CASTE SYSTEM IN CONTEMPORARY RURAL BIHAR: A STUDY OF SELECTED VILLAGES Gaurang Ranjan Sahay Much has been written on the caste system in India. But the system is so complex and dynamic that it continues to engage the attention of social scientists. The present study focuses on certain aspects of the caste system in contemporary rural Bihar, and examines in particular the linkage between caste and occupation as well as the status of the jajmani system today. This paper is based on the data collected from four villages of the Buxar (Bhogpur) district of Bihar during a period of three years from 1991-93 by means of interview schedule and careful observation of every day life practises of the villagers. The four villages selected for this study were: Unwas, Basantpur, Bishrampur and Bharchakia. Though they have many similarities, the villages are also dissimilar in several respects. Two of these villages, Unwas and Basantpur, are very old while the other two, Bishrampur and Bharchakia, are quite new. Just before independence, Basantpur was under the zamindari system whereas Unwas was under the ryotwari system. The other two villages came up after independence. In Unwas and Basantpur there are many castes while Bishrampur and Bharchakia have fewer castes. The 'upper castes' dominate Basantpur and Unwas while Bishrampur and Bharchakia are economically dominated by the 'backward castes'. While Bishrampur and Bharchakia are almost spatially divided on the basis of caste, Unwas and Basantpur are not so neatly divided. Taken together, however, these four villages provide a representative picture of rural Bihar. For this very reason, data pertaining to all the villages has been put together for purposes of analysis and presentation. A caste in contemporary rural Bihar is an endogamous group, with a set of ritual practises which separates it from other castes. The caste of a person is determined by his/her birth. People belonging to a particular caste claim that the origin of their caste is different from that of other castes. This claim is legitimized on the basis of various origin myths which constitute an important element of caste beliefs. People belonging to different castes create their mternal hierarchies according to their origin myths and beliefs. And by doing so various castes maintain their specific customs and traditions which Gaurang Ranjan Sahay is on the faculty of the Department of Sociology, Janta Vedic College, Baraut (Meerut), Uttar Pradesh. SOCIOLOGICAL BULLETIN (47)2 September 1998 208 Sociological Bulletin help them to distinguish themselves from each other. The four villages amongst themselves have twenty-four castes. Five of these—the Brahmin, Rajput, Kayastha, Bhumihar and Mahabrahman—belong to the forward caste category. Fifteen of these-the Yadav, Koeri, Bania, Bind, Rajbhar, Bhar, Kamkar, Gond, Paneri, Nonia, Lohar, Bari, Nau, Kohar and Sonar-are backward castes. The remaining four—the Dhobi, Chamar, Dusadh and Dom—belong to the Scheduled Caste category. Apart from these castes seven Muslim families also reside in the villages. In this work the concept of class denotes a category of people who occupy the same position in the economic structure within a social formation. The position is determined by the quantity of possession of the most important means of production in the villages, that is, land. On the basis of their ownership of land, people have been categorized into five classes. Those families which own more than twelve acres of land constitute the class of big peasants. Families having more than seven acres of land but not exceeding twelve acres constitute the so-called upper-middle peasants. Families with three to seven acres of land constitute the lower-middle peasant class, while families owning between one to three acres of land constitute the small peasants. Families which are either landless or owning not more than one acre of land constitute the class of landless and near landless people. Of the various practices that help in maintaining distinctions among various castes in the villages, two stand out as being conceptually more relevant for understanding the nature of the caste system in contemporary rural social formations. One is the worship of different deities and the other is endogamy. The latter is more general and so has more explanatory value than the former. It needs also to be noted that various castes, apart from worshipping some common gods and goddesses, worship their own specific deities at least once a year. For example, the Yadav perform Govardhanpuja, the Kayastha perform Chitragupta Puja, the Chamar perform Ravidas Puja, and so on. Some of these castes worship their deities publicly by organizing big functions. The deities are considered to be either the original founders or the most important representatives of their castes. The most important institutional practise among the various castes is endogamous marriage. The practice of endogamy is widespread and strictly observed. I did not come across even a single intercaste marriage. By