation of West Bengal into a Nepali-speaking Gorkhaland
and Bengali-speaking West Bengal – and of a separate Bodoland in Assam are purely based on
the issue of identity. The Gorkhas and the Bodos demanded autonomous states of their own
based on their identities, which were treated as inferior to the dominant Bengali and Assamese
identities in West Bengal and Assam, respectively.

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To take another instance of identity-based collective mobilizations in India, the movement for
an independent Kashmir gained momentum in the 1990s in response to electoral malpractices,
neglect of people’s opinion, removal of special status granted to Jammu & Kashmir, low levels
of socio-economic development, high levels of unemployment, and political interference by
the central government and so on. The Naga insurgency came to an end after the central
government accepted the demand of the Nagas for a separate state to be carved out of three
districts of Assam, where the majority was the Naga-speaking community. So, in 1962, the new
state of Nagaland was formed. Similarly, Meghalaya, Manipur and Tripura were created in the
1970s to meet the people’s aspirations for self-rule, based on their distinct identity (Vinod
2014). Thus, regionalism in India is manifested in 4 ways: demand of the people of certain
areas for secession from the Indian Union, demand of the people of certain areas for separate
statehood, demand of the people of certain union territories for full-fledged statehood, and the
demand of certain people for favourable settlement in inter-state disputes (Perumal, cited in
Narang, 1985:304).

3.6.2 Causes of the Rise of Regionalism in India

Let us briefly see the causes of the rise of regionalism in India. Firstly, regionalism develops if
certain regions feel neglected (real or imagined) by the ruling parties. Hechter (1975) refers to
this phenomenon as internal colonialism. In this, the concentration of power in the hands of
few in a state may also lead to a demand for a separate state. The demand for a separate state
of Vidarbha in Maharashtra is an example of this. People in Vidarbha felt neglected as though
there are many dams in Maharashtra, yet the region of Vidarbha faces drought almost every
year. Most farmers commit suicides there every year. People from other parts of Maharashtra,
who are politically more powerful, are successful in grabbing resources for their regions in
Maharashtra. Many a times, regionalism is seen in the form of inter-state disputes largely over
sharing of mineral resources and river-water. For instance, as is seen in Tamil Nadu and Andhra
Pradesh.
India has a very large geographical area. As a result, many a times, the national government
imposes certain types of culture, language and identity on the people. Certain regions do feel
this as an imposition. Regionalism develops in these regions so that they themselves can
develop their own culture and language. Uttaranchal and Jharkhand are cases in point. For
instance, the people from South India think that to have Hindi as the national language is an
imposition on them from the people of the North. There is discontent among the South Indians

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regarding this matter. The various development programs carried out in certain regions of India,
make regional disparities more acute. This leads to a sense of deprivation among the people of
certain regions. This, coupled with increasing politicization in the community, is sure to impart
sharper focus to regionalism which would emerge more prominently as a factor of significance
in Indian polity (Gochhayat, 2013).

Some regions in India especially in northeast have been demanding autonomy from India, on
the basis that the Indian government has been giving them step-motherly treatment. The
problems of the North East region are particularly acute as they never felt as ‘belonging’ to
India. This was because of various reasons like: they were poorly connected to the other parts
of India, their history, their culture was not adequately represented, they are ethnically,
linguistically and culturally very distinct from the other states, they are territorially organized
in such a manner that ethnic and cultural specificities were ignored during the process of
delineation of state boundaries in the 1950s and many other such reasons. As a result the North
East region of India is simmering with various ethnic conflicts, and secessionist movements
too have erupted in Nagaland. Regionalism is an ideology that is manufactured by the elite
belonging to the groups. To legitimize their power and domination by using an instrument of
regional ideology, they emphasize the differences between the different groups. A distinction
between ‘we’ and ‘they’, between regional ‘outsiders’ and ‘sons of the soil’ is brought to the
surface by them, transforming the latent emotions lying behind such phenomena into a regional
or sub-regional ideology to serve certain political ends. It is a conflict between regional elites
and national elites (Mudholkar, 1984). Many a times, the regional elites desire to have more
power in their region. Political parties like Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK), Telugu
Desam Party (TDM), Akali Dal and others have encouraged regionalism to gain more and more
power in their region.

3.6.3 Effects of Regional Disparities in India

Existence and continuance of regional inequalities and imbalances create various types of
tensions in a country which is multi-ethnic and multi-religious with various ethnic-religious
groups concentrated in some states, these tensions became a serious challenge to example
where because of regional disparities there emerged a sense of alienation leading to separatist
tendencies. Similarly, the movements for creation of Jharkhand, Uttarakhand and Telengana
states are also to a great extent because of neglect of these regions. Though these movements
by no definition are separatist or anti-national, they do pose challenges to social harmony.

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On the other hand, the development efforts and benefits concentrated in certain states and
regions have also given birth to vested interests. For instance, in areas where Green revolution
was introduced and has been successful, the new rich farmer class has become economically
and politically important. They are now interested in perpetuating the concessions and facilities
which were given to them. Thus it is now becoming difficult to divert the resources to under-
developed regions or states. Similarly, in the states with industrial growth, workers are
opposing the arrival of labour from other states to protect high wages and better service
conditions they have got because of rapid industrialisation. Both in developed regions and
backward regions, there is growing a strong feeling of regionalism. This is also stimulating
parochial, communal and sectional organisations. In India today, a large number of inter-state,
inter-community and to a great extent centre-state tensions are because of the persistence of
regional imbalances. The need for a balanced development, therefore, is important in the
interest of both national integration and people’s welfare.

3.7 LET US SUM UP

We have learnt in this unit the main impediments for national integration in the country and
identified the major ones as Communalism, linguism and Regionalism. The legacy of
communalism, linguism and regionalism was inherited by the independent Indian state. This
historical legacy had only got accentuated in recent years, because of the problems generated
by economic development and the resultant social changes.

The social changes and tensions which are quite natural in the course of development of a
society should not be allowed to aggravate and tear apart the very fabric of unity and integrity
of the country. Foundations of secularism and integration are to be strengthened by the policies
of the government. Resorting to communal politics should be discouraged, and instead,
programmes involving cross-section of people in various development projects and schemes
should be planned.

3.8 GLOSSARY

Communalism: This is a situation wherein religion and religious communities view each other
with hostility and antagonism. They may often come out in open conflict such as in communal
riots.

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Linguism: Discrimination based on a person's language

National Integration: In the process of national integration, people of a nation develop the
sense of we feeling, and are unified.

Regionalism: A process in which sub-state actors become increasingly powerful and

independent of the state: power devolves from the central state to regional governments within
it.

3.9 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS: THE ANSWER KEYS

1. Give three reasons of communal riots.

2. Write a note on how regional and linguistic identities can be brought into the national
integration.

3.10 REFERENCES

1. Panda A.N. (2001). Politics of Ethnicity and Regionalism and the State in India in J. Azam,
Kousar (ed), Ethnicity, Identity and the State in South Asia. New Delhi: South Asian Publishers
2. Ram Ahuja (1993). Indian Social System, Rawat Publications.
3. Rao ,C.N.Shankar (2004). Sociology of Indian Society, S.Chand& Co. Pvt. Ltd.(Revised
edt.).
4. Sharma, KL. (2008). Indian Social Structure and Change, Rawat Publication.

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UNIT-4: APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF INDIAN SOCIETY: STRUCTURAL,

FUNCTIONAL MARXIAN AND SUBALTERN

Structure

4.1 Learning Objectives

4.2 Introduction
4.3 Development of Sociology in India
4.4 Structural-functionalist Approach
4.5 Marxian Approach
4.6 Subaltern Approach
4.7 Let Us Sum Up
4.8 Glossary
4.9 Check Your Progress
4.10 References

4.1 LERNING OBJECTIVES

After go through this unit you will be able to know:

 Explore the development of Sociology in India;

 Discuss M.N. Srinivas’s structural-functionalist approach of Indian Sociology;
 Explain A.R. Desai’s Marxist approach on Indian Sociology;
 State the subaltern perspective of Ranjit Guha.

4.2 INTRODUCTION

This Unit presents the learners to the sociological approaches to understand Indian society.
Sociology emerged in the West and therefore, the sociological approaches of the West
expanded to other parts of the globe. However, many Indian scholars began to realise that there
are various social aspects that are peculiar to Indian society which need to be studied through
Indian perspectives as against the Western approaches that had been universally applied to.
This led to the emergence of Indian sociology. This Unit is about approaches to the study of
Indian Society such as structural functionalist, Marxian and Subaltern approaches.

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4.3 DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIOLOGY IN INDIA

Sociology as a distinct discipline was emerged in India during 1920s. It was started with the
establishment of separate departments of sociology in Bombay and Lucknow Universities.
Teaching of sociology started first in Bombay University in 1914. At the same time Sociology
was also introduced by A.R.Wadia at Mysore University in Karnataka. The percentage of
universities having sociology department had a slow trend during 1920s to 50s. But after 1960,
23.8 per cent had sociology departments (Nagla, 2008). By 1965, the trend increased to 29. 6
per cent. Some Western sociologists like Herbert Risley, B.S.Cohn, Sir Henry Maine, David
Pocock, McKim Marriott contributed a lot for the development of Sociology in India. Besides
them, some Indian scholars such as Radhakamal Mukherji, G.S. Ghurye, B.N. Seal,
D.P.Mukherji, B.K. Sarkar, D.N. Majumdar, K.M. Kapadia, M.N. Srinivas, Iravati Karve, S.C.
Dube, M.S.A. Rao, and A. R. Desai contributed for the foundation of Sociology in Indian
universities. Prof. Nagla (2008, pp.25-26) discussed the major sociological discourses to
develop sociology in India. They are:

i) The development of sociology in India may be viewed in terms of the historicity of social
conditions that have shaped the sociological perspectives from time to time. The theoretical
and cognitive systems of sociology are socially conditioned (singh, 1986). It is to be hoped that
thinking in this direction will result in the concentration of contested themes and in the recovery
of key Indian socio-cultural realities and textual traditions, traditions that have remained or
continue to remain as an excluded part of hegemonic sociology or its margin (Nadarajah, 1996).
Perhaps, this is the right time to resume the ‘Indian Sociology’ by recognizing context and
culture of the society and to overcome from the identification of sociology as solely a western.

ii) The production of sociological knowledge can be qualitatively changed with a sociological
curriculum helping the multifaceted contestation of western sociological knowledge. There is
a need to consider not only the content of social science education in our universities but also
the methodology used in the production of such knowledge (Nadarajah, 1996).

iii) Institutionalization of research requires a proper fit between the growing needs of theory
and the increasing demands of society. Generally, public funds are made available in terms of
the criteria set out for priorities. The question of priorities has to be answered in the context
of the relevance of research.

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iv) While paying attention to research priorities, the needs of individual scholars pursuing a
promising but out-of-the way enquiry should not be neglected. Research efforts involving
interdisciplinary approach or bold methodological innovation should, on principle, be
encouraged.

4.4 STRUCTURAL-FUNCTIONALIST APPROACH (M.N. SRINIVAS (1916-1999)

Sociological functionalism is closely related to the structural functional approach in sociology,

which tries to explain the various social forms found in tribal societies in terms of their
contributions to social cohesion. To put it simply, the structural functional approach is a
perspective in sociology that sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to
promote solidarity and stability. It asserts that our lives are guided by social structures, which
are relatively stable patterns of social behavior. Social structures give shape to our lives - in
families, the community, and through religious organizations. Certain rituals, such as a
handshake or complex religious ceremonies, give structure to our everyday lives. Each social
structure has social functions, or consequences, for the operation of society as a whole.
Education, for example, has several important functions in a society, such as socialization,
learning, and social placement. The proponents of this perspective focus on the understanding
of the ‘ordering’ and ‘patterning’ of the social world. Their theoretical and empirical analyses
have generally been based on the assumption that societies can be seen as persistent, cohesive,
stable, generally inherited wholes, differentiated by their cultural and social structural
arrangements. This perspective of society stresses on the elements of harmony and consistency
and not those of conflict and contradiction. Structural functionalism has borrowed elements
from biological sciences, where structure pertains to the structure of an organism that is made
up of relationships and functions of its various cells. Srinivas once wrote that “In the recent
British social anthropology, the two important concepts of- structure and function- imply that
every society is a whole and that its various parts are interrelated. In other words, the various
groups and categories which are a part of society are related to each other”. This approach relies
more on the field work tradition for understanding social reality so that it can be understood as
a contextual perspective of the social phenomena. M.N. Srinivas is one of the pioneers of this
approach.

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4.4.1 Dr. M.N. Srinivas (1916-1999)

M.N. Srinivas was a disciple of Dr. G. S. Ghurye and also a student of A.R. Radcliffe Brown
and Evans Pritchard at Cambridge. Srinivas’ sociology resounds the values of his first mentor,
G.S. Ghurye. His sociological visions asserted civilizational continuity, focused on the caste
system and assessed this traditional structure through the site of village. The introduction of
Functionalist social anthropology did allow Srinivas the space to initiate changes in the
methods used by Ghurye. While Ghurye’s definition of the caste system was a couched,
Indological point of view that is made from textual interpretation, Srinivas relied on the field
view to extend his definition of caste (Patel, 2010). Srinivas explained two basic concepts to
understand Indian society:

a) Book view- Knowledge about the elements which make up Indian society like religion,
varna, caste, family, village, etc. come from sacred texts and books. This view is also known
as the Indological approach.

b) Field view- Srinivas believed that knowledge about different regions of the Indian society
can be attained through field work. This he called field view. Srinivas used the field view and
the empirical method of ethnography to study the caste system in village settings. The paper
will be divided into parts based on the two themes of Srinivas’ contributions to the discipline
and it will try to locate the underlying perspective of structural functionalism in two themes.
The following are the categorized themes:
 Caste system, the study of village, and religion
 Social change

4.4.2 Caste System and the Village

Srinivas viewed caste as a segmentary system. Every caste for him is divided into sub-castes
which are:
 The unit of endogamy
 Whose members follow a common occupation
 The units of social and ritual life
 Whose members share a common culture;
 Whose members are governed by the same authoritative body, like the panchayat.

Besides these factors of the sub-caste, there are certain other attributes which are also
important:

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Hierarchy: Hierarchy, for Srinivas, is the core or essence of the caste system. It refers to the
arrangements of hereditary groups in a rank order. According to him, it is the status of the top-
most or Brahmins and the bottom-most or untouchables, which is the clearest in terms of rank.
The middle regions of the hierarchy are the most flexible.

Occupational difference: According to Srinivas, there is a close relationship between a caste

and its occupation. For him, caste is nothing more than the ‘systemization of occupational
differentiation’. Castes therefore can be known by their occupations, e.g. Lohar (ironsmiths),
Sunar (gold-smiths), etc.
These occupations are placed in a hierarchy of high and low.
Restriction: on commensality, dress, speech and customs.
Pollution: The distance between castes is maintained by the principles of pollution. Any
contact with the polluted, whether an object or being, renders a caste impure and demands that
the caste or its member undergo purification rituals.
Caste panchayats and assemblies: Every caste is subject to the control of an order maintaining
body or a panchayat. The panchayat may be formed by the elderly of each caste.

Further every caste is also answerable to the authority of its caste assembly, which may extend
beyond village boundaries. These attributes of a caste determine the nature of inter-caste
relations. In his Varna and Caste, Srinivas initiates a discussion on the nature of the caste system
in India. He argues for the substitution of Varna by jati (sub-castes) in order to assess the caste
system. Srinivas got the idea of studying Indian villages from his mentor Radcliffe-Brown. His
study of Rampur, a Mysore village is contained in his ‘The Remembered Village (1976). As a
sociologist, Srinivas’s main aim was to better understand Indian society which for him was best
exemplified by the caste system which prevailed and was best noticed in Indian villages. Thus
when Srinivas discusses the caste system, he does by evaluating it within the limits of the
village. In this, Srinivas’ approach is found to be similar to the colonial practice of identifying
space as a site for examining traditions, the village (Patel, 2011). Srinivas considered the village
as the microcosm of Indian society and civilization. His search for the identity of Indian
traditions leads him to infer that Indian traditions are found in caste, village and religion. His
conceptualization of traditions is in no sense secular but rather at par with the Hindutva notion
of Indian traditions. At this point he suggested that the caste system was resilient, adapting
itself to new changes, those being inaugurated by the economy and the polity. Particularly when
examining mobility in modern India, he highlighted the continuous adaptive character of the

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caste system and its ability to adjust to modern processes of change and presented two paths of
mobility- Sanskritization for those within the Hindu fold and Westernization for those
outside it (Srinivas, 2002).
Srinivas divides the population of the village by caste and by occupation and then examines the
relationship of these castes with agriculture, and connects these to their occupation. The idea
here is to show the organic interaction of each caste with each other, in a functional way. This
system is shown to have flexibility because of the integration of the parts to the whole. He
further states that caste is best understood by focusing not only on the middle ranks but also in
the context of the internal ranking of each jati with the other. The ambiguity of rank and status
allows for mobility of groups. It is in this context that he coins the concept of Dominant Caste.
He first proposed it in his early papers on the village of Rampura. Since then, this concept has
been widely applied to a great deal of work on social and political organization in India. He
defined dominant caste in terms of six attributes placed in conjunction:
 Sizeable amount of arable land;
 Strength of numbers;
 High place in the local hierarchy;
 Western education;
 Jobs in the administration;
 Urban sources of income.

Of the above mentioned attributes, the following three are most important in determining the
dominant caste: (i) numerical strength, (ii) economic power through ownership of land, (iii)
political power. Accordingly, a dominant caste is any caste which has all the three mentioned
attributes, in a village. The interesting aspect of this concept is that the ritual ranking of a caste
no longer remains the major basis of its position in the social hierarchy. Even if a caste was
considered low in the social hierarchy due to its ritual ranking, it could still become the
dominant ruling caste or group in a village if it were numerically large, owned land and had
political power over village matters. There is no doubt that a caste relatively higher in the ritual
rank would find it easier to become the dominant caste but this is not always the case. For
example, in the village Rampura in Mysore, as studied by Srinivas, the peasants were the
dominant caste in the village even though they were ritually ranked below the Brahmins of the
village. They were numerically more, owned lands and had political influence on the affairs of
the village.

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4.4.3 Social Change

Social change is a recurrent theme of interest among Indian sociologists and social
anthropologists. Srinivas constructs a macro-level understanding of social change using a large
number of micro level findings on the processes of ‘brahmanization’, ‘sanskritization’,
‘westernization’, and ‘secularization’.

 Brahmanization: Srinivas’ work Religion and Society among the Coorgs of South
India (1952) led him to formulate the concept of Brahmanization to represent the
process of imitation of life-ways and ritual practices of Brahmins by low-caste Hindus.
The concept was used as in explanatory device to interpret the changes he observed in
the ritual practices and life-ways of the lower castes that he observed through intensive
field study.
 Sankritization: The notion of Brahmanization had implicit possibilities of further
abstraction into a higher level concept of ‘sanskritization’, which Srinivas introduced
because his own field data and that of many others indicated the limitations of using an
only Brahmanical model as a frame of reference. Thus, sankritization came to replace
brahmanization. In ‘Social Change in Modern India (1966)’, he defined sanskritization
as the process by which a ‘low’ caste or tribe or other group takes over the customs,
rituals, beliefs, ideology and style of living of a high, and in particular, a twice-born
caste. The sanskritization of groups usually has the effect of improving its position in
the local caste hierarchy. The dominant caste of a village can be a local source of
sanskritization or even a barrier to the process.
 Westernization: The term westernization was used by Srinivas to denote the changes
that occurred due to contact with British socio-economic and cultural innovations.
 Secularization: This term has been used to explain the process of institutional
innovations and ideological formulation after independence to deal with the question of
religious groups and minorities.

In Srinivas, we do not have a two-stage model of structural transformation, that of transition

from pre-modern to modern. Rather, Srinivas discusses only one structure, that of the caste
system which seems to encompass both stages. Secondly, in his work we do not have a theory
of modernity. Instead, we have a theory of social change based on mobility of groups in society,
perceived in terms of the two processes of sanskritization and westernization. This conceptual

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scheme, though referring mainly to cultural imitation, has a built-in structural notion- that of
hierarchy and inequality of power and privilege, since the imitation is always by the castes
social and economic status. This suggests that the caste system of modern India differs from
that of the earlier versions of this system, which respected different occupations and ways of
living. These changes have made caste adaptive to new influences, modified and moderate its
characteristics, but did not lead it to transform or completely vanish. In Srinivas’ work, the
structure of Indian society emerges as a kind of adjustment mechanism that expands and fits
into macro-changes as these envelop castes in search of new status positions.

His major contributions to Indian Society are:

1. Marriage and Family in Mysore (1942);
2. Religion and Society Among the Coorgs of South India (1952);
3. India’s Villages (Ed.) (1955);
4. Caste in Modern India and Other Essays (1964);
5. Social Change in Modern India
6. The Remembered Village (1976).

4.5 THE MARXIAN APPROACH (A.R. DESAI, 1915-1994)

Akshay Ramanlal Desai (1915-1994) is considered as one of the pioneers in introducing the
modern Marxist approach to empirical investigations in social sciences. In his early years he
was influenced by his father Ramanlal Vasantlal Desai, a well-known litterateur who inspired
the youth in Gujarat in the thirties to undertake developmental work for social transformation.
A.R. Desai took part in student movements in Baroda, Surat and Bombay. He graduated from
the University of Bombay, and also obtained a law degree and PhD in Sociology under G.S.
Ghurye from the same university in 1946. Desai’s studies did not deter him from taking part in
political activities. Even in Bombay, he got involved in the labour front and organized a trade
union of Bombay Electricity supply and transport workers, dock workers and glass workers. It
is during this period that he met with Neera desai, an eminent sociologist, herself having done
pioneering work in the field of feminist studies. They married in 1947. A.R Desai has advocated
the use of dialectical-historical model in his sociological studies. Desai closely studied the
works of Karl Marx and Freidrich Engels, and the writings of Leon Trotsky. Desai has been
one of the only sociologists who has consistently applied Marxist methods in his treatment of
Indian social structure and its processes. He rejected any interpretations of traditions with

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reference to religion, rituals, and festivities. His sociology is essentially a secular phenomenon
where he relies on economics to understand and analyze social structures. He has studied topics
like Nationalism and its social configuration (1966), examined community development
programmes for economic development in villages, treatment of urban slums and their
demographic problems (1972), and finally peasant movements (1979). All of these studies are
based on a Marxist method of historical-dialectical materialism. For A.R. Desai, contradictions
emerging in the Indian process of social transformation arise mainly from the growing nexus
among the capitalist bourgeoisie, rural petty-bourgeoisie and the state apparatus. This nexus
thwarts the ambitions and aspirations of the rural and industrial working class population. For
Desai, this contradiction is not resolved but rather, takes on new cumulative forms and methods
and re-emerges as social movements and protests. Social unrest for him is thus rooted in the
capitalist path of development followed by India, following the legacy of the national
movement. Desai began his academic career as a lecturer in Sociology at Siddharth College in
Bombay in 1946, and officially joined the Department of Sociology of Bombay University as
a lecturer in 1951. He became Professor and Head of the Department in 1969, and retired from
the same in 1976. Desai was also appointed as a senior fellow and a National Fellow at the
Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) from 1973-75 and 1981-85 respectively.
He was also the President of the Indian Sociological Society (1980-81) and the Gujarat
Sociological Society (1988-90).

Desai’s major writings can be clubbed into four broad categories:

 Indian Nationalism
 Path of development
 Peasant movements and
 State and Society: Democratic rights

4.5.1 Indian Nationalism

Question of how and why nationalism developed in India led him towards his doctoral work,
completed in the early forties. Social background of Indian Nationalism (1948) and its
companion volume Recent Trends in Indian Nationalism (1960) realize the need for a
comprehensive study of the structural transformation of Indian society during the British
period. His concerns with understanding feudal production relations, their role and
transformation, emergence of capitalist relationships and nationalist forces are presented in

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these volumes, out of which the first has been translated into various languages and run into
more than ten editions (Shah, 1990).

According to Desai’s understanding, Nationalism is a historical category. Its development has

to be understood in the context of the social and cultural history of a country. Indian nationalism
is an outcome of a number of objective and subjective forces which have evolved since the
beginning of the 19th century. It has emerged amongst the social and religious diversities of
the country, territorial vastness and powerful traditions and institutions. The central thesis of
both the above mentioned volumes is that British rule destroyed the pre-capitalist forms of
production relations and introduced modern capitalist property relations, which paved the way
for Indian Nationalism (Shah, 1990).

Desai puts forth that Indian nationalism emerged under the conditions of political subjugation
of the Indian people under the British rule. The British Empire introduced modern capitalism
for their own economic advancement, radically changing the existing economic structures of
the Indian society, introducing a centralized state, modern education and modern means of
communications and other institutions. This in turn led to the creation of new social classes
who achieved their own political and social power. These social forces, because of their very
nature came into conflict with British imperialism and thus became the basis of and provided
the motive for the rise and development of Indian Nationalism (Desai, 1948). Desai traces the
growth of the national movement in five phases, each phase based on particular social classes
which supported and sustained it. Thus, in the first phase, ‘Indian nationalism had a very narrow
social basis’. It was pioneered by the intelligentsia who were the product of the modern system
of education. Desai considers Raja Rammohan Roy and his followers as the ‘pioneers of Indian
nationalism’. This phase continued till 1885 when the Indian National Congress was founded.
It heralded a new phase which extended till 1905. The national movement now represented ‘the
interests of the development of the new bourgeois society in India’. The development in the
modern education had created an educated middle class and the development of the Indian and
international trade had given rise to a merchant class. The modern industries had created a class
of industrialists. In its new phase, according to Desai (1948), Indian national movement ‘voiced
the demands of the educated classes and the trading bourgeoisie such as the Indianization of
Services, the association of the Indians with the administrative machinery of the state, the
stoppage of economic drain, and others formulated in the resolutions of the Indian National
Congress’. The third phase of the national movement covered the period from 1905 to 1918.

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During this phase ‘the Indian national movement became militant and challenging and acquired
a wider social basis by the inclusion of sections of the lower-middle class’. In the fourth phase,
which began from 1918 and continued till the end of the Civil Disobedience Movement in 1934,
the social base of the national movement was enormously enlarged. The movement ‘which was
hitherto restricted mainly to upper and middle classes, further extended to sections of the Indian
masses.’

However, according to Desai, the leadership of the Congress remained in the hands of those
who were under the strong influence of the Indian capitalist class: ‘It was from 1918 that the
Indian industrial bourgeoisie began to exert a powerful influence in determining the
programme, policies, strategies, tactics and forms of struggle of the Indian national movement
led by the Congress, of which Gandhi was the leader.’ Two other significant developments
during this period were the rise of the socialist and communist groups since the late 1920s,
which tried to introduce pro-people agenda in the national movement, and the consolidation of
communalist forces which sought to divide the society. The fifth phase (1934-39) was
characterized by growing disenchantment with the Gandhi-an ideology within the Congress
and further rise of the Socialists who represented the petty bourgeois elements. Outside the
Congress various movements were taking place. The peasants, the workers, the depressed
classes and various linguistic nationalities started agitations for their demands. Moreover, there
was further growth of communalism. However, according to Desai, all these stirrings were not
of much consequence and the mainstream was still solidly occupied by the Gandhi-an Congress
which represented the interests of the dominant classes.

4.5.2 Path of Development

Desai’s State and Society in India (1975) and India’s Path of Development: A Marxist
Approach (1984) is a conceptualization of India’s capitalist development paradigm. He focuses
his attention on the state and its role in social transformation of the society. His Marxist
perspective leads him to observe that the state apparatus in the Third World take various
economic and social measures to protect the interests of its propertied classes. Thus, the legal
and administrative frameworks are evolved to promote the path of capitalist development. He
deems that the public sector, mixed economy, and social welfare programmes are nothing but
strategies adopted by the ruling classes to cater to the interest of the capitalist classes and
prevent the rising struggles of the exploited classes in the state. His conclusion, based on his
gathered data is that the bourgeoisie class of the Indian state is incapacitated because it has not

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been able to foster enough of a capitalist growth rate to overcome the backwardness of the
country (Desai, 1984). The central thrust of his volumes on rural sociology as well as agrarian
struggles has been to show how the Indian state has planned and transformed the agrarian
structure from pre-capitalist to capitalist relationships (Shah, 1990). Agrarian relationships
have been transformed substantially, as a result of state intervention through various land
legislations and ‘development’ programmes. Starting from the interventions of the British
government, their introduction of the new economic reforms disrupted the old economic system
by decaying the old land relations and artisans with the emergence of new land relations and
modern industries. The old village commune was eroded by the appearance of new peasant
proprietors or zamindars, as private owners of the land. The class of artisans disappeared with
the introduction of modern industry, to be replaced by new classes like the capitalist, industrial
workers, agricultural laborers, tenants, merchants, etc. Further, the land revenue system,
commercialization of agriculture, fragmentation of land etc. also led to the transformation of
the Indian village.

Therefore the British reforms impacted not only the economic outlook of the country but also
altered the social physiology of the society. It brought in new classes and therefore created new
and different types of social relations. At a higher level, this structural change brought about
the polarization of classes in agrarian areas, poverty in rural areas and exploitation by those
who owned land. It gave rise to a new class structure among agrarian society with categories
like Zamindars, absentee landlords (who might own land somewhere but be settled elsewhere,
like in cities), tenants, peasant proprietors, moneylenders, etc. Similarly, in urban society, there
were capitalist industrial working class, petty traders, and professional classes like doctors,
lawyers, engineers, etc. The introduction of railways, postal services, centralized uniform laws,
English education, modern industry, and so on, brought about qualitative changes and
unintentionally led to the unification of the Indian society, in spite of being introduced as
mechanisms of exploitation. For Desai, the role of the railways and the press was especially
significant in this direction. It brought together the scattered population into the mainstream
and the implication was social movements, collective representations, national sentiments and
consciousness at a wider level. This social-infrastructural set-up gave rise to the nationalist
freedom movement and the awakening of Indian nationalism.

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4.5.3 Peasant Movements

A.R. Desai’s Peasant Struggles in India (1979) and Agrarian Struggles in India after
Independence (1986) immediately became and continue to be a major source of reference on
agrarian social movements in India and the sociology of agrarian society in India. In Desai’s
view, agrarian relationships have been altered substantially as a result of state intervention
through various land legislations and development programmes. According to him, “the overall
thrust of the agrarian policy of the ruler has been to eliminate parasitic, absentee
intermediaries in the form of various categories of zamindars and absentee landlords and to
create in their place classes of agricultural capitalists, rich farmers and viable middle peasant
proprietors directly linked to the state’ (Desai, 1986). As a result of this, there have been created
sharp differentiations among the peasants, and the condition of small and marginal farmers and
agricultural laborers has deteriorated. Desai was extremely critical of the way land reforms that
were being carried out, created a class of private entrepreneurs in the form of agricultural
capitalists who had surplus resources to invest in agricultural improvements for profiteering.
Likewise, he also critically analyzed the policy and practice of promoting cooperatives and The
Green Revolution which created a further divide between the rich and poor and led to the
enhancement of economic and socio-political power of the rich. He strongly argued for the
adoption of alternative development models that involved social transformation through basic
structural changes in agrarian relations and institutions like the control of cooperatives and
industrial production. From the seventies onwards, Desai undertook projects to understand new
movements and trends taking place across India like the growth of contradictions in rural India
(growth of the Naxalite movement) and in urban areas as well (railway strikes, women’s
movements and protests against slum demolition). For him, the working class, the traditional
revolutionary force, was in the midst of changes both in the context of its structure and its
changing political consciousness (Patel, 2011). His study of the working class movement was
especially noteworthy because he did not restrict himself to the industrial working class alone
but encompassed the entire oppressed sections in society who were selling their labour power
in the market. He also made visible the definition of worker and working class in his study and
was the first to notice the ‘informal sector’ and the struggles of the unorganized sector workers,
later to be theorized by economists and anthropologists (Patel, 2011).

Desai puts forth that post-independence agrarian struggles are waged by the newly emerged
propertied classes as well as the agrarian poor, especially the agrarian proletariat, where the

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former fight for greater share of the fruits of development while the latter struggle for survival
or subsistence requirements for a better life. Desai maintained that progress could be achieved
only by radically transforming the exploitative capitalist system in India.

4.5.4 State and Society: Democratic Rights

In State and Society in India (1975), Desai puts forth a critique of the theories of modernization
accepted by a large number of academicians. In all his works, he puts the state at the centre and
throws light on its role as facilitator of social transformation and the role it could play in
abridging the rights of the oppressed. He analyzed how the state, in its pursuit of modernization
on a capitalist path, was playing a repressive role and the growing resistance to the same. Desai
classified democratic rights into three categories (Shah, 1990):
 One, the rights of the bourgeoisie property relations; which include the right to hold
property, right to employ wage labour etc.
 Second, the rights which are also termed civil liberties and are the product of the
bourgeoisie revolution. They include freedom of speech, habeas corpus petition,
freedom of press, public secular education, etc. Desai maintains that though these rights
are manipulated by the ruling classes to serve their interests, the oppressed classes also
use them to protect their class interests and accelerate their struggles.
 Third, like the bourgeoisie rights, there are the rights of the proletariat which include
the right to picket strike and organize. These are important for developing the struggle
of the proletariat against the ruling classes. The second and third categories of rights are
increasingly repudiated by the state to intensify the generation of surplus value and
capital accumulation. Desai holds that the increased policing of the second and third
rights are a result of the deteriorating socio-economic value of the capitalist framework
which makes it open to the criticism of the sub-standard and exploited life and labour
of people. His major contributions to Indian Sociology are:

1. Social Background of Indian Nationalism (1948)

2. Recent Trends in Indian Nationalism (1961)
3. Rural India in Transition (1961)
4. Rural Sociology in India (1969)
5. Slums and Urbanisation (1970)
6. Urban Family and Family Planning in India
7. Peasant Struggles in India (1978)

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4.6 THE SUBALTERN APPROACH (RANAJIT GUHA, 1923)

In critical theory and post-colonialism, subaltern is the social group who are socially, politically
and geographically outside the hegemonic power structure of the colony or the colonial
homeland. The subaltern identity is conceptually derived from the cultural-hegemony work of
the Italian Marxist intellectual Antonio Gramsci. There has been a characteristic tendency for
sociology, Social anthropology, history and ethnography to study the depths of micro-reality
but not rising above it into the realm of conceptualizing or theorizing it. The realm of subaltern
was not conceptualized properly till Ranajit Guha and his colleagues launched the subaltern
approach in a big way. Ranajit Guha is credited with the conception of ‘subaltern
historiography’, an important approach to the study of tribal/peasant movements in India and
elsewhere. This approach seeks to look into the politics of the ‘people’ as against the politics
of the elite played in the Indian history. Thus, it constructs the ‘people’ and the ‘elite’ as binaries
(Dhanagare, 1988). In the following paper, we look at Ranajit Guha’s method of subaltern
historiography, the historiography of the peasant and tribal insurgencies, the influence of
Marxism and other theoretical frameworks on his methodology, and the impact his subaltern
perspective has had on the trajectory of the discipline of Indian Sociology.

Proponents of the subaltern approach believe that the elitist historiography, whether that of the
neo-colonists or neo-nationalists has failed to incorporate or acknowledge the contributions
made by the people, independent of the elite. Rather, they have over-stated the role played by
them in the interpretation building of Indian Nationalism. It maintains that parallel to the
domain of elite politics, there has existed throughout the colonial period and later, another
domain of politics which has subaltern groups and classes like the laboring population, and
intermediate strata in towns and the country as the principal actors (Dhanagare, 1988). The
subaltern historiography looks at people as an autonomous domain, i.e. it neither rises from nor
depends on the national elite. Thus, it can be derived that unlike in elite politics, mobilization
in subaltern politics is achieved horizontally and not vertically. Guha admits that due to
differences in ideology, diversity of its social components, etc. the subaltern domain is not a
homogenous uniformity. There are diversions and divisions amongst these groups and these
tend to undermine the horizontal alliances.

