Caste As an Institutionalised System of Social Exclusion and Discrimination: Some Evidences

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International Journal of Gender and Women’s Studies 1(1); June 2013 pp. 56-63 Chaudhry

Caste as an Institutionalised System of Social Exclusion and Discrimination: Some Evidences

Prashant Chaudhry Senior Research Fellow Department of Social Work, Jamia Millia Islamia India

Caste and its Representations in India

Defining the word “Caste” itself is harder than The Indian caste system is historically one of thought to be. The description of caste the main dimensions where people in India are identified by (Risley, 1908) cited by (Hutton, socially differentiated through class, religion, 1963) describe it as “a collection of families or region, gender and language. Although this or groups of families bearing a common name, other forms of differentiation exist in all claiming a common descent from mythical human societies, it become a problem when ancestor, human or divine; professing to one or more of these dimension overlap each follow the same hereditary calling; and other and become the sole basis of systematic regarded by those who are competent to give ranking and unequal access to valued an opinion as forming a single homogeneous resources like wealth, income power and community”. It can also be defined as prestige (Sekon, 2000). The India caste system endogamous and hereditary subdivision of an is considered a closed system of stratification, ethnic unit occupying a position of superior or which means the social status of the individual inferior rank of social esteem in comparison is ascribed by the caste he/she born into. There with other such subdivision (Velassery, 2005). are limitations of interaction and social exchange between people from different social Caste is the term derived from a Portuguese status. The social division based on ranked word, Casta, meaning breed, lineage, or race groups (Castes) defined by descent and (Rajshekhar, 2002). It is a terminology that is occupation, based on underlying notion of used to identify the different social groups purity. divided on the basis of their occupation in Jajmani system. According to Dr.Babasahab Srinivas (1962) defined caste as “a hereditary, Ambedkar, it is mainly the custom of endogamous group which is usually localised, endogamy that has preserved the castes and It has a traditional association with an prevented one caste from fusing into another. occupation and a particular position in the In India, caste is a system of stratification local hierarchy of castes. Relation between based on institutional sanction of the society, caste are governed among other things by the which ascribe the status for different caste concept of purity and pollution and generally based on their place in social hierarchy. The maximum commensality, i.e., inter-dining network of economic, political and ritual occur between castes”. This definition relationship between castes outlines the described the ideal form of caste system. working of caste system.

However, in real life different patterns of caste According to (Velassery, 2005) cited by ranking, customs, behaviours, marriage rules (Deshpande, 2010) “a society is characterized and caste dominance are found in various parts by such a system if it is divided into a large of the country. number of hereditarily specialized groups, which are hierarchically superposed and In India ‘Jati’ is the common word used to mutually opposed. It does not tolerate the define the endogamous communities. Dube principle of rising in the status of groups’ (1990) defined the main attributes of Jati as a) mixture and of changing occupation”. (2)

