Assam and the Vaishnava Monasteries Akhyai Jyoti Mahanta
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JOURNAL OF CRITICAL REVIEWS ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 13, 2020 HISTORICITY OF CASTEISM: ASSAM AND THE VAISHNAVA MONASTERIES AKHYAI JYOTI MAHANTA M.PHIL SCHOLAR DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY DIBRUGARH UNIVERSITY, ASSAM E-MAIL: [email protected] PHONE NO: 8822322781 Abstract Assam has a long history of immigration from different corners of India and Asia as a whole and hence it truly manifests the notion of diversity in its social setting. Although geographically it is situated in a relative isolation from the center of the country, in the socio-political domain it is too lined with the traditional Hindu social structure. While every Indian is more or less aware with the history and prominence of caste in the Indian society, Assam is no exception in this regard as it too has a long history of casteism witnessed and expressed with its regional varieties. Assam came in touch with Brahminical Hinduism with the arrival of the Aryans and with the aegis of the royal dynasties casteism spread across all communities especially with those who affiliated to Hindu religion. Hence a hierarchy based on caste identity remained intact with the social lives of the region. While sectarianism denies all discriminatory practices, the vaishnava monasteries in Assam could not escape the order of the caste system and thus moved away to a great extent from its fundamental ethics of reformism and the goal of making a unified society. So, this study attempts to analyze how Assam was engulfed by the caste regulations where the ethnic hold was quite strong and also explain the process of reproduction of casteism within the religious ambience of the vaishnava monasteries. Key words: caste, history, vashinavism, monastery, ethnicity. I. Introduction “It is impossible to understand an institution adequately without an understanding of the historical process in which it was produced.”1 - Berger and Luckmann Caste is the primordial domain of understanding social stratification in Indian society. The social divisions based on the varna system has been the underpinning of the prevailing hierarchies and hence the social locations of the individuals and the communities are highly determined by it for generations. Assam is said to be nominal in terms of casteism and Mahatma Gandhi too acknowledged the flexible presence of casteist outlook in the Assamese society due to the far-reaching impact of the Bhakti movement introduced by Srimanta Sankardeva, the medieval saint and social reformer, in the region (Kalita, 2017). The idea of aggressive untouchability may not be seen in this state unlike the pan Indian context but Assam too came under the universal effect of Brahminism in various phases of history. Experiencing the discriminatory social system set under the norms of Brahminical Hinduism, Sankardeva brought Assam into the fold of sectarian Hinduism in the form of Neo-vaishnavism which aspired to build an inclusive society and makes religion accessible to all irrespective of their caste, community or religious background. 1 (Berger and Luckmann, 1991: 72). 3623 JOURNAL OF CRITICAL REVIEWS ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 13, 2020 Accordingly the vaishnava monastery called the satra institution was established as the center of developing and preaching the vaishnavite ethics across all sections of the society. But these monasteries too came under the purview of caste considerations after its formation and thus could not prevent the expansion of casteism in the society. Therefore, this discussion looks at the historical process of penetration of casteism into Assam as well as the monasteries of the region. II. Unfolding the History of Caste System in Assam History of a place is uncovered often through its textual and oral narratives where both myth and reality merge together to make a complex whole and thus the origin and development of a discourse in a particular area has to be dug out of this contested history and tradition. The inflow of Brahminism and the later development of casteism in the satra institution was not an abrupt and exclusive phenomenon. It was the prevailing caste order in the contemporary Assamese society that helped in reproducing the caste hierarchy among the Vaishnava monks who were otherwise supposed to be progressive towards social causes. This very notion of casteism has to be understood from the larger picture of Aryan influence upon the land of Kamarupa (ancient name of Assam). Noted historians like Dr. Prafulla Mahanta and Laxminath Tamuli have viewed that historically ancient Assam was a separate country outside the geographical boundary of Hindu or Aryan Bharata. Exclusion of Brahmaputra from the seven sacred rivers of India qualifies this argument. According to Dr. Mahanta, as mentioned in his book Axomiya Madhyabitto Srenir Itihas, the creation of the royal mythical characters in Puranas or Mahabharata was in reality a failed attempt of the Brahmins