The focus of subaltern historiography is to construct the ‘other history’, i.e. the history of
people’s politics and their attempts to forge their own histories. While analyzing tribal and

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peasant insurgencies in colonial India, Guha points out the objective of historiography as being
that of interpreting the past in order to change the present which requires a radical
transformation of consciousness. He therefore urges historians and social scientists to view
tribal or peasant insurgencies not merely as objects of history but rather as makers of their own
history with their own transformative consciousness (Dhanagare, 1988). According to Guha,
conventional discourses on peasant/tribal insurgencies have served under the colonial
historiography where they are looked upon as disturbances in the law and order system. In this
sense, these studies were ‘counterinsurgency’ attempts to prevent such uprisings in the future.
These studies for Guha, neglected to look at the consciousness ridden spontaneity and structure
in these movements, leaving them in the sphere of ‘pre-political’ phenomena. Ranajit Guha
was of the view that the term pre-political was value-laden and misleading and rather,
peasant/tribal insurgencies during colonial times have to viewed in the backdrop of the attempts
of the colonial state to establish landlordism, and parasitic landlords. The peasantry and tribal
groups rebelled against the oppression to which they were subjected in this existing structure
of power relationships. In this sense, their rebellions were not pre-political but were as political
as the politics under the Congress or left wing peasant struggles in the twentieth century. Guha
however does acknowledge that the basic elements like ideology, leadership, and aims of these
early movements were qualitatively different from the more advanced movements of the
twentieth century (Dhanagare, 1988). Ranajit Guha’s objective in studying insurgent
movements has been to understand how patterns of subordination and insubordination have run
parallel throughout the colonial period of India.

In order to better understand the subaltern historiography of the country, it is important to

look into the colonial historiography offered by Guha:
 The historiography of Indian Nationalism has been dominated by elitismcolonialist
and bourgeoisie-nationalist elitism. According to Guha, both originated as the
ideological product of the British colonialism.
 Both these varieties of elitism share the thought that the making of the Indian nation
and the development of the nationalist consciousness was a credit to their elite efforts.
 The colonialist historiography defines the Indian Nationalism as a response to stimuli,
i.e. it is an aggregation of the ideas, institutions and resources brought about by the
colonialism. This view looks at Indian nationalism as a sort of learning process
through which the native elite associated themselves with the colonial elite in order to
share in the rewards such as a share in wealth, power and prestige.

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 The nationalist elite on the other hand painted the Indian nationalism as a phenomenal
expression where the goodness of the native elite combined with their antagonistic
relation with the colonial regime covers the reality of their cooperativeness and
association with them. According to Guha, there is glorification on their part, of their
role as champions of the people and the oppressed, leading them to their freedom
rather than depicting their acceptance of a modicum of power and privilege granted to
them by the colonial powers.
 For Guha, this elitist historiography is not without its uses since it helps to understand
the ideological nature of the historiography itself.
 However, this kind of historical writing cannot be accepted since it presents an
incomplete and hence faulty picture of Indian nationalism. It is not inclusive of the
contribution made by the people themselves, independent of the national elites. It does
not explain how mass movements like the Quit India movement of 1942 and the anti-
Rowlatt upsurge of 1919 took place, amassing thousands of people. It does not situate
such movements as real political processes by the people, but rather as an ideological
appropriation by the influential elite.
 According to Guha, the inadequacy of the elitist historiography results from the fact
that the parameters of Indian politics is assumed to be those of the institutions
introduced and set-up by the British government and the corresponding set of laws,
attitudes, etc. and thus it equates politics with the activities of those directly involved in
operating these institutions.
 The elitist historiography leaves out the autonomous domain of politics of the people
consisting of subaltern classes and groups. This domain is termed autonomous by Guha
because it did not originate from the elite politics nor did it depend on it for its existence.
Its roots can be traced back to pre-colonial times since which it has transformed to adjust
itself to the conditions prevailing under the colonial rule. One of the important
characteristics of this domain was the horizontal mobilization of people relying on
traditional organization of kinship and territory, or, class associations depending upon
the level of consciousness of the people. These subaltern mobilizations tended to be
relatively more violent as against the legalistic and constitutionalist mobilizations of the
elite. They were also more spontaneous in nature, which for Guha was most
comprehensively visible in peasant uprisings.

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 In spite of the diversity of the subaltern domain, one of its features was a notion of
resistance to elite domination. This followed from the common position of subjugation
faced by all the social constituents of the domain.
 Another distinctive feature of the subalterns was the exploitation which these classes
were subjected to in varying degrees- its relation to the productive labor of peasants and
workers to the manual and intellectual labor of the nonindustrial urban poor and the
lower sections of the petty bourgeoisie. The collective experience of exploitation put
these classes as separate from the elite.
 Guha asserts that though there have been modifications in the course of these subaltern
mobilizations, these medications have still maintained the demarcations between the
elite and the subaltern. That is, they have coexisted. This for Guha is a result of the
inability of the Indian bourgeoisie to speak for the entire nation. They failed to integrate
vast areas in the lives and consciousness of the people into their hegemony. He terms
this as a structural dichotomy. The existence of such a structural dichotomy does not
mean that there has been no contact between the two domains, instead, Guha puts forth
that from time to time, and there efforts have been made by the bourgeoisie to integrate
them.
 Guha also maintains that the initiatives originated from the subaltern domain could not
be realized to their full potential of achieving national liberation because the working
class had not yet achieved the consciousness of being-a class- for-itself and also could
not firmly ally itself to the peasantry. The sectional nature of the subaltern domain did
not get the revolutionary leadership that required rising above the localism and reaching
a generalized nation-wide campaign. Guha contends that this failure due to the
inadequacy of the bourgeoisie and the working class to achieve national liberation is
the core subject matter to be studied in the historiography of colonial India.

4.6.1 The Historiography of Peasant Insurgency

As mentioned before, the historiography of peasant insurgency has been a record of the efforts
of the colonial administration to deal with mass uprisings in the country. These insurgencies
have always been looked at as uprisings which have disrupted law and order, a pathology which
needs to be corrected or brought under control. The peasant historiography of the country does
not locate such struggles as efforts to achieve social justice. In his study of ‘Elementary aspects
of Peasant Insurgency in Colonial India (1983)’, Guha seeks to acknowledge this failure and
instead understand the aims and motives of the insurgents themselves. He adopts the vantage

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point of the peasants and tries to evaluate the awareness the peasants have of their own world
and their situation and their will to change it. The object of this study was to depict the struggle
not as encounters but in its general form, the elements of which come from the long history of
the peasant’s subaltern position and his efforts to end it. Ranajit Guha has abstracted certain
elements and general ideas in the insurgent’s consciousness which point to the structural
similarity between various different movements from the period 1783- 1900 studied by
anthropologists, historians and ethnographers. These forms are – ‘negation’, ‘ambiguity’,
‘modality’, ‘solidarity’, ‘transmission’, and ‘territoriality’ (Dhanagare, 1988).

 Negation: According to Guha, the first elementary form of peasant or insurgent tribal
consciousness is negation (implying the formation of a negative identity). This suggests
that the rebel’s idea of his own identity is not formed of his own properties or
characteristics but by the ideas and negations of those superior. For example, the
insurgent’s identity of himself is formulated on the basis of the colonial administrations
identity of them as disrupters of law and order. This negativity for Guha does not form
a class consciousness in itself but rather is the first step in forming a class consciousness.
The formation of negativity, combined with the ability to differentiate between friends
and foes, leads to selective violence against perceived enemies. In the Indian context,
peasants and tribal insurgents negatively asserted their identity and consciousness by
rejecting the homological relations in feudal society, which is rejecting and turning up-
side down all the traditional forms of respect, dressing styles, writing, language, etc.
Negation thus involved the turning down of all symbols which were the preserve of the
feudal monarchies, from which the subaltern was always excluded.
 Ambiguity: As described by Guha, this element draws on the basic difference between
‘crime’ and ‘insurgency’. According to Guha, crime tends to be individualistic,
secretive or conspiratorial action, whereas insurgency has a mass character and is
manifested publicly. These two actions derive from two codes of violence. The outward
manifestation of this violence, however, may seem similar. Thus there is an ambiguity
in the violence which is a part of the insurgency.
 Modality: Modality is the third elementary aspect of these insurgencies. It is the
extension of the public nature of the peasant and tribal insurgencies. Guha draws on the
example of the Pabna riots of 1873, the Santhal upsurge of 1855 and the Deccan riots
of 1875 to bring out the concept of modality. In these examples, there is a stark search
by the rebels to search for an alternative source of authority, which was validated and

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stated through a general body of insurgents by rituals like presenting tokens (nazraanas)
to the elected representative. These ritualization were symbolic of not only their
validation of a more representative authority figure but also marked their rebellion as a
public service and a political act. Guha also states the secular nature of thismodality.
For him, mobilization in peasant and tribal insurgency rarely ever has taken on religious
overtones but this has been falsified later on. It is possible for agrarian distress to take
on religious overtones coupled with issues of ethnic identity as seen in the Birsa Munda
movement. Guha also does not give due importance to the economic modality of such
uprisings. Guha has asserted that in the course of their rebellion, actions of destruction
of property, looting and burning, does not have considerations of economic gain.
According to D.N. Dhanagare (1988), economic rationality can be completely absent
from such actions of the insurgents because certain examples like looting of cash by the
Santhals in Chotanagpur might be an effort to aim for power motives but also be
triggered by economic gains and opportunities. Guha’s subaltern project might have
glorified the actions of insurgents by denying them the practicality of economic
rationality, which the colonial historiography does suggest. Another modality
mentioned by Guha is that of plunder and destruction which is not to be confused with
killing and bloodshed. The latter for Guha, is more a modality for the counter-
insurgency projects. Guha attributes this lack of killing and bloodshed among tribal and
peasant insurgencies not to their compassion and heroism but to their lack in ability to
break away completely from their old semi-feudal culture.
 Solidarity: Solidarity is the next form through which the peasant consciousness
presents itself, according to Guha. It signifies the stage of separation from of the
insurgent’s own identity from that of its enemies. Guha has made two important points
here: firstly, the quality of ‘class consciousness’ changes from one phase of the
insurgency to the other. Secondly, class solidarity and other types of solidarity like those
rising from ethnic, religious, caste or filial ties do not have to be mutually exclusive.
Rather, they can overlap with one another. He characterizes this as the duplex character
of insurgency. This solidarity manifests itself as hostility towards and chastisement of
traitors. Insurgency inspires active collaboration against traitors among the insurgents
which for Guha is an articulation of the insurgent’s own class consciousness.
 Transmission: Through the element of transmission, Guha looks at the important way
in which an insurgency spreads itself. It does so through iconic and symbolic signs,

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even rumors. Transmissions of this sort- both verbal and visual- are usually mediated
through religion. Politics of rebellion or tribal insurgencies really are expressed through
sacred symbols because, for Guha, religion helps in arousing mass support.
 Territoriality: Lastly, territoriality is that aspect through which insurgents get bound
together via a mutual feeling of belonging to a common lineage as well as to a shared
habitat. It is an overlapping of the notion of common ethnic space and physical space.
Guha has also stressed that this element of consciousness has sometimes transcended
the limits of filial ties, or space or even both. Guha uses this to critique anthropologists
who failed to see beyond the anti-colonial content of the tribal revolts and peasant
movements in India and thereby helped in perpetuating the myth that such insurgencies
have been nothing more than demonstrations of ethnic antagonism against the outsiders
or mere ‘disturbance’ in the law and order of the colonial administration.

The main contributions of Ranajit Guha are as follows:

1. Elementary Aspects of Peasant Insurgency in Colonial India (1983)

2. A Subaltern Studies Reader, 1986-1995(1997)
3. Dominance without hegemony (1997)
4. Subaltern Studies: Une anthologie (2018)

4.7 LET US SUM UP

 M.N. Srinivas is considered as one of the first generation sociologists in the post-
independence period of the country. His sociological perspective was therefore
influenced by nation-building thoughts in order to promote the ideology of a unified
nation.
 He derives his structural-functional perspective of sociology from Radcliffe- Brown’s
notion of structure, who was his teacher at Oxford.
 Structural-functionalism is a perspective which views different parts of society which
contribute to the functioning of the whole. It is ken from the biological sciences where
different parts or organs of an organism function inter-dependently in order to maintain
the whole of the organism.
 Srinivas therefore studied continuities in the society rather than conflict resulting from
social change.

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 He relied on field-work and gathering empirical data rather than on the Indological
(textual or book-view) approach to construct his way of doing sociology, unlike his
guide, G.S. Ghurye.
 His work focused on the caste system and village studies, the latter in which case formed
the microcosm of Indian society. This comes from the ethnography following
Malinowskian tradition of studying primitive societies which are more compact and
small-scale in nature, thereby making it possible to study society in totality.
 In his study of the caste system, he substituted the concept of caste with jati, which for
him was how the population viewed caste. Jatis are sub-castes and differ from the four-
fold Varna system of studying the caste system.
 He brought within the discipline, terms like westernization and sankritization to explain
the processes of social change in the country.
 He coined the term ‘dominant caste’ to point out the flexibility or mobility within the
caste system, whereby a caste of lower socio-ritual ranking could still wield political
and economic control in an area.
 His structural-functional perspective allowed for the exclusion of religious minorities
and groups who did not fall under the fold of Hinduism.
 For Srinivas, Indian traditions are those that are manifested within the caste system and
the village. These traditions are then mostly Hinduized traditions and in no sense
secular.
 His construction of sanskritization and dominant caste put his perspective closer to the
Hindutva ideology of cultural nationalism.
 He maintained that social anthropology was not different from sociology in the Indian
context.
 His sociology does not study India in context of the wider world, capitalism and market
economy and its effects on the Indian society.
 He was prominent in institutionalizing his brand of sociology in the country through his
interactions with the government through institutions like the Indian Council of Social
Science Research (ICSSR).
 He believed that the role of a sociologist was that of mediator who had the duty to
present his findings in a language which made it easily understandable to the public in
order to prepare them for the transitions taking place in the society.

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 Srinivas believed he was living in the times of a silent revolution which he later termed
as a ‘living revolution’ brought on by the adult franchise.
 A.R. Desai was a Marxist and a Sociologist who did not see the difference between the
two (Patel, 2011).
 Desai analyzed contemporary social change in order to assess how it benefitted the few,
and thus his work was a critique of mainstream nationalism and its political projects. Its
focus was on the nature of the ruling class, their control of the state institutions and their
constant efforts to use developmental projects to aid their own reproduction.
 Desai’s area of sociological investigation was extremely wide which began with a
discussion of nation and class in the colonial period and moved to assess the state in the
post independent era. This analysis led him to assess planning and development in India
together with the rise of new classes in agriculture and within urban-industrial structure
and consecutively the contradictions and struggles that occurred because of this.
 The growth of social movements and the increasing communalization of the state led
him to analyze the nature of state-society crisis in contemporary India which in turn led
him to discuss the contemporary rights movements by new social actors.
 His perspective was a revolutionary departure from the earlier understandings of
mainstream nationalism and earlier conceptualizations of politics in India.
 Desai argued that colonial capitalism destroyed the institutions that could have
generated capitalism in India indigenously, and at the same time also mentions that
colonialism had the positive effect of making possible the growth of new social classes
which helped to create the conditions for the emergence of the nationalist movement.
 Ranajit Guha’s subaltern approach to the study of Indian society draws heavily from
the theoretical stream of Marxism. Marxism provides a logical and neat theoretical
framework for an alternative society. It has both cognitive and emotive appeal because
of its revolutionary notion. Even though Guha’s subaltern perspective borrows from
Marxism its revolutionary stance, it differs from it in the sense that it offers a view from
an Indian historiography and cultural window.
 According to Dhanagare, Guha’s subaltern approach combines four streams of
contemporary Marxism:
 The first of these is Gramscian Marxism which emphasizes the role of spontaneity of
the action of the subaltern population especially under a hegemonic state.

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 It also follows from the Trotskyite-Marxism in terms of how it treats consciousness. It

believes that objective theoretical positions are supreme and have to be viewed
objectively rather than shifting them according to interest. It means that the subaltern
approach to history views the role of the party, its actions and strategies as important
but not prior to necessary consciousness.
 The third stream is followed from the works of Eric Hobsbawn, George Rude and E.P.
Thompson, who showed the indispensability of material forces and actors of history.
 Guha and his associates have tried to model the trajectory of the subaltern approach in
the same lines as the Paris Uprising in 1968, the Latin American movements-
particularly the experience of Che Guevara in Bolivia and other similar movements.

4.8 GLOSSARY

Structural-functionalist perspective: the perspective sees society as a structure with

interrelated parts designed to meet the biological and social needs of the individuals in that
society.
Marxian perspective: a method of socioeconomic analysis that views class relations and social
conflict using a materialist interpretation of historical development and takes a dialectical view
of social transformation.
Subaltern perspective: stands for understanding the society through conditions of
subordination of people belonging to the different caste, class, age, gender, race etc.

4.9 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. How did sociology develop and grow in India?

2. Discus the Structural-functionalist Approach to study Indian Society.
3. Explain the Marxian Approach to study Indian Society.
4. What is Subaltern Perspective?
5. Who were the major Indian scholars who studied Subaltern perspective?
6. What is the main theme of Ranajit Guha’s work on Subaltern perspective?

4.10 REFERENCES

1. Hardiman, David (2006), History for the Subordinated, Permanent Black, New Delhi
2. Nagla, B.K. (2008), Indian Sociological Thought, Rawat Publications, New Delhi
3. Shah, Ghanshyam (ed.) (2001), Dalit Identity and Politics, Sage Publications, New Delhi

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Historical Moorings and Bases of Hindu
Social Organization

Unit-5: Varna Vyavastha and relevance

Unit-6: Ashrama and relevance
Unit-7: Purusartha and relationship with Ashramas
Unit-8: Doctrine of Karma
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UNIT-5: VARNA VYAVASTHA AND RELEVANCE

Structure

5.1 Learning Objectives

5.2 Introduction
5.3 Origin of Varna Vyavastha
5.3.1 Class in the west and caste in the East
5.3.2 Varna Vyavastha
5.3.3 Varna Dharma
5.4 Varna Vyavastha according to Vinoba
5.5 Criticism
5.6 Let Us Sum Up
5.7 Glossary
5.8 Check Your Progress
5.9 References

5.1 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After going through this unit you will be able to know-

 Origin of varna vyavasta
 Able to know caste in the east and west
 Know about Varna Vyavastha according to Vinoba

5.2 INTRODUCTION

"Varna vyavatha was created to the divisions of quality and work of the person," declares Lord
Krishna in the Bhagvad Gita. From the time of Vedas, that was the law for social harmony. It
was the result of progress of social sciences. It is not something imposed from an outer or
superior authority. Gandhi proclaims: "The rishis after incessant experiments and research
arrived at this fourfold division—the four ways of earning one’s livelihood. The different
professions can easily be brought under the four main division- that of teaching, of defending,
of wealth-producing and of manual service. So far as the world is concerned, the dominant
profession is wealth-producing, just as grihasthasharama is the most dominant amongst all

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ashramas, Vaishya is the keynote among the Varnas the defender is not wanted if there is no
wealth and property.

5.3 THE ORIGIN OF VARNA VYAVASTHA

The first two and the fourth are necessary because of the severe discipline required for it, the
second must be few in a well-ordered society, and so the fourth." He further states: "In a way,
Varna is the law of heredity. Varna is not a thing that is superimposed on Hindus, but men who
were trustees for their welfare discovered the law for them.

It is not a human invention, but an immutable law of nature—the statement of a tendency that
is ever present and at work like Newton's law of gravitation. Just as the law of gravitation
existed even before it was discovered, so did the law of Varna. By their discovery and
application of certain laws of nature, the peoples of the West have easily increased their
material possessions. Similarly, Hindus by their discovery of this irresistible society tendency
have been able to achieve in the spiritual field what no other nation in the World has achieved.
“Gandhi states: "Man being a social animal, he has to devise some method of social
organization. We in India have evolved caste; they in Europe have organized class. Neither has
the solidarity and naturalness of a family which perhaps is a God-ordained institution. If caste
has produced certain evils, class has not been productive of anything less. If class helps to
conserve certain social virtues, caste does the same in equal, if not in greater, degree. The
beauty of the caste system is that it does not base itself upon distinctions of wealth and
possessions. Caste is but an extension of the principle of the family."

5.3.1 Class in the West and caste in the East:

Gandhi must have experienced the unity of caste as one family in his native place Porbander
and therefore he approves of caste system. He observes caste system in its true sense and not
in its distorted form as it is today He contends: "The spirit behind caste is not one of arrognant
superiority, it is the classification of different systems of self-culture. It is the best possible
adjustment of social stability and progress. Just as the spirit of the family is inclusive of those
who love each other and are wedded to each other by ties of blood and relation. Caste also tries
to include families of a particular way of purity of life (not economic standard of life). Caste
does not connote superiority or inferiority. It simply recognizes different outlooks and
corresponding modes of life." Living in the West for a number of years, Gandhi was quite
aware of the distinctions of class and therefore compared the system of the West with that of

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the East. Caste is only an immobile class and class is only a mobile cate. But it is the caste
system which is a special feature of the Indian society Gandhi had come to the view that the
caste system must go in its prevailing form, but its good features must be retained. He declared:
"Varna has nothing to do with caste. Down with the monster of caste that masquerades in the
guise of Varna. It is this travesty of Varna that has degraded Hinduism and India. Our failure
to follow the law of Varna is largely responsible for both our economic and spiritual ruin. It is
one cause of unemployment and impoverishment, and it is responsible for untouchability and
defections from our faith."

Gandhi concedes that caste system has been corrupted and has produced many evils. But so
have other arrangements of social order. It does not therefore follow that it should be abolished
root and branch.

5.3.2 Varna Vyavastha

The heredity principle is followed even in societies based on class. But Gandhi does not
advocate the retention of the Varna Vyavastha simply because of the fact that other
arrangements are faulty. In his view, Varna Vyavastha is natural and affords greater
opportunities than other arrangements for self-realization and social harmony. In his own
words, "I believe that every man is born with certain definite limitations which he cannot
overcome. From a careful observation of those limitations, the law of Varna was deduced. It
establishes certain spheres of action of certain people with certain tendencies. This avoided all
unworthy competition. Whilst recognizing limitations, the law of Varna admitted of no
distinctions of high and low. On the one 41 hand, it guaranteed to each the fruits of his labour
and, on the other, it prevented him from pressing upon his neighbour. This great law has been
degraded and has fallen into disrepute. But my contention is that an ideal social order will only
be evolved when the implications of this law are fully understood and given effects to."

5.3.3 Varna Dharma

Or Law of Varna Gandhi perceives the true meaning of Varna dharma. "Varnashrama, as I
interpret it, satisfies the religious, social, and economic needs of a community. It satisfies the
religious need, because a whole community accepting the law is free to devote ample time to
spiritual perfection. Observance of the law obviates social evils and entirely prevents the killing
economic competition." It is the law of conservation of energy. According to Gandhi, though
the law of Varna is a special discovery of some Hindu seer, it has universal application. He
reiterates: "Varna is no man-made institution but the law of life universally governing the

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human family. Fulfilment of the law would make life liveable, would spread peace and content,
end all clashes and conflicts, put an end to starvation and pauperization, solve the problem of
population, and even end disease and suffering." All Varnas are equal, for the community
depends no less on one than on another. Today Varna means gradations of high and low. It is a
hideous travesty of the original. The law of Varna was discovered by our ancestors by stern
austerities. they sought to live up to the law to the best of their capacity. We have distorted it
today and have made ourselves the laughing-stock of the world." Thus Varnashrarna dharma is
a magnificent result of ceaseless search for truth. But the present form of Varnashrama Dharma
is miles away from its original form. It is a caricature the of original form. Gandhi believes that
just as everyone inherits a particular form, so does he inherit the particular characteristics and
qualities of his progenitors, and to make this admission is to conserve one's energy. That frank
admission, if he will act up to it, would put a legitimate curb upon our ambitions, and thereby
our energy is set free for extending the field of spiritual research and spiritual evolution. The
revival of true Varna dharma would mean true democracy, according to Gandhi.

5.4 VARNA VYAVASTHA ACCORDING TO VINOBA

Like Gandhi, Vinoba considers Varna Vyavatha as different from caste system. The basis of
Varna Vyavastha is guna or quality but the basis of caste system is Karma or function. The
Varna Vyavastha has been broken up, so the duties of a Varna will be decided by aptitutes or
Samskaras. So we can say that duties of Varna are duties of an individual and not of a
community because each individual has different Samskaras. An individual decides his duties
by an internal law and not by an outer control. Vinoba also thinks that the system as it exists
today is only a perversion of the ancient Varna Vyavastha which originated form good motives.
It did not, for example, originally imply any feeling of high or low, any difference in payment
or prohibition of inter—caste marriages. The old system was based on certain useful and valid
principles of social organization and they must be retained in any future construction. He writes:
"The essence of the caste system is (i) commensurate wages; (ii) absence of competition; and
(iii) a system of education which will take advantage of inherited dispositions.

"Hence Vinoba favours the revival of this institution of hereditary occupational groups, but
without any idea of superiority or inferiority attached to it and without allowing it to develop
into a rigid steel—frame. From this viewpoint, the organization of society in terms of hereditary
occupational groups is a very great experiment made by Hinduism. But because of the ideas of

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superiority and inferiority coming into it, its original pure form became contaminated and later
through attraction for the principle of economic competition, it was altogether destroyed. That
the individual should do the work allotted to him by society, that society should allot him work
in view of his fitness, that his inherited dispositions should be taken advantage of in training
him into fitness, that having acquired fitness the individual should regard it his duty to take up
the work for which he has been trained, that no other should compete with him in his work, that
all should receive adequate equal protection and commensurate wages, that all who do their
allotted work with devotion and with a sense of responsibility, should be esteemed equally, and
that every individual should work and God be pleased with his worship in the form of doing
his own appointed task—such in short is the institution of the hereditary occupational group.
An ideal state will have need for some such social organization. Vinoba does not believe in
rigid Varna Vyavastha. He holds that every individual has the qualities of all the four Varnas,
though one of them dominates in him. This dominant quality should determine his profession,
but other qualities also are not to be neglected. Thus all should work both with head and hands
and all should develop the equanimity of the Brahmins or the learned caste, the fearlessness of
the Kshatriyas or the warrier caste, the compassion of the Vaishyas or the businessmen and the
faith of the Shudras or the servant class.

The Varna dharma does not mean, however, that some should be absolutely exempted from
physical labour. It only means that everyone should contribute his share to the society in
accordance with his capacities. But even while so engaged in one's own way in some useful
work, one cannot ignore those responsibilities which are common to all. Professors, students,
judges, and others have all their own places in society, but just as air, water and food are quite
essential for one and all, so too both mental and physical work are essential for everyone. It is
wrong to say that some may do only physical work while others do only mental work. It is a
different matter if someone does more of one type of labour than another. But everyone must
perform some physical labour. If we forget this principle, society falls into pieces and the
distinction of high and low also comes into existence Varna does not want to bifurcate the
society. On the contrary, Brahmin, being the teacher of all Varnas, should know the work and
should perform the work of all Varnas. A Kshatriya, is one who protects from defaults, does
not mean that only Vaishyas will look after farming, cow protection, and business. Vinoba says
that everyone should work in the farm, though you may not be an expert in it as everyone should
know cooking though he may not be an expert in it. Production of food for body and devotion

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for soul—these two are the necessities of human life. Thus Vinoba has given a modern and
scientific explanation about Varna Vyavastha.

5.5 CRITICISM

Dada Dharmadhikari and Kaka Kalelkar do not agree with Gandhi and Vinoba. They stand for
total abolition of Varna Vyavastha. Dada: I do not like your word "Varna Vyavastha" at all. It
will help the caste system to thrive again. Vinoba: Not at all. On the contrary, the moment we
pronounce the word "Varna Vyavastha" it is an attack on castes. In the original concept of
Varna Vyavatha, there were neither caste differences nor the sense of high and low. There was
in it the idea of equal payment and of equal social, moral, and spiritual prestige." Kaka Kalelkar
is of the view that a living society must have the capacity for making new experiments. The
caste system is dying and Varna system has gone into oblivion. It is time to make new
experiments. It is said that the institution of Varna is not only out of date, its value seems too
doubtful. The validity of what Gandhi calls "Law of Varna" has not been proved through
scientific investigations. During Gandhi's lifetime, Dr Ambedkar opposed Varna Vyavastha
vehemently. He declared that the Varna was based on worth, but as time went on, the Varnas
came to be based on birth and thus the four Varnas came to be known as four castes. In
Ambedkar's view, the caste system is a social division of people of the same race and is not
merely a division of labour but also a division of labourers, compelling a man to engage himself
in a calling which may not appeal to him. Reorganization of Hindu society on the basis of Varna
is impossible and harmful because the Varna system has a tendency to degenerate into a caste
system. From the standpoint of economy, it does not result in economic efficiency because
callings under the caste system are not followed in accordance with natural aptitude. Caste has
ruined the Hindu race and has destroyed, demoralized and devitalized Hindu Society. All the
leaders of the Re—awakening period condemned the prevailing caste—system.

5.6 LET’S SUM UP

 Varna is the law of heredity. Varna is not a thing that is superimposed on Hindus, but
men who were trustees for their welfare discovered the law for them.
 According to Gandhi, though the law of Varna is a special discovery of some Hindu
seer, it has universal application.

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 Vinoba considers Varna Vyavatha as different from caste system. The basis of Varna
Vyavastha is guna or quality but the basis of caste system is Karma or function.
 Brahmin, being the teacher of all Varnas, should know the work and should perform the
work of all Varnas. A Kshatriya, is one who protects from defaults, does not mean that
only Vaishyas will look after farming, cow protection, and business.
 Dada Dharmadhikari and Kaka Kalelkar do not agree with Gandhi and Vinoba.

5.7 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. Briefly explain Varna Vyavasta in India.

2. Explain the Vinoba view on varna vyavasta.
3. Explain Varna Dharma in India.
4. Dicuss the role of caste in West and East.

5.8 REFERENCES

 Shah, A.M., The Household Dimension of the Family in India: A Field Study in a
Gujarat Villageand a Review of Other Studies, Delhi: Orient Longman, 1973.
 Uberoi, P. (ed.), Family, Kinship and Marriage in India,New Delhi: Oxford University
Press,1993.
 Y. Singh , Modernisation of Indian Tradition, Jaipur: Rawat Publications, 1986
 Ram Ahuja, Indian Social System, Rawat Publications, 1993
 Sharma, KL. Indian Social Structure and Change, Rawat Publication, 2008
 Srinivas, M.N. India: Social Structure. New Delhi: Hindustan Publishing Corporation,
1980

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UNIT-6: ASHRAMA AND RELEVANCE

Structure

6.1 Learning Objectives

6.2 Introduction
6.3 Ashrama Vyavastha
6.3.1 Brahmacharyashrama
6.3.2 Grihasthashrama
6.3.3 Vanaprasthashrama
6.3.4 Sanyasashrama
6.4 Relevance of Ashrama Vyavastha
6.5 Let Us Sum Up
6.6 Glossary
6.7 Check Your Progress
6.8 References

6.1 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After going through this unit you will be able to know-

 Explain the concept of ashrama vyavastha;

 Discuss the four stages of ashrama vyavastha;
 Analyse the relevance of ashrama vyavastha on Indian society.

6.2 INTRODUCTION

The present Unit discusses that the ashrama vyavastha is an aspect of the concept of Dharma
in Hinduism and also a component of the ethical theories of Indian philosophy, where it is
combined with four objectives proper to human life for realization, happiness and spiritual
liberation. It also explains about the four stages of ashrama vyavastha such as
Brahmacharyashrama, Grihasthashrama, Vanapprasthashrama and Sanyashrama. These four
stages play important role in the socio-moral development of the individual.

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6.3 ASHRAMA VYAVASTHA

The word ‘ashrama’ is originally derived from the Sanskrit root “shrama”, meaning ‘to exert
oneself’. Therefore ashrama means (i) the place where exertions are performed and (ii) the
action performing such exertions. Literally speaking, an ashrama is a resting or halting place.
The ashramas are regarded as resting places during one’s journey on the way to final liberation
which is the ultimate goal of a Hindu. Each ashrama is conceived as a stage of life in which an
individual has to train himself for a certain period and exert himself within the circuit of the
same in order to qualify himself for the next. As such every ‘ashrama’ is a step in the journey
towards the ultimate goal of life. According to the ashrama vyavastha, taking man’s average
age to be 100 years, life is divided into four stages of twenty five years each.

The Life of a Hindu is considered to be divisible into four stages, namely

i) Brahmacharyashrama
ii) Grihasthashrama
iii) Vanaprasthashrama
iv) Sanyasashram

It is the dharma of a Hindu to pass through these stages in one’s life. The male members of
Brahman, Kshatriya and Vaishya varna pass through four different ashram (stages) in their life.

6.3.1 Brahmacharyashrama

The first ashram is called Brahmacharya ashram (the educational stage) from which the fourth
varna, viz., Shudra and women of the first three varna are barred Brahmacharyashrama ends
(after studentship) at marriage. Celibacy is prescribed till marriage. This stage of life is marked
by the initiation rites or upanayan ceremony. Brahmacharyashrama literally means the leading
of life according to Brahma. Life of a man becomes disciplined only after he undergoes
initiation rites i.e. ‘Upanayan’, ceremony which gives the spiritual birth. There is also provision
regarding the particular age at which the individual gets irritated. A Brahmin is initiated at the
age of eight, Kshatriya at the age of ten and Vaishya at twelve years of age. However, it may
be postponed to twelve in case of a Brahmin, to fourteen in case of Kshatriya and to sixteen in
case of a Vaishya. But in any case, they will have to undergo ‘Upanayan’ ceremony within
these age limits.

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The student stays at the ‘Gurukul’ which marked the beginning of schooling in the Vedic texts.
The student not only performs his study, he is asked to perform various types of activities
assigned to him by his teacher. Such activities include collection of alms for his teacher, looking
after his cattle, collection of fuel etc. the teacher was impressed only when his student
succeeded in pleasing him by performing his activities perfectly. As ‘Vedas’ embody the
cultural traditions of the Aryans, it was thought necessary that these traditions should be
transmitted from generation to generation.

In the Brahmacharyashrama, the most striking aspect of disciplined life of a student was his
high reverence for the teacher. The student used to go to bed after and get up before his teacher
did. The main reason behind the behaviour-pattern between teacher and student was to restore
a deep sense of regard in the mind of student to his teacher. Dharamasastras and Manusamhita
prescribed a number of rules and regulations concerning a student’s daily routine activities and
a list of qualities that fitted him for studentship. A student had to get up early in the morning
before sunrise. He was restricted to take his meals only twice a day. Overeating was avoided.
The student was not allowed to take meat, honey, salt, sweet things or betel leaf or food that
was stale.

In this ashrama vyavastha, the individual has to surrender his life of sense, mind and intellect
i.e. all the intellectual and emotional apparatus to the handling and moulding by the teacher.
During studentship, one was taught to restrain his senses. The control of the senses was
predominantly stressed. As such every individual going through this stage was expected to
observe complete celibacy. During this stage, the students are marked by certain characteristics,
such as growth of the body, emotional stability, etc.

6.3.2 Grihasthashrama

The second stage of life is called the Grihasthashrama. After completion of the stage i.e.
Brahmacharyashrama, the individual enters into Grihasthashrama. During this a man rears a
family, earns a living and performs his daily personal and social duties. This is the time when
he is fit to marry with the aims of ‘Dharma’, ‘Artha’ and ‘Rati’- meaning religiosity, procreation
and satisfaction of sexual urges respectively. The major aim of Hindu marriage is ‘Dharma’.
To fulfil his ‘Dharma’, the married man performs five mahayajnas (five sacrifices) in the sacred
fire enkindled at the time of marriage. According to ‘Manu Samhita’, these great sacrifices
were offered to Brahmans, Pitras, Gods, Bhutas and men. Sacrifices to the Brahman were made

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by the recitation of the Vedas, Pitras by ‘sraddha’ (offering of water and food), and G ods by
burnt oblations, Bhutas by ‘bali’ offerings and man by reception of guests.

In the beginning entertainment of guests was considered a moral obligation. But at the later
stage entertaining the guests was given a high honour because the guests were equated with
God. But it was Manu who looked upon it as ‘yajnas’. Various duties were assigned to the
householder in his daily round of routines. The householder provided food to persons and
animals. He was supposed to give gifts to Brahmins, fee to students, alms to an ascetic,
medicine to the sick and donation to the poor. He was expected to feed the guests, the newly
married women, infants, sick persons and pregnant women.

According to Manu, the other three ashramas attained fulfilment through the Grihasthashrama
and lived on its help just as all the big and small rivers became fulfil upon meeting ocean. He
also held that just as all beings subsist on air, so do all beings take life from the
Grihasthashrama. The sacrifices which a householder performs in the domestic fire have
different implication and meaning. These are directed in the interests of wider community
rather than concerned with personal gain of the sacrifice. By performing ‘panchamahayajanas’
the Grihastha broadened the scope of his social obligations. Dharma and Praja, the more
important aims of Hindu marriage, reminded the householder, how much more he had to live
for others than for himself and that the proper utilisation of wealth consisted in distributing a
part of it to serve the needs of his fellow beings.

