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Bridgewater Review

Volume 2 | Issue 3 Article 7

Jul-1984 Is There A System In ? Abraham V. Thomas Bridgewater State College

Recommended Citation Thomas, Abraham V. (1984). Is There A ?. Bridgewater Review, 2(3), 8-11. Available at: http://vc.bridgew.edu/br_rev/vol2/iss3/7

This item is available as part of Virtual Commons, the open-access institutional repository of Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts. I) THERE ACft)TE )Y)TEM IN INDIA ?• A Personal and u. S. S. R. Sociological CHI NA Appraisal

by Abraham Thomas American news media as well as American textbooks, both college and secondary schools, present India as a unique society because it practices the caste system, which is then described in terms of its presumed traditional characteristics. Americans thus learn to picture the Indian society as extremely static and assume that the caste system still continues in its traditional form. The fact is that even in traditional times, the caste BOMBAY system never existed as it was theoretically supposed to operate. In modern India, the caste system exists, but not as westerners generally conceive of it. ARABIAN SEA Having lived in the for more than two decades (and being a naturalized BAY OF U.S. citizen), I have observed close parallels between the caste system in India and racial relations in the United States, in both the traditional period and the modern era. Once divested of its exotic names and descriptions, the caste system is nothing more or less than any system of involving changing patterns of domination, exploitation and rebellion, the INDIAN OCEAN likes of which are found the world over. I was born and brought up in a farm family In a society where much respect was and equality. (Neither my father nor in Kerala State (Southwestern part of India) shown to older people, and all older people my three brothers in India are engaged in where my father owned rice fields and within one's own community or caste were direct farming anymore). cultivated them with the help of what may be called by respectful titles, it was normal for called bonded labor. When my grandfather My family belongs to the ancient Syrian us youngsters to call older workers from the partitioned his land among his three sons, Christian Community of Kerala (the lower simply by their first names and including my father, he also divided the ), one of the oldest Christian even to use terms that boys would normally thirty or so families who worked for him in communities in the world. We trace our use in addressing each . the fields throughout the year among his origin to , the highest caste, who sons. My father was responsible for All this was true about thirty or forty years were believed to have been converted to providing for these families year round back. Now, however, only in rare cases by St. in and for looking after their needs. They in (some of the older generation) will the A.D. 52 and to the Syrian immigrants who turn were obligated to work for us children of those workers call the present came to the Malabar Coast in A.D. 345 exclusively and to be loyal to the family. generation of upper castes by any special under the leadership of a merchant prince They lived on my father's property and were titles. By government law, all landowners, named Thomas of Cana. (Thus, my name, dependent on him for work and for including my family, were obliged to let long­ Thomas, is not really Welsh, but very much protection. They addressed my father as term tenants keep one-tenth of an acre, Indian or Syrian). Because of these well as other members of the family by the where they could live. Many of the workers' associations, the Syrian Christians were term "Thampuran" meaning "" and the children are not working in the fields, but given a high status in the caste system, even men took off their in the presence of have been educated in the schools and though, strictly speaking, the caste system adult members of the family. They never colleges in nearby towns and have come applies only to Hindus, the majority entered the house except when asked, for' back to the area as government officials, community of India. The workers that I performing specific tasks. They remained in teachers and politicians. Nobody would referred to were from the Pulaya and the courtyard and father would talk to them dream of treating them the way their communities, both classified as very from the veranda of the house. When they parents were treated three decades ago. low caste. The relationships between the were given food, they had to eat outside the When they have occasion to come to your upper caste Hindu landlords and their lower house. house or office, they have to be treated with caste workers were even more hierarchical. 8 Today workers are members of were four major divisions called Varnas. required strict , i.e., marrying agricultural labor unions owing allegiance to ("" means color and it is argued that within one's own group -- primarily the same different political parties of the State. They caste divisions may have had something to Jati or closely related Jatis. Occupations work for anyone they like, under contract do with color of skin). They were: 1) were generally connected with one's Jati; rather than the traditional exchange of Brahmins, the priestly class; 2) , hence both were inherited. Thus a goods and services. Many younger the ; 3) , the merchants; "" was a scribe, a "Vaidya" was a members of the traditional upper caste and 4) , those who engage in doctor, an "Asari" a carpenter, and a farming families have received professional different trades and service occupations "Musari" a pot maker. One's status and education and have gone to cities, some of such as launderers, barbers, etc. However, ritual standing within the village was their former workers