Page 153 - DSOC201_SOCIAL_STRUCTURE_AND_SOCIAL_CHANGE_ENGLISH

Social Structure and Social Change

Notes daughters of the aboriginals but refused to give their daughters to them. The children of such marriages
had to be assigned the lowest position in the society and were called the chandals. Thus, the origin of
the group of ‘half-breeds’ as well as the feeling of racial superiority ultimately became responsible
for the origin of the caste system.
Analyzing the processes of development of the caste system, Risley (1915: 70-72) has referred to six
processes in the formation of castes:
1. Change in traditional occupation: By adopting a new occupation, either a caste or a sub-division
of a caste ultimately develops into a distinct caste.
2. Migration: In early periods when the means of transport and communications were not fully
developed, whenever a section of a caste migrated to other region, it became difficult for it to
maintain contacts with the parental caste. Gradually, therefore, it was completely cut off from the
parental caste and developed as a new caste.
3. Change in customs: The formation of new castes as a consequence of discarding old customs and
usages and by adopting the new practices has been a familiar incident of the caste system from
the earliest times.
4. Preservation of old traditions: Certain castes cherish the traditions of bygone sovereignty and
preserve old traces of an organization. To separate themselves from those sections who have
assumed new traditions and customs, they take up a new name and thus a new caste comes into
existence.
5. Enrolling oneself into the rank of Hinduism: Sometimes either an entire tribe or a section of a
tribe becomes ‘Hinduised’ and taking a new caste name, it enters into the rank of Hinduism and
distinguishes it-self from the other castes; for example, Maria Gonds of Madhya Pradesh and
Rajbanshis of Bengal.
6. Role of religious enthusiasts: A religious enthusiast sometimes preaches his own doctrines and
his followers form a separate sect which ultimately develops as a new caste; for example,
Kabirpanthies.
Risley’s racial theory is supported by many scholars. According to Ghurye (1961: 160), being civilized
and fair in colour in comparison to the natives, the Vedic Aryans tried to show off their exclusiveness.
They had developed the exclusive spirit in social behaviour and had cultivated a partiality for ideas
of ceremonial purity. They used rather strong expressions against the natives and imposed various
restrictions in social interaction with them. The Indo-Aryans comprising the Romans, the Iranians,
the Spanish, the Portugese, and the Anglo-Saxons after migrating from Central Asia in about 2500
B.C. settled in the Gangetic plain in India. Since their religion represented the early Vedic religion,
we can call them the ‘Vedic Indians’. These Vedic Indians spoke of themselves as ‘Arya’ and described
the native population as ‘dark colour’ people without noses, and applied to them the term ‘Dasa’
which in Iranian language stood for ‘enemy’. In matters of religious faith and practice, though they
began by stigmatizing the faith and practice of the natives, they did not develop the extreme intolerance.
Their tolerance of the varied faiths was based on the principle that religious and moral beliefs and
practices were to be adjusted to the spiritual stature of individuals and groups. They (Arya) not only
tolerated the beliefs and practices not harmonizing with their central doctrines but also assimilated a
number in their own complex. Partially at least on the social organizational side, the caste system
was the modus operandi accommodating diversity of faiths and practices. Besides Ghurye, Dutt (1931),
Majumdar (1952) and Westermarck (History of Human Marriage, 1891) have also supported the racial
theory of the origin of the caste system. Westermarck observes that India was inhabited by the dark
people before the fairer Aryans took possession of it. Their bitter contempt for foreign tribes and their
strong antipathies of race found vent in the sharp distinctions which they drew between themselves
and the conquered population. It were these distinctions which originated caste system. Hutton (1961)
considers racial factor as one of the factors in the origin of caste system.
If Risley’s racial theory is to be accepted, it would mean that caste system should not be confined to
India but should be found in all those societies which have faced the conquests by other racial groups.
Risley himself is of the opinion that caste is not confined to India but it occurs in a pronounced form
in South America, Canada, and Mexico, etc. In South America, Negroes and the various mixed races

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