Page 10 - DSOC201_SOCIAL_STRUCTURE_AND_SOCIAL_CHANGE_ENGLISH

Unit 1: Indian Society

Castes Notes
The castes are hereditary endogamous groups with fixed traditional occupations, observing
commensal prohibitions and social restrictions on interaction. It is believed that there are about
3,000 castes in the country. These castes are grouped as upper castes (like Brahmins, Rajputs,
Baniyas, Kayasthas, etc.), intermediate castes (like Ahir, Sunar, Kurmi, etc.), and lower castes (like
Dhobi, Nai, etc.). There are also untouchable castes (like Chuhra, Bhangi, Raigar, etc.). The castes
are linked with the four varnas (Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaisya, and Sudra) for determining the
status in ritual hierarchy.
Tribes
Tribe is a community occupying a common geographic area and having a similar language and
culture. The total tribal population in India is 52.03 million (1991 census), which comes to 7.8 per
cent of the country’s total population. The important tribes are: Santhals, Bhils, Meenas, Gonds,
Mundas, Nagas, Khasis, Oraons, Garos, and Hos. About two-thirds of the total tribal population
of the country is found in the five states of Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Bihar, Gujarat and Maharashtra.
There are three states (Rajasthan, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh) where tribes with more than
20 lakh population are found. There are five states and union territories where tribes constitute 70
to 95 per cent of the total population of the state/territory. These are Mizoram, Nagaland,
Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, and Tripura.
Races/Ethnicity
Indian population is polygenetic and is a mixture of various races. According to B.S. Guha, Indian
population is derived from six ethnic groups: Negritos, Proto-Australoids, Mongoloids,
Mediterraneans or Dravidians, Brachycephals and Nordic Aryans.
The Brachycephalic (broad-headed) Negroids from Africa are the oldest people to have come to
India, who are now found among the hill tribes of South India and Andaman Islands where they
have retained their language. In terms of numbers, they are now inconsequential. Proto-Australoids
or Austrics, who are people with medium height, dark complexion, long head, low forehead, thick
jaws, small chin and flat nose, are spread over whole of India, particularly Eastern, Central and
Southern India, from where they went to Burma, Malaya, etc. These people in fact led the foundation
of Indian civilization and settled cultivation producing rice, sugar (from sugarcanes) and vegetables.
Their language has survived in the Kol and Munda speech (in East and Central India). Dravidians
or Mediterranean include three sub-types: true Mediterranean, Paleo-Mediterranean and Oriental
Mediterranean. They are reputed to have built up the city civilization of the Indus Valley, whose
remains have been found at Mohanjo-daro and Harappa. The Dravidians must have spread to
whole of India. Mongoloids are people with medium height, high cheekbones, sparse hair, oblique
height and yellow complexion and are confined to the north-eastern fringes of India in Assam,
Nagaland and Mizo hills. Nordic Aryans came from Central Asia between 2,000 and 1,500 B.C.
and settled in northern and western Punjab from where they spread to the valley of Ganga and
beyond. These Aryans, a pastoral race, encountered the highly civilized Indus Valley people who
lived in big towns in brick-structured houses.
Negritos intermingled with the incoming Aryans and gradually adopted some of their cultural
traits.
The Unity
Running through various diversities is the thread of basic unity which makes Indian society a big
society and the nation as a big nation. M. N. Srinivas (1985: 105) is of the opinion that the unity of
India is essentially a religious one. People may worship different deities but the religious
scriptures—Puranas, Brahmanas, Epics and the Vedas—knit the numerous heterogeneous groups
together into one religious society and give them the sense that their country is sacred. The
worshippers may visit different centres of pilgrimage but all have a common goal of “earning
religious merit by visiting a sacred place”. People of different language backgrounds and customs
and regions are found in one place of pilgrimage and one shrine with one common object of
achieving moksha.

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