Page 150 - DSOC201_SOCIAL_STRUCTURE_AND_SOCIAL_CHANGE_ENGLISH

Unit 6: Caste System in India

The officials of the panchayat who perform executive and judicial functions may either be nominated Notes
or elected or may be hereditary or some may be elected while others may be hereditary. Blunt (1911:
104), Sleeman O’Malley (1932: 52), and Hutton (1961: 100) point out that lower the caste in the social
scale, stronger its combination and the more efficient its organization. The procedure observed for
trial is extremely simple, informal and untrammelled by the law of evidence.
Referring to the authority enjoyed by these caste councils, Kapadia (Sociological Bulletin, September,
1962: 74) has referred to certain examples pertaining to three periods—1962, 1912 and 1861. Pointing
to the period 1861, he gives two examples of a civil judge of Maharashtra who had married a widow,
and the couple was so much humiliated by their caste council that they had to commit suicide; another
of a person who was ex-communicated by his caste council forgoing to London and was readmitted
on paying a fine of Rs: 1,500. Referring to a period fifty years later, that is, in 1912, Kapadia refers to
one Raman Bhai who was ex -communicated from his caste for taking food with low caste people;
and one Jaisukhlal Mehta who too was ex-communicated for marrying his widowed sister. Referring
to the year 1962, Kapadia maintains that when caste council is legally deprived of its authority to
enforce its traditional norms upon its members by ex-communication, it continues to regulate the
conduct and minds of its members. In 1993, in villages the caste councils may hold some power but in
the urban areas, they are no longer powerful.
Origin of Caste
Though, a number of theories have been advanced to explain the origin of caste in India but no one
properly explains it. Whereas Risley explains its origin due to racial differences, Nesfield and Ibbetson
refer to occupational factors, Abbe Dubois refers to the role played by Brahmins, and Hutton refers to
belief in mana in its origin. We will shorten the list and discuss here only the important theories,
excluding geographical, evolutionary and such other explanations which are not based on a sufficiently
careful and competent evaluation.

Traditional Theory
A good number of western and non-Indian scholars (like Hsu) have described Hindu society as
supernatural-centered society in which people are lured by abstract truths, and search for it through
mysticism and not through science. These scholars hold that the Hindus seek intimacy with the
Ultimate Reality and explain everything in terms of God and religion. Even the origin of institution
like caste is sought in the body of Brahma. The traditional theory believes that the caste system has
been established by divine ordinance or at least with divine approval. The best analysis of the
traditional theory is given by S.P. Nagendra (cf. Unnithan etal, Towards the Sociology of Culture, 1968:
262). When the sociological theory regards caste system as a man-made or an artificially created and
an ascriptive system of stratification in which status and role are determined by birth, the traditional
theory views it as a normal and natural system. This theory has two versions: mythical and
metaphysical.
The mythical version regards four varnas as four castes and believes that these four ‘castes’ have
emerged from different parts of Brahma’s body. It considers caste as a naturally determined
organization of social functions and explains the membership of an individual in a particular caste in
terms of karma and dharma doctrines. Even Krishna in Geeta has said: “The four-fold system
(chaturvarnya) was created by me according to the division of qualities (gunas) and functions (karma).”
There are many stories in our religious books contradicting each other regarding the origin of caste.
Muir had collected 152 pages of quotations from Sanskrit books on the origin of the caste system. All
these stories refer to karma and dharma doctrines too. According to the karma doctrine, a man is born
in a particular caste because of his actions performed in his previous incarnation. If he had performed
better actions, he would have been born in a higher caste, that is, birth in a particular caste is not an
accident. He was born in that caste because he deserved to be born there (Srinivas, 1952: 25-26).
According to the dharma doctrine, a man who accepts the caste system and the norms of his particular
caste, is living according to dharma, while a man who questions them is violating dharma. Living
according to dharma is rewarded while violation of dharma is punished, both here and hereafter. If he
observes the rules of dharma, he will be born in his next birth in a high and rich caste, otherwise he
will be born in a low and poor caste.

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