CASTEISM :

THE DALIT AND ANTI-

BRAHAMANICAL MOVEMENTS

P R E S E N T E D B Y:

MIHIKA RASTOGI
 MEANING OF CASTE :

• Caste name is generally associated with a specific occupation and is a closed stratification,
which makes it endogamous.

• Velassery defines caste as "an endogamous and hereditary subdivision of an ethnic unit
occupying a position of superior or inferior rank of social esteem in comparison with other
such subdivisions.”
 INDIAN CASTE SYSTEM :
• Social differentiation in Indian population through class, religion, region, tribe, gender and
language.

• The Indian Caste System is considered as a closed system of stratification, which means that a
person’s social status is obligated to which caste they are born into.

• The two most important characteristics of the Indian Caste System are endogamy and
occupational restriction.
CASTE STRUCTURE
AND ITS
CHARACHTERISTICS
 JATIS

Varnas

Jatis

Derived their livelihood from a

specific occupation.
 CASTE SYSTEM UNDER THE BRITISH
ADMINISTRATION :

• The arrival of British brought turbulence to the caste system.

• After initial encouragement British law courts came down heavily upon the existing discriminative caste
system.

• For example- when the British government wanted to install a water system in Bombay, there was a
great chaos from the upper classes as they could not believe that pure and impure, twice-born and
Shudra were going to drink water from the same tap as themselves.
 CONTINUED..

• Industrialization changed the occupational profiles of various castes.

• The three pillars of the caste system- hereditary specialization, sacred hierarchy and mutual
repulsion were directly affected by the British administration.
 DALIT AND ANTI- BRAHMANICAL MOVEMENTS
IN INDIA:

• Brahmins quickly adopted English education, occupations and colonial bureaucracy. The envy of the
non- Brahmin communities resulted in the non-Brahmin movement. However this conflict had much
deeper social, economic and cultural roots.

• Non-Brahmin and Dalit movements were active during the colonial era, broadly pursuing two aims-
achieving upward caste-class mobility and annihilation of caste.- Omvedt, 1994.

• The non-Brahmin movements and the Dalit movements were against the Aryan conquest and Brahman
exploitation through religion and culture and aimed at the arguments of the original inhabitants and had
a common tag ADI meaning original inhabitant.
 DALIT MOVEMENTS
MOVEMENT/ YEAR PLACE FOUNDER OBJECTIVES
ORGANISATIO
N
ADI-DRAVIDA 1920s Tamil Nadu Periyar E.V, Worked for the eradication of untouchability, achieving
MOVEMENT Ramasawy education, lands, jobs and political representation.

ADI- 1930 South India --- Used modern ideas of equality and empowerment and thus,
KARNATAKA challenged the traditional caste hierarchy.
MOVEMENT
ADI-HINDU 1920s UP and Swami Believed that if Hinduism was discarded, untouchability
MOVEMENT Hyderabad Acchutanand would automatically come to an end.
AD-DHARM 1926 Punjab Mangu Ram Aimed at securing a separate and respectable space for the
MOVEMENT Mugowalia SCs through cultural transformation, spiritual regeneration
and political assertion.

NAMASUDRA 1872 Bengal Pramatha Protested against the age-old social disabilities and
MOVEMENT Ranjab Thakur economic exploitation. The movement believed in
education and self-respect.
 ANTI- BRAHMANICAL MOVEMENTS
MOVEMENT/ YEAR PLACE FOUNDER OBJECTIVES
ORGANISATION

SATYA SHODHAK 1873 Maharashtra Jyotiba Phule Opposed to untouchability, Priestly of Brahmin
SAMAJ domination, Belief in social equality and uplift of the lower
castes by educating them.
ARAVIPPURAM 1888 Aravippuram, Shri Narayan Opposed to religious disabilities against lower castes,
MOVEMENT Kerala Guru believed in social equality, attacked Brahmin dominations.
Demanded free entry of the people of the lower castes to
the temples.