Jatis are endogamous units; b) They are There are many rules in India caste system hierarchically graded; c) They invariably Jati- which caste members must adhere to in order linked occupation; d) Consideration of purity to avoid being shunned from their caste and pollution determine the interaction members or, according to Hinduism, being between different units. Dutta (1968) in his born less fortunate in their next life. The two book Origin and Growth of Castes in India has most important characteristics of the Indian referred to characteristics such as restriction caste system have to do with endogamy and on marriage, eating and drinking, occupation, occupational restriction. Every member of the hereditary membership, and the hierarchical caste or sub-caste is required to marry within gradation of caste. their own caste. Any violation of this results in According to him, the caste system in its excommunication from one’s family and caste. principle of exclusion, isolation and When it comes to occupation, every caste is disintegration is reminiscent of the savage associated with a particular one to which its man. members are required to follow. Another characteristic is that every caste imposes In view of Ketkar (1979) caste is a social restrictions on its members with regards to diet group having two characteristics of hereditary and has its own laws which govern the food membership and endogamy. Ghurye (1993) habit of members. Another is the social outlined six basic attributes of the caste interaction between the castes. There is strict system: i) The sequential division of society; barrier when it comes to mixing of a superior ii) hierarchy; iii) restriction on food, dress, caste with an inferior caste. Hence, under the speech and customs; iv) pollution; v) lack of caste system every caste abides by well unrestricted choices of occupation; and vi) established customs and well defined norms of endogamy. The outline of the basic features interaction. of the caste system reveals that the Hindu society is divided into hereditary caste groups A fourth element is the belief of purity and which are arranged in a social and ritual pollution. Cleanliness is considered to be very hierarchy. The concept of hierarchy is one of important value in Hinduism, and the caste the most essential attributes of the caste system enforces this idea. Untouchability was system. Endogamous is the other essential thus a mean of exclusivism, a social device feature attributes of the caste system. (Davis, that become religious only by being drawn 1951) cited by (Kumar, 2005) called it the into the pollution-purity complex (Velssasery, central and the most essential feature. In fact, 2005). Therefore, if become a social norm that it is one of the main reasons for the persistence the higher castes were more pure and the of the cast system. lower castes are unclean and can pollute the upper caste. Most important characteristic of The Indian caste system has three important caste system is discussed by (Pyakurel, 2010) elements: repulsion, hierarchy and hereditary cited by (Deshpande, 2010) as stabilization of specialization. caste system through imposing restriction of up or down in the caste based hierarchy ascribed by birth of an individual in a particular caste. © American Research Institute for Policy Development 57 www.aripd.org/ijgws International Journal of Gender and Women’s Studies 1(1); June 2013 pp. 56-63 Chaudhry

In India, caste is not a social category but is Lastly, we have the Ati Shudras or also an economic and occupational category. untouchables. They performed occupation that The omnipresence of caste system in all spears were considered unclean and polluting, such a of human interaction has made it among the scavenging and skinning dead animals and longest form of economic and social hence not even considered a part of the Varna exploitation than gender. system.

This multi-layered nature of caste system has The biological theory claims that all existing made the discrimination against the deprived things inherit three one of three categories of section, intense. The long deprivation and qualities. discrimination of the depressed section from the mainstream society have an impact on Varna means different shades of texture or their ability to move to other forms of colour and represent mental temper. occupational opportunities. According to the “Triguna theory” based on Bhagvat Gita, there are three Gunas: Sattva, Origin of Caste System Rajas and Tamas (Ghurye 1993). Sattva is The origin of the Indian caste system has white, Rajas is red, and Tamas is black. Sattva many theories; some have regarded the qualities include characteristics related to institution of caste as divine creation, for some wisdom, intelligence, honesty, goodness and european observers considered it as creation of other positive qualities. Rajas include qualities cleaver priesthood for permanent subjugation such as passion, pride and valor. Tamas are of masses, while some viewed it based on considered to acquire qualities that include racial differences. dullness, stupidity, lack o creativity and other negative qualities. People with different The religious theories explain that according amounts of these inherit qualities end up to Rig Veda, which is the ancient Hindu book, adopting the appropriate occupation. the primal man, Purush, destroyed himself to create a human society and the different parts According to this theory, the Brahmans of his body created the four different varnas. usually inherit the Sattva qualities. They are The Brahmins were from his head, the serene and self-controlled and possess the Kshatriyas from his hands, the Vaishyas from quality of austerity. They are considered to his thighs, and the Shudras from his feet. The have purity, uprightness and forbearance. Verna hierarchy is determined by the Brahmans also have the will to acquire descending order of the different organs from knowledge, wisdom and faith. The Kshatriyas which the Varnas were created. For example, and Vaishyas inherit the Raja qualities, and the Brahmans, who were derived from the head of Shudras inherit the Tamas qualities. The type Purush are considered the intelligent and most of one’s actions, the quality of ego, the colour powerful varna because of their wisdom and of knowledge, the texture of one’s education and are a representation of the brain. understanding, the temper of fortitude, and the Next in the caste hierarchy comes the Vaisya’s brilliance of one’s happiness defines one’s who are the traders, moneylenders and Varna. merchants. It’s believed that they originated During the Vedic period the vocations from Brahma’s thighs and finally in the caste assigned to each category was followed by based ranking. We have the Shudra’s who are people according to their ability and liking and numerically the largest Varnas. They are occupations had not become hereditary. supposed to have originated from Brahma’s However, in the later Vedic period, the feet and hence perform the most despicable invasion of Aryans brought many changes in and menial jobs. social, economic, cultural and political conditions in the society.