The Grihasthashrama is given a high place of honour of all the four ashramas. All obligations
of life, including the individual and social as well as all three ‘rinas’ (debts)-the debt to God
(deva rina), debt to the ancestors (pitra rina) and debt to the sages (rishi rina) could be satisfied
by a person living a full life in Grihastha. Along with the glorification of Grihasthashrama in
terms of its absolute superiority over all the others, it forms a particular aspect of vision with
reference to the particular position which it occupies in the scheme of life. From the aspect of
social valuation, the Grihastha is exalted on the grounds of its lending support to other three
ashramas, the practice and cultivation of all the three Purusarthas i.e. ‘Dharma, ‘Artha’ and
‘Kama’ as well as of its direct contact with society and the consequent direct contributions
made by it to the society. So in ‘Grihasthashrama’ alone can three purusarthas be practised
together and the three ‘rinas’, such as the paternal debt, debt towards teachers and debt towards
gods can be repaid.

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6.3.3 Vanaprasthashrama

After completion of the second stage ‘Gristhashrama’, a man gradually enters the third stage of
life called the Vanaprasthashrama. During this stage the householder relinquishes his duties in
the household, and devotes his time to religious pursuits. His links with his family are
weakened. During this ashram a man retires into the forest with or without his wife leaving
behind the householder’s cares and duties. At this stage, the man begins to perform the five
‘Yajnas’ or sacrifices according to his ability in the forest. As regards the performance of duties,
this stage is more or less similar to that of the householder. However it is very much different
in respect of discipline. Discipline is given much more importance in this ashrama. It is the
discipline that prepares a man for achieving the renunciation of familiarities and social relations
through a gradual process. He must satisfy his hunger by eating roots and fruits available in the
forest. In case non-availability of roots or fruits, for some time, he will live on water or air. He
should not touch sweet things or meat. He should live under the open sky and should wear wet
clothes in winter. He should make no deliberate attempt to obtain bodily comforts. The hermit
must maintain celibacy, sleeping on the floor, residing under a tree, without any attachment to
where he happens to reside. He should not accept charity from others. Along with the discipline
of the body which is thought necessary for the sublimation of his instinctive and intellectual
life, he should widen the scope of sympathy from narrow family bounds and village to humanity
at large. In addition, he should utilise his time in studying Upanishads and Vedas and practise
penances for purging of his body. The qualities and virtues he needed to cultivate as a hermit
are self-restraint, friendliness, charity and compassionate attitude towards all created. The
presence of the wife in the forest is permitted in order to facilitate the performance of his social
duties. The hermit through his duties ceased to be a member of family, village and home but
above all he is considered as a member of wider society. He may not participate in various
matters of group, but his obligations and duties to society persisted. It is a life devoted to
meditation and contemplation, a life of enquiry and searching. In this stage, ‘Dharma’ and
‘Moksha’ are the main concern of life.

6.3.4 Sanyasashrama

The final phase of a Hindu’s life begins with the stage known as the Sanyasashrama. In this
stage, one attempts to totally withdraw oneself from the world and its cares by going to the
forest and spending the rest of life in pursuit of moksha. Manu enjoined that the men enter this
stage immediately after the ‘Grihasthashrama’. Quoting from Jabala Sruti, Kullukabhatta said

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“one should complete ‘Bramacharya’ and enter ‘Grihastha’s order, after the ‘grihastha’ stage
is completed. A person is also allowed to enter ‘Sanyashrama’ either after ‘Vanaprasthashrama’
or directly after ‘Grihasthashrama’. At the time of entering this stage, a person takes the vow
that ‘I have completely, from this day, bidden farewell to all desires and anxieties regarding
son, wealth and the world”. As regards he should beg once in a day. He must not want to get a
large quantity of alms. He should go to bed when people have finished their meals, when no
smoke ascends from kitchen, when the leftovers in the dishes have been removed. He should
not feel unhappy when he cannot obtain something or rejoice when he obtains something. He
should not insult anybody and should have patience to bear hard words. He should not become
anyone’s enemy. He should have cordial attitudes towards others. He should not tell lie and
always utter truth. He should not show anger against an angry man. He should care neither for
living nor death. By restraint of his senses, by destruction of love and hatred and by abstention
from injuring creatures, he becomes fit for immortality. A person recognises the supreme souls
by deep meditation. By passing through the ‘Sanyashrama’ all the sins of man are washed away
and destroyed. Through meditation and contemplation man attains the ultimate end or goal
termed as “Moksha” The four stages of a Hindu’s life just described are together called the
varnashrama system. There is an ideal scheme, which correlates the varnashrama phases to ages
at which a particular ashram begins. However, it is the endeavour that is important and not the
age at which this begins. Thus Hinduism permits young unmarried sanyasi, as well as those
who never go beyond grihasthashrama. Thus there is nothing compulsory about living life in
the varnashrama scheme. It is, however, highly recommended (Prabhu 1979:73-100).

At present most Hindus do not systematically go through the varnashrama. They do, however,
accept these stages to be the ideal ways in which a Hindu should spend his life. Like the four
varna, the four stages of life are models. In real life, we find that occupations associated with
each varna are not followed precisely in accordance with what is written in the sacred texts.
Today a Brahman may be employed in a shoe company, selling shoes to all the customers
irrespective of their varna or caste. As we said before, the Hindus are divided into castes or jati
which are hereditary groups.

6.4 RELEVANCE OF ASHRAMA VYAVASTHA

The ashrama scheme of life deals with various stages of life and describes that certain actions
are to be performed at certain stages of life. The ashramas are the resting places where exertions

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are made and the prescribed duties are performed. The ashrama vyavastha indicates that the
journey of life is very long and an individual needs different stages for resting in his long
journey, towards the ultimate goal of life i.e. the salvation or attainment of ‘Moksha’. Thus the
ashrama system, in its social implication, tells us about the ultimate goal of life. In the
Mahabharat, the references have been made to the duties in ashramas. Kautilya has also
mentioned that it should be the duties of king to see that his subjects follow the four ‘ashramas’
and Kautilya has also made provisions to be followed in case of violation of the code of conduct
of the ashramas. He apprehended that the society would come to an end due to chaotic situation.
Therefore, people should follow the code of conduct as laid down in ashramas. P. H. Prabhu
holds that “the ashrama system should be considered as not only the means to further the best
ends of organizational stability but also social progress”. The Hindu ashrama system thus
entails an integral approach to human life. It provides the base for the realization of all the
purusarthas such as ‘Dharma’, ‘Artha’, ‘Kama’ and ‘Moksha’. It makes provision for all round
development of moral, material, emotional and spiritual aspects of an individual. The whole
ashrama scheme deals with the nurture or training of the individual and the purpose of training
is such that man is able to discharge all his social obligations effectively and at the same time
be in a position to enable himself to attain Moksha or salvation. Ashrama system of life
maintains the balance between social and personal development. In the first stage of life,
Brahmacharyashrama, the students have to maintain strict ethical life through certain spiritual
practices. This will make the students faithful towards their teachers.

6.5 LET US SUM UP

In these modern days these four ashramas cannot be completely revived in their letter, but they
can be revived in their spirit, to the great improvement of modern life. Today the brahmachari
life or period is passed or spent in school or college, instead of the ashrama of the guru. The
grihastha ideal is commenced at marriage. It is very largely followed in its sense of duty and
responsibility, in its discharge of religious obligations, in its balanced ordering of life, and in
its recognition of all claims and debts. Today the third ashrama cannot be lived in the forest by
many, and the fourth ashrama is beyond the reach of most. Yet, the idea of gradual withdrawal
from worldly life, the idea of meditation, study and worship, and the main duties of life can be
carried out well.

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6.6 GLOSSARY

Artha: Activities pertaining to the economic aspects of life. e.g., earning a livelihood.
Brahmacharyashrama: That stage in life, which is associated with studentship and celibacy
Dharma: Good, upright, and righteous conduct.
Grihasthashrama: The stage of the householder, earning a living and rearing a family.
Hierarchical: An order of ranking which goes from top to bottom, or vice versa. The caste is
an example of this kind of ranking.
Jati: Caste groups arranged in a hierarchical order. There are very many jatis in India, running
into thousands.
Karma: The concept of karma refers to a belief in the efficacy of actions of a person, either
good or bad.
Moksha: Liberation from birth and death and regaining of oneness with the Supreme Being.
Sanyasashrama: That stage in life when free from family life one devotes oneself solely to
deeds leading to moksha.
Vanaprasthashrama: The life of a forest wanderer who lives a detached life free from all
bondages. This is a stage before sanyasa

6.7 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. What is Ashrama Vyavastha?

2. State the stages of Ashrama Vyavastha.
3. Write a essay on the relevancy of Ashrama Vyavastha

6.8 REFERENCES

 Prabhu, P.H. (1979). Hindu Social Organisation: A Study in SocioPsychological and

Ideological Foundations. Popular Prakashan Pvt. Ltd.: Bombay.
 Rao, C. N. Shankar (2004). Sociology of Indian Society, S. Chand & Co. Pvt. Ltd.
(Revised edt.).
 Kar, P. K. (2000). Indian society. New Delhi: Kalyani Publishers

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UNIT-7: PURUSARTHA AND RELATIONSHIP WITH ASHRAMAS

Structure
7.1 Learning Objectives
7.2 Introduction
7.3 Four Purusharthas in Hinduism
7.4 Purusharthas: The Psycho – Moral Bases of Ashrama Theory
7.5 Let Us Sum Up
7.6 Glossary
7.7 Check Your Progress
7.8 References

7.1 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After going through this unit you will be able to know-

 Meaning of purusharthas
 Psycho- Moral principle of Ashrama theory

7.2 INTRODUCTION

Purusharthas (Sanskrit: "objectives of man") purusha means human being and artha means
object or objective. Purusharthas means objectives of man. According to Hindu way of life, a
man should strive to achieve four chief objectives (Purusharthas) in his life. They are:
1. Dharma (righteousness),
2. Artha (material wealth),
3. Kama (desire) and
4. Moksha (salvation).

Every individual in a society is expected to achieve these four objectives and seek fulfilment
in his life before departing from here. The concept of Purusharthas clearly establishes the fact
that Hinduism does not advocate a life of self-negation and hardship, but a life of balance,
achievement and fulfilment. Purusharthas means that for which a person strives for. It implies
our goals of life. It is extremely important that our goals of life should be very clear. Just as
before starting a journey we should be very clear about our destination, so also before starting

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any worldly or spiritual effort, we should very clear as to what we are trying to achieve, what
is our goal. The scriptures also before talking about the various sadhana-the means, first tell us
about the sadhya-the end. As it is the lack of knowledge of goal which results in absence of
enthusiasm to take up any sadhana, so it is very important to know our goals of life, our
purusharthas.

7.3 FOUR PURUSHARTHAS IN HINDUISM: DHARMA, ARTHA, KAMA, MOKSHA

The people have different types of desires and goals, Hinduism describes it in four
Purusharthas. They keep labouring hard to achieve their desires (Purusharthas). Sometimes
people cannot differentiate between desires and real goals. All people do not have known what
to do and what not to do with their desires and goals. So they puzzle in their life due to ignorance
Desire with a blind mind may create a sin. Greed and desire are said to be the root of all sins.
So, Hindu and yoga philosophy has given a proper guideline for legitimate goals. This is a
Vedic philosophy which has elaborated four aims (Purusharthas). Yoga’s (Ashtanga Yoga,
Kripalu Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga, Siddha Yoga, Tantra Yoga) four aims (Purusharthas)
of life are common for entire human beings of the world. The aims are Dharma, Artha, Kama,
and Mokshya. In Sanskrit, they are referred as “four Purusharthas” four courage of life. These
are not important only as an individual quality or need; but they are equally important to
flourish one’s potentialities allowing living happier, healthier and fulfilled life. It is the
foundation to grow and uplift spiritually.

Dharma (Duty)
First Purushartha is known as Dharma has very vast and a multitude of meanings. The normal
translating words, for ‘Dharma’, are religion, truth, righteousness, wholesomeness etc. These
all meaning coincides moral and spiritual duty. Each and every activity of people should be
nonharming, non-irritating for other. The work, duty or activities which are favorable for one-
self and other is said as Dharma. People mistakenly believe that they should do spiritual work,
prayer, worship etc to do dharma. This has resulted in suffering. Some think theists perform
dharma but an atheist cannot. It is not a correct concept. The so-called theist, if does harmful
deeds; it would be against dharma. Whether you believe in god or not, but out action of body,
mind, and speech should be directed towards the welfare of all. It is the activity which is justice
for self and other. It seeks the justice. Dharma has both gross and subtle meanings. For the inner
world of an individual, the word ‘Dharma’ gives subjective meaning. It may differ from one

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person to another person. It also differs from one situation to another situation. However, it
seeks to be true to the self and other. Dharma is a law of Nature. For example, Sun shines,
planets revolve around the sun. It is much more than religion. It has nothing to give and take
from the narrow religious idea, faith. In fact, Dharma is free from religious doctrine. Dharma
cannot be imprisoned within the theory of religion. To walk on the path of Dharma is doing
what ought to be done. The law of nature always gives a positive result. It seeks the sustainable
and true benefits of all. Dharma takes people at the top when followed properly.

Artha (Worldly gain)

It does not mean that people have to earn a lot of wealth. It means to earn in a systematic and
right way. It suggests to be prosperous but keeping the dharma in mind. Prosperity is essential
to lead a happy life. Earning in a wrong way is not a proper duty. The householders need to
earn for the livelihood of all family members and whoever are dependent on them. If they earn
in excess amount their duty is to donate to the needy people. It is a good rule that a person has
to donate the one-tenth portion of his earning. They have to maintain a progressive status to
improve both dharma and artha simultaneously. The word ‘artha’ also gives the meaning
earthly recognition. The prestige, name, fame, sound relation in the society etc are the earthly
gain. Another important worldly gain is good health. Unless one is healthy, he cannot achieve
the goals of life. Being healthy all the time is itself of treasure. It is the basis and foundation for
performing any work.

Kama (Physical and Sensual Pleasure)

Hindu philosophy also includes the worldly pleasures, including sexuality, love, marriage, arts,
music, food, etc during the second stage of life. It includes innate urge as well in order to attain
one’s ambition. Achievement of these aspirations is linked with Kama. It is the lord of desire
to enjoy the life in the fullest extent. Kama also refers the relationship with the higher concept
of beauty through artistic expression. However, during the achievements, one should sincerely
observe the dharma. Anything which is acquired in absence of Dharma will take towards
misery. Most of the people perceive Kama as a sexual pleasure. However, it has a broader
meaning. Actually, anything that brings joy and pleasure in our life is Kama. If one completely
tuned at present, live in present, then he acquires real pleasure. At the highest stage of Kama,
we connect to our higher self or divinity. It is a conscious stage at the present moment.

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Moksha (Liberation or Enlightenment)

At the fourth stage of life, after having all the experience of the world, human have to strive for
liberation. Fixing dharma as a basis, if one has achieved the first three Purusharthas, gradually
a time appears when one surpasses them. If Artha and Kama are based on Dharma, then
attaining the final aim i.e. moksha will be easier. As one goes through the first three goals, he
will realize that there is no permanent happiness in them. So, he feels that source of eternal
peace and joyfulness should be sought. But, if there is not a good foundation, then moksha is
impossible. Actually, Mokshya is the liberation of freedom from the recurring births into the
body after destructing all the karmas. It requires a higher level of wisdom and self-realization.
It is the realization of highest truth. These four aims (Purusharthas) are incomparable to each
other. Each of them has its own importance. Each helps other to reach the final destiny. They
are like the legs of a chair, all are equally important for the existence of chair. They are the
pillars of a fulfilling life. They interweave each other. However, first three Purusharthas are the
gear to approach the fourth. When the people start striving towards these Purusharthas, life
becomes happier and easier. The life will be incomplete without achievement of these
Purusharthas. The success of life is hidden on the achievement of the four aims.

7.4 PURUSHARTHAS: THE PSYCHO – MORAL BASES OF ASHRAMA THEORY

The Purusharthas are described as the psycho-moral bases of Ashram theory. They are
concerned with the understanding, justification, management and conduct of affairs of the
individual’s life in relation to the group in and through Ashramas. These help the individual in
getting psychological training and preparing himself to deal with the actual society. According
to this theory four purusharthas are there as aims of life, viz., ‘dharma’, ‘artha’, ‘kama’ and
‘moksha’, ‘moksha’ represents the end of life, the realization of an inner spirituality in man.
‘Artha’ refers to the acquisitive instinct in man and signifies his economics-wealth getting
activity.

It stands to express human prosperity. ‘Kama’ refers to the instinctive and emotional life of
man and provides for the satisfaction of his sex drives and aesthetic urges. ‘Dharma’ provides
a connection between the two, the animal and the god in man. The fourfold aims, thus, seek to
co-ordinate and balance the activities of man for the realization of his spirituality.
These ‘purusarthas’ are considered psycho-moral bases of ‘ashram’ system because along with
the provision of psychological training through different stages of life in terms of lesson in the

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use and management of aims of life, the Individual also deals with the society by translating
these lessons into action.

The first and highest aim of life is ‘dharma’. It is a comprehensive concept which comprises all
the forms of human activity. The word ‘dharma’ is derived from the Sanskrit root ‘dhri’
meaning ‘to hold together, to preserve, to support, to bear’, ‘to nourish.’ The social implications
and meaning of dharma as a principle for maintaining the stability of society is brought out by
Srikrishna in ‘Mahabharata’. In ‘Mahabharata’, Srikrishna tells Arjun what ‘dharma’ should
be.

He explains that ‘dharma’ is created for the well-being of all creatures. He also further stated
that “all that is free from doing any evil to any created being is certainly ‘dharama’, for indeed,
‘dharma’ is created to keep all creation free from any harm.” Srikrishna also gives a
comprehensive view of ‘dharma’. “He told that ‘dharma’ is so called because it preserves all
that is created. ‘Dharma’, then, is surely that principle which is capable of preserving universe.”
According to the Bhagavad-Gita “Dharma Rakshati Rakshitah”. He who follows Dharma is
protected in turn by Dharma.

‘Dharma’ knows that ‘Kama’ and ‘Artha’ are means and not ends. A life that is dedicated to
the unrestrained satisfaction of these urges is undesirable and even perilous. Therefore, it is
essential that the instinctual urges should be regulated by the ideal of spiritual realization and
that is exactly what dharma is required to do.

By regulating the acquisitive and emotional drives in man, it makes the enjoyment of life
consistent with man’s spiritual progress. Dharma is the central concept of all our social
institutions. It signifies the totality or entirety of privileges and obligations in different stages
of life. According to the Hindu view, Dharma exists more essentially for the community and
most of all for that universal self which is in each of us and all beings.

‘Artha’ refers to the satisfaction of acquisitive instinct in man. In general, it relates to wealth
and material well-being. According to Zimmer “It includes the whole range of objects that can
be possessed, enjoined and lost and which are required in daily life. The Hindu thinkers have
rightly viewed the pursuit of wealth as legitimate human aspiration and have accorded the place
of ‘artha’ as a scheme of life. Kapadia holds that “by recognising ‘artha’ and ‘kama’ desirable
for man, the Hindu sages indicated that man unfolded his spirituality only when his life was
not economically starved or emotionally strained”.

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Again the reality of the world preached in the Upanishads loses its significance if these temporal
interests are not fulfilled and asceticism or renunciation of this world and things other worldly
are applauded as in Buddhism. But acceptance of sex instinct, emotional urges and economic
drives as necessary and even desirable, never undermines the supreme goal of life. The ultimate
end of life, ‘moksha’, is always held high and anything coming in its way must be abandoned.
Prabhu holds the view that “Artha, is to be understood as referring to all the means necessary
for acquiring worldly prosperity, such as wealth or power. Kautilya has considered ‘Artha’ as
the main among Trivarga. According to him, in Trivarga ‘Artha’ is the most important, since
both ‘Dharma’ and ‘Karma’ depend upon it. ‘Artha’ is desirable because a man has to maintain
the household and perform the dharma as a householder and therefore temporal interests were
allowed for the smooth running of day to day life. Thus ‘Artha’ plays a stellar role in
maintaining human life and ‘dharma’.

‘Kama’ implies desires in man for enjoyment and satisfaction of the life of the senses, including
the sex drive. The desire may also mean the desire for early possessions. Pleasure is given a
place in the scheme of Hindu life, but the pursuit of pleasure when unbridled, can be detrimental
to the individual as well as society.

According to Prabhu “Kama refers to the native impulses, instincts and desires of man, his
natural and mental tendencies and finds its equivalent, we may say, in the use of the English
term “desires”, “needs”, “basic or primary motives” “urges”, or “drives” and the collective use
of the term “kama” would refer to the totality of the innate desires and drives of man. In its
broader sense it is used to include socially acquired motivation too.

Kama as the satisfaction of the instinctive life is recognized as one of the aims of marriage
along with dharma and praja. It is given the least importance in marriage. It is said that sex is
the first to go if one is to be renounced. According to Radhakrishnan “The Hindu ideal of
marriage is essentially a fellowship between man and woman, who seek to live a creative life,
a partnership for the pursuit of the four great objects of life.” Bertrand Russel holds in this
regard, “the essence of a good marriage is mutual respect for each other’s personality combined
with that deep intimacy-physical, spiritual-which means a serious love between man and
woman, the most fructifying of all experiences”.

‘Kama’ is given the lowest place among the valuable ends of marriage, because sex finds its
meaning in procreation. Kapadia holds the view that “Kama does not mean only instinctive life,

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it means emotional and aesthetic life as well. The aesthetic in man expresses itself in both
creation and appreciation of all that is fine and sublime. Man is by nature creative, and the best
part of his personality is stiffed if he is not given an opportunity to develop the creativity in
him.

The appreciation of all that is beautiful expands and enriches man’s life. Repression of
emotional expression recoils on the health and sanity of the individuals. The healthy
development of the personality calls for the expression of the emotions. For proper channelling
of this the theory of Purursarthas does by prescribing the modes and measures of their
expression.

These three Purusarthas, already discussed, are known as ‘trivarga’. ‘Dharma’, ‘Artha’ and
‘Kama’, are respectively known as moral, material and mental resources, accessories and
energies available to man. From the ‘trivarga’, ‘Artha’ and ‘Kama’ refer to two of man’s earthly
belongings. But ‘dharma’ stand on a higher level.

At the lowest level of abstraction, ‘Kama’ is understood in the sense of pure sex drive. But at
the same time it is essential both for the production of children and for the continuity and
perpetualness of the race. Importance is also given to ‘artha’, as without it the human being
cannot maintain his life which constitutes the material means of living, Yajna and sacrifices
can also be possible only with the help of wealth. Wealth is also required for attaining
knowledge and immortality.

Therefore, the exact quality and quantity, the place and the time of ‘artha and ‘kama’, ought to
be determined. But the proper functioning of ‘artha’ and ‘kama’ is interpreted in-terms of
‘dharma’. If a person performs his ‘dharma’ well, he is able to live a proper life despite
practising ‘artha’ and ‘kama’. In this regard Vidura in “Mahabharata” says “It is by the help of
dharma that the sages have been able to cross the world.” It is the balancing factor. The stability
of the universe rests on ‘Dharma’. ‘Artha’ and ‘Kama’, too, depend upon Dharma for their
proper management. The wise men say that Dharma is the foremost of all; artha comes next in
the order of ‘Trivarga’ and ‘Kama’, it is believed, is the lowest of the three. Therefore, human
beings ought to conduct their lives with self- control; keeping in view the dharma.

The ultimate end of the life of Hindu is said to be ‘moksha’ or the liberation of the soul. It
represents the end of life, the realization of an inner spirituality in man. It refers to the appeals
of the inner man to the individual, unaffected by the group. According to K.M. Kapadia

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“Moksha means that the true nature of man is spiritual and the mission of life is to unfold it and
to derive thereby the meaning of joy of it.” P.H. Prabhu holds, “from the final purpose and
meaning of life.

Moksha alone would prove to be the best guide. The purification and perfection of the ‘atman’
by pious acts and devotion to God is the aim of man in this world. Moksha or spiritual freedom
is possible by inquiry into the true nature of the ‘atman’ and by founding the whole life of
power and truth of the ‘atman’. The triage becomes the means for the attainment of that end.
The Hindu sages were fully conscious of the varied facets of human nature, such as, instinctive
and the intellectual, the economic and spiritual and the emotional and aesthetic aspects.
Therefore, they have attempted to coordinate the material desires and spiritual life. These
various interests in man may apparently appear to be contradictory and inconsistent but their
expression is much needed for unfolding truly human qualities.

The Hindu aesthetic view of life pre- supposes that “the material hopes and aspiration, the
instinctive urges, the emotional and aesthetic outpourings stand in the way of man’s attainment
of salvation or realization of inner spirituality.” On the contrary, the Hindu thinkers have
accepted man’s satisfaction of sexual urges, his love of power and prosperity, his thirst for
aesthetic and cultural life along with his hunger for the reunion with the Supreme Being. They
have recommended the fulfilment of such urges for the healthy development of man’s
personality.

The Hindu thinkers do not consider those as barriers in the way of man’s striving for realization
of ‘moksha’. “The Hindu thinkers view that the struggle of life consisted, in evolving a
harmonious blending of these different colours; a melodious symphony of these diverse tunes.
This harmony constituted the integrated personality. The normal life was conceded its full
expression and the attainment of spiritual progress was sought by assigning proper values to
each of them and by prescribing the mode of its expression.”

‘Moksha’ literally means deliverance. Thus it is deliverance from all types of pains and
sufferings, both worldly as well as other-worldly. It is a pure bliss. It is the liberation of soul
from the cycle of birth and death. It is the achievement of other-worldly welfare and the union
of the ‘Atman’ with ‘Brahman’. It is the realization of an inner spirituality of man and therefore
is of the highest value.

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The Hindu thinkers attempted on a scheme and proper mode of process through which the
spirituality of man is unfolded. Indian philosophy maintains a harmony in metaphysics,
epistemology and axiology. All these aim at the same reality which is ‘Atman’ in man
‘Brahman’ in cosmos and liberation as value. While all other aims are relative, ‘moksha’ is the
ultimate end. According to P.H. Prabhu, “Moksha, on the other hand seems to be concerned
mainly with the individual. It refers perhaps to the appeal of the inner man to the individual,
unaffected by the group. It is perhaps too personal an outlook than defines the struggle and
hope and justification within the individual for ‘moksha’.

This mystic realization has been in the Mahavakyas of the Upanishads such as Tattvamasi,
Aham Brahmasmi etc. It is the state of identity between Atman and Brahman. “The goal of
moksha does not possess the narrow individual outlook, for the Hindu. Nor it is to be pursued
exclusively and directly by an individual unless and until he has duly satisfied all his social
debts or obligations.” Forgetfulness of this truth is ignorance which results in the bondage.
Bondage is the cause of pains and sufferings. Emancipation from this bondage depends upon
the realization of the original truth of the identity of ‘Atman’ and ‘Brahman’.

7.5 LET US SUM UP

 Purusharthas (Sanskrit: "objectives of man") purusha means human being and artha
means object or objective. Purusharthas means objectives of man. According to Hindu
way of life, a man should strive to achieve four chief objectives (Purusharthas) in his
life. They are: dharma (righteousness), artha (material wealth), kama (desire) and
moksha (salvation).
 First Purushartha is known as Dharma has very vast and a multitude of meanings. The
normal translating words, for ‘Dharma’, are religion, truth, righteousness,
wholesomeness etc. These all meaning coincides moral and spiritual duty. Each and
every activity of people should be nonharming, non-irritating for other. Dharma is a law
of Nature.
 Artha means to earn in a systematic and right way. It suggests to be prosperous but
keeping the dharma in mind. Prosperity is essential to lead a happy life. Earning in a
wrong way is not a proper duty. The householders need to earn for the livelihood of all
family members and whoever are dependent on them

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 Hindu philosophy also includes the worldly pleasures, including sexuality, love,
marriage, arts, music, food, etc. during the second stage of life. It includes innate urge
as well in order to attain one’s ambition. Achievement of these aspirations is linked with
Kama. It is the lord of desire to enjoy the life in the fullest extent.
 Mokshya is the liberation of freedom from the recurring births into the body after
destructing all the karmas. It requires a higher level of wisdom and self-realization. It
is the realization of highest truth.

7.6 GLOSSARY

 Dharma-It is a concept of social order and duty that sustains the whole universe.It is
an individual's duty fulfilled by observance of custom or law.
 Artha-includes wealth, career, activity to make a living, financial security and
economic prosperity. The proper pursuit of artha is considered an important aim of
human life in Hinduism.
 Kama-often connotes sensual pleasure, sexual desire, and longing both in religious and
secular Hindu and Buddhist literature, as well as contemporary Indian literature
 Moksha-means freedom, liberation; from what and how is where the schools differ.
Moksha is also a concept that means liberation from rebirth or saṃsāra.

7.7 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. Which is the most important Purusharth?

2. Who was the first Purusharth?
3. What are the 4 Purusharth in Indian culture?
4. What is the importance of Purushartha in your life?

7.8 REFERENCES

 Shah, A.M., The Household Dimension of the Family in India: A Field Study in a
Gujarat Villageand a Review of Other Studies, Delhi: Orient Longman, 1973.
 Uberoi, P. (ed.), Family, Kinship and Marriage in India,New Delhi: Oxford University
Press,1993.
 Y. Singh , Modernisation of Indian Tradition, Jaipur: Rawat Publications, 1986

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 Ram Ahuja, Indian Social System, Rawat Publications, 1993

 Sharma, KL. Indian Social Structure and Change, Rawat Publication, 2008
 Srinivas, M.N. India: Social Structure. New Delhi: Hindustan Publishing Corporation,
1980

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UNIT-8: DOCTRINE OF KARMA

Structure

8.1 Learning Objectives

8.2 Introduction
8.3 The Doctrine of Karma
8.4 Assumptions of Doctrine of Karma
8.5 Social Consequences of the Doctrine of Karma
8.6 Let Us Sum Up
8.7 Glossary
8.8 Check Your Progress
8.9 References

8.1 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After going through this unit you will be able to know-

 Understand the philosophy of the doctrine of karma;

 Discuss the assumptions of doctrine of karma;
 Analyse the social consequences of the doctrine of karma.

8.2 INTRODUCTION

Karma means action or deed. It also refers to the spiritual principle of cause and effect where
intent and actions of an individual influence the future of that individual. The ‘karma’ is
essential for attainment of ‘Moksha’. Good intent and good deeds contribute to good karma
and bad intent and bad deeds contribute to bad karma. Philosophy of karma establishes a close
relationship between ‘karma’ and soul on the one hand and soul and re-birth on the other. The
doctrine of karma is based on the principle of supremacy of human endeavour. This Unit
explains the assumptions and importance of Karma.

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8.3 THE DOCTRINE OF KARMA

The doctrine of karma is so deeply rooted in Hindu social set up that it is considered the ethical
background of Hindu Social Organization. An examination of the Samhitas and Brahmanas
shows that the doctrine of karma in its classical formulation is absent there from or at best exists
in them in an embryonic form. However, the Vedic terminology, a) Karman and Karma, b)
Punya and papa, and c) the concept of transmigration of soul of a deceased person from earth
to heaven were the seminal concepts in the later day development of the classical doctrine of
Karma.

The word karma is the same as karman. The latter is neuter and is derived from the root which
means to do, make, perform, accomplish, cause, effect, prepare and undertake. So the word
karman means act, action, performance, business. In compounds it becomes karma. In the
religious and philosophical sense, karma means an action potential which manifests itself as
the moral result or consequence in lives hereafter. Karma is a doctrine of opportunity and self-
effort. It is not a doctrine of eternal damnation of a sinner in hell for a one-time sin committed
by him, which is so eloquently and powerfully expressed by John Bunyan, “one leak will sink
a ship, and one sin will destroy a sinner”. The karma doctrine offers prospects of redemption
through disciplined conduct and atonement.

There are three essential features of the doctrine of karma:

i) It is an ethical or moral law: good karmas produce happiness, and evil karmas produce
suffering.
ii) It is a law of moral responsibility in that the soul or atma of a person as the doer of an
act is responsible for bearing the consequences of that act. Thus, it is a law of
retributive justice.
iii) Redistributive justice is dispensed through punarjanma, rebirth of the soul or atma of
the doer. In fact, rebirth in higher or lower forms of existence, men, animals and plants
etc. and suffering and inequality of beings in those forms is also retributive in
character.

The Upanishads exhibit an attitude of ambivalence in their exposition of the doctrine of karma.
On the one hand, the Upanishads establish and uphold karma as a moral law of good and evil
which forms the basis of Indian ethics. On the other hand, they consider karmas as a bond and

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teach how karmas can be destroyed or arrested and rendered sterile or one can obtain release
from their binding force.

In the Upanishads, karma as a law of rewards and retribution for good and evil acts replaces
the yajna karma or sacrifices of the Brahmans for attainment of human desire for material
prosperity and physical well-being. This law explains the cosmic phenomenon of happiness
and sorrow, inequality and suffering as a consequence of karmas. This forms the basis of Indian
ethical discipline.

All karma, whether good or bad, is also deemed to be bad in the ultimate sense: it is a bond and
source of bondage leading to transmigration and rebirth and the consequential suffering
inherent in existence. The Upanishads expound the means to achieve Moksha or release from
the bondage of karma. In a sense, this trend is anti-karma, being life-negating aiming to bring
the life process to an end.

The Upanishads draw a distinction between good and evil acts. By good deed, indeed one
becomes good, evil by evil deeds. According as one acts, according as one behaves, so does he
become. The doer of good becomes good; the doer of evil becomes evil. One becomes virtuous
by virtuous action, bad by bad action. While the Upanishads established a powerful moral law
of karma, they also discounted the utility of good karmas; in fact the karmas are considered to
be responsible for transmigration and rebirth. Hence they teach the means to escape the bondage
of karmas, for the following reasons:

i) All life suffers from certain infirmities: old age and death. Even a person, who has
committed no evil whatsoever and in fact has done excellent deeds, is liable to suffer
from old age and death. Old age and death are considered evil.
ii) The good or merit earned by an individual is necessarily limited in its duration. All the
doers are experiencers; while they are exhausting the results of their past actions, they
accumulate fresh karmas by their new actions as kartas and this chain continues. In
other words, like the external world the potentiality of karmas is anitya, it is not abiding;
it is essentially transient. So merit and demerit both produce sorrow.

The Upanishads propagated contradictory trends of thought. They established a doctrine of

karma, of rewards and retribution, which is strongly ethical in character; inequality and
suffering are explained as consequences of good and evil action. The doctrine of karma was a
philosophy of self-effort as the means of improving one’s lot. Simultaneously they maintain

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that rebirth and transmigration per se are bad in that (i) certain suffering is inherent in life such
as craving or desires, old age and death, however, meritorious a person’s deeds might be, (ii)
the consequences of deeds already done have limited potentiality. Once actions have borne
fruit, happiness and suffering caused by those karmas come to an end but the process of fresh
accumulation of karmas and their fruition continues. Thus it is an endless chain of birth and
death, of happiness and suffering.

Escape from this cycle of existence, subject to suffering, lay not in doing karma but in
suppression of karmas. One way achieve this is by attaining the state of desirelessness, non-
attainment, renunciation, which, in effect, would result in cessation of worldly activity. Another
way was that enunciated in the Upanishads, the path of devotion and divine grace and seeking
refuge in Him.

It is paradoxical that the Upanishads which postulated karma as a law of ethical discipline also
seek escape from the operation of that law either in renunciation of worldly activity or in the
grace of God. It is naïve to explain away the paradox by justifying the law of karma in the
context of the empirical reality and which loses its validity with reference to transcendental
reality, or through an omnipotent creator who can liquidate karmas. In doing so the Upanishads
unwittingly blurred the distinction between good and evil deeds.