following the practise of endogamy and worshipping different deities, the castes separate themselves from one another and maintain their distinct character. Caste and Occupation Many writers on the caste system such as Ghurye (1969) and Srinivas (1982) have opined that a particular caste differentiates itself from others by engaging in a particular occupation not performed by other castes. In other words, each caste has an assigned occupation. The present study finds such an assertion Caste System in Contemporary Rural Bihar 209 There are four general types of occupations in the villages. These are: (i) agricultural farming, (ii) monthly paid government or non-government services, (iii) business, and (iv) hiring out labour power (HL) or working as wage labourers. Agricultural fanning is an occupation in which the majority of the families from different castes are involved (see table 1): 81.4 per cent of the Brahmin, 87.5 per cent of the Rajput, 40 per cent of the Kayastha, 50 per cent of the Bhumihar, 91.6 per cent of the Yadav, 89.3 per cent of the Koeri, 31.5 per cent of the Bania, 60 per cent of the Rajbhar, 31.8 per cent of the Bhar, 53.3 per cent of the Kamkar, 40 per cent of the Gond, 50 per cent of the Paneri, 60 per cent of the Dhobi, 70.2 per cent of the Nonia, 37.5 per cent of the Lohar, 47 per cent of the Chamar, 85.7 per cent of the Dusadh, 50 per cent of the Ban, 62.5 per cent of the Nau, 88.8 per cent of the Kohar, 85.7 per cent of the Muslim and 66.6 per cent of the Mahabrahman families are involved in this occupation. It is thus clear that agricultural farming is an occupation practised by almost all castes. Most of the families belonging to the three categories—the forward, the backward and the Scheduled Castes-are involved in this occupation. It is the most extensively practised occupation in the villages, with 319 out of 475 families from the four villages engaged in it. Further, people belonging to all castes (except five) are employed in government jobs or in the private sector outside the villages (see table 1). These five castes are: Gond, Paneri, Dusadh, Dom and Mahabrahman, whose members are not found in such jobs. There are 25 families in all who belong to these castes in the villages. We find that 50.1 per cent of the Brahmin, 56.3 per cent of the Rajput, 40 per cent of the Kayastha, 100 per cent of the Bhumihar, 34 per cent of the Yadav, 29.8 per cent of the Koeri, 6.9 per cent of the Bania, 100 per cent of the Bind, 20 per cent of the Rajbhar, 4.5 per cent of the Bhar, 26.7 per cent of the Kamkar, 20 per cent of the Dhobi, 4.3 per cent of the Nonia, 12.5 per cent of the Lohar, 12.3 per cent of the Chamar, 100 per cent of the Bari, 25 per cent of the Nau, 11.1 per cent of the Kohar, 14. 3 per cent of the Muslim and 50 per cent of the Sonar families have some family member or the other in a monthly paid job in government or non-government organizations outside the villages. Altogether 109 out of 475 families have at least one member employed in monthly paid service. We also find (table 1) that a majority of the families belonging to the forward castes such as Brahmin, Rajput and Bhumihar have access to monthly paid jobs. Other castes, with the exception of the Bari and Bind, do not have as much access to similar opportunities. Although all families belonging to Bari and Bind are attached to agricultural farming their members perform meagerly paid jobs. Among the backward castes a good percentage of families belonging to the Yadav, Koeri, Kamkar and Sonar have access to monthly paid jobs whereas the representation of Bania, Rajbhar, Bhar, Gond, Paneri, Nonia, Lohar, Nau and Kohar in government and non-government services is very 212 Sociological Bulletin Chamar, Dusadh and Dom have very limited access to such jobs. Thus, a highly uneven pattern emerges, if the representation of various castes in government of non-government monthly paid services is taken into account. In the villages mainly three types of professions—shopkeeping, transportation and trading in agricultural products—are being practiced. People belonging to all except five castes have some sort of involvement in these professions. The caste whose members are not involved in business are Bhumihar, Bind, Rajbhar, Bhar and Bari. These castes comprise only 32 families. However, a small percentage of families have some members involved in this occupation (table 1): 10.5 per cent of the Brahmin, 25 per cent of the Rajput, 40 per cent of the Kayastha, 10.6 per cent of the Yadav, 15.5 per cent of the Koeri, 75.7 per cent of the Bania, 6.7 per cent of the Kamkar, 10 per cent of the Gond, 50 per cent of the Paneri, 80 per cent of the Dhobi, 6.4 per cent of the Nonia, 37.5 per cent of the Lohar, 4.9 per cent of the Chamar, 14.3 per cent of the Dusadh, 100 per cent of the Dom, 50 per cent of the Nau, 22.2 per cent of the Kohar, 56 per cent of the Muslim, 66.6 per cent of the Mahabrahaman and 100 per cent of the Sonar families have some member of the family or the other involved in the three professions.