The institution of ‘Gotra’ appeared in the later At different points of history the so called Vedic period. During this period, higher polluted castes have been designated as castes were not allowed to marry lower caste chandals, untouchables, harrijans, depressed but marriage relations with Shudras was not class, scheduled caste or dalits. The presence sanctioned. The concept of pollution started of caste system in the society have always appearing during this period. In the later acted against them and also socially and period, with the development of economy and economically ostracized them, violated their agriculture a more stable institution of basic rights, dehumanize them and also maintaining the inter-caste relations were instigated various caste based atrocities upon evolved knows as ‘Jajmani system’. them.

Under this system, each caste was assigned Now, there is consensus upon the negative certain services for land owners and upper impact created by the Hindu brahminical class. The essential feature of Jajmani system world to the continuation of caste as was heredity relationship of Jajmani rights. institutionalised system of discrimination, The people who belong to service class were deprivation and denial of developmental not allowed to change their professions and opportunities to the marginalized section continued to remain as such. This system had (scheduled caste) in the mainstream society. left no scope for such community to move upward for maintaining their social status. In However, there are scholars who believed that modern India, even after passing the 63 years the caste line have faded in the modern society of Independence, the Jajmani system has still because all its functions have collapsed. It has not loosen its grip and it still follows in lost whatever relevance, role, utility and majority of the villages of rural India. justification it may have had (Nadkarni, 2003) cited by (Mishra, 2006). Alvin Toffler (1980) Caste as an Institutionalised System of cited by (Mishra, 2006) discusses the new Exclusion and Discrimination in Indian phenomenon of what he calls presuming or Society prosumer, occasioned by the blurring line between producing and consuming. This refers The understanding of caste as a system of to ‘do-it-yourself’ kits and self services, which exclusion and exploitation stands in sharp is becoming more prominent. According to contrast with traditional understanding of caste him there are certain tasks which were as tool of social control for preserving the associated to certain castes are now performed Hindu society. While it is argued that all men by individuals irrespective of his/her caste like are born equal, the social reality is that not all we do the daily shave ourselves with razor, men are born equal. Caste with its practices of taking over the tasks of a barber. Many of us casteism, untouchability and discrimination wash our clothes ourselves and iron them too. continues to infect as well as inflict upon the The apparent message that it depicts is that the social order and human collectively (Mishra, old phenomenon of caste based occupational 2006). ‘fixing’ is disappearing.

Most of authors starting from Ketkar (1971), In the economic sphere also we can trace that Ghurye (1994), Dube (1990), Velssasery the role of caste has declined in a limited (2005) all have fundamentally defined the manner. The a study conducted by (Bailey, caste system on the basis of hierarchy, social 1957) cited by (Kumar, 2005) found out that division, purity and pollution and endogamy. the increasing contact of the villages with the The dichotomy of purity and pollution has cities due to introduction of better means of deprived certain groups from enhancing their transport and mass communication has mobility enhancing life chances. brought market economy to the villages.