8.4 ASSUMPTIONS OF DOCTRINE OF KARMA

The doctrine of karma is based on the following beliefs and assumptions.

i) Definite Result

In the doctrine of karma, every individual has a definite result as per his physical, mental and
ethical activity. Thus every action has some results on one way or the other. Every good action
is rewarded and bad action is punished. In short, moral acts produce imperceptible results at a
future date. There has to be an unseen link between what was done and is no more and the result
which has still to come into existence.

ii) Necessity of Rebirth

The second fundamental postulate of the doctrine of karma is that of punarjanma or rebirth in
different forms of existence. It differs from the Vedic concept of the souls of the decreased
migrating into a different birth. Since every action is destined to produce a definite result, man

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cannot make himself free from the consequences of his own actions. The consequences of his
past karma do not leave him even after his death. It is these fruits of one’s own actions that
necessitate him to take birth again and again.

iii) Belief in the Immortality of the Self

The doctrine of Karma believes that the soul is immortal. As the individual is destined to face
the consequences of his deeds, his self or life after death, must enter into new bodies. Good
men perform ethical karma and also ritualistic karma in the hope either of attaining heaven in
the life hereafter or Moksha, liberation from rebirth. But the majority of the morally weak -
minded individuals find in ritualistic karma and the doctrine of divine grace means to get rid of
evil karma. The soul is not destroyed along with the destruction of body.

iv) Determination of General Condition of Life

The doctrine of Karma implies that the terms like papa and punya are used to describe ethical
and unethical acts. The Upanishads record that a person becomes as he does and as he acts;
good deeds make a person good and evil acts make him bad. The happiness and suffering are
said to be caused by good and evil actions. According to Samhitas, suffering or pain may be
caused not by a person’s misdeeds, but due to the misdeeds of his forefathers, for unwitting or
inadvertent wrongs either in sleep or under the influence of drink or under provocation or
through thoughtlessness or the anger of the gods.

v) Supremacy of Karma

The doctrine is based on the principle of supremacy of human endeavour. It holds man and his
actions responsible for the bad or good conditions in his present life. The doctrine considers
man as the maker of his own destiny. Theory of karmaphal basically believes that every karma
has its own results. Thus there is no action which goes without its results. The Mahabharat says
that people who are ignorant of this law of karma severally abuse the higher powers when they
are unlucky for they do not know that their ill luck is the result of their own evil deeds.

8.5 SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE DOCTRINE OF KARMA

The doctrine of karma has several social consequences on Indian society. Following are the
consequences of the doctrine of karma:

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i. Karma and Caste System

The doctrine of karma found a powerful impact on the caste system practised in India. It has
been mentioned in the Upanishads “those whose conduct has been good will quickly attain a
good birth (yoni), the birth of the Brahmana, the birth of Kshatriya or the birth of a Vaishya.
But those whose conduct has been evil will attain evil birth”. The Bhagavadgita also postulated
that karmas along with the gunas, are responsible for the division of the society into four castes.
Manu attributed a person’s low caste as the result of his mental sins. Thus the doctrine of karma
justified and sanctified the caste system.

ii. Karma and Non-Violence

The doctrine of punarjanma and of rebirth in varied forms of existence depending upon the
quality of a person’s acts or deeds give every human being a feeling of relationship with the
entire sentiment creation and a feeling of sympathy towards fellow creatures and fill him with
a sense of humility inasmuch he could be reborn in any of the lower forms of existence
depending upon his karmas. It is a practical demonstration of the concept of unity of life in
which differentiation is caused by karmas.

iii. Karma as the Upholder of Social and Economic Status Quo

The doctrine of karma, no doubt, provides a most rational explanation of the inequalities of life,
of affluence, and poverty, of happiness and suffering in the lives of individuals. According to
this doctrine, a man is born into a particular environment and circumstances due to his past
karmas and is not the creature of environment and circumstances on which he may have no
control. In consequence the economic and social inequalities and inequalities which individuals
suffer are not the results of acquisitive activities of selfish individuals or classes who exploit
weaker sections and individuals. They are the products of each man’s own karma in previous
births.

iv. Karma and Social Responsibility

The doctrine of karma is a doctrine of personal responsibility for a man’s actions or deeds: each
man is responsible for his own actions and he alone has to bear their consequences. It made
him self-centred but not selfish. It is also an essential feature of the doctrine that a person must
do good and avoid evil; he must not cause injury to various forms of life as such acts produce

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demerit; likewise, he must do good to all beings to earn merit which will ensure rebirth in higher
forms of existence and bring happiness. The practice of transference of merit further underlines
the importance of each being acting for the good of others. In short, a person must not be anti-
social, so the doctrine of karma provides a strong motivation not to act exclusively for personal
benefit and in disregard of the interests of his fellow beings. However, the ideal of Moksha,
liberation from the cycle of birth or death, is exclusively an intensely individualistic goal whose
achievement is a matter of personal effort. An excessive preoccupation with the achievement
of this goal promotes a sense of social responsibility in the individual. The importance of the
philosophy of karma producing socially responsible behaviour can best be understood when
we consider that the theocentric faiths led their followers to attribute all evil in the universe to
God and therefore, either he has the exclusive responsibility to eliminate it or he is also
considered the creator of evil.

v. Karma and the Pre-determinism and Free Will

The doctrine of karma has certain features which have a vital bearing on the question of free
will and pre-determinism. According to the doctrine of karma, whatever is done must bear fruit;
in other words, there cannot be loss of the effect of any action or deed till its effects are
exhausted. Secondly, if there is no action, nothing happens or takes place. Thirdly, karmas done
in a particular life are accumulated and bear fruit in subsequent life or lives. It is the
accumulated karmas that determine varna, the birth in different forms of existence, the life span,
its character of gunas, dispositions, tendencies, greed, selfishness, passion etc. in other words,
the present is the result of the past actions. Hus, a person’s future actions are regulated by his
personal tendencies which are the product of his previous karmas.

8.6 LET US SUM UP

In this Unit we have discussed that karma is a doctrine of opportunity and self-effort. The
doctrine of karma may be stated as ─ whatever a man suffers or enjoys is the fruit of his own
deed, a harvest sprung from his own actions, or good or bad committed in his previous life.
Every deed leads to double result (phala) – pain or pleasure, according to the nature of one’s
deed. Moral progress therefore depends on how we direct and regulate our tendencies to
actions. Everything that happens in the moral realm is pre-ordained. It gives the idea of Moral
Retribution. ‘Whatever we knowingly do, will sooner or later bring us the result we merit. There
is no escape, ‘what we sow, we must reap.’ The events of life are determined by an antecedent

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cause. The Law of Karma is not mechanical, but is essentially ethical. Moral education is to
choose the order, order of karma.

8.7 GLOSSARY

Artha: Activities pertaining to the economic aspects of life. e.g., earning a livelihood

Dharma: Good, upright, and righteous conduct

Karma: an action potential which manifests itself as the moral result or consequence in lives
hereafter. Karma is a doctrine of opportunity and self-effort.

Moksha: Liberation from birth and death and regaining of oneness with the Supreme Being.

8.8 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. What do you mean by Karma?

2. Discus the essential features of the doctrine of Karma.
3. What are the different points that form doctrine of Karma?
4. Describe the consequences of the doctrine of Karma.

8.9 REFERENCES

o Rao, C.N. Shankar (2004). Sociology of Indian Society, S. Chand & Co. Pvt. Ltd. (Revised
edt.).
o Kar, P. K. (2000). Indian society. New Delhi: Kalyani Publishers.
o Prabhu, P.H. (1979). Hindu Social Organisation: A Study in SocioPsychological and
Ideological Foundations. Popular Prakashan Pvt. Ltd.: Bomba

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Block-3
Marriage and Family in India

Unit-9: Hindu Marriage as Sacrament, Aims of

Hindu Marriage, forms of Hindu Marriage
Unit-10: Hindu Joint Family- Meaning &
Disintegration
Unit-11: Marriage among the Muslims & Tribes
Unit-12: Changes in Marriage and Family in India
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UNIT-9: HINDU MARRIAGE AS SACRAMENT, AIMS OF HINDU

MARRIAGE, FORMS OF HINDU MARRIAGE

Structure

9.1 Learning Objectives

9.2 Introduction
9.3 Hindu marriage as a Religious Sacrament
9.3.1 Aims of Hindu Marriage
9.4 Forms of Hindu marriage
9.5 Types of marriage among the Hindus
9.6 Rules of mate selection in marriage
9.7 Let Us Sum Up
9.8 Glossary
9.9 Check your progress
9.10 References

9.1 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After going through this unit you will be able to know

 Hindu marriage as religious sacrament
 The aim of Hindu marriage
 Forms of Hindu marriage
 Types of Hindu marriage

9.2 INTRODUCTION

Every society regulates the sexual behaviour of its members. Some sort of regulation is
necessary, if the children born of such sexual unions are to be well cared for and properly trained.
Therefore, in every society we come across norms governing “what persons, under what
conditions and in what manner, may establish a marriage relationship; what they will be expected
to do once they are married and how they may dissolve this relationship and under what
conditions.” This complex of norms constitutes the institution of marriage.

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Westermark defines marriage as “A relation of one or more men to one or more women, which
is recognized by custom or law and involves certain rights and duties both in the case of the
parties entering the union and in the case of children born of it.” Therefore, marriage, as is clear
from the above definition, implies much more than a mere regulation of sexual behaviour of the
members of a society. It involves rights and duties of various kinds of the parties to the union
and of the offspring born of it. As such, marriage has a reference to the structure and function of
the family.

9.3 HINDU MARRIAGE AS A RELIGIOUS SACRAMENT

Hindu marriage, ‘Vivah’ (vi + vah), literally means the ceremony of ‘carrying away’ the bride
to the house of the groom. But, since long it has come to refer to the whole ceremony or wedlock.
R.N. Sharma defines Hindu marriage as “A religious sacrament in which a man and a woman
are bound in permanent relationship for physical, social and spiritual purpose of dharma,
procreation and sexual pleasure.”
9.3.1 Aims of Hindu marriage
The aims of Hindu marriage are said to be dharma, praja (progeny) and rati (sexual pleasure).
Sex is given third place in regard to the functions of marriage. Dharma is the first aim of
marriage. Procreation is given the second place. Marriage also aims at begetting a son to save
the father from going to hell. On the marriage the sacred fire is enkindled to offer
panchamahayagyas. A man with his wife is supposed to offer puja throughout his life. Thus,
marriage is primarily for the fulfilment of duties, his dharma.

Kapadia points out performance of homa, of offering in the sacred fire, panigrahana, or taking
the hand of the bride, and saptapadi, the bride and the bridegroom going seven steps together are
important rites for completion of a marriage. All these rites are performed with Vedic mantras
in the presence of the sacred fire. Thus, Hindu marriage is a sacrament because it is said to be
complete only on the performance of the sacred rites and the sacred formulae. Hindu marriage is
a sacrament in another sense because marriage is considered essential for woman and she is
required to perform rites with her husband throughout her life. Hindu marriage is sacred because
it is irrevocable; the parties to the marriage cannot dissolve it at will. Since marriage is considered
indissoluble, the husband and wife try to adjust their tastes and temperament, ideals and interests
by making sacrifices for each other. Hindu marriage is not an ordinary event; it is an institution
of life-long compromise and adjustment.

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Marriage is a social duty toward the family and the community, and as such there is little
individual interest. Husband-wife are not individual persons, but they are part of extended family
and caste (community). However, the husband and wife have never been equal in regard to their
obligations and privileges. The wife is required to follow the ideal of pativratya, devoted to her
husband alone. The institution of sati (self-immolation after husband’s death) has received
encouragement, and widow remarriage gets discouraged. Today the situation has undergone
seachange. The Hindu Marriage Act of 1955, socio-cultural awakening, education and urban
employment etc. have weakened the sacred ethos of Hindu marriage. Divorce is becoming quite
acceptable. The incidence of widow-remarriage has also increased. Women are claiming status
equal to men. Despite these changes, religiosity remains attached to marriage to a large extent.

9.4 FORMS OF HINDU MARRIAGE

Hindu scriptures mention eight forms of marriage on the basis of the method of consecrating a
marriage union. They are: Brahma, Daiva, Arsha, Prajapatya, Asura, Gandharva, Rakshasa and
Paisacha forms of marriage.

1. Brahma vivah: In this form of marriage, the father of the bride invites a person, who is well
versed in the Vedas and of good character, and offers his daughter, adorned with ornaments, to
him in marriage as a gift.
2. Daiva vivah: In the Daiva form of marriage, the father of the girl offers his daughter, along
with ornaments, to a worthy person as a gift through a priest who duly officiates at the sacrifice
during the course of its performance.
3. Arsha vivah: the word ‘Arsha’, according to P.K.Acharya, is derived from ‘rishi’ and as such,
this form of marriage is believed to have been practiced mainly by the ‘rishies’. According to
this method, the father gives his daughter in marriage to a person and in return receives a bull or
a cow or two pairs of them from the groom. This, however, should not mean bride price, it should
only be regarded as a token of gratitude presented by a groom to a person who enables him to
perform his ‘grihastha dharma’ by giving his daughter.
4. Prajapatya vivah: In this form of marriage also, the father makes a gift of his daughter to a
worthy person with due honour and addresses the couple with a ‘mantram’, ‘May both of you
perform together your dharma’.
5. Asura vivah: In this form of marriage, the father does not make a gift of his daughter as in
the case of the four forms of marriage discussed above, but offers his daughter for a bride price.

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As such, in Asura vivah, the groom actually purchases his wife by paying a fixed bride-price
either to the father or to the kinsmen of the bride.
6. Gandharva vivah: It is brought about by the mutual love and consent of the bride and the
groom. It is similar to the modern love marriage. In this form of marriage, neither the father nor
any of the relations of the bride have any role to play. As such, Gandharva vivah differs from the
other forms of marriage in so far as the consent of the father of the bride is concerned.
7. Rakshasa vivah: Rakshasa vivah or marriage by capture is the forcible abduction of the girl
from her parents’ house after slaying or wounding her kinsmen.
8. Paisacha vivah: Paisacha form of marriage is one in which a man seduces a woman by stealth,
while she is either asleep or intoxicated or intellectually disordered and then forces her to marry
him. Of these eight forms of marriage, some are regarded as lawful and others un-lawful.
According to the Manu smriti, Brahma, Daiva, Arsha, Prajapatya, Gandharva and Rakshasa are
lawful and the other two, Asura and Paisacha, are un-lawful. Even among the six lawful
marriages, the most favoured forms are those in ahich the father offers his daughter as a gift to a
worthy person. Accordingly, the first four forms namely the Brahma, Daiva, Arsha and
Prajapatya are the most favoured.

9.5 TYPES OF MARRIAGE AMONG THE HINDUS

Basically, there can only be two types of marriage, namely monogamy and polygamy. In Hindu
society both the types of marriage were found to exist. Polygamy: It is a type of marriage in
which a man or a woman is allowed to marry more than one wife or husband at the same time.
Polygamy is of two types, such as, polygyny and polyandry.
Polygyny: It is a type of marriage in which a man is allowed to marry more than one wife at a
time. This pattern of marriage persisted in Hindu society since Vedic times. In fact, it was
regarded as one of the natural forms of marriage. Polygyny was mainly practiced by kings and
other well-to-do members of the society. As such, it was a socially approved form of marriage,
though largely confined to the upper strata of the society. But, it was never regarded as an ideal
form of marriage. All the Hindu law gives discouraged its practice. For example, Apastambha
remarks that a man should not marry a second wife, if his wife is willing and able to perform
religious rites and bears a son for him. Manu says that ‘a barren wife may be superseded in the
eighth year’.
Polyandry: K. M. Kapadia describes “polyandry as a form of union in which a woman has more
than one husband at a time in which brothers share a wife or wives in common”. A classic

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example of this type of marriage in Hindu society is that of Draupadi marrying the five Pandava
brothers. It appears that polyandry was once an approved from of marriage for Yudhishtira, while
justifying the marriage of Draupadi with the five Pandava brothers, says, “we follow the path
which has been trodden by our ancestors in succession”. However, polyandry has later come to
be a despised and discredited practice in the entire Hindu society with the exception of the Nayar
community in which the practice was universal until recent times.
Monogamy: The ideal form of marriage among the Hindus is monogamy i.e., the union of one
man and one woman. The Vedas proclaim monogamy as the highest form of marriage. In the
Manu Smriti, it is stated, “Let mutual fidelity continue until death. This may be considered as
summary of the highest law for husband and wife.” According to Kautilya, a second marriage,
unless it is intended for securing a male child, is punishable by a fine of 23 panas. Apasthambha
says, “A man forsaking his wife should put on the skin of an ass with hair turned outside and beg
alms from seven houses saying ‘give alms to him who forsook his wife.’ This disgraceful
punishment is said to last for six months.

9.6 RULES OF MATE SELECTION IN MARRIAGE

In Hindu society, there are two kinds of rules regulating the selection of mates in marriage. They
are endogamy and exogamy. Endogamy: Endogamy is the rule that forbids the members of a
group to marry from outside it. The most general forms of endogamy in Hindu society are:
(1) Varna endogamy
(2) Caste endogamy and
(3) sub caste endogamy.
1. Varna Endogamy: Varna endogamy prescribes marriages between members of the same
varna. Marriages between members of the same varna were regarded as proper and ideal .
Although marriages between varnas in the form of hypergamy and hypogamy were allowed in
the past, they were never considered desirable. Therefore, as per this rule, a Hindu must select
his partner in life from his own varna.
2. Caste Endogamy: Caste endogamy is the rule that prohibits the members of a caste to marry
outside their own caste. Each of the varnas consists a number of castes or jatis. As a result of this
rule, even the members of the same varna are not eligible to marry one another, if they do not, at
the same time, belong to the same caste. Until recently, violation of this rule was viewed with a
grave concern and the usual punishment for it was not less than ex-communication from the
caste. Even now, the rule, though legally abolished, is effective is Hindu society

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3. Sub-caste Endogamy:
This rule further restricts the individual’s choice of mate selection to a still smaller group i.e. his
sub-caste, which is but one of the many sub-castes of a caste. Even sub-castes are divided into
sections and sub-sections which are also endogamous. Thus the choice of an individual in
selecting a partner in life is confined to a few families ranging from 50 to 300.
Exogamy: While the endogamous rules prescribe marriages within the group, exogamic rules
prescribe such marriages. Some of the generally followed exogamic rules in Hindu society are
(1) Gotra Exogamy
(2) Pravara Exogamy and
(3) Sajida Exogamy.
1. Gotra Exogamy: Gotra exogamy forbids marriages between members of the same gotra.
Gotra which originally meant an enclose made to protect cows, has later come to mean family
or clan. The members of a gotra believe that they have descended from a common ancestor and
are, therefore, have descended from a common ancestor and are, therefore, related by blood. As
such, members of the same gotra are forbidden to enter into marital relations. However, this rule
has been made ineffective by the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955.
2. Pravara Exogamy: Pravara exogamy is the rule that forbids marriages between members
belonging to the same pravara. Pravara refers to a series of ‘rishi’ ancestors whom a Brahmin
invokes at the sacrifice to Agni. This rule, therefore, is applicable only to Brahmins According
to this rule; members having the same ‘rishi’ ancestors are not eligible to marry one another.
Pravara exogamy is also abolished by the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955.
3. Sapinda Exogamy: This rule prohibits marriages between ‘sapindas’. Sapindas are those
who are related to one another, in ascending or descending order, by four generations through
mother’s side and by six generations through father’s side. Sapinda Exogamy has never been
uniformly followed by Hindus all over India. Cross-cousin marriages, for example, are not only
universal but also preferential forms of marriage in the south and also in Maharashtra with a few
exceptions. Even in the North, the rule was not strictly followed. We come across instances of
cross-cousin marriages is very prestigious families like the Yadvas and the Pandavas. The Hindu
Marriage Act of 1955 though forbids sapinda marriages in general, allow it in the form of cross-
cousin marriages as a peculiar custom of the South.

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9.7 LET US SUM UP

 Westermark defines marriage as “A relation of one or more men to one or more women,
which is recognized by custom or law and involves certain rights and duties both in the
case of the parties entering the union and in the case of children born of it.”
 Hindu scriptures mention eight forms of marriage on the basis of the method of
consecrating a marriage union. They are: Brahma, Daiva, Arsha, Prajapatya, Asura,
Gandharva, Rakshasa and Paisacha forms of marriage.
 K. M. Kapadia a time in which brothers share a wife or wives in common” describe
“polyandry as a form of union in which a woman has more than one husband at
 Polygyny is a type of marriage in which a man is allowed to marry more than one wife at
a time. This pattern of marriage persisted in Hindu society since Vedic times. In fact, it
was regarded as one of the natural forms of marriage.
 The ideal form of marriage among the Hindus is monogamy i.e., the union of one man and
one woman. The Vedas proclaim monogamy as the highest form of marriage.

9.8 GLOSSARY

 Endogamy -is the practice of marrying within a specific social group, religious
denomination, caste, or ethnic group, rejecting those from others as unsuitable for
marriage or other close personal relationships.
 Exogamy -The practice of marrying outside a specific group such as a clan or tribe, as
determined by choice, custom, or law.
 Polygyny-where one man is married to several women.
 Polyandry-where one woman is married to several men.

9.9 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. What are the three aims of Hindu marriage?

2. What is the purpose of Hindu marriage?
3. What are the different types of Hindu Marriage?
4. Explain the form of Hindu marriage?

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9.10 REFERENCES

 Shah, A.M., The Household Dimension of the Family in India: A Field Study in a Gujarat
Villageand a Review of Other Studies, Delhi: Orient Longman, 1973.
 Uberoi, P. (ed.), Family, Kinship and Marriage in India,New Delhi: Oxford University
Press,1993.
 Y. Singh , Modernisation of Indian Tradition, Jaipur: Rawat Publications, 1986.
 Ram Ahuja, Indian Social System, Rawat Publications, 1993
 Sharma, KL. Indian Social Structure and Change, Rawat Publication, 2008.

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UNIT-10: HINDU JOINT FAMILY -MEANING AND DISINTEGRATION

Structure

10.1 Learning Objectives

10.2 Introduction
10.3 Definition and Features of Family
10.4 Functions and Dysfunction of Joint Family System
10.5 Disintegration of Joint Family
10.6 Let us sum up
10.7 Glossary
10.8 Check your progress
10.9 References

10.1 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After going through this unit you will be able to know-

 Features of family
 Functions and Dysfunction of Joint Family System
 Disintegration of Joint Family

10.2 INTRODUCTION

Family is one of the most important primary groups in society. It is a small social group
consisting ordinarily of a father, mother, and one or more children. Family in India has remained
a vital institution. It is sheet-anchor of the patriarchal authority on the one hand, and a protector
and defender of individual member’s right to property on the other. Despite several wide-ranging
changes in Indian society, because of synthesis between collectivism and individualism, the
Hindu family continues to be joint, partly structurally and mainly functionally. It has not
disintegrated into individual families like the western countries. Several studies on family have
revealed that industrialization, urbanization, education and migration have not necessarily
resulted into nuclearisation of family in India. The Indian family system is thus like a socialistic
community in which everyone earns according to his capacity and receives according to his
needs. At the outset, it is important to explain the sense in which the term “family” is used. The
word “family” has been taken over from the Roman word, “famulus”, meaning a servant. In

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Roman law, the word denoted the group of producers and slaves and other servants as well as
members connected by common descent or marriage.
The word ‘family’ is used in several different ways. A.M. Shah outlines at least four interrelated
social situations of family life in India. These are as follows:
1. The body of persons who live in one house or under one head, including parents,
children, servants etc.
2. The group consisting of parents and their children whether living together or not.
3. In wide sense, all those who are nearly related by blood and affinity.
4. Those descended or claiming descent from a common ancestor; a house, kindred,
lineage.

ILLOM

Illom is a kind of Hindu joint family. It is found among the Nambudri Brahmins of Kerala. Its
most distinguishing feature is that its property is indivisible. All the members of an Illom have
ownership in the family property, which is generally not divided. Division of property in an Illom
is not easy, because it requires the consent of all the members of the family. Property is held by
the Illom as a whole. The continuation of the Illom is facilitated by a custom, according to which
the eldest brother alone marries a girl from his own caste, while all other brothers consort with
Nayar women, who, along with their children, stay in their respective matrilocal families. Only
when the eldest brother fails to have children, the next senior brother marries a girl of his own
caste to perpetuate the family. Since the younger brothers do not have their families in the Illom,
division of property becomes un-necessary.
The eldest brother is the head of the family. He controls the property of the Illom, but has no
absolute control over it. He is not entitled to alienate the property either by sale or gift without
the consent of all the members of the Illom. Though the younger brothers have no rights to
demand a partition, they, nevertheless, have right to maintenance in the family property.
Another characteristic of the Illom is that the female members of the family have equal rights
with men in property. As such, sale or mortgage can be valid only when it is consented by all the
female members of the family.
Thus, the outstanding features of an Illom that differentiate it from the Hindu joint family are:
(1) indivisibility of family property and (2) rights of female members in the family property.

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TARWAD
The matrilineal family of the Nayars of Kerala is known as the “Tarwad”. It is composed of
women, her sons and daughters, daughters and sons and so on. It does not include the children
of sons, as they belong to the Tarwards of their mothers.
All the male and female members of the Tarwad own its property. The property of a Tarwad is
practically indivisible, though partition is theoretically allowed. Partition of a Tarwad usually
does not take place because of the condition that all its members should agree to it. Any single
member of the family can render partition impossible by simply refusing his consent.
The eldest male member of the Tarwad is its manager and is known as the “Karnavan”. In case
the eldest male is found to be incapable of managing the property due to either mental or physical
incapacity, the next senior male member steps into his shoes. All the junior members of the
Tarwad have rights to maintenance in the family property.
The Karnavan has more or less absolute authority over the family property, but he is not
empowered to make any sale or mortgage etc of it. The Karanvana may be removed from
hisposition, if he is found to have acted with bad faith or recklessness or is proved to be utterly
incompetent to manage the affairs of the family.
When the Tarwad grows too big and becomes unmanageable, it may be divided into smaller units
called “tavazhies” with the consent of all the members of the Tarwad. The property of the Tarwad
is equally divided among the tavazhies. Each tavazhi, like a Tarwad, consists of a woman, her
daughters and sons, the daughters and sons of her daughters and so on. A tavazhi, though ceases
to have economic connections with its parent Tarwad, it nevertheless, continues to maintain all
its kinship ties with it.
It is, however, to be remembered that joint family system in India has not completely died out.
The causes of its disintegration are mainly social. The Indian people still keep intact the family
attachment and live their traditional morality. Hindu sentiments are even today in favour of joint
family. Even in cases where family property, has got divided and income of the family members
is not pooled, the constituent householders consider themselves duty bound to participate in
ceremonial celebrations like marriage, birthday and religious functions. Such participation keeps
the joint family feelings alive. The thinkers who criticize the system have not been able to
appreciate it properly. Compromise and mutual adjustment are the keynotes of the Indian Joint
Family System.

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10.3 DEFINITION AND FEATURES OF FAMILY

According to Iravati Karve, “A joint family is a group of people who generally live under
one roof, who eat food cooked at one hearth, who hold property in common and who participate
in common worship and are related to each other as some particular type of kindred.”

According to C.B.Memoria, “The fundamental principle of the Hindu joint family is the tie
of sapindaship without which it is impossible to form a joint family.

According to Henry Maine, “The Hindu joint family is a group constituted of known ancestors
and adopted sons and relatives related to these sons through marriage.”

According to I.P.Desai, “We call that household a joint family which has greater generation
depth than individual family and the members of which are related to one another by property,
income and mutual rights and obligations.”

Characteristics of Joint Family

1. Large Size: A single family consists of only the husband, wife and their children. But a joint
family consists of parents, children, grandchildren and other near relatives along with their
women. It is a group of which several basic families live together at one and the same time.
2. Joint Property: In a joint family, the ownership, production and consumption of wealth takes
place on a joint basis. It is a cooperative institution, similar to a joint stock company, in which
there is joint property. The head of the family is like a trustee who manages the property of the
family for the material and spiritual welfare of the family members. The total earnings of all the
family members are pooled together.
3. Common Residence: The members of joint family usually live under the same roof. They
may also live in separate houses in close proximity to one another. They eat the same food and
wear the same type of clothes.
4. Cooperative Organization: The basis of joint family system is cooperation. A joint family
consists of a large number of members and if they do not cooperate with one another it is not
possible to maintain the organization and structure of the joint family.
5. Common Religion: Generally, the members of a joint family believe in the same religion and
worship similar deities. They perform jointly the religious rites and duties. They celebrate all the
festivals and social functions jointly. They also hold themselves jointly accountable for

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participating in social ceremonies like marriage, death and other occasions of family sorrows and
rejoicing. They all share the family burden together.
6. A Productive Unit: This feature of joint family is found among agricultural families. All the
members work at one and the same field. They do the sowing and harvesting of the crops
together. Even in the case of artisan classes, all the members of a joint family do one and the
same function.
7. Mutual Rights and Obligations: The rights and obligations of the members of joint family
are the same. None except the head of the family has special privileges. Every member of the
family has equal obligations if one female member works in the kitchen, the other does the
laundry work, and the third one looks after the children. There is rotation of duties as well.

10.3 FUNCTIONS AND DYSFUNCTIONS OF JOINT FAMILY

Functions of Joint Family

1. Ensures Economic Progress: It enables economic progress of the country since everyone
in the family is guaranteed bare subsistence, a first condition of economic progress. Unless
people are assured of food and shelter, they would not devote themselves sincerely to the work
of country’s progress. It is an essential condition of national progress that the citizens must at
least get two meals a day. Joint family provides this to its members and thus enables them to
devote themselves to nation’s progress.
2. Division of Labour: It secures the advantages of the division of labour. Every member in
the family is given work according to his abilities without being taxed unduly. Every phase of
family’s life is managed by all members including women and children. Thus, during the
harvest season every member of the family helps in harvesting the crops. No outside labour is
required.
3. Economy: It secures economy of expenditure. Since things are consumed in large quantities
they are secured at economic prices. Within small means a large family can be maintained if it
lives jointly.
4. Opportunity for Leisure: It provides opportunities for leisure to the members. The female
members divide the household work and finish it within a little time spending the rest of it in
leisure.
5. Social Insurance: In the joint family the orphans find a comfortable asylum instead of being
thrown out. Similarly, widows are assured of their proper living for whom remarriage in India
is unthinkable. The joint family acts as a social insurance company for the old, sick and
incapacitated.

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6. Social Virtues: It fosters great virtues like sacrifice, affection, cooperation, spirit of
selfishness, broadmindedness among its members and makes the family a cradle of social
virtues. Under the care of elders, the undesirable and anti-social tendencies of the young are
checked and they are prevented from going astray. They learn to exercise self-control. All
members learn to obey family rules and respect their elders.
7. Avoids Fragmentation of Holdings: It avoids fragmentation of holdings and the evils
inherent therein. It prevents property from being divided.
8. Socialism: According to Sir Henry Maine, the joint family is like a corporation where trustee
is the father. Everyone in the joint family works according to his capabilities but obtains
according to his needs. Thus, it realizes the socialistic ideal-from each according to his ability,
to each according to his needs.
Dysfunctions of Joint Family
1. Home for Idlers: Joint family is the home for idlers and drones as the non-earning members
do not want to earn their livelihood. When a person can eat comfortably without exerting
himself, he is unlikely to indulge in any strenuous activity. Mostly, in the joint family it happens
that some people have to exhaust themselves while the others lead a life of utter lethargy.
2. Hindrance in the Development of Personality: In joint family, there is very little
opportunity for the fostering of individual autonomy or self-dependence. The whole
environment of the family is not congenial for the growth of the individual because he is bound
down by the minutest rules and regulations framed by the head of the family who looks upon
men and women as children even when they attain adulthood.
3. Encourages Litigation: The joint family system encourages litigation, for at the time of
partition of common property generally disputes crop up which are not settled without a
recourse being taken to law. In case of agricultural families partition leads to fragmentation of
holdings which is harmful from the viewpoint of agricultural progress.
4. Hotbed of quarrels: It is a hotbed of quarrels especially among the female members.
Generally, there is hatred and jealousy between the wives of brothers. There is continuous strife
and fighting over the doings of children. There is also the clash of ideas and temperaments on
account of which there are constant quarrels between the elder and young members of the
family.
5. Privacy Denied: In a joint family, privacy is not possible to the newlywed. The brides do
not get an opportunity to develop their personality. They serve the entire family like slaves.
They hardly meet their husbands during the day. The invariable presence of other family
members suffocates the bride and she cannot freely talk to her husband.

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6. Unfavourable to savings: It is not favourable to large savings. When one has to share one’s
income with large family, it is not possible to save much. The property of the family being
jointly owned is sometimes allowed to go waste.
7. Uncontrolled Procreation: In the joint family the responsibility for bringing up and
educating the children is shared. No individual feels responsibility to control procreation
because of the limited income of the family. The offspring of one member will be treated on
the same footing as others. No distinction is made between the statuses of the family members.
In this way, no direct benefits occur to an individual in the joint family by practicing family
planning or earning more.

10.4 DISINTEGRATION OF JOINT FAMILY

1. Industrialization: The joint family system is most suited to agricultural families. India today
is on the way to industrialization. With the establishment of new factories in urban areas
workers from the villages move to the cities which breaks the joint family.
2. Extension of communications and transport: Because of the improvements in the means
of communication and transport, family members have become mobile in search of jobs etc.; it
is no longer necessary for men to stay with the family. Now they move out to cities and take
up any other occupation.
3. Decline of agriculture and village trades: The joint family system in India flourished in
ancient times when agriculture and trade in the villages were in a sound position. With the
migration of people from the villages to the cities, the Hindu joint family system breaks down.
Besides, the decline of agriculture and cottage industry, there are other causes as well which
induce people to move to the city. In the villages, there are fewer facilities for entertainment
and recreation, less opportunities for employment for the educated and inadequate opportunities
for the education of children. A gentleman so called finds little attraction to stay on in the
village.
4. Impact of the west: India has been greatly influenced in her social outlook by western
thought and ideology. The modern laws relating to marriage and divorce have been enacted on
western pattern. The impact of West is felt in the domain of education, polity, legislature,
bureaucracy and judiciary.
5. New social legislations: The joint family system in India has been influenced by a series of
new social legislations like Civil Marriage Act (1872). Hindu Marriage Act (1955), and Hindu
Succession Act (1956). The Civil Marriage Act enabled the adult boys and girls to marry

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against the wishes of their parents. The Hindu Marriage Act enabled the women to seek divorce
under certain conditions. The Hindu Succession Act gave the right of equal inheritance to
women. All these acts have influenced the solidarity of the joint family and relationships
between brothers and sisters, parents and children and husbands and wives.
6. Enlightenment of women: The increasing enlightenment due to education and employment
has made women empowered. They are not ready to accept things uncritically. They refuse to
accept inequality, exploitation and subordination in the family on irrational grounds. Conflicts
in the family are endemic.
7. Over population: India has witnessed a phenomenal growth of population, which has led
to a tremendous pressure on land. As a result of this pressure, the land holdings of many families
have become un-economical and many farmers have joined the ranks of landless labourers. The
situation in the villages has come to such a pass that agriculture no longer provides employment
to the ever-increasing number of people depending on it. This has resulted in the disintegration
of joint family in two ways. Firstly, the small and un-economic land holdings cannot support
large families, like the joint family. Secondly, the poor and the un-employed leave their homes
and farms in search of employment elsewhere. When they get employment in distant places,
they naturally setup their separate families there and gradually severe the links with their joint
families.
8. Problem of accommodation: Another factor adversely affecting joint family structure in
India is the problem of accommodation. This problem is so acute in the large cities that
members of a joint family find it difficult to live together in spite of their desire to do so.

10.5 LETS US SUM UP

 The fundamental principle of the Hindu joint family is the tie of sapindaship without
which it is impossible to form a joint family.
 Large size, joint property, common residence, cooperative organization, common
religion, mutual rights and obligations these are the main characteristics of joint family.
 Joint family enables economic progress of the country since everyone in the family is
guaranteed bare subsistence, a first condition of economic progress. Unless people are
assured of food and shelter, they would not devote themselves sincerely to the work of
country’s progress.
 According to Sir Henry Maine, the joint family is like a corporation where trustee is the
father. Everyone in the joint family works according to his capabilities but obtains

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according to his needs. Thus, it realizes the socialistic ideal-from each according to his
ability, to each according to his needs.
 The joint family system is most suited to agricultural families. India today is on the way
to industrialization. With the establishment of new factories in urban areas workers from
the villages move to the cities which breaks the joint family.
 India has been greatly influenced in her social outlook by western thought and ideology.
The modern laws relating to marriage and divorce have been enacted on western pattern.
The impact of West is felt in the domain of education, polity, legislature, bureaucracy
and judiciary.

10.6 GLOSSARY

 Primary group- It refers to those personal relations that are direct, face-to-face,
relatively permanent, and intimate, such as the relations in a family, a group of close
friends.
 Joint family- It refers the family in which members of a unilineal descent group (a group
in which descent through either the female or the male line is emphasized) live together
with their spouses and offspring in one homestead and under the authority of one of the
members.
 Socialism-is a social and economic doctrine that calls for public rather than private
ownership or control of property and natural resources.
 Industrialization-is a transformation away from an agricultural- or resource-based
economy, toward an economy based on mechanized manufacturing.

10.7 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. Explain the characteristics of joint family.

2. Describe the features of joint family.
3.Briefly explain the reasons behind the disintegration of joint family.

10.8 REFERENCES

 Shah, A.M., The Household Dimension of the Family in India: A Field Study in a
Gujarat Villageand a Review of Other Studies, Delhi: Orient Longman, 1973.
 Uberoi, P. (ed.), Family, Kinship and Marriage in India,New Delhi: Oxford University
Press,1993.