SHRI NARAYAN 1902-1903 Kerala Shri Narayan Organized temple entry right movements. In 1920, T.K
DHARMA Guru, Dr. Palpu Madhavan launched the temple entry movement.
PARIPALANA and Kumaran
YOGAN ( S.N.D.P) Asan
MOVEMENT
THE DEPRESSED 1906 Bombay V.R Shinde Launched by the Prathana Samaj as an independent
CLASS MISSION association to organize education facilities for lower castes.
SOCIETY
 CONTINUED..
MOVEMENT YEAR PLACE FOUNDER OBJECTIVES
/ORGANISA
TION
JUSTICE 1915-1916 Madras, Tamil C.N Mudaliyar, A movement of the intermediate castes. Opposed to
PARTY Nadu T.M.Nair and P. Brahmin predominance in education, service and
Tyagaraja Chetti politics.

DEPRESSED 1924 Bombay Dr. B.R Ambedkar To propagate the gospel of social equality among caste
CLASSES Hindus and untouchables. Demanded constitutional
WELFARE safeguards for the depressed classes.
INSTITUE

SELF- 1925 Madras E.V Ramaswami, Anti-Brahmin and Hindu orthodoxy radical movement,
RESPECT Naickar ‘Periyar’ which advocated wedding without priests, forcible
MOVEMENT temple entry, total defiance of Hindu social laws and
also theism at times.

HARIJAN 1932 Pune Mahatma Gandhi An all- India organization for the removal of
SEVAK SANGH untouchability and all social discrimination against
untouchables and other lower castes. To provide
medical, educational and technical facilities to
untouchables.
 CASTE SYSTEM UNDER MODERN
INDIA:
• Relationships between castes have become more relaxed today.

• One of the biggest changes that took place in India was occupational pursuits among men and women.

• The idea that purity and pollution is caused by the lower castes has diminished a good amount.

• Discrimination on the basis of caste has been outlawed in India, caste has become a means for
competing for access to resources and power in India, such as occupational opportunities and new
occupations.

• There has been an increase in representation of SCs, STs, OBCs in elected offices and they have
acquired strong local support. People from these disadvantaged groups have largely made their way into
government jobs as well as all levels of educational institutions.
 CONCLUSION :
• The Caste System has played a significant role in shaping the occupations and roles as well as values of
the Indian Society.

• The present Indian society is moving from its closed systems towards a state of change and progression
marked by the assertion of the human spirit irrespective of castes and creeds.

• Caste in the democracy has also become an important instrument for Dalits and other lower castes to
organize and mobilize themselves to attain the political power.

• Mobilization of lower castes on the basis of caste identity may not necessarily be considered as
casteism, it could rather be understood as formation of interest group of oppressed in the democracy.
 REFRENCES
• https://himachalpradesh.pscnotes.com/history-booster/depressed-class-missions-non-brahmanical-movements-and-justi
ce-party-2/#
• http://epgp.inflibnet.ac.in/Home/ViewSubject?catid=33. Module id- 29. Module Title – Casteism, Anti-Brahmin
Movements and Indian Politics.
• Sekhon, Joti. Modern India. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2000. Print. 39, 43, 44, 50.
• Velassery, Sebastian. Casteism and Human Rights: toward an Ontology of the Social Order. Singapore: Marshall
Cavendish Academic, 2005. Print. 2.
• Hutton, J. H. Caste in India: Its Nature, Function and Origins. Bombay: Indian Branch, Oxford UP, 1963. Print. 47.
• Ghurye, G. S. Caste and Race in India. Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1969. Print. 270.
• Alavi, Seema. Sepoys And The Company Tradition and transition in Northern India 1770–1830. Oxford University
Press India. 1998. Print. 5.
• Bouglé, Célestin. Essays on the Caste System. London: Cambridge UP, 1971. Print. 81-82.
Thank you