to transform Kamarupa-Assam into an Aryan colony by establishing Brahminism as a rapacious folk tradition of the region (Bora, 2013). This fuzzy picture of ancient Assam is yet not transparent, but the migration history of ancient Assam in the first millennium provides a glimpse of the arrival of Aryan communities to the region after the immigration of the Mongoloid and the Austro-Mongoloid people around 500-100 BC. This paved the way for significant Aryan migration from northern and eastern India and author Dr. Dhrubajyoti Bora states that they were the forefathers of the present day Kalitas and many Brahmans of Assam (Bora, 2013). On a similar note author B.C Allen states, “…that they were the remains of an Aryan colony who settled in Assam at a time when the traditional castes were still unknown in Bengal and that the word „Kalita‟ was originally applied to all the Aryans who were not Brahmans” (Barpujari, 2007: 154). The ancestors of Kaibarttas of Assam also travelled to this region along with them. It is mention worthy that the Vedic Indo-Aryan origin of this first groups of migrated Brahmins is again a matter of controversy. As mentioned in H.K. Barpujari’s history text The Comprehensive history of Assam (Volume V), during the 11th century when Ballala Sen, the King of Bengal, (1178-79) ordered to examine the qualification of the Brahmans, some of them were said to have less proficient in the knowledge of Hindu rituals and lax in their practice (Barpujari, 2007). According to some tradition, a major section of this group of Brahmans immigrated and settled in Assam. This might be a reason of non-existence of kulinism2 as well as rigid caste divisions in this region than Bengal or other parts of the country. Nevertheless, the Brahmans are considered to be superior in the caste hierarchy of Assam. Those were priestly and scholarly people with expertise in agriculture, administration as well as in religious activities. So, eventually they received patronage of the ruling classes and royal dynasties of the region and the process of Sanskritization3 or Aryanization was introduced among the tribal kings including the Barman kings, the first historical dynasty of ancient Assam (Sharma, 2009). According to Huen Chang’s report of Kamarupa, many kings including Kumar Bhaskar Barman tried to strengthen the Varna system in their country under the supervision of the Brahman priests, but due to the widespread ethnic hold the caste divisions could not be rooted in this land compared to other parts of India. Still their influence continued even during the British regime when along with teaching and literary works they engaged in other worldly pursuits such as low ranked government service holders, mouzadars4, writers, clerks etc. 2 Kulinism is the strict form of caste marriage or hypogamy. 3 Sanskritization is lifting one’s identity on the caste ladder through renunciation of old rituals and practices and enunciation of the new. 4 Mouzadar is a person entrusted with the responsibilities of collecting revenues. (Source: Saraighat Abhidhan) 3624 JOURNAL OF CRITICAL REVIEWS ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 13, 2020 The Ganaks and Daivajnas are placed next in the hierarchy who like the Brahmans also learn gayatri5, wear sacred thread and undergo purifying ceremonies. The criterion is they cannot act as priests except of the lower castes. Followed by them come the Kayasthas whose origin can be traced back to the seven houses of Kshatriyas who were brought to Assam by the Kamata King Durlavnarayan. Traditionally they were given the profession as scribes or account keepers. The Kayasthas in Assam wear sacred thread along with the Brahmans and they are said to be derived from socially mobile Kalitas. Among the Kalitas there are basically two broad categories Barkalitas, who are said to be real Kalitas and Saru Kalitas, who are originally Kewats. The traditional occupation of Kalitas is agriculture while its sub-castes are engaged in various low earned professions such as potters, barbers etc. The Borkalitas do not usually perform intermarriage with Saru Kalita and other sub-castes. The Kalitas are followed by the Kewats, Ahoms, Chutiyas, Koch or Rajbansis, Mech, Bodos, other tribal communities and their sub-groups and sub-castes. Observing the loose yet complex caste hierarchy in Assam B.C. Allen divided castes of the Brahmaputra and Surma (Barak) valleys into three groups: a) Brahmans or ‘twice-born’, b) Clean Sudra from whose hands Brahmans usually take drinking water without degradation c) castes not included in these categories (Barpujari, 2007). Culture is a relative system where it is influenced by and has influence upon other cultures. Although the Brahminical Varna order could not properly enter into the lifeline of the great Assamese society, it did make a mark on this region by formulating a hierarchy among various groups through Hinduization process. According to the historian H.K. Barpujari, unlike the occupational divisions, the caste system in Assam appeared entirely as a matter of race (Barpujari, 2007).