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 Y. Singh , Modernisation of Indian Tradition, Jaipur: Rawat Publications, 1986

 Ram Ahuja, Indian Social System, Rawat Publications, 1993
 Sharma, KL. Indian Social Structure and Change, Rawat Publication, 2008
 Srinivas, M.N. India: Social Structure. New Delhi: Hindustan Publishing Corporation,
1980

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UNIT- 11: MARRIAGE AMONG MUSLIMS AND TRIBES

Structure

11.1 Learning Objectives

11.2 Introduction
11.2.1 Meaning of Muslim Marriage
11.3 Essential Conditions of Muslim Marriage
11.3.1 Capacity
11.3.2 Forms of Marriage
11.3.3 Relative Capacity (Prohibitions and Disabilities)
11.4 Kinds of Muslim Marriage
11.5 Divorce under Muslim System
11.5.1 Classification of Divorce
11.5.2 Divorce without the court
11.6 Forms of Tribal Marriages
11.7 Let Us sum up
11.8 Glossary
11.9 Check your progress
11.10 References

11.1 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After going through this unit you will be able to know:

 Meaning of Muslim Marriage

 Essential Conditions of Muslim Marriage
 Kinds of Muslim Marriage
 Forms of Tribal Marriages
 Preference & Prohibition in Tribal Marriage
 Ways of Tribal Acquire their Mates

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11.2 INTRODUCTION

In the Muslim social system, marriage is governed basically by ‘Shariat’, the Muslim personal
law. The norms and injections of Shariat are widely followed, despite regional differences in
subsidiary customs in respect of Muslim marriage. The Muslim marriage is considered as a very
happy occasion of pomp and joy. It is performed in accordance with the socio-economic status
of the family. In Islam, marriage is an established system and as pointed out by Kapadia. In pre-
Islam society, the prevalent from of marriage was polygamy.
11.2.1 Meaning of Muslim Marriage
Marriage among the Muslims is considered more a social rather than religious institution known
as ‘Nikah’ in Muslim law; marriage is purely a civil contract.
According to Mohammad, “marriage is civil contract upon the completion of which by proposal
and acceptance all the rights and obligations which it creates arise immediately and
simultaneously.”
D.F. Mulla says, “Marriage (Nikah) is defined to be a contract which as for its objects the
procreation and legislation of children.”
K.M. Kapadia says, in Islam, “Marriage is said to be a contract signed by two parties, one for
each side.” According to Mohammedan law, marriage is an unconditional contract made between
two persons of opposite sexes for mutual enjoyment, procreation and legislation of children.

11.3 ESSENTIAL CONDITIONS OF MUSLIM MARRIAGE

Before a marriage takes place among the Muslim there are prerequisites or essential conditions
which must be fulfilled. These conditions are essential to make the marriage legally valid.
11.4.1 Capacity
Both the boy and the girl must have marital capacity. The first essential condition is that parties
to the marriage should be healthy and mentally sound. They must have attained the age of 15.
Consent of the parents will be necessary to make the marriage valid, if parties to it are below the
prescribed age of 15. Similarly, marriage cannot be performed when one of them is minor and
also when there are no witnesses.

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11.4.2 Forms of Marriage

Free consent of the parties is necessary. There must be proposal and acceptance of one meeting
in the presence of two male witnesses or one male and two female witnesses. The consent must
be stated in express words. An agent may be appointed to make the contract. Fraud or force
vitiates a marriage. Witnesses to the marriage are considered essential among the Sunnis but not
among the Shias.
11.4.3 Relative Capacity (Prohibitions and Disabilities)
There are certain limitations or prohibitions among the Muslims. Marriage among Muslims can
be declared null and void due to the following prohibitions:
a. Prohibition arising out of relationships: Marriage among very near relations such as real
sisters, brothers, mother, mother-in-law, grandmother etc. is invalid. A person is prohibited to
marry another who is related to him by consanguinity, affinity or fosterage.
b. Unlawful Conjugation: A man is forbidden to marry two persons at a time, who are related
to each other by consanguinity, affinity or fosterage.
c. Plurality of Marriage: Marriage is invalid in the event of a woman marrying another
person, especially when her first husband is alive. The husband is also not allowed to have his
fifth wife.
d. Marriage during Iddat: Remarriage of woman is considered invalid, if contracted during
the period of iddat. The period of Iddat lasts for three months after the dissolution of a former
marriage either by death or by divorce. If the woman is already pregnant, the period of iddat lasts
till the delivery. Marriage with pregnant women and while on pilgrimage is also not considered
valid.
e. Interreligious Marriage: A woman cannot marry any person who is not a Mohammedan. The
male may, however, marry any Kitabi, i.e. a person who believes in religion revealed through a
Book (but not in idolatry or fire-worship), for example a Christian or a Jewess. Defects such as
absence of witness, marriage with a person of different religion, marrying a fifth wife, or
violating the rule of unlawful conjugation, etc., render a marriage irregular.

11.4 KINDS OF MUSLIM MARRIAGE

Sunni law recognizes three kinds of marriages, namely valid, void and irregular. Valid Marriage:
When the marriage has taken place after observing all the religious and legal requirements, it is
called valid marriage. All the off springs of such marriage are legitimate.

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Void Marriage (batil): A marriage may be invalid, if it is performed by not taking into
consideration such prohibitions as affinity, fosterage, consanguinity etc. the children of this
marriage may not be treated as legitimate. A void marriage is one which is basically unlawful.
Irregular Marriage (fasid): An irregular marriage violates some temporary prohibitions. In
such a marriage the bases are sound and the formalities are unsound. Thus, this type of marriage
is neither all legal nor completely illegal. Once the irregularity is removed the marriage becomes
regular and valid. For example, the irregularity of marrying a fifth wife can be removed by
divorcing one of the former four wives.
According to Shia law, there is no such marriage as an irregular marriage. It recognizes two
categories of marriages such as void and valid. Hence, all marriages which are regarded as
irregular by Sunni law are void under Shia law.

Muta Marriage
Muta is purely a temporary marriage found among the Shias. This type of marriage is contracted
only for the sake of pleasure and it is also for a specified period only. Muta marriage depends
upon the fulfillment of two conditions. First, the period of marriage should be specified and
second, the quantity of the dower or Mehr to be paid by the husband should be settled and
specified. Muta marriage is invalid when the period has not been settled in advance. Both men
and women are permitted to enter into such contracts. But, females are required to contract Muta
marriage only with Muslim males. Muslim men, on the other hand, are free to enter into Muta
marriage with Christian Jewees or even with the Parsees. The wife in Muta marriage is called
Singha. Muta marriage is quite unpopular and it has been called as an anachronism in marriage.

Muta and Nikah marriages:

1. Whereas in a regular marriage after separation wife can claim maintenance from her husband,
in Muta marriage she cannot put forth such a claim.
2. A Muta wife does not inherit anything from her husband’s property whereas in a permanent
marriage she inherits the property of her husband and after her the children born out of this
marriage can inherit the property of the father.
3. The Muta marriage is for a specific period. As soon as that period is over, marriage comes
to an end and it becomes illegal. On the other hand Nikah is a permanent marrag. Such a marriage
can come to an end when either party to the marriage as ed or has been divorced.
4. Nikah is a common and popular form of marriage where as Muta marriage is uncommon
and unpopular form of marriage.

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5. Nikah marriage is acceptable respected both by Shias and Sunnis of the Muslim community.
But Muta marriage is recognized only by the Shias and not by the Sunnis.
6. Since Muta marriage is only for a specified period, therefore, there is no question of divorce
in it. It comes to an end after the expiry of the specified period. On the other hand, there is
specified provision for divorce in Nikah.
7. In Nikah, a woman is authorized to get full dower whereas in a Muta marriage she is
authorized to receive only a specified dower.

Mehr (Dower)
The wife is entitled to get a payment from her husband which is called Mehr or Dower. In the
case of Muta marriage, there is provision for partial mehr, whereas in Nikah marriage there is
provision for full mehr. A Muslim woman has a right to get dower from her husband. It can be
both in the form of cash and kind and is the indication of respect for the wife in the eyes of her
husband. It is not bride price. It may be mentioned that no amount of dower has been fixed and
it depends only on the social status of contracting parties. This amount is considerably higher
when the woman is virgin and not divorced. When the amount of dower should be paid depends
on customs but it is always associated with the consumption of marriage.

Kind of Dower:
Dower can be of four kinds. It can be specified as definite dower. In such cases the amount is
settled well in advance prior to the marriage and both the parties to the marriage agree to it. If
the amount is not paid immediately, it can be claimed by the wife at any time. When the amount
of dower is not fixed in advance it is called unspecified dower. Usually, while settling the amount
at some subsequent date, the amount paid to the female member in the family is taken as the
basis. When the amount is neither specified nor unspecified, it is called deferred dower. Such an
amount is paid when the marriage has terminated. If a wife does not get dower throughout her
life, the amount can be claimed by her heirs as well when some money is paid to the wife by her
husband soon after her marriage, it is called Muwojjal Mehr.

11.5 DIVORCE UNDER MUSLIM SYSTEM

Muta is a system of temporary marriage, whereas marriage through Nikah is a permanent on. In
a permanent marriage there is also the provision. Under the Muslim law it is easy for a man to

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get divorced whereas a woman finds it difficult to divorce her husband. Under the dissolution of
the Muslim Marriage Act, 1939, a Muslim woman can seek divorce on the following grounds:
1. When the whereabouts of husband are unknown for a period of at least 4 years.
2. When the husband has failed to provide maintenance for a period of 2 years.
3. If the husband has been awarded a sentence of 7 years or more.
4. When the husband is not performing his marital obligations for the last 3 years.
5. If the husband is impotent.
6. If the husband has become insane.
7. If the husband is suffering from leprosy or venereal disease.
8. If the husband is cruel. On the other hand a husband can divorce his wife at any time he likes.

In this way according to K.M.Kapadia, the law of divorce, therefore, asserted man’s domination
over his wife.
11.5.1 Classification of Divorce:
According to Islamic law, after the death of the wife, the husband can marry at any time he likes.
On the other hand, a wife can marry only after 4 months 10 days of the death of her husband.
Divorce can also be through judicial process. Such a divorce can be on the basis of adultery and
impotency and also on the basis of false charges of adultery made by the husband. The system
of divorce thus makes it quite clear that the husband has an upper hand over the wife in so far as
divorce or talaq is concerned. It is because the husband can leave the wife any time he likes, but
the wife finds it very difficult to leave her husband, even if both are not harmoniously pulling
on.
11.5.2 Divorce without the court:
Among the Muslims divorce can be of various kinds. The divorce can be valid as well as invalid.
A valid divorce is one which is legally as well as socially accepted. On the other hand, an invalid
divorce is one in which both the parties to the marriage are practically living a separate life, but
formalities to make the divorce legal have not been adopted. Similarly it can be written as well
as oral divorce. Various methods of divorce are as under:
1. Talaq: This is repudiation of the marriage by the husband. Though considered morally
detestable, it continues. It gives an absolute power to the husband to repudiate his wife. Any
husband of sound mind who has attained puberty may by himself or by an agent pronounce talaq.
It may be a single pronouncement followed by abstinence during the period of iddat, or by three
pronouncements made during three successive tuhrs or by a single pronouncement with an
intention to dissolve the marriage irrevocably, or by three pronouncements made in one sentence

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at the same time. The presence of the wife or of any witness is not necessary. a. Talaq Sunna: It
is the approved form of dissolution as per the dictates of the prophet. It has been divided into 2
types (i) Talaq ahasan (ii) Talaq hasanq.
2. i. Talaq Ahasan:

It consists of a single pronouncement of the word ‘talaq’ in the period of tuhr. Tuhr refers to the
period of purity. During this period the woman is free from her menstrual courses. The
pronouncement during the period of ‘tuhr’ is followed by abstinence from sexual intercourse
during ‘iddat’. The pronouncement made in this form of talaq is revocable till the completion of
the period of iddat. But once the period of iddat is over without any sexual intercourse between
husband and wife, the pronouncement becomes irrevocable and marriage is dissolved.
ii. Talaq Hasan: In this type of talaq the husband has to make three successive pronouncement
during three consecutive ‘tuhr’. It is essential that these pronouncements should be made during
abstinence from the sexual intercourse in each ‘tuhr’.
On the third pronouncement talaq is finalized.
b. Talaq Bida: It is of 2 types- (i) Triple pronouncements (ii) single irrevocable
pronouncement. These are disapproved forms of divorce.
i. Triple pronouncement: In this form three pronouncements are made in a single ‘tuhr’ either
in one sentence or in three sentences. This form of talaq is considered illegal according to the
Ithna Ashari and Fatimid laws. But it is lawful according to the Hanafi law.
ii. Single pronouncement: It comprises of a single irrevocable pronouncement made either
during the period of ‘tuhr’ or even otherwise.
2. Ila: Abstaining from sexual intercourse in pursuance of a vow for 4 months effects a divorce
between the spouses.
3. Zihar: If the husband links the wife to some prohibited female relation, the wife may require
him to perform a penance, or she may apply to the court to direct the husband either to perform
the penance or to pronounce talaq. Upon his refusal, the court may grant a divorce.
4. Khula: Where both the husband and the wife are of sound mind and above the age of
puberty, they may divorce each other with the consent and at the instance of the wife, upon her
agreeing to give a consideration to the husband for releasing her from the marriage tie.
5. Mubaraat: This is a divorce by mutual agreement between the husband and the wife. The
difference between the khula and mubaraat seems to be that in khula it is the wife who seeks the
divorce and it takes place at her instance, whereas in mubaraat it is by mutual consent and both
parties seek a divorce.

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6. Talaqui-Tafweez: Under this the wife pronounces the talaq under a power delegated to her
by her husband. The husband may himself pronounce talaq, notwithstanding such delegation.

11.6 FORMS OF TRIBAL MARRIAGE

The Tribal Marriages can be classified into the following types:

1. Monogamy:
In this type of marriage one man married to one woman or one woman marries one man. The
husband and wife may or may not be (usually not) related to each other before marriage, most of
the Indian tribes practise monogamy.
2. Polygamy: It is the marriage of one person with more than one person of the opposite sex. It
has two sub types:
(a) Polygyny
(b) Polyandry
(a) Polygyny
In this type of marriage one man marries to several women. The husband and wives may or may
not be related to each other before marriage. Wives may be related among themselves. When the
wives are related to each other as sisters it is called as sororal polygyny. If they are not related
as sisters, it is called non-sororal polygyny. Polygyny is found among the Naga tribes, the Gond,
the Baiga and the Toda. It is also found among the Lushai, Juang and the Kondh.

Polygyny is practiced among the tribals due to several reasons. First of all, it is practiced due to
the imbalance of the sex ratio, where women outnumber men. The second reason is that the
practice of polygyny accords higher status and prestige. This is the reason why the tribal chiefs
keep many wives. Thirdly the tribals like the Lushai or the Gonds practise polygyny. So that a
number of wives and their children will provide the husband with free and reliable labour.
Merits of Polygyny: Polygyny has the following merits:
(i) It facilitates better division of labour in the family.
(ii) It ensures the adequate sexual satisfaction of the husband.
(iii) It reproduces a number of strong children born to the wives of physically strong men.

The following are the demerits, of polygyny:

(i) It makes the family a centre of quarrel and spoils family peace.
(ii) The status of women suffers a serious setback in a polygynous family due to the
presence of a number of wives.

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(iii) Children are not properly looked after in the polygynous family.
(iv) It lacks in better understanding, fellow feeling, sympathy, love and affection among
the co-wives.
(v) It is also disadvantageous from the economic point of view
(vi) It snatches away the conjugal love and psychological satisfaction from women. (vii)
It causes jealousy and suspicion and family instability due to lack of proper understanding among
spouses and offspring’s.

(b) Polyandry:
In polyandry type of marriage, one woman marries to several men. The wife and the husbands
may or may not be related to each other before marriage. The husbands may be related among
themselves. If the husbands are all brothers, then this marriages is called fraternal polyandry. If
the husbands are not related to each other and share the same wife, it is called non-fraternal
polyandry. Polyandry as a form of marriage is very much restricted and is confined to a few tribal
communities, mostly along the foothills of the Himalayas. The Kota, the Khasa, the Toda, the
Ladani Bota and the Khasi practise this type of marriage. There is evidence to establish the fact
that some preDravidian and Dravidin tribes practise Polyandry. Fraternal Polyandry (Adelphic):
The Todas of Nilgiri hills and the Khasa practise fraternal polyandry. The elder brother marries
j wife and according to this practice of Adelphic, she becomes the wife of all the brothers. She
is shared by all the brothers of a family for satisfaction of sexual urge. The minor brothers of the
family become her husband after being major. But the elder brother becomes the father of all her
children. Non-Fraternal Polyandry (Non-Adelphic): In this form of marriage a woman marries
many men who are not necessarily brothers. She satisfies their sexual desire. By turn, going from
one husband to another. The husbands may either live in one place or in different places. During
her living with one husband, that particular husband enjoys her exclusively for that particular
period and others do not have their right at that time. The Nayar women practise non- fraternal
polyandry and constitute matriarchal family. Polyandry is practiced due to several reasons. The
imbalance in sex ratio, less number of females of marriageable age is another reason. The poor
practices polyandry whereas the rich can afford to practise polygyny. Fraternal polyandry is often
preferred to keep the family property undivided because, it does not allow the brothers to marry
separate wives and live with them in separate households. Higher Bride price may be considered
as another cause of polyandry. When the husbands are unable to pay the bride price individually,
they may prefer polyandry to monogamy. Bigamy: In Mysore, the Medara and Holiya tribes

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practise bigamy type of marriage wherein a male is allowed to marry two women at a time. The
cowives are related as sisters.

Preference & Prohibition in Tribal Marriage: All societies have rule and restrictions about
whom one may or may not marry. This is referred to as the system of prohibition or
encouragement or preference of the choice of male in marriage. Madan & Majumdar write that
“All over India, and in other parts of the world as well, we come across rules laying down
prohibitions, preferences and prescriptions in deciding the form of marriage.” There are certain
categories of relatives who come within the prohibitory degree of marital relationship. There are
also some other relatives with whom sexual relationship is prohibited. “A Taboo on sexual
relationship between closely related kin like parents and children and between siblings is
universal. An extension of this “nuclear prohibition” is found everywhere. Therefore among
several tribal communities we find the practice of marrying outside the family, clan, village etc.
Violation of this restriction is seriously dealt with. The practice of marrying outside one’s own
family clan, village or group is called as Exogamy. Among the Indian tribes we also find another
peculiar practice of marrying within one’s own group. This marriage within one’s own group is
known as Endogamy.
The Victorian Anthropologist MacLennan, had coined these two terms, which simply meant
marrying in and marrying out.
(a) Family Exogamy: Marriage outside the family.
(b) Clan exogamy: Marriage outside the clan.
(c) Village Exogamy: Marriage outside the village. The practice of clan exogamy is widely
followed among the Indian tribals like Gond, the Baiga, the Ho, the Korwa, the Khasi, the
Nagadsoon. The Munda tribe of Chhotanagpur region practise village exogamy. Tracing the
cause of Exogamy, Audrey Richards has pointed out that “in hunting and food gathering
societies, food is difficult to obtain. Women and children are generally a burden in such societies,
particularly those which rely more on hunting. This could have led to female infanticide, which
in consequence, would lead to female scarcity. This must have led to marriage by capture, and
the next step-since such capture had to be effected from outside the tribe to exogamy. Thus food
scarcity may be, historically speaking a probable cause of exogamy.” In his book on the people
of India, Sir Herbert Risley has mentioned that “probably there has existed in man a tendency to
vary. This desire must have driven man to seek marital alliance with strangers, un-familiar and
unknown to him.” Westermarck has viewed that having seen all the girls growing up in the
village along with him, the male may develop a feeling of aversion for the familiar. This may be

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explained as the cause of exogamy. According to Malinowski the strong sense of incestuous
feeling and the very elaborate rules for the prevention of incest may lead to exogamy.

Endogamy: Majumdar and Madan say that the practice of marrying within one’s own tribe or
very rarely the clan is called endogamy. Thus, mainly, we find two types of endogamy:
(a) Clan endogamy—Marriage within the clan.
(b) Tribe endogamy — Marriage within the tribe.
The Todas of Nilgiri Hills have two main clans such as Tartharol and the Teivaliol. These clans
are endogamous groups, but their subdivisions and sibs practise exogamy. Likewise the Bhils
have two endogamous groups such asthe Uyale Bhil and the Mele Bhil. Most of the tribes are
clan exogamous but phratry and tribe-endogamous. However, now-a-days, some sophisticated
tribes in India like the Gond, the Bhil and the Santhal have broken down the barriers of
endogamy and have started marrying with the lower castes, for their incorporation into the
Hindu castes.
A number of causes may be given in support of the practice of endogamy:

(a) Universal fear of the stronger, unknown and the novel- Generally the tribals are afraid
of the neighbor’s witchcraft and sorcery. The Korwa tribe practices endogamy particularly on
account of that reason.
(b) Territorial and Linguistic factors-Territorial and linguistic factors “impose limits on the
communication of thoughts and persons (Spouses) between various groups.”
(c) Desire to preserve the socio-cultural identity-Each tribal group possesses its own distinctive
socio-cultural identity, sharing enough thought and action pattern.
Which they want to preserve through the practice of endogamy. Preferential Marriages: In certain
cases there is a prescription expressed for establishing martial ties with a particular kin or
preferences designed to promote inter-familiar cordiality by making certain linkages imperative.
Such marriages are known as preferential marriages.
The tribes in India practise the following types of preferential marriages:
(a) Cousin marriage.
(i) Cross cousin marriage.
(ii) Parallel cousin marriage.
(b) Levirate
(i) Junior Levirate.
(ii) Senior Levirate.

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(c) Sororate. Cousin Marriage: The Gond, the Kharia, the Oraon, the Khasi, and the Kadar
practise cousin marriage. The cousin marriages can be sub- divided into:
(i) Cross-cousin marriage and
(ii) Parallel cousin marriage
The marriage between mother’s brother’s (Maternal uncle’s) children and father’s sister’s
(paternal aunt’s) children is called as cross cousin marriage. Majumdar and Madan hold that
“cross-cousin marriage as a form of exogamy, the only form of exogamy under dual organisation,
is often explained to be a device for avoiding payment of a high bride price and also for
maintaining property in the household”. Cross Cousin marriage is found among different tribes
in southern India. The Gonds of Madhya Pradesh practise crosscousin marriage and call it;
‘dudhlautawa’ or the ‘return of milk’. This is called so because the bride price paid by the
husband for his wife comes back to his own family through the marriage of his daughter with the
son of his wife’s brother. Marrying one’s father’s brother’s child or mother’s sister’s child is
called as parallel cousin marriage. The main purpose of preferential mating, according to Levi-
Strauss is to strengthen the solidarity of a tribal group.

Levirate: Sometimes, preferential marriages also aim at solidifying the inter-family unity. If a
man dies, his wife is inherited by the brother of the deceased husband. This practice of being
actual or potential mate to one’s husbands brother is called levirate. The custom of Levirate is
found among several tribes like Santal, Ho, Saora, Bhuinya, Munda etc. Marriage of the widow
with the deceased husband’s elder brother is called senior Levirate. But when she marries to the
younger brother of the dead husband, it is called as junior Levirate. Levirate as a form of marriage
is useful for the tribal society. First of all it allows widow remarriage. Secondly it provides the
widow with social security within the same family. Thirdly it also provides social security to the
offspring’s of the widow which is not possible in other type of widow remarriage. Fourthly it
strengthens the solidarity between inter-family unity.

Sororate: The practice of being actual or potential mate to one’s wife’s sisters is called sororate.
Majumdar and Madan holds that “when several sisters are simultaneously or potentially, the
spouses of the same man the practice is called sororate. The death of a spouse is compensated by
supplying a new spouse, generally a younger brother of the deceased”. The custom of Sororate
is found among the tribal communities where the practice of bride-price is prevalent. Sororate
also recognizes marriage as a tie between two families and lays emphasis on the acceptance of
inter- familiar obligations.

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Positive sanction in Tribal Marriage: The following types of marriage in the tribal societies
are accorded positive sanction:
(a) Tribe endogamy.
(b) Clan exogamy.
(c) Preferential Mating.
The tribe exogamy, clan endogamy (incest) are looked down upon, pre-marital or post-marital
sexual relationship is .not uncommon among tribal societies in India Indulgences in this kind of
sexual activities is possible even without the displeasure of the society because pre-marital
chastity is not stressed in marriages. The tribes living in the central India do not view pre-marital
relationship seriously unless that leads to pregnancy. If it results in pregnancy, the male partner
is compelled to marry the pregnant girl. In the Bastar district of Madhya Pradesh, the Muria
Gonds allow the bachelors and Maiden to sleep in a common dormitory. They are free to indulge
in pairing off in the dormitory. The Oraons, the Khaddi, and the Hos indulge in pairing off
activities on important festivals like Magha-parab, among the Konyak Nagas a girl may indulge
in pre-marital sex till she becomes a mother. The Khas allow pre- marital sex but strictly prohibit
any extra-marital sexual relationship for the wives.

8 Ways through which the Tribals Acquire their Mates

The tribes in India have a variety of ways of acquiring mates. Since the tribals consider their
marriage, more or less, as a social and civil contract, many tribes do not perform religious
ceremonies for the solemnization of marriage. Majumdar has listed the following eight ways
through which the tribals acquire their mates.

1. Probationary Marriage:
In this type of marriage, a tribal youth lives in the house of his sweetheart for weeks or months
together. Thereafter, if both the boy and the girl like each other, they may enter into the wedlock
or incase of dislike they may be separated. If marriage is not solemnized, the boy will have to
pay compensation to the girls’ parents. It is called as probationary marriage because the boy stays
in his would be father-in-laws house as a probationer. The Kuki tribe of Arunachal Pradesh is
said to follow this type of marriage.

2. Marriage by capture:
This is a popular type of marriage among several Indian tribes. In the marriage by capture, both
the boys and the girl are known to each other since long. But marriage cannot be solemnized

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either due to unwillingness of the parents of either party or due to the inability on the part of the
boy to pay the bride price. Therefore capture appears to be the only way out. Sometimes the
captures are pre-arranged and often take place in fare, festivals markets.

Even at times, the relations and friends of both the families arrange mere fights to retain the
tradition when the bride is captured. In the Mock fight, the bride’s party pretend to resist. The
bride is expected to weep and lament on the occasion. This type of marriage is practiced among
the Kondha, Juang, Bhuinya, Kharia,Birhor, etc. The Nagas take recourse to physical capture
during raids by one village to another.

3. Marriage by trial:
This is a peculiar type of tribal marriage practiced among the Bhils of Madhya Pradesh. In this
type of marriage, the courage and bravery of the young man is appreciated and recognized.
Traditionally, on the ‘Holi’ day a group of Bhil bachelors and spinsters meet at the end of the
village in a large field and fix up a wooden pole, at the field. They keep a litter ‘gur’ and coconut
at the top of the pole and make two circles around the pole. The inner circle is made by the
spinters around the pole and the boys make the outer ring.

The girls sing and dance in the inner ring and the unmarried boys who make the outer circle try
to push through the girls by breaking their inner ring and to climb on the pole to eat the ‘gur’ and
coconut. If a boy comes out successful in his endeavor, he is free to choose any girl of the group
for marriage.

4. Marriage by Purchase:
The man pays price for the bride to her parents before he has her as his wife. The price paid may
be in the form of cash or kind. This type of marriage is widely prevalent among a number of
tribes all over India. The price is paid by the groom’s father to the girl’s father according to the
traditional custom. This payment, also known as bride prices, emphasizes the sale and purchase
of bride, says Loises.

This type of marriage is found among the Kondh, the Juang, the Ho and the Munda. The
Renghma Nagas also practise this way of acquiring mates. The amount of bride price paid among
many tribes has become a status symbol which has jacked up the bride price too high. This has
caused problem for many prospective brides and bridegrooms. They either remain unmarried or
prefer to marry by capture.

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5. Marriage by Service:
Some tribals have evolved the solution of higher bride price which the economically weaker
tribal youths cannot afford to. If the bride groom is unable to pay the bride price, he has to serve
in his would be father-in-law’s house as a servant and marries the girl after the lapse of specific
period. During the period the boy works in the house of the would be father-in-law without any
payment and equalizes the bride price through his free service. The Gond and the Baiga practise
this marriage. The Gond and the Baiga call the boy a Lamini and Lamena respectively.

A Birhor father-in-law often lends money to the son-in-law to enable him to pay the bride price.
The son-in-law repays the loan in suitable instalments and until the loan in repaid in full, he stays
with the father-in-lay. The period of service in father’s-in-law house varies from tribe to tribe. A
Bhil bridegroom, unable to pay the bride price, serves for seven long years whereas a Kuki may
serve for a maximum period of 2-3 years.

6. Marriage by exchange:
If a son and daughter of marriageable age are available in two families they may exchange the
daughters and do not pay any bride price for obtaining the bride. In the tribal India, the Kondh,
the Saora, the Juang, Bhuiyan the Santal etc.; practise this type of marriage.

7. Marriage by Elopement:
Among many Indian tribes the unmarried boys and girls lead dormitory life and often involve in
sexual relationship by coming in contact with each other. At times the tribal girls and boys may
spend nights together while on dance expeditions to neighbouring villages. If the parents do not
give consent, to the love of the would be spouses for marriages, they flee away to some other
place without any information to the parents.

Such delinquent couple may, later on, be received back by their parents. Sometimes the parents
make a search for the eloped couple and arrange their marriage. In this type of marriage, bride
price is easily avoided. The Juang, the Santal, the Bhuinya, the Kondha and the Saora practise
this type of marriage. This marriage practice is also prevalent among the tribals of Chhotanagpur
region as ‘Udra-Udri Cholki’.

8. Marriage by Intrusion:
This is the reverse way of the marriage by capture, wherein a girl desirous of marrying a
particular tribal male expresses her willingness and goes to his family. She forcibly thrusts

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herself onto him and stays with him, despite the non-acceptance of the male. In the process she
is subjected to humiliating treatment and refusal of food and often physical torture. But in spite
of such humiliation, disrespect or torture if she sticks to the marriage and stays there she i s
accepted and the marriage is performed.

The Juang, Kondh, the Bhuiyan practise this marriage. But such marriages are widely reported
from the Birhor and Ho tribes of Chhotanagpur region. Apart from the above eight ways of
acquiring mates, as given by Majumdar, the inheritance of widow may be discussed.

Inheritance of Widow:
Widow Marriage is widely prevalent among the Indian tribes. From the point of view of tradition,
custom or personal choice, the youngsters do not usually prefer to marry a widow. In the practice
of sororate there is no option. Otherwise the widows are preferred by the widowers. No bride
price is paid in the widow marriage. As a customary practice, the sena nagas as a matter of
obligation often marries to his father’s widow, other than his own mother. This type of marriage
is held so as to inherit the family property form the widows, because the widows are the legal
heirs of their dead husband’s property. The practice of the inheritance of widows is seen among
the Santal, the Bhuinyan the Juang and the Kondh.

Divorce:
Divorce or the dissolution of marriage is practiced in the tribal communities. But one cannot
divorce the other whimsically or at will. Some rules and regulations persist in this regard.
Murdock has mentioned a number of recognized grounds for divorce, such as incompatibility,
adultery, diseases, barrenness or sterility, impotency, sexual unwillingness, laziness, economic
incapacity, quarrelsome, mistreatment, etc.

Since the Indian tribes do not consider marriage as a religious sacrament, the process and
procedure of divorce is rather simple. In most of the cases of marital disaster the separation
occurs with the mutual consent of both the parties. The question of compensation is also involved
in divorce, in many a case. As a matter of customary practice, the divorce cases are generally
decided by the tribal council and performed in a public place in the presence of elderly villagers.

The tribal communities allow both the husband and wife the right to divorce the other spouse on
certain grounds. However, in several tribal communities, such as the Aruntas of Australia the
husband can only divorce the wife. The wife does not enjoy the right to divorce her husband,

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under no circumstances. Also the Bagauda woman has no right to divorce her husband, despite
ill- treatment.
Among the tribals, the husband is divorced, generally on the grounds of disease, drunkenness,
impotency, extra-marital sexual relationship with other women etc. Generally a wife is divorced
on the plea that she has become an insane, a thief or a witch or a runaway. However, there are
no common grounds of divorce among all the tribes in India.

Wide variations in the procedure of divorce persist among the tribal communities. As for
example in the Korawa tribe a husband can ask his wife to leave his house and that is treated as
the dissolution of marriage for them, whereas a dissatisfied Bhil husband will have to call the
panchayat and will give a piece of cloth from his turban, in the presence of the elderly people, to
his wife and that is treated as divorce.

Then the divorced wife will proceed to her father’s village and hang this cloth in the house of
her father’s wall for a month. This indicates that her marriage has been dissolved and she does
not have any relation with her former husband. Among the Gonds, it is not essential on the part
of the wife to obtain the consent of her husband for divorce. The wife may leave the husband
and may marry second time, without having the consent of husband.

The only requirement is that the second husband will have to pay some compensation to the first
husband with regard to divorce. The murias make the payment of compensation compulsory so
as to validate the second marriage. Some Tribes do also have the provision to compensation. But
the panchayat decides the giver and taker of compensation, depending on the circumstance and
faults of the parties. Among the Lesher the dissolution of marriage is a much simpler affair. If a
husband turns out his wife, he must pay the balance of the bride price if any is due.

However, if his wife deserts him or is caught in adultery, she has to arrange for the return of the
bride price her husband paid to her. A second marriage between those once divorced is possible.”
Mutual consent is essential for divorce and the divorced couples cannot remarry.

Wide variations are also marked in the ground of divorce. Whereas the Gond allows
divorce freely on grounds of marital infidelity, carelessness in household work, barrenness and
quarrelsome disposition, the Khasi permits divorce for reasons of adultery, barrenness and
incompatibility of temperament. The Kharia tribe allows divorce for reasons of marital infidelity,
sterility of the wife, Laziness, wife’s refusal to live with the husband, and theft. Both the parties
are allowed to divorce.

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11.7 LET US SUM UP

We are living in the 21st century but a majority of people’s minds are parochial. They date back
to a million years! Some are, on the face of it, conservative, and some are hidden conservatives,
i.e. they seem liberal from the outside, but from the inside, they are next level conservatives. It
feels bad, that even after so many years our society doesn’t have progressive thinking. But, it is
a blessing to have a community who are progressive, and yes! I’m talking about the very same
community who are tagged as backward, junglee, untouchables, पिछड़े जापि and what not – the
tribals! They were progressive from the very beginning. Tribal marriage is a complex marriage
system, as it includes marriage by negotiation,marriage by trial, marriage by Bride Price and a
few marriages on marriage by elopement. Ninety five per cent Banjara marriages are arranged
by trial and the remaining are marriages by elopement.There is an argument that tribal customs
and traditions are not easily amenable to change. But it is proved to be wrong. Changes in tribal
customs and traditions are taking place rapidly. The disturbing feature of this change is that the
most retrogradeand unjust aspects of the other cultures are being absorbed into it and positive
aspectsare being eliminated. For instance, it is becoming fairly common now for Banjara girlsto
pay dowry instead of accepting the traditional “ Mamlo”, of course, giving mamloand taking
dowry, both are equally undesirable. It is the responsibility of all of us toprevent the decay in
tribal culture and to initiate a new direction for positive changesfor the betterment of the tribal
community, now a days tribal traditional marriagesystem we could not find in plain areas except
in rural some pockets only. All most allBanjara tribes are following non-tribal (Hindu) marriage
system.

11.8 GLOSSARY

Manogamy- Monogamy is a relationship with only one partner at a time, rather than
multiple partners. A monogamous relationship can be sexual or emotional, but it's usually
both. Many modern relationships are monogamous. But even if they want to be with just one
partner, some people have trouble staying monogamous

Polygamy- Polygamy is the practice of marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to
more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny. When a woman is married
to more than one husband at a time, it is called polyandry.

Family Exogamy: Marriage outside the family.

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Clan exogamy: Marriage outside the clan.

11.9 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. Define Muslim Marriage and discus its essential conditions.

2. What are the rules of marriage a Muslim?
3. What are the two types of Muslim marriage?
4. Discus the forms of Muslim Marriage.
5. Which type of marriage is prevailing among Indian tribes?
6. What are rules of marriage in tribal life?
7. Discuss the types of Tribal Marriage.

11.10 REFERENCES

 Shah, A.M., The Household Dimension of the Family in India: A Field Study in a
Gujarat Villageand a Review of Other Studies, Delhi: Orient Longman, 1973.
 Uberoi, P. (ed.), Family, Kinship and Marriage in India,New Delhi: Oxford University
Press,1993.