A person participates the commercial The processes of ‘Desanskritisation’ described economy as an individual and not necessarily by Majumdar (1958) and ‘tribalisation’ as a member of a particular caste. The sources described by (Kalia, 1959) illustrate this. In of income is not confined to land and the present context, caste system is not as agriculture alone, rather the factories have oppressive as it used to be. provided additional source of employment, During the last few decades, as a result of the which are caste-free. Jajmani system, which forces f modernization, the ideology of caste was hereditary patron-client relationship has become less pervasive in an individual’s between various castes and the worker being day today life. Caste rituals have become traditionally tied to his master, has lost its increasingly personal affair rather that public, insularity because of market economy, system due to changes circumstances of living, forces of daily wages and hired labour. of industrialisation and urbanisation. The ideology of caste earlier prescribed specific occupations for specific caste groups. In urban areas, caste norms have been The vocations of the upper-caste were confined to the four walls of the household considered the most prestigious while the where a person may or may not follow the rituals of his caste (Kumar, 2005). occupations of the lowest caste were considered polluting and defiling. But the However, despite the changes in the traditional growth of money economy and land reforms form of caste system have come-up due to measures enabled economic relations to be industrialization, modernization, urbanization governed by market conditions as opposed to etc. The lower caste or Dalits, a substratum of inherited status. Indian population have continued to be subject

Caste system, although rigid and closed by of cumulative domination by rest of the definition, has proved to be a dynamic reality population. They encounter same type of having a great degree of flexibility in terms of exclusion and seclusion as faced by the internal structure and functions. There have Untouchables. In study conducted by been changes in caste hierarchy and its norms Gould’s (1974) cited by (Kumar, 2005) on from time to time. (Singh. 1988) cited by rickshaw pullers of Lucknow illustrated the (Kumar, 2005) says that whenever a particular point that at work place the caste norms are set caste could by stroke of fortune, or by changes aside but in personal or family life the caste in political power structure, or by its own norms exerts itself. The study conducted by industriousness and enterprises, improve its Atal’s (1979) cited by Kumar, (2005) points chances economically, often also politically, it out that in villages the commensal restrictions claimed for itself a higher position in caste and rules of social and ritual distances have hierarchy, in which, it often succeeded. Such been relaxed only partially. A villager is changes have been taking place right from the relatively free from them so long as he is on a Vedic period and are still continuing. visit to urban areas. But soon as he returns, he has to confirm to the traditional caste norms of In the modern context, there are some the village. His study further demonstrated institutionalised and continuing processes that almost all the castes adhere to the existing within the boundaries of the caste practices of endogamy and rigidly follow the system to facilitate upward mobility by rules of Gotra exogamy. emulating the lifestyle of upper caste Hindu. One of these processes is ‘Sanskritisation’ The study conducted by Prasad, (1956) cited described by Srinivas (1952). However it is by Kumar, (2005) examined the reason for not only the upward caste mobility that is survival of caste system by looking into its peculiar to caste system in India, history and Hindu philosophy which supports simultaneously, downward caste mobility it. exists, although it is much less frequent.

He says that the Indian philosophy has, by and Belief in the concept of purity and pollution large, justified caste hierarchy and multiplicity also come into effect in hiring of SC labourers behaviour patterns. Occasional shifts in the in house construction – in about one-third of caste-relations were made possible by the villages, the SCs were excluded from different reformation movements but the employment in construction of houses. system of caste never changed. His study was In a recent study conducted by (Shah et.al, based rail-way workers of Chapra region. He 2006) cited by (Rao et.al, 2010) covering 560 found out the Hindu mythology and Hindu villages in 11 states found that public health caste had its hold over all the people and workers refused to visit Dalits homes in 33 communities. The study demonstrated that the percent villages, Dalits were prevented from people continue to accept the mythical entering police station in 28 percent villages, interpretation of the caste system in their Dalit children had to sit separately while thinking, feeling and willing behaviour eating in 38 percent of government schools, without knowing whether it is desirable or Dalits did not get mail delivered to their undesirable. homes in 24 percent of villages because of segregation and untouchability practices. They probably think that the caste system is predetermined and the possibility of reform The study conducted by Lambert (1963) cited and remedy does not arise. The study by (Thorat, 2007) studied workers in five conducted by Mahi Pal (2004) cited by factories in Poona (now known as Pune) in (Mishra, 2006) on the basis of his empirical western India. While studying the general investigation in Haryana highlights that caste situation in Poona, he found that workers in system still exercises a stronghold on small factories where wages were low and Haryana’s panchyat institutions making a where there was hardly any social security mockery of decentralized governance. Dalit were apt to change their jobs. However, when women representatives of panchyats still face these workers obtained employment in large opposition from Members of the panchyat and factories where employment was secure and village people belonging to higher caste, who wages higher, they seldom left their jobs. For hampers their activities. It is really shocking as these workers factory employment implied st well as a matter of shame that even in 21 lifetime commitment. In fact, the workers century and at an era that boasts of were overcommitted. At the same time they postmodernism, egalitarianism. showed no signs of transforming their