have found enough the most menial , such as cleaning determined by the position of one's Jati money (often using low·interest loans from toilets and moving carcasses, were within the caste hierarchy. Brahmins the government) to buy small plots of land relegated to the so-called "untouchables" enjoyed the most prestige and the Harijans and work for themselves. who were considered to be beyond the pale the least. This brief description of my personal of the caste system. As the name implies, However, in spite of the fact that the experiences, I hope, gives you some idea of touching them or even coming near them descriptions of how the caste system was the fluidity of the caste system as it exists would pollute the ritual purity of the upper supposed to operate, taken primarily from now. We shall discuss other changes later. castes and if it occurred they had to go the early Hindu scriptures, seem very strict Before we do that, however, I would like to through the process of ritual washing and and inflexible, close scrutiny shows that put the caste system into a sociological offering prayers. So, in effect, there were there must have been a great deal of context. I will describe briefly how the five castes. The untouchables were given flexibility built into the system. For example, system was supposed to have functioned in the name "Harijans" by there were provisions for the ruler to the ancient past and how flexibility existed (himself a "") meaning "children of upgrade a man's caste standing as a reward within the system. God." For Gandhi, the most despised of the for outstanding services in time of war. land were the ones closest to God. Individuals of proven religious, especially Every society has inequalities -­ ascetic achievements, were held in high inequalities of wealth, status, power and honor irrespective of their caste. Seemingly other privileges. The particular ways in strict rules such as prohibition against inter­ which these inequalities manifest dining was interpreted in such a way that, in themselves vary, and the names used, both practice, people of different castes could eat formal and informalr to denote these together without breaking the rule. Thus, inequalities will be different in each society. although it was against caste law for people However, the basic fact of inequality of of different castes to eat sitting in the same privileges enjoyed and deprivations endured row, sitting in different rows was acceptable. is universal. The system of inequality In practice it was also true that a rich present in modern western society is known Vaishya had often more power than a poor as class. Most people in the United States in a given village. would approve of the class system because The fact that certain rules exist does not they believe that it corresponds to the necessarily mean that they will be followed. different levels of ability that people are endowed with at birth and the different For example, even though the Roman Catholic Church strictly prohibits the use of levels of effort they put forth. The class system is also seen as justified because it is artificial means of birth control by its believed that there is plenty of opportunity members, it is obvious that not every for people from the lower classes to move Roman Catholic follows the rule. Only empirical studies based on description of up if they work hard. actual behavior can reveal the degree of Systems of inequality found in other Dr B R. Ambedkar conformity to rules. societies, especially nonwestern societies, Millister for Law In the /lrst Indian Cabinet. arch.tect of are seen by most Americans as being Indlo's ConstitutIon and leader of the Untouchables. The period between the seventh and radically different not only in name but also seventeenth century A.D., especially in in principle from the American system. It should be noted that the "Varna" was northern India, was marked by the However, although the caste system is seen not a homogeneous group. Each had up to a establishment of Moslem and by most Americans as completely to thousand sub-divisions called "Jatis" which Moslem rule. The proselytizing programs of their system, it is in fact not that different formed a hierarchy within each caste. Not the Moslems, it is argued by several from past or present systems of inequality all Jatis were to be found in all parts of India. scholars, created a defensive reaction that exist in the U.S. The packaging -- the Within a small village, for example, there among the Hindus, who clung to their names used for the different groups and the may have been present representatives of traditional religion including aspects of the justification given for the system -- may vary, only fifty or sixty Jatis. Some of the well­ caste system even more than before. but the content, the effects for the people, is known names of Indians are really Jati Hence, the caste system may have been names and show the traditional occupation most strictly observed during this period. the same. of their families. So, the names Nehru, The seventeenth century marked the Gandhi, Desai, Patel, Menon -- denote not beginning of significant western influences. CASTE IN THE PAST only their Varna and Jati but to some extent The British, who ruled much of India by First, a brief description of the caste their traditional occupation. Patel and 1857, abolished some of the extreme forms system as it was supposed to have been Menon both referred to village chiefs, and of the caste system. (On the other hand, practiced in India. The vast majority of Namboodiri was a . Of course, not all British policies had the effect of Indians are Hindus. In the caste system, Jati names referred to an occupation. strengthening many caste divisions.) Hindu sanctioned by scriptures, there The traditional Indian caste system social reformers such as