Caste System: Three Perspectives

Indological - Scriptural

Sociological- Stratificational

Socio-anthropological-Cultural

Endogamous and hereditary sub-division

Closed corporation-Senart
Kroeber defines caste as ‘an endogamous and
hereditary sub-division of an ethnic unit occupying a
position of superior or inferior rank or social esteem in
comparison with other such sub-divisions’.

Kathleen Gough views castes as ‘ranked birth-status

groups which are usually endogamous and tend to be
associated with an occupation’.

Majumdar- Caste is a closed class.

Weber and Marx in defining class:
1.Individuals share a particular causal facet of their

lives

2.Economic drive is motivating force behind these

facets
3.Class situation is essentially a market situation
• A social class is any aggregate of persons who
perform the same function in the organization of
production.
• It is determined not by occupation or income but
by the position an individual occupies and the
function he performs in the process of production.
 Caste and Class: Differences

1. Particular Universal
2. Ascribed Status Achieved Status
3. Closed System Open System
4. Divine Origin Secular
5. Purity and Impurity Feeling of Disparity
6. Conservative Progressive
7. Endogamous Not endogamous
8. Complexity Simplicity
 The Caste System
The ideal of the caste system was a four-fold division
of classes-the priestly and scholar class called
Brahmins, the warriors and administrators called
Kshatriyas, the trader and merchant class called
Vaishyas and those supposed to serve the upper three
classes called the Shudras.

However in practice, there are innumerable castes.

The hierarchy goes with the belief that the more the
involvement of hard or manual work or contact with
‘polluting’ substances’, the lower the status of the
person.
 Hierarchy and Caste System
 Defined as the superiority of pure over impure

 Because of pure and impure occupation

 The caste system is above all a system of ideas

and values

 A formal comprehensible, rational system

 A system in the intellectual sense of the term…

 Hierarchy is consequent to separation
 The principle of hierarchy, completed by dominance,
results in authority over a given caste…Dumont

 Hierarchy, repulsion and hereditary specialization

 Sub-caste is the ‘real’

 Self-inflicted disability

 Mechanical existence
•Caste is a social manifestation of forces of production
-A.R. Desai

 Institutionalized inequality and cultural and economic

coordinates- Yogendra Singh

 Hypersymbolism- multiplicity of ritualized practices

 The ideal behind introducing the system was to enable

better division of labour but it achieved a highly
complex, discriminatory and often exploitative dimension
in practice
 Origin of Caste System
1. Traditional Varna Theory- The Purusha
Sukta

2. Racial Theory- P.F. Slater-Dravidian

Elements in Indian Culture.- Supported by
Risley, Majumdar, Ghurye, Westermarck.

3. Religious Theory-Hocart and Senart- Caste

in India- on account of different types of
duties there grew up certain prohibitions
regarding sacramental food.
 Occupational Theory-
Nesfield- the superiority and inferiority of the
occupations. It is totally independent of religion.
According to Dahlmann was originally organized
into three natural groups:
1.The Priesthood

2.The Nobility

3.The Bourgeoisie

Denzil Ibbetson (Punjab Caste)- explains the

origin of castes as the result of interaction of
three forces: Tribe-Guilds-Religion
 Brahmanical Theory
Abbe Dubois- Hindu, Manners and
Customs-
Ghurye- Caste and Class in India- Caste
is Brahmanic child…….
 Features of the Caste System

1. Segmental Division of Society

2. Hierarchy
3. Lack of Unrestricted Choice of Occupation
4. Endogamy
5. Restriction on Food Habits
6. Civil and Religious Privileges and Disabilities
of Certain Castes
 Segmental Division and Hierarchy in Caste

The governing body of caste is called the

Panchayat.
Offences :
•Eating, drinking or having similar dealings with

a caste or sub-caste
•Refusal to fulfill a promise of marriage

•Refusing to send a wife to her husband

•Non-payment of debt
 Muslim Caste hierarchy
They differ in ethico-religious ideas-
•Ashraf

•Ajlaf

•Arjal

Caste hierarchy also exists among the Sikhs.