Cosmopolitism, empowerment and attitudes and social relations. They viewed democracy, still upper caste members are not their jobs in the same way as they viewed their mentally prepared to accept one from Dalit traditional caste occupations where the background to be their representative.In specialist (the worker in this case) serves the Action Aid (2000) study on ‘Untouchables in patron (the industrialist). Lambert, thus, found Rural India’ in 555 villages in eleven states that traditional culture was consistent with industrialization. across India found that discrimination in labour market operates through exclusion in The study conducted by Verinder Jain (2008) hiring, and lower wages. In about 36 percent in his study on issues related to discrimination of the villages, the SCs were denied casual and work related insecurities in the Punjab’s employment in agriculture. In about 25 urban unorganized manufacturing sector found percent villages, the SCs faced discrimination a relative deprivation of SC/ST wageworker in terms of wage payment. The SC wage upholds the relevance of social class analysis labour thus, received daily wage at a rate, in India’s unorganized sector. which was less than the market wage rate, or wages paid to the non-Sc workers.

It finds that there exist considerable wage gap in due to endowment difference between two The third refers to emergence of several sets of workers, a high degree of factions along with elites groups have got discrimination in return to endowment also politically organized. The system of factions is exist Similarly, SC/ST wageworker are also such that it divides not only political groups relatively more exposed to various work- but also social groups. It thus facilitates the related insecurities. An analysis of the process of cross-cutting identification (Kumar, marginal effects of various worker-related 2005). Kothari (1985) have rightly observed characteristics on worker’s severe exposure to that the electoral system in India has given a various insecurities has revealed that a lack of new lease of life to caste identification. skill makes SC/ST more vulnerable to the severe exposure of various insecurities. The challenge before the Dalits is manifold. They have to struggle against discrimination The relationship between caste and politics is persistently even passing the 63rd years of mutual give and take. While castes help the Independence. Pimley et.al (1985) commented political parties in winning seats in the that caste system is not merely a election, the political power helps caste in superstructure but also creates the achieving higher social, economic, educational infrastructure of our Indian society. Let us not and occupational position in the society. expect miracles overnight. Quoting Teltumbde (1996) in this regards, “in social Even those caste which are socially and terms however, all Dalits, irrespective of their educationally backward have managed to economic standing still suffer oppression. This move upwards within a very short period by social oppression varies from the crudest judiciously utilising the caste vote bank. variety of untouchables, still being practiced in Ghurye (1930) studied the changes that were rural areas, to sophisticated forms of taking place in the political field under the discrimination encountered even in the influence of caste system of vice-versa. Caste modern sectors of urban areas”. consciousness in matter of election becomes manifest in first half of the twentieth century Conclusion with the introduction of voting system by the British in India. As a result caste sabhas Caste system created the infrastructure for emerged as political organizations and caste formation of social relations and interactions consciousness become very definite and between different groups, people and social assertive. The caste often combined together systems in Indian society. From the above the political purposes, i.e., the common evidences, we can conclude that the old age purpose of fighting the other caste to gain caste system is still perpetuating in Indian political power. society. However some changes have been observed in Thus the interaction between caste and politics its representation and nature but still caste has given rise to three developments. The first based discrimination, exclusion and divisions one refers to emergence of dominant elites are persisting as Institutionalised system from different castes but shares a secular directed towards the marginalised, outlook and homogeneous values. Secondly, downtrodden and oppressed people through several caste emerged to give the caste system restricting all means and resources for a secular organisational form. enhancing their life chances and upward mobility.

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