Vivekananda, 9 Tagore, and Gandhi helped in the acceleration of this process from within the Hindu community. Western Christian missionary work was seen as a threat to the survival of the Hindu religion and hence pressures for reform from within increased. CASTE IN MODERN INDIA With Indian independence in 1947 and the establishment of a democratic republic, the largest in the world, in 1950, any based on caste was abolished by law. also perhaps unique in the fact that not just "" but what I would term "affirmative discrimination" (usually known in the U.S. as "") became the official policy of the government. Members of backward and scheduled castes were given preference for government jobs, admission to educational institutions and in many other areas. A certain number of seats was also reserved for members of these castes in the elected bodies at the state and federal levels. In India also, the same type of controversy that is heard often in the United States regarding affirmative ~ction policies was aroused by programs to promote the welfare of the backward and scheduled castes. Opponents argue that showing preference to members of the lower castes in the long run will work to their disadvantage, that such preference is unjust and that it creates negative feelings among Mahatma Gandhi, India's "Father ofthe Nation," the upper castes. Leaders of the lower constantly fought against caste discrimination. castes however argue that these programs are necessary to counter balance effects of century-old policies of discrimination. They changes that have come about in the social common. Organizations exist to promote also claim that in spite of much talk, little relationships between different castes. such marriages, and it is the semi-official toward equality has been made, Gone are the days when upper castes were policy of the government to encourage since institutionalized discrimination still addressed with respectful titles, although them. Prominent examples of inter-caste continues in most areas. there may be some exceptions among the marriages have occurred during the past Obviously much can be said on both sides old people. In the villages, the members of three or four decades so that they are no of the argument. There is no doubt that the lower castes usually make up the longer considered unusual. tremendous progress has been made in majority and they elect members of their removing legal discrimination. There is no group to village councils and other elected argument in India about "affirmative bodies. The greatest transformation is CASTE AND action," that is, programs to assure equal among the young people, many of whom As mentioned earlier, India is in theory a access to jobs, only about "affirmative receive full scholarships to schools and secular state, and religion and caste are not discrimination," namely, showing colleges and find government jobs. Very few expected to play any part in politics. The preference to low-caste members. Even of the younger people follow the traditional major political parties of India, like the here, most members of the upper castes occupations of their parents and Jati. A few Congress Party of which is argue that after thirty-five years it is time to have been elected to political offices. the leader, publicly oppose paying any stop the policy of showing preference on the Although these educated members of the attention to caste and religious affiliations in basis of low-caste membership, but rather lower castes expect to be and generally are picking their candidates for elections. to base such policies on economic class treated as equals by the upper castes, this However, members of the lower castes have membership, irrespective of caste. It is does not mean that in intimate social discovered that caste and religious argued that there are many poor people relationships, such as friendship and consciousness and allegiances can still be among the upper castes who deserve marriage, caste does not play an important easily exploited for political advantages. All special treatment and that the rich among part. Most marriages still take place among political parties unofficially recognize this the lower castes do not deserve such members of the same varna or caste (the and play , and most of the caste preferential treatment. Jati or sub-caste distinctions are more easily and religious organizations which have Every time I return to Kerala after the ignored now). However, inter-caste developed since Independence have taken a interval of a few years, I am amazed at the marriages have become much more distinctively political orientation. Either by 10 forming their own political parties or by challenge the authority of the upper castes, While whites point to the progress blacks being a major influence in the already as they have done successfully in many have already made, most blacks see the existing political parties, they succeed in parts of India. distance they have yet to travel. The electing candidates from their own When I was in India last year doing situation seems to be somewhat similar in communities to the state and federal research on the of lower India. In both countries legislation has legislatures. The influence they wield is then castes, I interviewed several lower caste achieved a great deal, but without quantum translated into policies and programs which members who now occupy positions of changes in attitudes progress will be slow will benefit their castes or communities. authority. One, a member of the Indian and perhaps violent. Although the blacks Caste organizations, especially those of the Administrative Service (lAS) who headed a have "captured new turf" in many northern lower castes, hold statewide conventions to major department in the state government, cities, and the lower castes dominate many rally support among their