•Sardars- Jat and Kamboh(land owner), Tarkhan

(carpenter), Mehra (water carrier) and Cimba

(washerman).
•Mazhabis
 Functions of caste system
1. It continued the traditional social organization of India.
2. It has accommodated multiple communities by ensuring
each of them a monopoly of a specific means of livelihood.
3. Provided social security and social recognition to
individuals. It is the individual’s caste that canalizes his
choice in marriage, plays the roles of the state-club, the
orphanage and the benefit society.
4. It has handed over the knowledge and skills of the
hereditary occupation of a caste from one generation to
another, which has helped preservation of culture and
ensured productivity.
5. Caste plays a crucial role in the process of socialization by
teaching individuals the culture and traditions, values and
norms of their society.
 Functions of caste system
5. It has also led to interdependent interaction
between different castes, through jajmani
relationships.
6. Caste acted as a trade union and protected its
members from the exploitation.
7. Promoted political stability, as Kshatriyas were
generally protected from political competition,
conflict and violence by the caste system.
8. Maintained racial purity through endogamy.
9. Specialization led to quality production of goods
and thus promoted economic development. Many
handicraft items of India gained international
recognition due to this.
 Dysfunctions of caste system
1. The caste system is a check on economic and
intellectual advancement and a great stumbling block
in the way of social reforms, because it keeps
economic and intellectual opportunities confined to a
certain section of the population only.
2. It undermines the efficiency of labour and prevents
perfect mobility of labor, capital and productive effort.
3. It perpetuates exploitation of the economically
weaker and socially inferior castes, especially the
untouchables.
4. It has inflicted untold hardships on women through its
insistence on practices like child-marriage, prohibition
of widow-remarriage, seclusion of women etc.
 Dysfunctions of caste system
5. It has stood in the way of national and collective
consciousness and proved to be a disintegrating
rather than an integrating factor.
6. Caste conflicts are widely prevalent in politics,
reservation in jobs and education, inter-caste
marriages etc.
7. It has given scope for religious conversion. The
lower caste people are getting converted into Islam
and Christianity due to the tyranny of the upper
castes.
8. The caste system by compelling an individual to act
strictly in accordance with caste norms stands in
the way of modernization, by opposing change.
 Legal Conceptions of Caste:
Caste and Judiciary

There are different models:

Sacral View- Hindu society is seen as differentiated
but integrated order.
Sectarian View- sees caste as an isolable religious
community.
Associational View- caste is seen as an autonomous
association with its own internal order and rule
making powers.
Organic View- caste is seen as occupying a particular
place in social order made up of many such groups.
 The Legal View of caste in terms of three Categories:
Personal Law- refers law applicable to a
particular person by the identity of the caste
group. This law contained a number of instances
in which different rules were to be applied to
members of different Varnas……
…Family Law matters-marriage and divorce,
adoption, joint family, guardianship, minority,
legitimacy, inheritance, etc. were left subject to
the laws of the various religious communities.
Maharajah of kolhapur v. Sundaram Ayyer, A.I.R.
1925 Mad. 497
 Personal Law…

•The doctrine that ‘clear proof of usage will

overweight the written text of the law’ was accepted
as part of the Hindu Law. (Collector of Madura v.
Mootoo Ramalinga Sathupathy, 12 M.I.A. 397 at
436-1868)
•The caste group was seen as a carrier of a distinctive

set of cultural traits.

•Sunder Devi v. Jheboo Lal. A.I.R. 1957 All. 215,Inder Singh

v. Sadhan Singh, I.L.R. (1944) 1 Cal.233, Abdul Kadir v.
Dharma, I.L.R.20 Bom. 190 (1895)
 Caste Autonomy
•Caste was recognized as a group having the power to
make rules for itself and to constitute tribunals to
enforce these rules. (Sri Sukratendar Thritha Swami
of Kashi Mutt v. Prabhu, A.I.R., 1923 Mad. 587).
•Empress v. Ramanand, I.L.R. 3 All.664 at 667

(1881)
‘ No court would wish to interfere with those
domestic rules and laws which regulate and control
the relations between the members of a caste. On the
contrary, the tendency would rather be to
countenance and protect them.’
 Fixing of standards
The courts would entertain claims only:
1. That the decision of a caste tribunal had not been
arrived at bona fides
2. That the decision was taken under a mistaken
belief
3. That the decision was actually contrary to the
rules or usage of the caste
4. That it was contrary to natural justice
Devchand Tolaram v. Ghaneshyam, A.I.R. 1935
Bom.361
‘ The caste was recognized as a corporate body
with the right to prescribe and enforce its own
religious doctrine, ritual, and leadership.’
 Section 9 of the Civil Procedure Code, with its bar on judicial
cognizance of ‘caste questions, is still in force.
Article 26 guarantees to every ‘religious denomination or
section thereof’ the right to establish and maintain religious
and charitable institutions, to own and administer property and
to ‘manage its own affairs in matter of religion’.
Thus the Supreme Court has found that the Gowda Saraswat
Brahmin community is a religious denomination.
-Sri Venkataramana Devaru v. State of Mysore (A.I.R. 1958
S.C., 255 at 263).
In another important case the Supreme Court held that the
power to excommunicate for infractions of religious discipline is
part of the constitutional right of a religious denomination to
manage its own affairs in matters of religion.
-Saifuddin Saheb v. State of Bombay ( A.I.R. 1962 S.C., 853).
It has been argued that caste groups may merit protection
afforded by Art. 29(1) which provides that "Any section of . . .
citizens . . . Having a distinct language, script, or culture of its
own shall have a right to conserve the same.“

Are castes cultural groups? (Art. 29(1) has never been before
the courts independently, but only in the context of the
assertion of rights under the Art. 30(1) which provides that "all
minorities, whether based on religion or language, shall have
the right to establish and administer educational institutions of
their choice.