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UNIT-12: CHANGES IN THE MARRIAGE AND FAMILY IN INDIA

Structure

12.1 Learning Objectives

12.2 Introduction
12.3 Changes in the Marriage System of Hindus
12.4 Recent Changes in the Family System in India

12.5 Factors Affecting Changes in the Family

12.6 Let us sum up
12.7 Glossary
12.8 Check Your Progress
12.9 References

12.1 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After going through this unit you will be able to know:

 Changes in the Marriage System of Hindus
 Recent Changes in the Family System in India
 Factors Affecting Changes in the Family

12.2 INTRODUCTION

Hindu marriage is an important institution and it is based on religion, religious rites and for the
pursuit of religion. The practice of monogamy, absence of widow remarriage lack of facility
for easy divorce and chastity are regarded as important ideals now we see that changes have
occurred in the institution of Hindu marriage, because of several factors such as urbanization,
industrialization, secularization, modern education impact of Western culture, and marriage
legislations; changes are taking place in Hindu ideals, forms and values of marriage.

12.3 CHANGES IN THE MARRIAGE SYSTEM OF HINDUS

The Changes in the Marriage System of Hindus May Be Analyzed In Following Areas”

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1. Changes in the Aims of Marriage:

The main objective of Hindu marriage was Dharma Although Kama or sex was one of the aims
of Hindu marriage, it was the least desirable aim. In recent years, the order of aims of marriage
has undergone change Sex has become primary and Dharma has become least important aim
to marriage. In this manner the aims and the basis of marriage are undergoing changes.

2. Change in the process of Mate Selection:

As far as the selection of the bride and bridegroom was concerned it was the prerogative of the
parents or the guardians This tradition of selecting the marriage partner for sons and daughters
continued till the end of 19th century when the ideas of liberalism and industrialism were
incorporated into Indian society as a result of the impact of Western culture.

As a result of this some cases of individual choice of mate was found. In the post independent
India, the tendency of selecting one’s own partner has remarkably increased. Now-a-days the
younger generation is not very much in favor of parental choice in matter of selection of
marriage partners.

A new trend is emerging in the process of mate selection among the middle and upper class
educated youth in urban areas. In some cases marriage partners are chosen by children. In most
of the cases the parents allow their children to have a say in selection of partners.

3. Changes in the Rules of Endogamy and Exogamy:

There have been some visible changes in the matter of rules of endogamy and exogamy. The
rules of Varna, caste and sub-caste endogamy, Gotra and Pravara exogamy have been banned
by legislations.

Now we do not find restriction in cross-cousin marriages. Cross-cousin marriages were taking
place but these were not very common. It appears that the attitude of people towards cross-
cousin marriage is changing. The numbers of cross-cousin marriages are gradually increasing.
Under certain circumstances these types of marriages are found to be accepted by people.

As regards the rules of endogamy, remarkable changes have taken place. The Hindu Marriage
Disabilities Removal Act of 1946 allowed marriage between different subdivisions of the same
caste. The Special Marriage Act of 1954 and Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 have enabled marriages
between persons of different castes and religions.

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Arya Samaj Movement has promoted inter-caste marriages. Inter-caste marriages, hitherto
considered unthinkable, are now not only permitted but also encouraged. Besides the
legislations, the freedom in mate selection has promoted inter-caste marriages.

4. The Age at Marriage:

In course of time child marriage became the prevalent mode of marriage in India. Hence, child
marriage was the practice to safeguard chastity and purity of females. The practice of child
marriage was strong even in the 20th century. In the 20th century, the Child Marriage Restraint
Act, popularly known as Sharada Act prescribed the minimum age of marriage at 14 years for
girls and 18 years for boys.

Then, the Indian Parliament raised the age of marriage. For girls, the minimum age is 18 years
and for boys 21 years. Marriage of boys and girls below the prescribed age has been made a
cognisable offence.

Various sociological studies conducted in the last few decades have revealed that the trend in
age at marriage from 1930 onwards has shown a continuous change. Due to certain changed
social conditions, people prefer marriage at a higher age now-a-days.

5. Changes in the Rites of Marriage:

Traditionally, Hindu marriage is a religious sacrament and the Hindu marriage can take place
only through the performance of certain rights and rituals. Some of the most important rites and
rituals connected with Hindu marriage are Kanya Dana, Vivaha Home, Panigrahana, Agni
Parinayana and Saptapadi etc. But today the situation is that some changes have taken place
regarding the rites and rituals of marriage.

On the one hand, we find that due to shortage of time the rites and rituals connected with Hindu
marriage have been cut down. Generally, it is observed that people sometimes ask the priest to
hasten the ceremonies of the marriage.

On the other hand, some marriages are performed in civil courts. As a result of this, the sacred
nature of rites and rituals has been diminished to a considerable extent. Apart from this, the
Arya Samaj movement has also simplified the rites and rituals of marriage. Another factor
responsible for the decline in the religionsity of marriage is that Indian society as a whole is

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moving from sacred to secular nature and as a result of this; the traditional values are
undergoing vast changes.

6. Change in the Stability of Marriage:

Traditionally, divorce was not easily granted and permitted in Hindu society. The hindrance on
divorce made the institution of family and marriage stable and enduring. Due to the enactment
of marriage and family legislations and many other factors the divorce rate in India has been
steadily increasing.

The incidence of divorce is a clear indication of the fact that the institution of marriage is
undergoing changes. The stability of married life is gradually being affected. Marital instability
is gradually increasing. There was a time when a wife could not think of divorce. But now
women have started taking resort to dissolution of marital bond.

7. The Problem of Remarriage:

The old tradition of Kanya Dana prohibited the marriage of widows. The remarriage of widows
was generally not favoured in Smritis. Although widow remarriage was in rare cases permitted,
it was not regarded as sacramental as the first marriage was. The remarriage is not marriage
once a maiden is given in marriage.

The Widow Remarriage Act, 1856 allowed widows to remarry if they liked. Apart from this
law, the Arya Samaj Movement also favoured widow remarriage. During early period of the
20th century, we come across sporadic cases of widow remarriage.

In the post- independence era the number of widow remarriages has considerably increased.
Hence, we can say that our old values are changing. The attitude of hatred and abhorrence
which was associated with the idea of widow remarriage is being replaced by more liberal ideas
of accepting the widow remarriage.

8. Dowry Systems:
The traditional form of marriage impl.es Kanya Dana in which the father of the bride provides
jewels and ornaments to daughter at the time of marriage. It was only a token of love and
affection.

Actually this was not a dowry which was being practiced in ancient India. In course of time,
child marriage emerged and with this also emerged the necessity of providing a huge dowry

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because the selection of bridegroom became difficult in recent years; the problem of dowry has
led to many problems namely suicide by the girls, malpractices by the father and humiliation
of the father who cannot provide dowry.

Although the Government has taken steps to eradicate the evil practice of dowry, it persists and
gradually the problem of dowry is becoming acute Bride-burning cases have been increasing
every year in different parts of our country due to failure to meet the expected demand by the
family of the bridegroom. In many cases conjugal rights have been denied to the newly married
girl on the plea that her father has not given all agreed amount of dowry.

9. Marriage and Morality:

One of the most important values connected with Hindu marriage for boys and girls was
chastity. The Hindu Sastrakaras have emphasised on pre- nuptial chastity of both boys and girls.
They were not one-sided in their valuation of chastity but they placed equal value on the pre-
nuptial chastity on the part of the male as well U is evident that elaborate rules were laid down
for the sexual conduct of both boys and girls till his or her marriage.

Pre-marital and extra-marital relations were not allowed Love was the consequence of marriage
between boys and girls, and marriage was not the consequence of love.

In this regard, Kapadia has remarked. “The development of new mores in sex is generally
presented in a society which has its roots in tradition and religious belief. Conventional sex
morality cannot however stem for long the tide of a new awakening the need for a new concept
of sex relationships is now as much as recognized by the older as by the younger generation
only .this recognitions has not percolated to all layers of Indian society. Changes is hence slow
and therefore less dramatic.”

However, remarkable changes are taking place in sex mores and values. Pre-marital sex
relationship which was totally unknown in traditional Indian society is gradually becoming
visible.

Youths have started establishing sex relationship much before marriage; Brahmacharya Vrata
has become irrelevant because of new values. The idea of exchange of wives for enjoyment has
come to picture. Due to the impact of Western culture and weakening of regulation of sexual
conduct married persons are keeping sexual relationships beyond their partners. The Vedic

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ideal embodied in the Saptapadi formula’, I take thee to be my companion in life, is not
acceptable to people in some cases.

To conclude Hindu marriage has undergone several changes. These changes have taken place
in the institution of Hindu Marriage because of many factors, new norms and values In spite of
all these changes, Hindu marriage is not considered as a social contract and it continues to be
sacrament for Hindus. Mutual fidelity and devotion to partner are still considered to be an
essence of marriage.

12.4 RECENT CHANGES IN THE FAMILY SYSTEM IN INDIA

In India, the old traditional joint family system no longer continues. It was patriarchal in nature,
its size was large, status of women in the family was very low, members of family had no
individual identity, and the decision-making power lied exclusively with the eldest male
member of the family.
The members were the blood relations, and had property, residence and hearth, and even
worship, in common The members in a joint family could be of three or more generations, and
were morally bound to one another by rights and duties.

Indian family system has undergone drastic change in response to development in terms of
industrialization, education and urbanization. Industrialization and urbanization, leading to
accelerated rate of rural-urban migration, diversification of gainful economic activities and
individual-friendly property laws, have had consequential impact in terms of drastic reduction
in the size of family in the country.

Most families, particularly in urban areas, have only one or two generation members (i.e.,
parents and their unmarried children). But, it does not mean that the Indian family is becoming
nuclear. Actually, the existence of nuclear family in India is only circumstantial.

The culture and attitude of people is still in favour of the joint family system. Existing nuclear
families in the country (whatsoever is the number) are only a temporary phase. In reality, the
joint family has been a tradition of India. The nuclear families also existed though it is not an
Indian tradition.

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The family in the country is no longer patriarchal in true sense of the term; it exists as a patri-
local household. There is a lot of individual autonomy and no longer is decision-making the
exclusive right of the eldest male member of the family.

The family is now essentially democratic and most of the decisions in the family are taken
collectively. However, the extent of autonomy and democracy may vary from region to region,
community to community and caste to caste, depending upon the degree of its adaptation of the
modern values and the urban way of life.

The family in India is passing through a contradiction. Even educated males, though are in
favour of modern education for their girl children, continue to expect them to remain inside
homes and have their decisions be taken by the elder male members, particularly their parents.
They also wish them to be working women but continue to expect them to work in the house
and, in some cases, observe purdah.

As most people have now started taking up jobs in different parts of the country leaving their
parental family behind, they are having separate households. Such small households look
forward to maintaining relationships with the parental family and extending help and support
to it. Yogendra Singh writes on modernization, as taking place in the Indian family system, in
this way:

Changes in the structure and function of joint families in India are thus following a
reconciliatory pattern, a pattern common in the structural changes in the Indian society. In mate
selection, the principle of personal choice, especially in urban families, is today increasingly
reconciled with parents’ approval; the wife’s freedom in middle-class homes to work outside
in offices and schools operates within the traditional framework of the husband’s approval and
sometimes the approval of husband’s or even wife’s parents. Such reconciliations are, however,
not without tension which is an inalienable aspect of social change. Despite these changes,
traditional views on joint family still prevail.

Passing away of the traditional joint family system and not being replaced by nuclear family
system has resulted into a new kind of family set-up in the country. Today, most families form
as nuclear kind of households and continue to exist as constituents of joint families. Therefore,
today, it has become more relevant to study households rather than joint or nuclear families.

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12.5 FACTORS AFFECTING CHANGES IN THE FAMILY

Industrialisation, urbanisation and migration of population from villages to the cities, general
spread of education, especially among women, changes in occupational structures, conferment
of political and property rights, modification in the legal status of women and their taking up
of various occupations, and the general weakening of caste as a social force, are some of the
main factors behind the transformations that are taking place in the Indian family. As Sinha
(1972) has observed, with modernisation and the social changes that are taking place in the
country, the structure and role of the family have altered, and interrelationships within it have
been radically transformed. Growth of industrialisation has radically altered the employment
structure with the possibility of individuals going beyond their caste and family occupations. It
has also led to the concentration of population in some centres, development of new cities and
townships, and migration of rural people to these places in search of employment. Migration
has inevitably led to separation from the family and created a situation in which individuals
have begun to resent income sharing with other members of the family. A complementary factor
that has led to the weakening of the joint family is the family feud, property divisions and
various laws which has made it often profitable, at least economically, to live separately.
Uprooting of population due to migration has also generated new values and rejection of many
traditional values of which the joint family had been the repository.

As such, urbanisation has been one of the strongest factors in the transformation of the joint
family that is recently taking place. Mandlebaum (1970) has rightly contended that the joint
family is of rural affiliation. Kapadia (1966) has observed conspicuous weakening of joint
families in the city environment. Dube (1958) has observed rapid decline in kinship orientation
and increase in interest-orientation in individuals. In his study of Shamirpet village, joint
families characterised the family structure, and the extended family was urban in character.

Gore (1965) observed strains in the extended family system and remarked that such debilitation
was partially due to industrialised economy, urban areas dissolving the bonds between the
occupational and kinship systems, different economic pursuits within the family and the
liberalising influence of education. Thus, city influence, the development of industrialisation
and the assimilation of Western ideas have diminished family togetherness. Traditional values
have declined considerably! Gore (1968) has remarked during his study of the business
community of Aggarwals of Delhi that "filial solidarity is gaining at the expense of conservative

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ideas of fraternal cohesion. Closer bonds between spouses are also becoming more prevalent.
Women are further acquiring higher status in the family." He found that his sample of 494
families still largely conformed to the pattern of joint family living in behaviour, role perception
and attitudes. Within the overall pattern of conformity, urban residence and education had
introduced certain measures of variation. They had become overtly conscious of the difficulties
of joint family living, and displayed a tendency to verbal non-conformity in replies to attitudinal
questions. But, at the same time, they asserted traditional patterns of behaviour in the
acceptance of familial obligations, and limitations of the decision-making role of the individual
parent in the family.

Kapadia (1966) also noted an expressed desire on the part of individuals to leave joint
households and establish nuclear units, though such a desire was not unequivocal. As he
remarks:

Although the younger generation often complains of the suffocating atmosphere of the joint
family, at the same time it appears to be conscious of certain benefits derived from joint living:
economic help, refuge in many crises situations, proper upbringing of young children,
restraining influences on clashes between husband and wife. In short, the joint family is still
capable of meeting certain needs of its members.

Many people are still not prepared psychologically to completely break away from the joint
family. Such dissatisfaction, as exists, is not so much against the system itself as against the
atmosphere generated by the behaviour pattern of certain members of the family. In other
words, the Indian family is in a traditional phase. Though the joint family system seems to be
on the way out, the Indian family is far from becoming completely nuclear. It is true that the
kind of economic and emotional security that the joint family provided to its members is
gradually being lost. But the individuals appear to be reluctant to give up the advantages of
joint living.

The spread of education, openness to new ideas from the West, especially about equality,
women's rights, and the general processes of modernisation, have all contributed to
transformation in the Indian family. Economic pressure has not only led to the uprooting of
individuals from their families in search of employment, it has also made it more acceptable
for women to enter the labour market. Taking to menial and agricultural jobs has been quite
prevalent among women and lower classes. The spread of higher education among women, and

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economic pressure to maintain a style of living, have goaded many women belonging to the
middle and upper class families to join various professions. They have entered administrative
and foreign services and have been elected to the legislature and parliament as well as holding
many official positions of importance. It has resulted in a radical change in the individual status
of women who had been purely subservient and dependent in the traditional family system. As
Promilla Kapur (1970) has pointed out, men's attitude towards their spouses joining various
occupations has changed. Women, because of their changed economic status, have inevitably
begun to have a say in decision-making, and enjoy, at least partially, the income earned by
them. The male attitude to the same has not correspondingly altered. There is considerable
ambivalence in this regard. Kapur (1970) remarks that: they like their wives to take up jobs but
dislike them to change at all as far as their attitude towards their role and status at home is
concerned, and dislike their traditional responsibilities being neglected which results from their
preoccupation with out-of-home vocations. Their attitude towards their wives is found to be
ambivalent.

The above would indicate that the social forces unleashed, as a part of large-scale changes that
are taking place in the country, have radically altered the position of women in the Indian family
system. From a position of perpetual tutelage as envisaged by Manu, the law-giver of Hindu
society, wherein the woman was to depend on her father in childhood, on her husband in young
age and on her sons in old age, she has now a position of relative independence which has been
greatly accelerated by certain legislations enacted since Independence. With the passing of the
Hindu Succession Act (1956), the Special Marriage Act (1954) and the Hindu Marriage Act
(1955), and other similar legislations which collectively formed what has been called the Hindu
Code Bill, discrimination on the ground of sex has been forbidden and women have been given
equal status with men in matters of inheritance, political status and employment.

It is, however, to be noted that there is a distinct gap between the legal rights and social
attitudes which stand in the way of actual emancipation of women. Kapur (1970) points out
that women's roles and relationships have changed and are changing, but there is still a big gap
between her legal, political, economic rights and privileges and actual rights and privileges that
she enjoys and utilizes. Society's attitude in general has not changed significantly towards
women's role and status. Since consequential changes in the attitude of men have not occurred,
it has become a frequent source of conflict and marital maladjustment. Individual case studies

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have revealed the presence of role conflicts, tensions and anxiety among women who are in
employment, especially from the middle and higher classes.

12.5.1 Transitional Phase of the Indian Family

The changes that have occurred indicate that the Indian family system is in a transitional stage.
Many studies have emphasised the 'limited changes' that have taken place in the Indian family.
Sinha (1972) made a comparative analysis of older and younger generations in matters of
family orientation, as reflected in terms of expressed closeness or proximity to the family in
matters of monetary assistance, psychological valence and general orientation towards sharing
of house, neighbourhood, and entertainment and so on. It was observed that though the younger
generation had comparatively narrow views of the family, confining it largely to parents and
siblings, they were still positively disposed towards 'close relations' and 'other relations' who
were quite frequently considered as essential elements of the family. Of course, the frequency
of such an attitude was higher amongst members of the older generation. A large proportion of
the younger generation was found unwilling to give up the economic and psychological
advantages which the joint family provided, and displayed considerable dependence towards
not only parents and siblings but also towards 'other relations'. It is, therefore, apparent that,
structurally, some changes are taking place in the family but corresponding attitudinal changes
are lagging behind. In fact, as Gore (1968) points out, only "limited" changes have occurred.
We are in a phase where the structurally extended family in tending towards the nuclear but
functionally maintaining its jointness. It appears that the 'ideal' type has been internalised by
most Indians, affecting their behaviour, attitudes, family interactions and style of life. Gupta
(1978 : 73) observes that the new nuclear family type does not really exist as a separate entity
but is a sector of the continuous extended family arrangement. )

The Indian family has displayed a unique adjustive character. Many had felt that, beset by the
powerful forces of social change taking place all around, the Indian family system, would
explode when put under the Scotch tartan rug of different colours representing variegated
changes taking place in society. Unlike the chamelion, the Indian family seems to have survived
and adapted itself to the changes, and the kind of breakdown implied in the analogy has not
occurred.

12.5.2 Nature and Direction of Changes

In a vast country like India, though there is great diversity in the pattern of family structure,
one can broadly discern in all types of families, similar patterning of relationships characterised

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by dominance—submission, expectations of role positions, hierarchies, similarity in child-

rearing practices, and a kind of commitment to the ideal type of joint family with consequent
familistic orientation and lack of concern for individuality. The most characteristic feature of
the traditional Hindu society is the existence of the joint family which can be characterised as
being one in which patrilineally related family members (as in North India) stay with their
spouses and children, and in matrilineally related families (as it prevails in some parts of South
India) daughters continue to stay with their mothers and inherit property while their husbands
are brought to stay with them. (The main areas in which changes have occurred are from joint
to nuclear family unit, alterations in family obligations, hierarchy, power structure and
decision-making, familial interrelationships, attitudinal and value changes, and difference in
childrearing and socialisation practices.

The most significant change is from the joint to the nuclear family units. Though it is hard to
define these in very precise terms, it can be said that the two belong to the same continuum
with the traditional family at one end and the nuclear family at the other. If we view the Indian
scene, it becomes apparent that most families fall somewhere in the middle, and the term
"extended family" to refer to them seems most appropriate (Ramanujan, 1972). Though people
like living in small nuclear families, and maintain economic independence, they relinquish
many of the values related to the status of individual members and child-rearing, and, by and
large maintain a strong family orientation. Many people are not prepared psychologically to
break away (Kapadia, 1966).

Structurally, some changes are taking place but without corresponding attitudinal
transformation. The tolerance of a joint family for deviation and eccentricities in one of its
family members in this regard is indeed astonishing. Due to economic necessity and personal
reasons, there is a tendency to establish nuclear units. But economic factors have not been
significant enough to break up a joint family (Kapadia, 1966 : 320). What is more important is
that even if, structurally, the joint family breaks into nuclear units, functionally all the members
of the family maintain 'jointness' in terms of family loyalty. On special occasions like birth,
marriage, death or religious functions, the whole family gets together. Even financial and other
obligations are often shared by all according to their varying capacities. Ramanujan (1972)
observes that "there is a strong emotional involvement with the family of origin even after
separation".

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Bisht and Sinha (1981) have outlined the dominant interactional patterns in joint and nuclear
families, and have indicated the crucial differences as well as the changes that are taking place.
According to dharma, traditionally the individual has to accept an assigned role in the family
hierarchy and fulfil his obligations. Dutiful behaviour and filial piety are inculcated. Individual
aspirations and striving towards personal attainments had little scope. The structure was
entirely hierarchical with the eldest member occupying the dominant position and enjoying a
corresponding status, which was largely determined by age and not the generation to which he
belonged. The locus of power and authority vested in him and he was the sole decision-maker
and had command over the rest of the family. In this three-generation structure the child was
expected to be obedient, respectful to elders, and his goals were set by the family. He had little
say in decisions which were made for him. Emphasis was upon subordination to authority, and
his autonomy and independence were restricted.

Children in traditional families were severely disciplined (Whiting, 1961), parental behaviour
was autocratic and authoritarian (Elder and Bowerman, 1963), and liberty was not tolerated.
For its stability, premium was placed on strict conformity to family ideals and norms, and
continued interdependence between members was fostered as well as autonomous development
was inhibited. The freedom to take initiative was very limited, and the child was prevented
from forming a sharply differentiated impression of himself. There was no separation from the
family, very limited self-non-self-differentiation and limited individuation in the strict sense of
the term. The child remained an integral part of the 'collective' which was the family. Because
of the large number of members that constituted the traditional family, he was lost and he had
a dominating feeling of being "just one of the group" (Gore, 1978).

Having a large number of relatives, he had many adult figures for his identification. Not only
his mother, but other members had a vital role in bringing him up. He passed through ma ny
hands and encountered many faces which acted in loco parentis, thereby providing multiple
role models before him. This led to more diffused and less individuated conception of self
(Clausen, 1966). He related himself to many adults who represented sources of the authority
and gratification in varying-degrees (Gore, 1978) prevent in the development of a well-
articulated and clearcut image of himself. In a joint family, infant indulgence was high (Whiting
1961), Children were overprotected and sheltered, and were dependent on the mother, and
separation was discouraged. As a result, self-non-self-segregation was again hampered.

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The father-child relationship was very restraining and the father had a limited affective role
(Gore, 1978). Tenderness and affection were seldom expressed, specially before elders. There
was frequently an element of formality in action and speech in father-child relationships.
Expressive overt behaviour tended to be restrained, and interrelationships became stylised in
certain ways. Carstairs (1958) points out that the father did not like fondling his child even
when he was alone with him lest he might get into the habit of running to his knees in the
bazaar, or in the presence of his parents, which would not look very proper. Thus, the father-
child relationship was highly restrained in large families and there was a kind of psychological
absence of the father which made the child more dependent upon the mother.

The nuclear family is a two generation structure in which the child encounters only his
immediate relations. As the family universe is small and he has a limited set of adult models to
emulate, he develops a strong sense of personal bond with the parents and there is greater
concentration and intensity in parent-child interaction. There is consequently greater scope for
developing clearcut self-identity. Being more readily accessible, the father assumes a greater
disciplinary role, though the amount of discipline is much less than what is observed in
traditional, joint families. The child has also greater autonomy and is allowed more initiative.
The atmosphere is more permissive and there is much less demand for conformity to family
norms. If, in a nuclear family, the father is engaged in his own vocation and the mother has also
taken up a job, the parents have limited socialising roles simply because they do not have the
time. The child is consequently left to the care of domestic help or is put in day-care schools
and nurseries from an early age. This certainly helps early separation of the child, greater
individuation, development of autonomous functioning and independence. He does not develop
the kind of conformist attitude to traditional family norms. Because of the limited role of the
parents, the child goes out of his family early and becomes a member of peer groups in the
community. In fact, with the weakening of the joint family and the development of a more
nuclear structure, there is a distinct relinquishing of the socialisation role by the family, which
educational institutions are expected to perform. Peer groups naturally come in a big way in the
process of socialization.

In terms of structure and interactions, the main direction of change in the family system is from
highly hierarchical to less hierarchical structure, and from multiple adult models to fewer adult
models, from greater infant indulgence to lesser infant indulgence, from the authoritarian
structure and use of severe childrearing methods to more permissive and less harsh methods,

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from theemphasis on conformity to greater freedom, from de-emphasis on autonomy or

separation to greater emphasis on autonomy and individuation. In child-rearing, the change has
been from the father's limited role and mother's dominant role to both the parents sharing such
a role and sharing of power in varying degrees.

The transformations which the family has undergone in India is best reflected in the changes of
the position of the male and female in the family, the pattern of mate selection, marriage
relationships and parental functions. The birth of the male child is frequently greeted with
acclaim and regarded as an event of signal importance for the family. On the other hand, the
advent of a female child is at least 'silently' resented and is very rarely an occasion for rejoicing.
The male child is regarded essential for the well-being and salvation of the parents while the
female child is considered 'an alien property' to be given away in marriage. Therefore, there is
difference in the treatment of boys and girls by parents and other members of the family. The
son is fondled by the mother or her surrogates. He receives a favoured treatment throughout,
and is frequently provided with better food and clothing. Right from birth, he is regarded as an
asset and has the responsibility of performing death rites which are considered essential for the
salvation of the departed. There is continuous ministration to his needs and prolonged breast-
feeding which fosters the development of basic trust, dependency, a sense of security, positive
self-image and the capacity to receive and give affection and a conception of the world as good.

Such a 'favoured' treatment does not fall to the lot of the female child who is brought
up in an environment that tends to develop in her envy, jealousy, a negative self-image and a
conception of the world as being basically unfair. She has a feeling of perpetual dependency
and has an idea that life is not going to be happy for her, as illustrated in the line from the
Ramayana that "the dependent cannot be happy even in his dream". As she grows older her
personal mobility is strictly restricted, and is progressively inducted into domestic work and
into the role of a family woman. Fed with religious concepts, she is taught to regard her future
husband as God and is exposed to the cultural ideal of Sati, symbolising life-long sacrifice and
complete submergence of individuality in the family. Gratifying the need of her husband, at all
costs and time, is emphasised and there is pressure for complete conformity to the standard
imposed by the family tradition.

When married, her role as a daughter-in-law is also one of subservience and

neglect, and she is dominated by other elder females in the family. There is, however, some
enhancement of her status with the birth of a son. "It is only with motherhood that she comes

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into her own as a woman, and can make a place for herself in the family, in the community and
in the life-cycle", (Kakar, 1978). On the other hand, if she is childless, she is despised and there
is complete loss of status when widowed. Widowhood means relinquishing of ornaments and
she is compelled to wear a widow's dress for the rest of herlife. She is even regarded as the
bearer of ill-luck and is avoided. She is expected to avoid festive occasions and not show any
signs of joy. In some cases, at least implicitly, she is considered responsible for the death of her
husband. As a widow, she is quite frequently ill-treated and becomes the scapegoat for family
frustrations.

The difference in the mele-female position in the family is gradually disappearing. Birth
of a child of either sex is beginning to be warmly accepted. In families with educated members,
domination over the daughter-in-law is less and the husband is often found to take her side in
disputes with the in-laws. He interacts freely with his wife even in the presence of other
members of the family. In fact, the husband-wife relationship is increasingly assuming greater
importance and often prevails over parent-child relationship.

In the phase of transition, most of these features have altered. Not only are children
valued more, irrespective of sex, there is also greater equality in treatment meted out to sons
and daughters and the female child no longer is considered a property to be given out. With the
increasing tendency on the part of the newly married couples to establish an independent
household of their own, socialisation is ceasing to be a concern mainly of mothers or of other
members of the family, but is by the young of the choice of mate made by the parents. Now,
there is an increasing role of the bridegroom in the matter of choice. Sometimes he even has
the veto which was earlier the sole prerogative of the parents. There is a general direction of
moving towards the Western style in marital choice, from unquestioning acceptance of the
parents' choice by the couple to parental choice but veto by the young, choice by the young
with parental veto, and finally, the choice by the young and unquestioning acceptance by the
parents, as it normally happens in the West. The change is also reflected in the fact that,
sometimes, marriages have begun to take place outside the caste, something which was unheard
of before. All these indicate that the role of the family in mate selection has been relegated to
the background, and there is increasing involvement of young people themselves in the process.

Considerations of endogamy, family status and dowry are gradually being replaced by
personal happiness, level of education, physical attractiveness and personality characteristics,
especially of the girls. As Khatri (1970) points out, there is an emergent trend of selection of

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the marriage partner by the person concerned, based on love, and with or without the consent
of the family elders.

As for the marriage relationship, the traditional marriage was almost entirely familiar, which is
now changing in the direction of emphasising personal goals. In the East, marriage was
considered more as a duty to be performed so that family lineage could be maintained. Personal
fulfilment or happiness were regarded as extra bonuses to be hoped for but not always achieved.
There was clear hierarchy in marital relationships with the husband as the undisputed boss and
the wife showing complete subservience. There was also strict separation in the functions of
the couple, the man's sphere being outside the home with the woman's inside the home. The
sharp division of functions prevented conflict. Now, the changes are in the direction of sharing
of functions, and if the wife happens to be adding to the family income, she tends to assert
herself (Kapur, 1970). Change has occurred in the sense that partnership and interpersonal
involvement are no longer seen as dangers to family stability but as means to mutual fulfilment
and happiness.

(Parental functions have considerably altered over these years. Parents used to operate as if the
child was like moulding clay which required to be shaped by the parents and other significant
members of the family into the form prescribed by the culture. This was done largely through
persuasion and group pressure. Obedience and piety were considered essential virtues, and
devotion and sacrifice were expected of children. These characteristics were essential for
maintaining the hierarchical nature of the family. Children were expected, according to their
birth-order, to accept unquestioningly their appointed place and roles. The life-style of a child
was determined by his family, and he was reared to be a conformist, to accept his lot, to obey
orders, and to do what was enjoined. The family served the culture by producing the kind of
people that were required.

Now all these are in a state of flux. With the advent of education, travel, communication and
influence from the West, all these have been challenged and increasing emphasis is being put
on personal freedom, autonomy and self-determination. Unquestioning obedience, and
dependency in children, are considered factors which ill-equip the child to meet the new
challenge of changing the social order. The need to stand on his own, and make decisions, is
being emphasised. New goals to make himself self-reliant is accepted, at least on its face value,
though not always practised, creating thereby a source of conflict in family interrelationships.

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12.6 LET US SUM UP

However, in spite of structural and functional changes, the family still plays a significant role
in ensuring socialization of children and providing emotional support to its members. The task
of procreation and upbringing of children is done most satisfactorily by the family only. The
psychological satisfaction and social respect earned through marriage and successful family
life is considered unparallel in terms of quality. As a result, the family remains a universally
indispensable institution.

12.7 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. Discuss the changing patterns of Marriage in Indian Society.

2. What are the factors affecting the family?
3. What are the family problems in India?
4. Write a note on the Transitional Phase of the Indian Family.

12.8 REFERENCES

 Shah, A.M., The Household Dimension of the Family in India: A Field Study in a
Gujarat Villageand a Review of Other Studies, Delhi: Orient Longman, 1973.
 Uberoi, P. (ed.), Family, Kinship and Marriage in India,New Delhi: Oxford University
Press,1993.

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Block-4
The Caste System in India

Unit-13: Meaning, definitions & Features of Caste

Unit-14: Functions & Dysfunctions of Caste
Unit-15: Factors affecting Caste System
Unit-16: Recent Changes in Caste System
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UNIT-13: MEANING, DEFINITION AND FEATURE OF CASTE

Structure

13.1Learning Objectives
13.2Introduction
13.3Meaning of caste system
13.4Definition of caste system
13.5Caste and Varna
13.6Distinction between caste and Varna
13.7Origin of caste
13.8Theories on caste
13.9Features of caste
13.10 Conclusion
13.11 Let us sum up
13.12 Glossary
13.13 Check your progress
13.14 References

13.1 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After going through this unit you will be able to know:

 Meaning and definition of caste system

 Caste and Varna
 Origin of caste system
 Theories in caste system
 Features of caste system

13.2 INTRODUCTION

The entire social system of Indian society is based on caste system. It is linked with the joint
family system and the village community. Caste system plays an important role in socio-
economic and political systems in India. It is a rigid system of stratification in Indian society.
It is notion that stratification of society is found almost in all societies and in all ages. But caste

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system in India has some of the special features which give the system of separate identity. For
example, it a strictly ascriptive and hereditary as well. It divides society into different layers.
Caste is a unique institution in Indian society. The system is so vast and complex that it is a
very difficult study its structure, function, direction and dynamics. Study of caste system has
attracted many Indian and foreign scholars. Enquiry and research of caste system stated from
pre- British period. The prominent researcher are D’ Malley ( 1931), S.V. Ketkar (1946),
Hutton (1946), Ghurey (1950), M.N. Srinivas (1952), Leach (1962), Dumont (1970),
Mandelbaum” (1972) and many more scholars. The scholars who have conducted study on
village community, they also widely studied caste system. In this modern era a lot of changes
are found in the caste system.

13.3MEANING OF CASTE SYSTEM

The term caste is rooted in a Portuguese word “caste”. ‘Caste’ means breed, race or group.
Caste is a group which is ascriptive in its nature. Originally a group of parsons having the same
bread is known as caste. It has some of the unique characteristics like endogamy, hierarchy,
occupational restrictions etc. The concept of ‘caste’ is related with religion. For it is believed
that the caste system is ordained by divinity. Joint family system and village community have
also influence over the caste system. It is also linked with ‘Varna’ system for different castes
are grouped under the framework of ‘Varna’. Of course there are many differences between
caste and Varna. According to G.S. Ghurey origination of caste lies in race. Ideas of purity and
pollution also contribute towards the growth of caste system.

13.4DEFINITION OF CASTE SYSTEM

Caste is a complex social institution which is defined in various ways by different scholars.
S.V. Ketkar defined caste by giving two important characteristics of caste. First it is hereditary
which means membership of a caste cannot be changed and secondly endogamy means a
particular caste cannot merge outside its caste. Sir Herbert Risley has defined caste as, “ a
collection of families, bearing a common name, claiming a common decent from a mythical
ancestor, human and divine, professing to follow the same hereditary calling and regarded by
those who are competent to give an opinion as forming a single homogeneous community.”

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Here Risley emphasized upon formation of single homogenous community. Each caste
category has its own social and cultural elements to be followed.
Some of the social scientists like D.N. Majumdar and T.N. Madan said that caste is
a closed group.
Scholar like C.H. Cooley says that caste is also a type of stratification like class but
when class is strictly hereditary, it is said as caste. A.W Green is of opinion that caste is a
system of stratification but mobility is restricted, particularly vertical mobility is not possible.
No one can move upward or downward
S.C. Dube says that it is better to use “Jati” then the caste. Jati indicates an endogamous
group which is highly linked with ritualistic status on the one hand and traditional occupation
on the other. MacIver and Page have similar opinion as Prof Cooley said that when status is
predetermined and there is no possibility of changing the status, then class takes the extreme
form of caste.

13.5 CASTE AND VARNA

Varna and caste, both the concepts are used interchangeably. Usually people think that the
meaning of both the terms are same and similar. But it is not true. Varna is classified under
abstract phenomena. The idea of Varna originated from the Vedic literature. Varna has been
classified into four based categories, i.e. Brahmins; the priests, Kshatriyas; the warrior
category; the Vaisya; the traders and lastly the Sudras; the serving castes. In the ancient
literature the reference of these four categories are found. Difference caste categories are
grouped under each Varna according to their ritualistic status.