members and to obviously has many members of the upper of the rural areas in India, state and national make their demands known to the political castes who work under him. I also political structures in both countries are parties. interviewed a retired university , overwhelmingly controlled by the dominant Being low caste has even become a as well as officials who headed the Harijan group -- the whites in the U.S.A. and the source of pride, as members of the many Welfare Board (a government department upper castes in India. lower castes have changed their traditional to look after the interests of the lower names. So "pulayas" one of the lowest castes) all belonging to backward classes. CONCLUSION castes who did menial work call themselves Needless to say, th·ey all have high social "Cheramar," and claim that their ancestors status. In the federal as well as state Does caste exist in India? Sure it does. governments, members of lower castes were the rulers of Kerala in ancient times. But just as in the occupy high positions; in fact, they have Similarly, in Kerala State the Ezhava U.S.A. is not the same as it was two hundred sometimes headed state governments. For Community has discarded the old term or one hundred or even twenty years ago, well-educated, politically active, lower caste "Chovan" and has built up a cultural and the same is true with caste in India. It exists, members there are a great many avenues of educational organization known as SNOP. but in ways radically different from those of social mobility. However, in the rural areas, This Ezhava organization sponsors its own the past. In both societies the same social while radical changes have already taken political party and run several colleges, dynamics are at work. What is more place in social relations, much change has hospitals, numerous schools and other important to note and understand are the yet to take place economically and socially. institutions. This is not to say that all Ezhava similarities in this process in the two members support only one political party. COMPARISONS WITH societies, rather than the differences, which As a matter of fact, a high percentage of THE U.S. are comparatively speaking superficial. In them are said to support the two both India and the U.S., questions of caste Communist parties in the State. However, Do any of the situations described above and race are intertwined with questions of even the Communist party is expected to sound familiar? I would submit that the economic justice and equal opportunity in traditional race relations between blacks give caste representation in their leadership the broadest sense. Thus, rather than positions. and whites in the U.S. are strikingly similar looking at the caste system as unique, it to the traditional Indian caste system. By the The flexing of political muscle and would be more profitable to look at it from a same token, modern changes in caste comparative perspective, as one of the assertion of power in local villages have relations clearly parallel changes now taking given rise to conflict in many areas. numerous systems of inequality to be found place in the relations between blacks and the world over. Members of the upper castes, who have whites. been used to receiving respectful treatment from the lower castes, often consider their Not long ago, for example, older black present behavior to be arrogant and men could be addressed as "boys" not only aggressive. Most of the landowners and the by white adults, but also by white are still upper caste, whereas youngsters. Only two decades have passed most of the workers are from the lower since the blacks began to press the demand castes. Even upper caste workers often that they be addressed by the name of their identify with the more well-to-do members choice, namely "Black," rather than the of their own caste rather than with lower names given by the whites, namely "Negro" caste workers. Upper caste landlords, with or worse. "Black is beautiful" is still a new the help of workers belonging to their caste, concept for many, and claims of a glorious may try "to teach" the lower caste workers a and proud black heritage are still not widely lesson by physically intimidating them. But accepted by the whites. more often than not, especially in many of Inter-caste marriages are perhaps more the rural areas, the lower caste people are common in India than inter·racial marriages able "to teach" some of their current or in the U.S. But, black politics, especially in erstwhile masters a lesson also. In many 1984 with Jesse Jackson's candidacy for the parts of North India mutual punishments, presidency, is not in the background which often result in atrocities such as large­ anymore. Blacks have made slow but steady Dr. Abraham V. Thomas was born and brought scale killings, take place between the upper progress in this area by using the ballot box, up in Kerala, India. He took an M.A. in English castes and the lower castes. In many areas an experience clearly paralleled by the Language and Literature from the University oj where the upper castes are all too powerful, lower castes in India. However, the multi­ Madras before coming to the United States in the lower castes have no choice but to party system of Indian parliamentary 1961. He received his S.T.M. from Union Theological Seminary in 1962 and ThD. from endure their ancient portion of suffering and democracy gives greater scope to caste Boston University in 1969. Hejoined Bridgewater exploitation. However, this too will be a politics. As mentioned earlier, controversies State College in 1967 and has been Chairman 0) phase, as the lower castes get more regarding Affirmative Action and reverse the Department of and organized and powerful, and will eventually discrimination abound in both societies. during the past four ______years. -J 11