Apparently to qualify as a cultural group it is not necessary

that the group be a minority or that its distinctiveness be either
religious or linguistic. Presumably every religious denomination
would qualify -as well as such groups as the Arya Samaj.
In these family and religious matters Hindus were
ruled by dharmasastra not by the ancient texts as
such, but as interpreted by the commentators
accepted in the locality. At first the courts relied on
Brahmin pundits or sastris to advise them on the
applicable rules and their interpretation, but this
institution was abolished entirely by 1864.
To determine whether a given group was twice-born
or sudras, the courts evolved lists of diagnostic
customs; e.g., admission of illegitimate sons to
commensality and marriage within the group, the
prevalence of second marriages for widows, marked
the group as Sudras.
The majority, or the established authorities within a caste could
not be overruled by the civil courts on these "caste questions.”
Caste questions were said to include all matters affecting the
internal autonomy and social relations of a caste.

The right to have a fellow caste member accept one's food,

gifts, or invitations; the right to receive invitations from him; the
right to have precedence in leading one's bullock in a
procession - in all of these cases of dignity, acceptance or
precedence within the caste, the civil courts would not
entertain a suit.
In regard to "secular" public facilities such as roads.
schools. and wells, exclusionary practices did not
enjoy such judicial support. The courts declared that
no rights to exclude others from the use of streets
and roads could be maintained.
 Precedents and Disabilities
•Anandrav Bhikiji Phadke v. Shankar Daji Charya,I.L.R..7
Bom.323 (1883)-
Court granted injunctions to restrain members of
particular castes from entering temples-even temples
that were publicly supported and dedicated to the entire
Hindu community.

•Atmaram v.King-emperor, A.I.R. 1924 Nag.121.

--It was a criminal offence for a member of an excluded
caste knowingly to pollute a temple by his presence. It
was also extended in case of Palshe Brahmans and
Lingayats, whose presence in a particular temple was
polluting.
 EFFECTS of Caste System
Social- Banning of inter caste marriages
Political-Domination of higher castes in Indian
government
Economic- Limitation of jobs/occupations

CHALLENGES against Caste System

•Formations of pro-equality religions such as Buddhism.

•International movements led by organizations such as United

Nations.
•Laws issued by the Constitution of India.

After the emergence of Buddhism there have been attempts to

abolish caste system.
 Untouchability
The practice of untouchability is often associated with
Hinduism and believed to be found only in India. It has been
prevalent by different names in Japan (the Buraku), Korea (the
Paekchong), Tibet (the Ragyappa), and Burma (Pagoda
slaves).

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

Martin Luther King Jr

According to Dr. Ambedkar "Caste system and Untouchability

stand together and will fall together. The idea of hoping to
eradicate Untouchability without destroying caste system is an
utter futilely.
 There is no doubt, in my opinion, that unless you
change your social order you can achieve little by
way of progress. You can not mobilize the
community either for defense or for offence. You
can not build up a nation; you cannot build up a
morality- Ambedkar

Although 'Untouchability' stands abolished under

Article 17 of the Constitution and every citizen of
India irrespective of caste is free to carry on any
occupation, trade or business and the Untouchability
still shows itself in some form or other, more
particularly in rural areas.
Dr. Ambedkar, on the psychological aspect of upper
caste pointed-out, "Untouchability is not a short or
temporary feature, it is a permanent one. To put it straight,
it can be said that the struggle between the Hindus and
the untouchables is a permanent phenomenon. It is
eternal, because the high caste people believe that the
religion which has placed you at the lowest level of the
society is itself eternal. No change according to time and
circumstances is possible. You are at the lowest rung of
ladder today. You shall remain lowest forever”.

SirHenry Maine describe the caste system as the

most disastrous and blighting of human institutions.
 Factors of Change
1. Impact of Westernization
2. Reform Movements
3. Modernization
4. Impact of Modern means of Transport and Communication
5. New Economic System
6. Impact of Democratic System
7. Women Empowerment
8. Disintegration of Joint Family
9. Sanskritization

Srinivas defines Westernization in terms of the change in Indian

society due to the impact of British rule in India. the areas
of change include technology, dress, food and changes in
the habits and life styles of people.
According to Max Weber, emphasis on formal rationality,
experimentation, codification, verification and rational-
utilitarian orientation in behaviour and thought are some of the
unique qualities of the Western cultural tradition.
The western impact has brought about ‘a new great tradition
of modernization’. Certainly, this (process) poses the problem
of conflict between the indigenous tradition and the western
tradition on Indian soil- Prof. Yogendra Singh

Hot Mackenzie (1831) said, ‘Judging from Calcutta, there has

been, I think, a very marked tendency among natives to
induldge in English luxuries; they have well – furnished
houses, many wear watches, they are fond of carriages and
are understood to drink wines’.
Andre Beteille (1977) too has referred some changes
in the caste system, for example in structural
distance, in style of life, in commensal relations and
in endogamy, etc.

Srinivas prefers the term ‘Westernization’ to

‘Modernization’ whereas Daniel Lerner, Harold Gould,
Milton Singer and Yogendra Singh prefer
‘Modernization’ in place of ‘Westernization’.
 Reform Movements

A.R. Desai considers religious reform movements an

expression of national awakening due to
contradiction between the old value systems and
new socio- economic realities.
Brahmo Samaj (1828)- Prarthana Samaj (1867)- Arya
Samaj (1875)- Ramkrishna Mission (1897)-
Theosophical society (1886)- Satyshodhak Samaj-
SNDP