13.6 DISTINCTION BETWEEN CASTE AND VARNA

Varna can be differentiated from caste on various grounds.

a) Meaning: Varna means colour. It originated from the word ‘Vri’ which means ‘to
choose’. Here it indicates choice of occupation. Caste originated from the word ‘caste’
which means race and bread. Caste or ‘Jati’ is rooted in ‘Jana’ which indicates ‘taking
birth’.
b) Numbers: there are only four Varna I.e., Brahmins, Kshatriya, Vaisya and Sudras.
Numbers of caste groups are large in number. There are also numbers of sub- castes.
c) Area: Varna is same in all over India. Caste varies from region to region.

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d) Hierarchy: pattern of hierarchy in Varna system is same on the basis of purity and
pollution. In caste system, caste hierarchy is influenced by many factors such as class,
socio-economic condition etc.
e) Mobility: mobility in Varna system is more than caste system. It is more flexible. Caste
is rigid in its nature.
f) Form: Varna is abstract and symbolic. Caste is concrete and linked with ritual.
g) Restriction: Varna is free from sorts of restrictions. But caste imposes many types of
restriction in its members.

13.7 ORIGIN OF CASTE SYSTEM

It is very difficult to trace out the origin of caste. As the system it too complex, it is not easy to
find out a way to get into the origin of caste. Analysis on origin of caste creates a lot of
confusions and controversies. A numbers of opinions arise in the side of Indian scholars. J.H.
Hutton in his book ‘Caste in India’ says that it is it is not the imposition of any outside sources
to create such a system like caste. Likewise Sir Herbert Risley has given his opinion that caste
division is based on racial features of the people. Prof. Ghurey supported Risley and in his book
‘Caste in India’ says that physical approach on the basis of race is the background of origin of
caste. Nesfield emphasized in the occupations division for the emergence of caste. However
scholars analyzed origin of caste through different theories such as
1. Traditional theory
2. Occupational theory
3. Racial theory
4. The theory of Mana
5. Other theories

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13.8 THEORIES ON CASTE

Theories of
Origin of
Caste

Traditional Occupational The theory of Other

Racial theory
theory theory Mana theories

(Diagram representing theories of caste)

1. Traditional theory: Traditional theory is rooted in ancient literature. This theory

advocates that caste has a divine origin. Purushasukta of Rig-Veda indicates that caste
originated from different body parts of Brahman or supreme power. The four Varna
functions accordingly to their place origin. For example, Brahmin emerges from mouth
of Brahman and work as priest and teacher. Kshtriyas originated from arms and do the
work of warier and protector of the society. Likewise Vaisya from Thigh looked after
bossiness and economic aspect of the society. Sudras originated from feet and express
themselves as social worker and serve the member of the society but the traditional
theory has been describes on various grounds. First the comparison between the parts
of the body of supreme power and caste category is not rational. Secondly there is
confusion in using the two terms. Varna and caste or Jati. Lastly the theory reminds it
silent about functioning of inter caste marriages.
2. Occupational theory: Occupational theory is based on the division of occupation in
Hindu social system. Nesfield says that caste system is originated only because of
occupational division. He identified two reasons behind the linkage between
occupational division and caste categories. First occupational rigidity came into
existence due to rigidity in the caste system. Secondly gradation in the occupations lead

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to marking of higher and lower castes. For example occupation like teaching or fighting
in the battle area considered being the higher occupation and accordingly Brahmins and
Kshtriyas are identifying as higher caste. The occupational theory has been criticized
on the basis that there is wide and regional variation I n grading the occupations.
3. Racial theory: Racial theory is based on the assumption that caste categories came into
existed because of racial differences. The prominent scholars of the theory like Sir
Herbert Risley, G.S. Ghurey, and D.N. Majumdar etc have opined that caste system
emerged due to the differences between Aryans and non-Aryans or south Indians.
Racial theory is also faced many criticism. The main criticism is that the content of the
theory has no proper interpretation and the expiation is one sided. It only gives emphasis
on racial factor to explain everything.
4. The theory of Mana: The theory of Mana is given by J.H. Hutton. ‘Mana’ is concept
used by tribal groups. They believe three things to connection to mana. First mana is of
super natural power which has capacity to good or bad to the people. Secondly tribals
attached mana to any object, living or non living. Thirdly they are afraid of the fact that
mana can be transmitted through contact and interactions. So the impose many types of
restrictions in the area of food, drink, marriage, social contact, occupation and etc. these
restriction are also found in caste system. Hutton says that it the influence of mana by
which caste system came into existence. He observed a similarity between the believe
system of tribal on mana and the caste system. But the major criticism is that in the
other countries of the world tribal groups along with manas are found but except India
nowhere caste exists.
5. Other theories include political theory, theory of cultural integration, evolutionary
theory etc. the scholar have opinion that the caste system is so complex it is very
difficult to explain its origin from a single point of view.

13.9 FEATURES OF CASTE SYSTEM

Caste system is identified for its unique features. In his book ‘Caste and Race in India’ G.S.
Ghurey has mentioned six important features of caste system. Of course in the passage of time
many changes have been observed in the features of caste system.

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Features of
caste system

Segmental Social and Concept of

Caste Restriction on Restriction on Restriction on
division of Hierarchy regigious purity and
differentiation comensality occupation marriage
society disability pollution

(Diagram representing features of caste system)

1. Segmental division of society
2. Hierarchy
3. Caste differentiation
4. Restriction on commensality
5. Social and religious disability
6. Restriction on occupation
7. Restriction on marriage
8. Concept of purity and pollution

1. Segmental Division of Society:

The entire society is divided into a number of wall defined segments. Each caste has its own
boundary. The membership is decided by birth and no one change his membership under any
circumstance. Each caste has its own Caste Panchayat. Caste Panchayat looks after the rules
and regulations of the caste. It functions like a watch dog to protect the caste from outside
threats and helps in maintaining internal peace and order. It tries to solve all sorts of problems
such as marital problem, non-payment of debts, any violation of caste rule etc. Caste Panchayat
or caste council has power and authority to control the behaviour of the members of the caste.
Each caste has its own pattern of regulatory system.

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2. Hierarchy:

The caste segments are arranged on the basis of hierarchy. The concepts like purity and
pollution are associated with the gradation of caste. Brahmins are placed in the top of the caste
ladder and they are considered as pure. At the same time untouchable caste groups are placed
in the lower position and considered as a polluted. Ghurey has opinion that more than two
hundred caste groups exist in India. Except the highest and lowest caste groups, it is very
difficult to arrange the in between caste groups accordingly to their status and position. Because
of regional variation in arranging the caste and sub-caste this type of problem arises.

3. Caste Differentiation or Social Segregation:

Social segregation is another characteristic in caste system. Social segregation is clearly visible
in the village community. According to Ghurey caste segregation is more in South India than
the Northern parts. Sometimes village is divided into different parts occupied by dominant or
upper castes, serving castes and the untouchables. In majority of village’s untouchables live
outskirt of the villages. Ghurey in his study found that in the Southern part for example in
Travancore the lower castes fought for their right to access to all parts of village. Because they
were not allowed to do so or the other hand in the some of the parts of Tamil Nadu the
movements of Brahmins restricted. Ghurey also found that in Tamil Nadu the non-Brahmin
caste groups are divided into two groups: the right hand castes and left hand castes. The right
hand caste enjoys some of the facilities and privileges whereas those are strictly restricted to
the left hand caste groups. For instance riding on horse at the time of marriage, it is not allowed
to left hand caste groups. Likewise sudras are not allowed to recite Vedic mantras and they are
restricted to perform certain rituals.

4. Restriction on Commensality:

This restriction refers to the in position of restriction in connection to food and drink.
One has to follow certain restrictions while taking food or drink from other caste groups. For
this purpose foods are categorized as kachha food and pakka food. Kachha food is cooked in
water and pakka food in ghee. Kachha food is allowed take from the hands of Brahmins or from
their own caste groups. Brahmins take pakka from some of the selected higher castes. Likewise
smoking is also not allowed with their caste groups.

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5. Social and Religious Disabilities:

In traditional caste system lower caste people particularly the Harijans suffer from many social
and religious disabilities. Generally the untouchables reside outskirt of the village. They were
not allowed to draw water from the public wall. They were denied to get education facilities.
Even in Malabar region lower castes were not allowed to use umbrella or shoes or gold
ornaments. The higher caste people enjoy all sorts of privileges whereas lower caste people
particularly the untouchables debarred from those privileges.

6. Restrictions on Occupation:

In the caste system there is no choice of occupation. Here occupation are also of graded
according to the concept of purity and pollution. For example priesthood, teaching, agriculture,
trading etc. occupations are treated as higher or superior whereas some other occupations such
as shoe making, scavenging etc are considered as lower or inferior. Higher castes are associated
with the higher and superior occupations and the lower castes are attached with lower or inferior
occupations. Fixation of occupation according to the caste position is hereditary in its nature.
Brahmins follow the occupation of priest and Chamar follows the occupation of leather work
and both the caste groups for example think that it is their duty to follow their own occupations.
No inter change of occupation is allowed in caste system.

7. Restriction on Marriage:

Most of the caste groups are divided into sub-castes. Each caste is strictly endogamous. Social
scientists have their opinion that the rule of endogamy is most important characteristics of caste
system. Violation of rules of endogamy is strictly prohibited. Hutton says that the essence of
caste system is endogamy. In this modern period also inter-caste marriage is not popular in the
village community. Of course in some of the regions the higher caste boy marries the girl from
lower caste. G.S. Ghurey, particularly found the instances of this type of hypergamy marriage
in the hilly areas of Punjab.

8. Concept of Purity and Pollution:

The gradation of castes is based on the idea of purity and pollution. The castes with higher
grade like Brahmins are considered as pure and castes of lower grade are considered as impure
or polluted like Chamar. In Southern India the practices of purity and pollution is more than

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the Northern India. In the Malabar areas of Tamil Nadu Brahmins and other caste group
maintain distance in the day to avoid shadows of lower castes on Brahmins to protect Brahmins
from pollution. Pollution can be transmitted through touching to lower castes. The higher castes
people avoid to touch lower castes not to be polluted by lower castes. In connection to purity
and pollution different rules and regulations are to be followed by the various caste groups. For
example, barber serves the general castes but not the untouchables.

13.10 CONCLUSION

Caste system is a very complex system. It is a system which is very closely related with the
economic system, political system and cultural system of the Indian society. It is unique in the
sense that it has some peculiar characteristics such as segmental division of society, hierarchy,
and restrictions on social interactions, restrictions on marriage and occupational choice etc. due
to various external factors such as industrialization, urbanization, and globalization, drastic
changes are found in the caste system.

13.11 LET US SUM UP

 Caste system is unique to Indian society.

 Caste means Jati. It is linked with Varna.
 Varna can be distinguished from caste in many grounds.
 It is very difficult to trace out the origin of caste. Scholars interested on the study of
caste have studied its origin from different angles and many theories emerged on this
ground.
 Sir Herbert Risley has given ‘Occupational Theory’. Likewise ‘Theory of Mana’ is
profounded by J.H. Hutton.
 Caste has some up the unique features such as a segmental division of society,
hierarchy, occupational restrictions, restriction on commensality, marriage restrictions
etc.
 By the passage of time many changes are found in the system of caste.

13.12 GLOSSARY

 Caste Panchayat – It consists of time selected senior members of the caste who try to
safeguard the rules and regulations of the caste.

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 Purity and pollution- Both the concepts are attached to gradation of caste hierarchy.
 Kachha and pakka food- Kachha food is cooked in water and pakka in ghee.
 Social segregation- It indicates the caste differentiation from one caste to another.
 Endogamy- Marriage within one’s own caste or sub-caste.

13.13 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. What is the meaning of caste?

2. Define caste.
3. Explain different theories on origin of caste system.
4. Distinguish Varna and caste.
5. Explain the features of caste system with suitable examples.

13.14 REFERENCES

 Ambedkar, B.R. 1945, “Annihilation of Caste” Bharat Bhushan Press: Bombay.

 Chatterjee, S.M and U. Sharma, ed., (1994), “Contextualizing Caste”, Oxford, Blackwell
Publisher.
 Dass, Aravind and Sita Deulkar 2002. “Caste System: A Holistic View”. Dominant: New
Delhi.
 Dumont, L. 1970, “Homo Hierarchicus: The Caste System and its Implications,” Delhi,
Vikas.
 Ghurye, G.S.,1950, “Caste and Race in India”, Popular Prakashan, Bombay
 Karve, Irawati 1953, “Kinship Organization in India”. Deccan College Monograph Seven
No II: Poona.
 Kar. P.K 2019 “Indian Society”. Kalyani publication, Cuttack, ISBN: 9786335091166.
 Kothari, R. (ed.) 1970. “Caste in Indian Politics”. Orient Longman: New Delhi.
 Madan T. N. (ed) 1971, “On the Nature of Caste in India. In Contributions to Indian
Sociology” (N.S.), 5: 1-8 1.
 Mandelbaum D. G. 1987 “Society in India”. Bombay: Popular Prakashan.

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UNIT-14: FUNCTIONS AND DYSFUNCTIONS OF CASTE

Structure

14.1 Learning Objectives

14.2 Introduction
14.3 Functions in caste
14.4 Dysfunctions in caste
14.5 Conclusion
14.6 Let us Sum up
14.7 Glossary
14.8 Check your progress
14.9 References

14.1 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After going through this Unit, you will be able to

1. Functions of caste from different angles:

● From the individual point of view
● From the community point of view
● From the social point of view
2. Dysfunctions of Caste system.

14.2 INTRODUCTION

Caste is defined from different angles, such as structural and cultural. Caste has its own
principles of categorization rules and regulation, ritualistic pattern, hierarchical arrangement,
application of purity and pollution etc. Scholars like Yogendra Singh, Kingsley Davis have
given emphasis on cultural aspects of caste, where as other scholars like Ghurye analysed caste
as a form of stratification and its changing pattern. At the same time social scientists discussed
caste from its functional aspect. Not only caste system has been analyzed from the positive
side, negative side is also observed.

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14.3 FUNCTIONS OF CASTE

According to the functionalists continuation of any form of stratification indicates its function
or contribution to the society. The same principle is applicable to caste. Caste as a social system
contributes many positive things towards society. It plays important role in the life of
individual, in the community life and also social life as a whole. So, functions of caste can be
broadly divided into three point of view:

a) From the individual point of view

b) From the community point of view

c) From the social point of view

Functions of caste

Individual community Social

level level level
(Diagram representing functions of caste in different levels)

Functions of caste:
Role of caste in the life of individual is very important. It provides many opportunities to the
individual for his growth and development.

a. Caste provides social status:

Caste is based on ascribed status. The membership of the individual in the caste system is fixed
by birth. Son of a Brahmin is treated as Brahmin and by birth he gets a higher status in the
society. He gets prestige in the society as he is born in a high caste. Without any struggle or
labour he gets high place in the society. Again the status which is given him by birth that
remains fixed for the lifelong. There is no fear of loosing the status.

b.It provides social security:

Caste provides social security in the sense that caste take of its members for example it takes
special care and gives protection to the Orphan children, aged persons if nobody is there to look

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after them. At the time of social or economic emergency other members of the caste come to
help them in that situation. When the question of taking any risk comes caste identity provides
informal social security to the individual. Caste gives preference to its own members than the
others.

c. It provides means to livelihood:

As caste is based on hereditary occupation, children learn the technique of family occupation.
There is no need of searching a job for the children. For example a son of a gold Smith learns
how to satisfy the customer and how to carry out the family business. Caste system helps the
individual in getting one's own livelihood.

d. Caste provides membership to the individual:

Caste is based on membership by birth. A particular caste as community enriches itself through
its members. Caste opens the door for the individual to enter into the community by birth. Of
course, a caste cannot increase its members limitlessly as it depends on the number of members
takes birth on the caste.

e. Caste provides unity to its members:

Caste has a role in bringing unity among the members. When the members get a name, i.e.
Brahmin, Chamar etc. whatever it may be all the members come closer under that Umbrella.
They develop a sense of unity among themselves. This type of 'we feeling' leads to socio
economic development of the community.

f. Caste helps in maintaining purity of blood:

Caste follows the principles of endogamy inter caste marriage is not allowed in the caste
system. Caste is based on racial groups. So racial inter mixture can be avoided and purity of
blood can be maintained.

g. Caste provided political stability:

In the traditional caste structure khyatriyas are entitled to rule the society. So, there was no
political competition from the other caste groups. Even now a days in the democratic form of
government caste plays an important role in politics. At the time of selecting a candidate for
nomination or giving vote a candidate in all party of the country. Political parties give emphasis

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on political affiliation of the caste. For example in Bihar 'Yadav' caste is very active in politics
likewise, in Andhra pradesh 'Kammas' and 'Reddies' are in the fore front of politics.

h. Caste maintains social order:

Caste maintains social order through its caste panchayat. Each caste has its own caste
panchayat. Five senior members of the caste form the caste panchayat. They have the authority
and power to formulate new rules and regulations, to modify the existing rules and to eliminate
any rule to cope with the situation. They remain in charge of maintain order within the caste.
Caste panchayat also keeps contact with the caste panchayat of other castes to solve the inter
caste problems. If anybody violates or disobeys the rules and regulations of the caste, caste
panchayat takes action against that persons and sometimes the entire o which the individual
belongs.

i. Caste helps in leading a regulated life:

Each caste has its own norms and values, sometimes the caste groups are identified by their life
style, starting form the early morning to the night. The members of the caste follow the strict
rules of the caste. For example a set of rules are there for the Brahmins and the Brahmin has to
follow those rules without asking any question or searching any rationality behind such rules.
Not only Brahmins different sets of rules are assigned to different caste groups.

j. Caste maintains discipline in the individual level as well as social level:

Within the caste individual has to follow certain rules and regulations which makes his life
disciplined. Starting from his day to day life, family life, professional life each aspect of his life
is controlled and regulated by different sets of rules. So a member can not express himself
beyond these rules and regulations. When all the members of the society lead their lives in a
disciplined way ultimately social order can be restored.

k. Caste contributes towards formation of good civil society:

Each caste has its moral and philanthropic aspects of community. The caste members try to do
good for their own caste members and for others. Each caste tries to establish itself in the
society with name and fame. When all the caste people contribute towards good of the
community and society, ultimately a good civil society can be formed.

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i. Caste provides scope for the social solidarity:

Caste categories are based on occupational division. Each caste is allotted a particular
occupation. Indian village is a multi caste village. It is because each caste is dependent on other
caste groups. For example Brahmins are in the top of the caste ladder but they depend on the
low caste like sweeper to clean their lane. They are also dependent on farmer caste to purchase
grain and other agricultural products for Brahmins are prohibited to plough the land. The same
situation as Brahmins prevails in the caste system also prevails in other caste. Dependency on
other caste irrespective of their position in the caste system compels them to maintain unity and
solidarity among themselves.

m. Caste saves society from the negative impact of cut throat competition:

There is a clear cut demarcation of allotment of occupation to the caste categories. This type of
arrangement in the caste system avoids conflict and litigation to have social prestige or political
power or the accumulate wealth. Absolutely no competition among the groups to have all these
things. The entire social system has accepted this type of distribution of power, prestige and
wealth to different caste categories. So, the members of the society avoids competition and
invest time and energy in the development of the society.

n. Caste encourages spirit of cooperation:

Caste and Jajmani system both are very closely related to each other. "Jajmani system is
governed by relationships based on reciprocity in inter caste relations in village” says prof. Y.
Singh. The high caste people including land owners are known as jajmans and the service
provider castes such as carpenters, barber, washerman, Potter etc. are known as 'Kamins'.
Usually the 'Kamins' get payment for their services in the form of grain cloth etc. This system
indicates occupational obligations towards each other. It is not the one to one relationship
between jajman and Kamin but it includes family members of jajman and Kamins. The
exclusive relationship among the caste groups encouraged the spirit of cooperation.

o. Dominant castes contribute towards development of the society:

M. N. Srinivas defined dominant castes, " A caste is dominant when it pre ponderates
numerically over the other castes, when it also wields pre ponderants economic and political
power, and when it enjoys a high ritual status in the local caste hierarchy". A caste is considered

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to be dominant when the caste is high in number or it has high ritualistic or economic or political
or social power. Dominant caste takes various steps of development to enjoy the status of
dominant. As Dominant castes are politically and socially powerful and influential they can
gain many favours from governmental and non-governmental areas.

p. Caste provides scope for proper division of labour in the society:

Caste emerged basically due to division of labour. Each caste has specialized work. Brahmins
do the work of teaching and worshiping of Gods and Goddesses, Chamaras do the leather
works, Blacksmith do the work of Iron etc. Division of labour helps in the smooth functioning
of the society.

q. No competition for choice of occupation:

Occupation is allotted by birth it is hereditary in its nature. Again there is ranking in the field
of occupation. Occupations are ranked higher and lower on the basis of purity and pollution.
The higher castes have occupations which are pure in their nature and the low castes people
have occupations which are polluted like the occupation of scavenger. Even if some of the
occupations are ranked high and prestigious but lower caste people never compete to have those
prestigious occupations. Rather they link allotment of polluted occupations with the karma
theory of Hindus. Violence and conflict to have prestigious occupation in the society is
avoided.

r. Caste increases efficiency of the members:

Division of labour and hereditary occupation combinedly contribute towards increase of

efficiency of the members of the caste. When a particular occupation is carried out by
generation, experiment, experiences enrich the efficiency of the members. They can innovate
new ideas and can produce new things.

s. Caste provides scope for increase in standard of living:

Caste helps in increasing the standard of living to its members as occupation is hereditary in
the caste system. When the members work in the same occupation generation after generation,
they can produce the goods and services more in quantity and also better in quality. So they
earn more which can enhance their standard of living. The Blacksmith, Potter, Carpenter etc.

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caste groups produce their goods in an innovative way and earn more. More or less they have
the similar standard of living with the higher castes.

t. Caste preserves the cultural elements:

Each caste has its own norms, values, belief systems, custom and traditions. Caste members try
to follow all these to keep their identity intact. Caste panchayat is also there to look after the
fact that no one should violate the caste norms and values. Irrespective of the position of the
individual in the caste, he has to follow the norms and values of the caste. In this way caste
preserves the cultural elements of the society.

u. Caste transmits culture from one generation to other:

Each caste has its own norms and values, and ritualistic pattern. These are transmitted from one
generation to another. Caste acts as means to social control. So, no one can easily violate these
rules and regulation. These are transmitted from one generation to another to preserve the
cultural elements of the caste.

14.4 DYSFUNCTIONS OF THE CASTE

Caste has many functions towards individual as a member of the community and it also
discharges many responsibilities towards the welfare of the society. But at the same time caste
has many dysfunctions which can not be undermined considering all those dysfunctions
constitution of India transformed caste ridden society to caste less society of India. The main
throwback of caste is emergence of untouchability. Mahatma Gandhi and other social reformers
fought against the evil practice of untouchability. There are also other serious types of demerits
of caste system.
Some of the dysfunctions of caste system include

 It marginalises growth of certain communities.

 It creates social economic and political disabilities.
 Its isolates certain communities.
 Caste is the main cause behind creation of discrimination.
 Dominant caste stands as threat to minority caste.
 Mis-utilisation of reservations policies is also one of the component behind
dysfunctions of caste.

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 Untouchability practice affects the mental health of victims.

 It is the cause behind several conflicts in society.

14.5 CONCLUSION

In Indian society it is marked that caste system is prevailing from ages. All kinds of attempt to
crosscheck the system through institutional and constitutional measures are yet to achieve its
goal. Therefore in a holistic manner caste system needs to be evaluated in terms of both
functions and dysfunctions. Further an analysis of the same can help in understanding the reality
of caste system in Indian society.

14.6 LET US SUM UP

 Caste is defined from different angles, such as structural and cultural, caste has its own
principles of categorization rules and regulation ritualistic pattern hierarchical arrangement
application of purity and pollution etc.
 Caste as a social system contaminates many positive things towards society.
 Caste is based on ascribed status.
 Caste provides social security, means of livelihood, and membership by birth.
 Caste helps in maintaining purity of blood.
 Caste helps in leading a regulated life.
 Castes provides scope for the social solidarity.
 Caste have several dysfunctions such as it is encouraging untouchability and affects the
mental health of the victims.

14.6GLOSSARY

Civil society - It is non-governmental and not for any profit. It is an organization which acts
for the interest of the public. It has moral and philanthropic considerations. It works for the
good of the society as a whole.

Jajmani system - It is a system of reciprocity between higher caste people, those who receive
services and lower caste members who provide services to them. Jajmans are the high caste
people like Brahmins, landowners etc. and the low caste people are blacksmith Potter, barber
etc. The service provider castes are known as 'Kamins'.

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Dominant caste - When a caste enjoys high socio economic and political status in the society,
it is considered as dominant caste. Dominant caste plays an important role in making decision
in the field of socio economic and political functions.

Culture - Culture is the complex whole that consists of the way we think, the thing we do and
everything we have as a member of the society.

14.7 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. What is caste?
2. What are the functions of caste?
3. What are the dysfunctions of caste?

14.8 REFERENCES

1. Mariott, M. 1959, "Interactional and Attributional Theories of Caste Ranking" in Man in

India Vol. 34, No. 2.
2. Rao Sankar C.N,2004, “Sociology of Indian Society”, S. Chand ltd, New Delhi.
3. Singh Extra 2004, “Caste system in India: A Historical Perspective”, Kalpaz publications,
ISBN-8178353016.
4. Singh, Yogendra. 1977. “Modernization of Indian Tradition”. Faridabad: Thomson Press
5. Srinivas. M.N. 1962. “Caste in Modem India and Other Essays”. Asia Publishing House:
Bombay.
6. Srinivas, M.N., 1966 “Social Change in Modern India”, Bombay, Orient Longman.
7. Srinivas, M.N. 1981, “India: Social Structure”. Delhi, Hindustan Publishing Corporation.

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UNIT-15: FACTORS AFFECTING CASTE SYSTEM

Structures
15.1 Learning Objectives
5.2 Introduction
15.3 Factors Affecting Caste System
15.4 Change and Mobility in the Caste System: Economic and Political Factors
15.5 Structural Changes
15.6 Let Us Sum Up
15.8Glossary
15.8 Check Your Progress
15.9 References

15.1 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After going through this unit, you will be able to:

 Discuss different factors responsible for changes in the caste system in India;
 Explain political and economic sources of mobility and change in the caste system; and
 Describe various changes that have taken place in the caste system during both pre-
modern period and modem period.

15.2 INTRODUCTION

This unit deals with mainly the key factors responsible for the changes in the caste system in
India. It also discusses various changes brought about by economic and political forces in the
caste system. This task has been accomplished by explaining the meaning of various concepts
as well as by referring to important sociological and anthropological studies. For better
understanding of this problem we have divided this unit into three main sections. The first
section provides an ideal typical understanding of the factors responsible for the changes in the
caste system. The second section provides an analysis of the changes and mobility in the caste
system brought about, by economic and political forces during both pre-modem period and
modem period. The third section deals with the structural changes occurred in the caste system.

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15.3FACTORS AFFECTING CASTE SYSTEM

Caste system under the impact of certain powerful factors is undergoing rapid transformation
in modern India. The factors responsible for such a change in the system are as follows:

1. Modern education

Modern liberal education introduced into the country by the British has played a crucial role in
undermining the importance of caste in Indian social life. Modern education is based on such
democratic values like equality, liberty and fraternity. It is also grounded on such scientific
values like reason and observation. Hence it is quite natural that with the spread of modern
education, the people’s belief in the divine origin of caste, Karma and Karmaphala has received
a severe setback. As modern education is usually imparted in co-educational institutions, it
encourages inter-caste marriage and inter-caste mixing. Moreover, it acts as a powerful force
towards the removal of untouchability.

2. Industrialization

The process of industrialization has affected caste structure to a remarkable extent. Industrial
growth has provided new sources of livelihood to people and made occupational mobility
possible. Factories, mills and offices are agog with activity. In the midst of all this, the people
belonging to various castes consider it medievalist to go into the question of one’s caste. In a
factory a Brahmin works side by side with a Shudra. He cannot avoid his touch or shadow.

3. Urbanization

Industrialization has given rise to the process of urbanization. New townships have emerged.
The ruralites migrate to these towns in order to avail better employment opportunities. With
the coming up of big hotels, restaurants, theatres, clubs and educational institutions it is not at
all possible to observe communal inhibitions and taboos against food-sharing. Kingsley Davis
rightly observes that the anonymity, congestion, mobility, secularism and changeability of the
city make the operation of the caste virtually impossible.

4. Modern means of transport and communication

Modern means of transport and communication are instrumental in increasing spatial mobility
of the people and thereby put an end to the caste system. Means of transport like train, bus,
tram, airplane etc. cannot provide for distinctions between castes, and a leveling effect has been

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brought into the society. It is absurd for any transport authority to reserve berths for Brahmins
to the exclusion of the Shudras. During travel, too, one must of necessity take his meals without
questioning the propriety of doing so in the company of low-caste persons.

5. Increase in the importance of wealth

Under the caste system, birth was taken as the basis of social prestige. But today, wealth has
replaced birth as the basis of social prestige. Occupations are now no longer caste-based. People
while choosing their occupations attach greater importance to income rather than anything else.
It is because of this reason a high-born may be ill-placed in society while a man of low caste
with ample wealth at his disposal has a room at the top. With this change of emphasis, the
Indian caste system is in the process of being replaced by the system of social classification as
prevails in western countries.

6. The new legal system

The new legal system, introduced by the British Government, has given a severe blow to the
caste system in India. Equality before law irrespective of castes has been firmly instituted.
Consequently, the age old discrimination against the lower castes has been removed. Further,
with the establishment of law courts, the traditional castes Panchayats have lost their power
and effectiveness to punish the deviants. Not only that a number of Acts like the Untouchability
Offences Act of 1955 and the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 have abnegated the evil effects of
the caste system.

7. Sanskritization

The concept of sanskritization was developed by M.N. Srinivas to describe the dynamic nature
of the caste system. Srinivas defines the concept of Sanskritization as "a process by which a
'low' Hindu caste, or tribal or other group, changes its customs, ritual, ideology and way of life
in the direction of a high, frequently, 'twice born' caste. The members of the lower castes leave
their own traditional ideals and behaviour patterns and accept the ideals and standards of higher
castes. Generally such changes are followed by a claim to a higher position in the caste
hierarchy than that traditionally conceded to the claimant caste by the local community". It is
a much broader definition of Sanskritization. It is neither confined to Brahmins as only
reference group not to the imitation of mere rituals and religious practices. It also means
imitation of ideologies. This observation points out variations in and varieties of mobility or
change in the caste system. To make his observation more powerful and empirically

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substantiated he cites the historical study of K.M.Pannikar. Pannikcar holds the view that all
Kshatriyas have come into being by usurpation of power by the lower castes and consequently
the Kshatriya role and social position. Srinivas further adds that though all non-dominant,
particularly low or non-twice born castes want to sanskritize themselves but only those succeed
whose economic and political conditions have improved. The caste system being a closed one,
sanskritization does not entail structural change. It entails positional change. Hence through
sanskritization the lower caste people move up slightly in the scale of “Jatis’ within a particular
varna.

8. Westernization

The term ‘Westernization’ was coined by Srinivas to signify the changes in the Indian society
during the British rule. By promoting education, egalitarianism, rationalism, humanism and
above all a critical outlook towards various social issues and problems, westernization has gone
a long way in undermining the influence of the caste system. It has given severe blow to
practices like child marriage, purity and pollution, commensality, untouchability etc. The
effects of westernization are prominently visible in the form of inter-caste marriages,
intercommunity marriages, inter-religious marriages, occupational changes etc. In this way
westernization has brought about profound changes in the Indian society.

9. Secularization

The role of secularization in weakening the caste system is great. By legitimizing secular
ideologies and formal legal doctrines and promoting rationality, scientific attitude and
differentiation, secularization has affected certain characteristics of the caste system especially
the concept of purity and pollution, commensality, fixity of occupation etc.

10. Socialistic ideas

Caste system is based on the ideas of high birth and low birth. On the other hand, socialists say,
“the differences between human beings have been created by society; hence the society only
can remove them.” As a result of such socialist thought, caste system is breaking. 11. New
social movements.

11. Some social movements have also attacked the caste system.

The Brahmo Samaj movement led by Raja Ram Mohan Roy rejected the barriers of caste
divisions and stood for universalization and brotherhood of man. The Prarthana Sabha

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movement supported by Justice Ranade brought about certain social reforms like inter-caste
marriage, inter dining and remarriage of widows, etc. The Arya Samaj movement founded by
Swami Dayananda Saraswati and Ramakrishna Mission movement raised voice against the
hereditary caste system based on birth and stood for its abolition. In this way all these social
movements succeeded, in no small measure, in affecting some of the structural features of the
caste system.

12. . Rise of new social classes

Industrialization has given rise to the emergence of new social classes. These social classes are
replacing the traditional castes. Trade Unions, Merchants’ Associations and Political Parties
are replacing the old caste loyalties. An increase in class consciousness leads to a decr ease in
caste consciousness.

13. Influence of Indian Constitution

Indian Constitution bestows some fundamental rights on the citizens irrespective of caste,
creed, colour or sex. It offers equal opportunities to all. Para 15(2) of the Constitution, which
declares all citizens as equal, directly justifies the Hindu social order based on inherited
inequality. No wonder that caste system is withering away. Thus, such factors have vitally
affected the caste system. But it is highly improbable that the system will altogether be
eliminated from the Indian social scene. It may assume new forms and perform new functions
in the changed conditions of modern society.

15.4CHANGE AND MOBILITY IN THE CASTE SYSTEM: ECONOMIC AND

POLITICAL FACTORS

The concepts of Sanskritization and Difference highlight dynamic nature of the caste system.
In fact, changes and mobility in the caste system brought about by various political and
economic forces have been one of the main objects of study in Indian Sociology or Social
anthropology. These studies reveal that the caste system has always interacted with and
responded to political and economic forces-of society. In order to present the main findings of
the studies systematically and precisely we have categorised the history of caste dynamics into
two parts: pre-modern period and modern period.

v) Pre-modern period

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During pre-modern period, i.e., before the establishment of the British rule in India, there were
two most important factors in society which brought about considerable amount of mobility in
the caste system: (1) fluidity of the political system; and (2) the availability of marginal land
due to a static demographic situation. Because of the fluidity of the political system it was
always possible for a Government official or a powerful family of a locally dominant caste to
become politically powerful and, thereafter, acquire Kshatriya status by becoming a chief or
king. This argument can be substantiated by many historical examples. One of the most well-
known examples is the kingdom founded by Shivaji, the son of a Jagirdar, during the heyday
of the Mughal Empire. Opportunities for claiming Kshatriya status by seizing political power
were generally available to dominant castes such as Marathas, Reddies, Vellalas, Nayars and
Coorgs in South India palas in Bengal; and Patidars in Gujrat. When a leader of a dominant
caste acquired Kshatriya status by seizing political power, he, in turn, became a factor or source
of mobility for others. Because of the fluidity of the political system it was always possible for
a king to raise members of a lower ranking caste to the status of Brahmins when he felt shortage
of Brahmins for performing an important ceremony: This apart, a king used to raise or lower
the ranks of casters as a reward or punishment. The second source of mobility in the caste
system during pre-modern period was the availability of marginal land which could be brought
under the plough. This sort of land was always available everywhere. According to Burton
Stein, this factor made possible the establishment of new settlements and even new regional
societies which facilitated many individual families to change their caste status. This apart,
various sub divisions which are found among several peasant castes such as Tamil Vellalas was
caused by this spatial mobility.

vi) Modern Period

Modern period started with the British rule. In this period above mentioned sources of mobility
in the caste system disappeared and new sources of mobility came into existence. The British
rule introduced the process of modernisation and westernisation through certain new economic
and political policies which affected social formation deeply and brought about structural
change, to some extent, in it. Consequently the caste system underwent certain significant
changes which added new structures and functions to it. Some most notable and significant
economic and political policies listed by Srinivas are

(1) the introduction of a single political role straddling the entire sub-continent;
(2) the introduction of formal bureaucratic and military organisations;
(3) the land survey and settlement work;

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(4) the introduction of tenurial reforms;

(5) the introduction of private ownership to land which made it saleable;
(6) making new economic opportunities in towns and cities available;
(7) the introduction of the concept of equality of all citizens before the law;
(8) providing right to everyone not to be imprisoned without resort due legal process;
(9) introducing the freedom to practice as well as to propagate one's religion and culture,
and (10) making suttee, human sacrifice and human slavery illegal.

iii) Dissociation between Caste and Occupation

The most notable change in the caste system is the dissociation between caste and occupation.
It is greater in the towns that in the rural areas, and much greater in the big cities. Due to
industrialisation and modernisation a number of new occupations have come into existence
which can be considered "caste-free". One can easily notice people belonging to a caste getting
involved into various traditionally forbidden occupations. Brahmins can be seen working in
shoe factory. Similarly, Harijans can be seen performing administrative and academic jobs.
Dissociation between caste and occupation has developed to such an extent that the
phenomenon of caste can no longer be defined on the basis of its relation to a certain
occupation.

iv) Disintegration of the Jajmani System

Related with this change in the caste system is the disintegration of the jajmani system. This
phenomenon signifies a major change in the caste system because as Kolenda notes that purity-
pollution and hierarchy are all involved in the Jajmani system". Ideally the Jajmani system
constitutes three categories of people belonging to different castes. These categories are known
as jajman, Kamin and Purohit. Kamins and Purohits provide services to jajmans. But they
provide different services. Purohits perform rituals and worship deities for jajmans. Kamins
perform manual work for jajmans like washing clothes, shaving, cutting and dressing hair, etc.
In turn, jajmans pay Purohits in both cash and kind and Kamins in kind on a yearly basis which
is fixed. Jajmans belong to all castes. Kamins belong to some specific castes. And Purohits are
Brahmins. It has been observed that jajmani system is disintegrating because of various reasons.
Firstly, the families belonging to Kamin and Purohit castes who consider their traditional caste
occupation less prestigious or non-prestigious and economically less beneficial have abandoned
them at the earliest opportunity. They is neither all Brahmin families are Purohits nor all Kamin
families are Kamins. There are also a lot of jajman families who have decided not to avail the

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services of Kamins. This apart, there is a large variation so far as availing the services of
Kamins is concerned. Secondly, as it has already been pointed out there is no caste-based
division of labour. Families belonging to the low Kamin castes have taken up occupations
which are traditionally supposed to be done by higher-twice born castes, and the other way
round, too. There are also instances of non-Brahmin families acting as Purohit families. This
phenomenon is more visible in those areas which have felt the impact of anti-Brahminical
movements. Because of such changes the jajmani system to longer denotes a certain kind of
relationship between castes but between families. Some of these families are labour buyers and
some are wage earners. Their relationship is purely economic. Therefore, caste has ceased to
be the primary component of the jajmani system even if it is said that the jajmani system still
exists in one form or another.

15.5STRUCTURAL CHANGES

These structural changes appear as land reforms, the spread of education, social legislation,
democratization, industrialization and urbanization. The effect of these on the caste system is
that often, adaptive mechanisms such as caste associations appear as mechanism of social
mobilisations. These organizations strive mainly for the fulfilment of materialistic and
mundane goals for their members, thereby making them more aware of their deprivation and
structural impediments. These associations are often concerned with non-caste like- functions,
but they are not classes, since members range across several class situations. Intra -caste
contradictions are not allowed to come up, and this may also create a notion of shared
deprivations and class consciousness.

3.5.1 Economic Relations The caste system has also been considered to be a system of
economic relations. Joan Mencher writes that for those at the bottom, the caste system has
worked as a very systematic tool of exploitation and oppression. One of the functions of the
system has been to prevent the formation of classes with any commonality of interest of unity
of purpose Mencher has used "class" in the Marxian sense and adopted the Marxian model to
analyse caste relations. As such, caste is a system of exploitation rather than a system of
interdependence and reciprocity. Caste stratification has been a deterrent to the development of
“class conflict” or "proletarian consciousness". This is because "caste derives its validity from
its partial masking of extreme socio-economic differences". The most crucial point for
consideration is that "classes" are not found as a system of stratification in the same way as
castes are entrenched in Indian society. Further, that most of the “problems” created by the

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caste system are still of a class nature, related to economic domination and subjugation,
privileges and deprivations, conspicuous waste and bare survival. These problems are
essentially those of the privileged and the dis-privileged and one cannot locate these as concrete
groupings in a strictly Marxian sense, as class antagonism, class consciousness and class unity
are not present. Thus, India's situation is very different from other societies in the sense that the
problems are of a "class" nature, but "classes" as divisions of society are not found as concrete
socio-economic-units.

3.5.2 Power and Dominant Caste

Andre Beteille observes that power has shifted from one dominant caste to another and it is
shifted from the caste structure itself, and come to be located in more differentiated structures
such as panchayats and political parties. Yet Beteille does not reflect upon the consequences of
this shift. Can we study changes in caste structure without examining the consequent patterns
of "distributive justice" or "equality/inequality"? If we cannot analyse the flexibility inherent
in the norms of an egalitarian system, it would be difficult to interpret the emergence of formal
institutions and structures as indicators of a "shift" from caste areas to "caste-free" structures.
Even if a caste as a whole is not "dominant" and the "dominant group" comprises families of
several castes, it does not mean that the magnitude of inequality has substantially reduced.

15.6LET US SUM UP

In this Unit, we have discussed different factors responsible for changes in the caste system in
India. We have also observed that the caste system has always interacted with and responded
to economic and political forces of society. During pre-modern period or before the British rule
there were two important forces of change in the caste system: (1) fluidity of the political
system, and (2) the availability of marginal land. During modern period, the process of
modernisation initiated by the introduction of various economic and political policies has
brought about significant changes in the caste system. Such as: (1) dissociation between caste
and occupation, (2) disintegration in the jajmani system, (7) weakening of the principles of
purity and pollution, (4) breakdown in the inter-caste power relationship, (5) emergence of
caste association, and (6) increased activity of caste in political field or politicisation of caste.

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15.7GLOSSARY

Endogamy: Endogamy is the practice of marrying within a specific social group, religious
denomination, caste, or ethnic group, rejecting those from others as unsuitable for marriage or
other close personal relationships. Endogamy is common in many cultures and ethnic groups

Ideal type: deal type, also known as pure type, is a typological term most closely associated
with sociologist Max Weber. For Weber, the conduct of social science depends upon the
construction of abstract, hypothetical concepts.

Modernization: the transformation from a traditional, rural, agrarian society to a secular,

urban, industrial society

15.8 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. What do you mean by Caste?

2. Discus on the structural change in the Caste System.
3. Explain the economic and political mobility of Caste system.

15.9 REFERENCES

1. Singh, Y. (1977). Modernisation of Indian tradition. Faridabad: Thomson Press.

2. Srinivas, M.N. (1969). Social structure. Publications Division, Government of India: New
Delhi.

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UNIT- 16: RECENT CHANGES IN CASTE SYSTEM

Structure

16.1 Learning Objectives

16.2 Introduction
16.3 Caste and Continuity
16.3.1 Caste and Social Mobility
16.3.2 Caste and the Ritual Sphere
16.3.3 Caste and the Economic Sphere
16.3.4 Caste and Politics
16.4 Caste and Change
16.4.1 from a Closed System to an Open System
16.4.2 Caste in Modern Polity
16.4.3 Caste Associations
4.4.4 Can Castes Exist in the India of Tomorrow?
16.5 Let Us Sum Up
16.6 Glossary
16.7Check Your Progress
16.816.8 References

16.1 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After going through this unit you will be able to:

 Describe the social spheres in which caste continues to exist, such as, the ritual, economic
and political sphere of life
 State the changes that have occurred in the functions of caste system
 Explain the new functions of caste in the socio-political system
 Describe the nature of caste associations.

16.2 INTRODUCTION

With the help of your study of earlier units and particularly unit 1, 2 and 3, you are in a position
to define caste system, identify its structure and functions. You are familiar with the
predominant features of caste system and its regional pattern. So far we have attempted to

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understand caste with reference to its nature and attributes and how it governs human
behaviour in a multitude of situations. In this unit, we shall look into the dynamics of the caste
system. We shall seek reasons as to how and why the system has continued to exist and what
are the changes that have occurred and are occurring in the system. This unit describes the
continuity aspect of caste system in Caste Continuity and Change India and describes the
aspect of change in caste system in India. It also provides the summary of the unit.

16.3 CASTE AND CONTINUITY

Caste, as you already know, is by definition a closed social system whose membership is
acquired by virtue of birth. Rules of endogamy and restrictions on social intercourse between
castes help to maintain the insularity of such groups. From a purely Brahmanic or Sanskritic
view, it appears as if this system is rigid and closed. However, when we examine historical data
ranging back to the Vedic period we find that in reality there existed a lot of flexibility. Social
mobility with the gain of economic and political power was always present. Historian, K.M.
Pannikar (1955) believes that in Indian history, the Nandas were the last true Kshatriyas (around
5th Century B.C.), and since then all the so called Kshatriyas have come into being by
usurpation of power by the lower castes who acquired the Kshatriya role and social position.
Caste system is, therefore, a dynamic reality with a great degree of flexibility in terms of
internal structure and functions. To examine the continuity of caste system and its reasons, we
need to keep in mind this high degree of flexibility of the system. Social mobility has been an
important feature of caste system. We will proceed to understand the flexibility aspect in section
16.3.1. Then we will discuss caste and the ritual sphere in section 16.3.2; caste and economic
sphere in section 16.3.3; and finally caste and politics in section 16.3.4

16.3.1 Caste and Social Mobility

Before discussing the caste and social mobility, let us understand what is meant by social
mobility. Social mobility refers to the process by which individuals or groups move from one
social status to another in the social hierarchy. Social mobility can be either upward or
downward. Upward social mobility is one where the individual or group moves from a lower
status in the hierarchy to the upper. Downward mobility is when a person or group moves from
a higher status to a lower one in the hierarchy. Caste has been considered to be a closed system
of stratification. However, in reality no system can be absolutely closed. In fact, social mobility
has always been present within the caste system. When we talk about caste and social mobility
we are essentially dealing with the processes of social change in Indian society. Sociologists

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observe that in spite of the closed nature of caste system, there have been changes in caste
hierarchy and its norms from time to time. For example, the culturally accepted practices during
the Vedic period of Hinduism became a taboo in the periods that followed. Some of these
practices were that Vedic Hinduism was magico-animistic, Vedic Brahmans drank soma
(liquor), offered animal sacrifice and ate beef. These practices were prohibited later but they
continued amongst the lower castes (Singh 1973: 6). Caste mobility as a process of social and
cultural change has been explained by Srinivas in his concept of Sanskritisation. The
widespread social and cultural process called Sanskritisation is a process where a low Hindu
caste changes its customs, rites, rituals ideology and way of life in the direction of high and
frequently twice-born castes. This has paved the way for mobility to occur within the caste
system. With the advent of the British, the opening up of frontiers by means of roads, and
railways and economic opportunities cutting across caste barriers increased the process of caste
mobility. Besides Sanskritisation, another major agent of social change was Westernisation.
Westernisation includes the influences, which swept over India during the British rule bringing
in the ideologies of secularism, egalitarianism and democracy. The new opportunities in
education, economy and polity were in theory caste free and open to all. No one could be denied
access to them by reason of birth in a particular caste, sect or religion. However, no social
change can bring about total change of a society. Therefore, we find that the traditional social
organisation exemplified by the caste system has undergone several changes yet continues to
exist in Indian society performing some old and some new functions. Now let us examine caste
and the ritual sphere.

16.3.2 Caste and the Ritual Sphere

The notions of hierarchical gradation of caste groups drawing legitimacy from religion and the
concept of purity and pollution have changed with the passing of time. The structural distance
between various castes, as you are already aware of, has been defined in terms of purity and
pollution. Corresponding to the caste hierarchy are hierarchies in food, traditional caste
occupation, and styles of life. Endogamy and social restraints regarding commensality and free
interaction between different castes in the local caste hierarchy were clearly defined and
ritualised. As Mckim Marriot (1955) noted in his study of the Kishan Garhi village in U.P., the
exchange of food and drink between different castes was patterned within the framework of the
jajmani system. The pattern related to who will eat with whom, who will give kaccha food (i.e.
food cooked in water) to whom, and who will receive it, who will give only pacca food to
whom, and so on. Thus, interaction between castes was highly ritualised prior to the impact of

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Westernisation. During the last few decades, as a result of the forces of modernisation, the
ideology of caste has become less pervasive in an individual’s day to day life. Caste rituals
have become increasingly a personal affair, rather than public due to changed circumstances of
living, forces of industrialisation, and urbanisation. Place of residence and food habits are
influenced more by an individual’s workplace and occupation than by his or her caste or
religion. In a city a person generally does not ask the caste of a cook who serves in a 41
restaurant. A person who might be a Brahman by caste may work in a shoe factory, and so on.
Figure 21.1 shows how the people in a city may respond when they find an upper caste man
doing a job which is traditionally considered as done by low caste people. Harold Gould in his
study of the rickshaw wallahs of Lucknow (1974) observed that the rickshaw pullers whom he
studied belonged to different castes. While working they interacted with each other without
observing any caste restrictions. However, when these rickshaw pullers went back to their
homes in the evening they observed all the ritual practices of their caste. Their kins belonged
to their own caste and they married within their own caste. This example illustrates the point
that in workplace the caste norm are set aside but in personal family life the caste norms exerts
itself. In this sense, out of the Caste Continuity and Change two main features of caste system
identified by Max Weber (1948), namely, commensality and connubium, the commensality
aspect has disappeared but the connubium, i.e. caste and kinship and marriage link, yet survives
in spite of all other changes (for a better understanding of the term connubium see section 21.5,
Key Words). The ritual aspect of caste is confined to the personal sphere. Now, let us see the
nature of caste in the economic sphere.

16.3.3 Caste and the Economic Sphere

In this section we will discuss the continuity in the nature and function of caste in terms of its
economic and occupational sphere of influence. The ideology of caste prescribed specific
occupations for specific caste groups, which had a specific place in the social hierarchy. The
vocations of the upper castes were considered to be the most prestigious while the occupations
of the lower castes, especially the untouchables were considered to be polluting and defiling.

The advent of the British saw new economic opportunities flowing out, and reaching the
masses. The opening up of plantations, development of towns and cities laid the basis for
economic development, which intruded into the functioning of the caste system. The growth of
money economy enabled economic relations to be governed by market conditions as opposed
to inherited status. Certain caste groups flourishing in the wake of new business opportunities

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invested their profits in land. Because of land reforms like, Permanent Settlement, introduced
during the British rule, land came into the market and thus ceased to be tied to caste.

The stability of caste monopolies over land, which was enforced by family inheritance, came
under attack. Ownership of land provided principles governing wealth and a yardstick by which
the local prestige system was measured. The low castes were thus able to surmount the
obstacles posed by tradition and began to participate in the economic process.

The breakdown of the traditional economic system and the emergence of lower caste groups in
economic rivalry rather than cooperation undermined the Brahman dominance found in
Tanjore, Tamil Nadu. This has been attributed to the changing village structure from a closed
stationary system to that of a relatively open system.

The closed system was characteristic of feudal economy resulting in cooperation between
ranked castes in ways ordained by religious ideas. An open system is one, which is governed
by secular law under the influence of market economy.

The Jajmani system, which was a hereditary patron-client relationship, with the worker
traditionally tied to his master, lost most of its insularity. Market economy, daily wages, and
hired labour eroded steadily into the functioning of the traditional jajmani system.

Let us look at the changes that have occurred in the traditional, subsistence village economy
which due to the impact of mercantilism becomes part of the larger national economy with an
example from a village study conducted by F.G. Bailey (1955) of an Oriya village called
Bisipara. The village Bisipara in Orissa witnessed changes due to the coming of land into the
market as a result of certain economic forces set in motion by the British rule. The progressive
extension of the economic frontier by which we mean the increasing contact of the villages
with the cities due to the introduction of better means of transport and mass media, the impact
of outside influences that have reached the villages as a result of market economy, brought
migrant labour and factories to bear upon the village economy and sources of income were not
confined to land and agriculture alone. A person participated as an individual in commercial
economy. The village witnessed a breakdown of the traditional, economic organisation in
which there was division of labour and division of wealth according to caste. Bailey noted that
the changed political atmosphere under the British disturbed the traditional caste hierarchy and
the power structure of the village. He wrote, “the ultimate seat of political power moved outside
the village. At the same time, redistribution of wealth upset the political structure inside the

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village. Division of wealth no longer followed the same lines as caste division” (Bailey 1955:
146).

However, Bailey also maintains that although there was an internal reshuffle of positions, the
caste system continued to order political relations between the groups concerned and to reflect
their economic status. Thus, in Caste Continuity and Change this sense, in spite of the
tremendous changes that caste had undergone, it continued to exist.

Another important way in which we can see the continuity of caste is that when the new
forces of socio-economic, political and educational changes came, it was the already powerful,
wealthy upper castes, such as the Brahmans, Rajputs and the Vaishyas who benefited initially
from these changes. The Brahman sections responded first to English education and therefore,
benefited from political and administrative power (Kothari 1970: 9). The same pattern is visible
in the commercial sector too. The great business houses like Birlas, Dalmias, etc., belonged to
the traditional commercial castes. In banking the castes like the Chettiars of South established
themselves in the modern systems of banking and commerce which was an extension of their
traditional occupation.

16.3.4 Caste and Politics

A system of social stratification such as the caste rests upon the unequal distribution of power
between status groups having definite positions in the prestige hierarchy. In any social strata
the upper echelons face the problem of how to maintain their positions which they and their
ancestors at one time achieved against the more socially disabled segments of the population.
To maintain their position of superiority the higher strata must be able to control the mechanism
of coercion. How was this possible? The political system of the pre-British India was
characterised by clear territorial changes marking off the territory of one chieftain or Raja from
the territories of the other. These boundaries constituted effective barriers between people
living under different chieftains. At the village level caste panchayats and caste councils
functioned as the local governing bodies and provided a self-sufficient image to the Indian
village. Such a political system imposed severe limits on extension of caste ties. Here the
cultural and political boundaries overlapped with each other.

The British rule set the castes free from the territorial limitations inherent in the pre-British
political system. It is widely held that civil and penal codes introduced by the British over the
sub-continent of India in 1860 took away the power exercised by caste panchayats. The British
had also introduced a new principle of justice wherein all men were equal before law and that

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the nature of wrong is not affected by the caste of the person who is committing it and by the
caste of the person against whom it is committed.

Many sociologists undertook political analysis in terms of caste and traced the political
development of caste through time, and the alliances of certain castes against certain others to
gain political power. According to them, the advent of democracy and decentralised politics in
the form of the three-tier Panchayati Raj system saw politics carried down to the grassroots
level. Caste became a prominent variable in electoral politics. The demands of organised party
system in politics have brought about a coalition of castes. Sub-castes and sub-divisions in sub-
castes can find an active field of engagement in village politics. The introduction of democratic
decentralisation and universal suffrage protected the interests of the backward classes (which
include the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward classes) in education,
employment and political life, against the dominance of the traditionally powerful castes.

The dominant caste was a factor to reckon with in village India. Not all the dominant castes
were ritually superior. Dominance in a sense could be combined with landownership, political
power, numerical strength, and so on. In some regions of Western and Northern India one
encounters dominant peasant castes combining landownership and political power.

The coming of market economy, the decline of the traditional economic systems (a good
example is that of the decline of Brahman hegemony in Tanjore), caste-free occupations and
mobilisation of caste groups have all resulted in the decline of the 44 traditional political role
of castes. Yet, we find that caste retains its political significance. This is evident, for example,
in the case of the political mobilisation of caste groups in Madhopur, U.P. In this village, the
ranks of Noniyas, the salt-makers and Chamars, the leather-makers joined hands in opposing
the locally dominant upper caste Thakurs. Thakurs were the Rajput and the traditional
dispensers of justice of erstwhile masters of the lower castes of this village. Thus, caste, which
was a dividing factor, reshaped itself in the new circumstances to form a unifying factor. Not
only for political gains but for material welfare and social status also, caste alliances came to
be established.

It is very clear now that caste as a dynamic reality of Indian society has accompanied changes
and in the process has continued to survive the onslaught of time. The characteristic of
adaptability to forces of change has been a feature of the caste in the past and it continues to
remain its main characteristic even today. This pattern of change therefore, constitutes an
element of continuity of this system.

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The changes introduced during the British period and post-independent India have witnessed
the changing functions of caste and how it has continued to exist as a social institution unique
to India. In this section we discussed how in spite of accommodating to social change through
a long period of Indian history, especially during and after the British rule, caste has continued
to exist.

16.4 CASTE AND CHANGE

We have already discussed the continuity aspect of caste system in India. We discovered that
in spite of the varied forces of change, caste has continued to adapt itself to the new
circumstances and remain a significant part of Indian society. Here we are going to examine
the changes that have come about in the caste system itself.

In the section on caste and rituals we have mentioned how some major aspects like the
notions of purity and pollution, commensality, the jajmani system and rituals connected with it
have declined. Untouchability has been legally abolished and declared a punishable crime
under the Constitution of India.

Thus, change has come about in caste system and its practices at the ideological level. But
besides the ideological level, it is at the structural i.e. organisational level, as well as at the level
of its functions, that major changes have come about. In the following sections we are going to
examine some of these changes in caste system.

16.4.1 From a Closed System to an Open System

Indian Society has undergone tremendous social change, as mentioned earlier, due to the impact
of the British rule. Caste being part of the Indian society too has, therefore, experienced change.
Society has moved from a relatively closed system to an open system. A closed system has
been described as one in which elements like caste; class and power are combined together. In
other words, this system is based on “cumulative inequalities” where higher caste implies
higher class and consequently higher power.

An open system is one in which inequalities of caste, class and power are dispersed. In this
case a person can be of lower caste but belong to upper class. This system has more avenues
for social mobility open for the lower castes and classes in terms of employment, education,
economic enterprise, politics, etc.

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The caste system as a closed system of stratification in pre-British India does not mean that
there was no social mobility possible at that time. We have already clarified that change was
always an aspect of the continuity of this system. Another point is that no system can be either
absolutely closed or absolutely open. So, in what way can we talk about change now? The
change in the caste system today is due to the forces of modernisation set free by the British.
Another force of change is our adoption of parliamentary democracy and giving ourselves a
constitution which seeks to secure to all its citizens justice, liberty, equality and fraternity
(Preamble of the Constitution of India). One of the major consequences of introducing
parliamentary democracy was that every Indian adult above the age of 21 (and since the
Elections in 1989 voting age has been reduced to 18 years) has the right to vote his or her leader
to power. Since, every individual vote counts it is imperative for a leader to get the allegiance
of the people. In this sense numerical power and caste identity has become very important.

The modem political system, new market forces, development of science and technology has
had several repercussions on the traditional caste structure. The association between elements
of different kinds of land-ownership, political power and status based on caste is slowly giving
way to status achieved through education, new occupations available due to the opening up of
new economic opportunities, higher income, and so on. In his study of Caste, Class and Power
Changing Patterns of Stratification in a Tanjore Village, Andre Beteille (1966) wrote that
earlier (i.e. in pre-British period) education was a virtual monopoly of the Brahmans who
dominated this area. But at the time of his study, the educational system had become far more
open, both in principle and in practice. Many non-Brahman and even untouchable boys
attended the schools at Sripuram (the village stuied by Beteille) and the adjacent town of
Thiruvaiyur. Because of this education the non-Brahmans and the Adi-Dravidas (the lowest
castes) could compete on more equal terms with the Brahmans for white-collar jobs. It helped
them to participate in the political affairs more equally with the Brahmans.

According to Beteille in the towns and cities white-collar jobs were relatively castefree.
Non-Brahmans from Sripuram could work as clerks or accountants in offices at Thiruvaiyur
and Tanjore along with the Brahmans. Within the village land had come into the market since,
due to several factors, some of the Brahmans had to sell their land. This enabled the, non-
Brahmans and even a few Adi-Dravidas to buy it. Thus, as land came into the market, the
productive organisation of the village tended to become free from the structure of caste (Beteille
1966: 3). Beteille had come to the conclusion that in a way changes in the distribution of power
was the most radical change in the traditional social structure. He said that the traditional elites

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of Sripuram, Comprising the Brahman landowners, had lost its grip over the village and the
new leaders of the village depend for power on many factors in addition to caste. There had
come into being new organisations and institutions, which provided new bases of power. These
organisations and institutions were at least formally free of caste. All these changes in effect
altered, if not weakened, the role of caste in the political arena (Beteille 1966: 16). Keeping in
mind this perspective, let us now examine the relation or link between the institution of caste
and modern politics in India at a wider level than the village.

16.4.2 Caste in Modern Polity

Unlike the European experience, political democracy in India did not emerge as a natural
development of ideas, values and technologies. In fact, the notion of political democracy was
adopted by the national leaders to serve the people of India in the best way possible. Thus, the
values and attitudes, which went with this form of polity, had to be inculcated in its people. We
see that the new political order is universal in constitution and in principle rejects the demands
of caste. However, in practice it has accommodated a variety of interests, in addition to those
of caste. Caste has, in fact, come to terms with the democratic political process.

Political conflicts can almost be seen as conflicts between caste groups or caste alliances.
The beginning of political consciousness on caste lines is evident in references made to caste
sabhas or caste associations. We will discuss this Caste Continuity and Change aspect later.
The reason for this development can be seen in the fact that politics being a competitive
enterprise, its purpose is the acquisition of power for realisation of certain goals. This is possible
through identifying and manipulating the existing, as well as emerging alliances.

Politics has drawn caste into its web for organising support and in articulating the needs of
the masses. The organisation of support is done through the same organisation in which the
masses are found, namely the caste groups. In making politics their sphere of activity, caste and
kin groups attest their identity to strive for positions of power. Different parties and movements
mobilise different social status groups as resources for their political objectives. Thus, even
today we often hear of candidates being selected for political parties on the basis of caste.

The caste provided for organised party politics a readymade system of segments, which could
be used to Marshall Support. Liberal education, government patronage, and an expanding
franchise have been major factors that have penetrated the caste system. Discontent and
exploitation prevailing within the caste groups provided a basis for organising caste factions

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and alliances. Thus modern politics found an ongoing vertical network of caste and made the
structure of caste a political vehicle.

According to Rudolph and Rudolph (1967: 11), caste has in its transformed state, helped the
Indian masses (of which nearly 70 per cent live in the villages) make a success of representative
democracy. It has fostered the growth of equality by making Indians less separate and more
alike. Indians are becoming less separate in the sense that due to the electoral system numerical
strength i.e., the number of votes, as mentioned earlier, makes a lot of difference in power.
Thus, it is in the interest of large majority of castes to come together to achieve their political
goals. In this process, caste associations and caste federations are formed.

Formation of caste federations refers to a grouping together of members of distinct endogamous

groups into a single organisation for common objectives. One of the most active caste
federations is the Kshatriya Sabha of Gujarat. It dates from 1946 and includes several jati-
clusters of the region, notably the Rajputs, Bariyas and Bhils. It was not only a caste community
but was also a political community. The Sabha had made use of new avenues of politics and
promoted Rajput leaders. The federation welcomed all jatis who followed the Rajput model in
their life style. Even the poor landless and Muslim Rajputs (Rajputs who converted to Islam)
were taken into their fold.

The founder of the sabha believed that Kshatriyas were a ‘class’ and not just a caste. To prove
this point many of the rich, aristocratic Rajputs would even go to the extent of having a common
meal with the Bariyas and Bhils. With numerical strength they 48 gained political importance
and influence (Kothari 1970: 30-70).

The relationship that caste bears to politics can be best understood in terms of three types of
political mobilisation discussed by Rudolph and Rudolph (1967) which exemplify different
phases of political development in India. These three types of political mobilisation are i)
vertical, ii) horizontal and iii) differential.

i. Vertical mobilisation: This is a process in which political support is acquired by the

traditional notables, such as the erstwhile Rajas, feudatory landlords, locally dominant caste
elites and so on. This is possible in a society organised and integrated along caste lines having
mutual dependence and where legitimacy of traditional authority still survives. Due to their
traditional authority the notables are able to get the support of their dependents, socially inferior
groups in the traditional manner where the local Raja or landlord used to protect and promote

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the interests of his ‘praja’ i.e., the subjects and in return gained their loyalty and deference.
Rudolph and Rudolph (1967: 24) maintain that vertical mobilisation remains a viable strategy
for dominant classes and castes until dependents, tenants, and clients become politicised
enough to be mobilised by ideological appeals to class or community interests and sentiments.

ii. Horizontal mobilisation: This is a process in which popular political support is marshalled
by class or community leaders and their specialised organisations. As the term horizontal
indicates, the solidarity among classes and caste groups such as provided by the caste
federations introduces a new pattern of cleavage by challenging the vertical solidarities and
structures of traditional societies.

The major difference between this form of mobilisation and vertical mobilisation is that here
the agent of mobilisation is the political party rather than the local notable. Here political parties
appeal to voters directly as individuals or indirectly through the organised groups to which they
belong. Direct appeals to individual voters may emphasise ideology or issues, on the one hand,
or community identification through caste, on the other. This mobilisation is possible only as
long as internal differentiation has not developed and caste communities are by and large
homogeneous, cohesive and their interests are still diffuse and varied.

iii. Differential mobilisation: This process takes place when the changes that caste has and is
undergoing carries it beyond the traditional ascriptive definition. These changes include
internal differentiation or fission, and integration of several caste groups in caste federations
and associations i.e. fusion which express the shared interests, symbols and norms of these
castes. 49 It also brings out the caste from its village home that it does not remain rooted to the
village social structure alone. We can explain the differential mobilisation through the example
of the Rajputs of Rajasthan. The Rajputs were the rulers, feudal lords, court retainers of princely
states before Independence. At that time they formed an association called the Kshatriya
Mahasabha which initially represented all ranks within the community.

In 1954 a new caste association was formed called the Bhooswami Sangh. This new
association brought into open the conflict between the “small” Rajputs whose modest
landholdings had to be supplemented by income from service under the princes and jagirdars.
These princes and jagirdars, however, had in most cases dismissed them from service with the
advent of the land reforms after Independence. Thus, when the rich and powerful Rajputs
refused to protect the interests of the “small” Rajputs, they formed the Bhooswami Sangh. This

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sangh took up the task of protecting the interests of the “small” Rajputs. Political parties, at this
time, were quick to capitalise on these class and ideological differences within the Rajput
community. This example illustrates the process of differentiation that occurs within the caste
community and is used by the political parties. We have so far understood the role played by
caste in modern polity. In this discussion we have also discussed the significance of caste
associations and caste federations in the context of politics. Let now us understand the nature
of caste associations.

16.4.3 Caste Associations

Caste associations are defined as “paracommunities which enable members of castes to pursue
social mobility, political power, and economic advantage” (Rudolph and Rudolph 1967: 29).
Caste associations resemble in many ways the voluntary associations or interest groups found
in industrially advanced societies. However, caste associations or paracommunities are distinct
in many respects from voluntary associations; as well as from natural associations like caste
out of which they have developed.

The caste associations are more like the voluntary associations at the organisational level than
the traditional caste structures. It has offices, membership, incipient bureaucratisation and
legislative process that can be seen through conferences, delegates, and resolutions. But, unlike
the voluntary associations, caste associations are characterised by a shared sense of culture,
character and status, which gives it solidarity not found in voluntary associations.

The functions of caste associations are diverse. It serves the Indian society by both levelling
the sacred and hierarchical caste order and also replacing it. It initiates and manages the efforts
of the lower castes to become twice-born, to don the sacred 50 thread which symbolises higher
ritual rank and culture. This is clear from the case of the Nadars of Tamil Nadu, a low caste of
toddy tappers, who through the efforts of their association, the Nadar Mahajana Sangam formed
in 1910, acquired not only higher status but a modern organisation to serve their needs.

According to Kothari (1970:115), some of the objectives of this association are

iv) To promote the social, material and general welfare of the Nadars
v) To take practical measures for the social, moral, and intellectual advancement of the
Nadars

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vi) To start schools and colleges for imparting western education to Nadar children and
to help poor but deserving pupils belonging to the community with scholarships,
books, fees, etc.
vii) To encourage and promote commercial and industrial enterprise among the members
of the community

These and several other objectives of this caste association and caste associations in general,
reveal the significant contribution that these organisations provided to their communities.

We see that the para-communities or caste associations contribute to fundamental structural

and cultural change in Indian society by providing an adaptive institution in which both the
traditional as well as modern features of society can meet and fuse.

In the final analysis we see that caste is losing the functions, norms, and structures it once had
and acquiring new ones to suit the new demands and condition of the people. It is today serving
the ritual and occupational goals of traditional society more as well as it is helping Indian
society to transform itself from an ascriptive, hierarchical and closed system to one which is
achievement oriented, relatively egalitarian and open (Rudolph and Rudolph 1967: 103). In the
next section therefore, we will answer the crucial question - can caste exist in the India of
tomorrow? 16.4.4 Can Caste Exist in the India of Tomorrow? A small section of Indian
population, comprising the educated elites, probably powerful but numerically insignificant,
desires that caste system ought to go. For a vast majority of the Indian population, especially
the Hindus envisaging a social system without caste is impossible. Caste is part of their social
identity and existence. The joint family and caste system provide the individual in our society
some of the benefits, which a welfare state provides in the industrially advanced countries.
Caste stands for a certain amount of cultural homogeneity. However, it has its evil and
exploitative side which has not been perceived by the majority of the people, especially the
upper castes. It is essential to remember that nothing effective can be achieved unless and until
the people themselves are made to realise the unjust nature of caste system. The principle 51 of
caste is so firmly entrenched in our political and social life that everyone including the political
leader appears to have accepted tacitly these very principles. The coming of modern means of
communication has increased the ‘horizontal stretch of caste’. Far-flung caste groups are able
to interact and communicate with each other and find commonalties and shared interests to
form clusters and this has resulted in the increase of caste solidarity within a region. One effect
of universal adult franchise is the strengthening of caste consciousness. Political parties are at

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pains to select candidates who have a social base, usually drawn from the locally dominant
caste groups. It is obvious that the eradication of caste is a distant reality, despite the indications
to the contrary. As long as caste performs the functions of a welfare state in India and provides
Caste Continuity and Change for the common bonds of kinship ties, political groups and
alliances, it can be assured of a continued existence in modern India. Check Your progress

16.5LET US SUM UP

In this unit we have described the social spheres in which caste system continues to exist. We
described that social mobility has always been part of caste system. The flexibility and
accommodative nature of caste is one of the essential aspects, which have led to its continuity.
We have discussed how the divisive role of caste has declined in the society. Concept of purity
and pollution, the Jajmani system, and the commensality aspect of caste have declined.
However, caste as an endogamous social group and its link with the kinship system still persists.
We explained in this unit how in spite of this continuity of caste system the structure and role
of caste have changed. We have discussed the role of caste in modem politics and also the
phases of development in political mobilisation of caste groups from vertical, horizontal to
differential mobilisations. We have defined caste associations and explained in what ways these
are similar or different from both voluntary associations of industrially advanced societies and
the traditional caste structure. Finally, we have explained how and under what conditions caste
can continue to exist in future India.

16.7GLOSSARY

Caste Alliance: People belonging to different groups of castes or sub-castes coming together
to achieve certain goals. For example, a caste alliance can decide to support a particular leader
in elections.

Connubium: It refers to the right and obligation of members of a category of men to choose
their wives from a prescribed category of women. The two groups are said to have or maintain
connubium. Decentralisation: Distribution of power to the grassroots level of the village.

Feudal Economy: Traditional ties of landowner, intermediaries and agricultural labourers.

This economy is characterised by ties of patron client relationships, bonded labour and payment
of wages in kind rather than cash.

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Market Economy: This economy is characterised by forces of supply and demand. Wage
labour and money are the principal means of exchange.

Political Mobilisation: Caste groups are manipulated to meet of Castes certain political goals.
Social Stratification: It is the process of differential ranking where a society is divided in
segments and these segments are hierarchically ranked.

16.8CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. Write in about five lines on the opening of the economic frontier in Bisipara, Odisha

2. Fill in the blanks in the following sentences.

a) In a closed system different components of caste, class and power are …………………….
Together

b) Caste has become the most important variable in the ……………………….. process.

c) In horizontal mobilisation the agent of mobilisation is the ………………………….. rather

than the local notable found in the case of vertical mobilisation.

3. Define caste association and mention at least two functions of caste associations using about
seven lines.

16.9 REFERENCES

 Bailey, F.G. (1957). Caste and the economic frontier. The University Press: Manchester.
 Beteille, A. (1966). Caste, class and power: Changing patterns of stratification in a Tanjore
Village. Oxford University Press: Bombay.
 Beteille, A. (2000). The chronicles of our time. Penguin Books: New Delhi.
 Kothari, R. (l970). Caste in Indian politics. Orient Longman: New Delhi.
 Rudolph L.I. & Rudolph, S. H. (1967). The modernity of tradition political development
in India. The University of Chicago Press: Chicago.
 Srinivas. M.N. (1962). Caste in modern India and other essays. Asia Publishing House:
Bombay. 7. Srinivas. M.N. (ed.), (1996). Caste its twentieth century avatar. Penguin Book:
New Delhi

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