Page 160 - DSOC201_SOCIAL_STRUCTURE_AND_SOCIAL_CHANGE_ENGLISH

Unit 6: Caste System in India

The definition of ‘dominant caste’ has undergone some change over a period of time. Srinivas worked Notes
in Rampura in 1948. His finding was first reported in 1955. He defined the concept as below:
The concept of dominant caste which has emerged in recent socio-logical research is
important in this connection. A caste is dominant when wields economic or political
power and occupies a fairly high position in hierarchy (even in the traditional system
of a caste which acquired economic and political power did succeed in improving its
ritual status).
Srinivas says that the existence of dominant caste is not particular to Rampura only. It is found in
other villages of the country also. For instance, in Mysore villages, Lingayat and Okkaliga; in Andhra
Pradesh, Reddy and Kamma; in Tamilnadu, Gounder, Padayachi and Mudaliar; in Kerala, Nayar; in
Maharashtra, Maratha; in Gujarat, Patidar; and in northern India, Rajput, Jat, Giyar and Ahir are
dominant castes. Traditionally, numerically small castes owning land in rural areas or wielding
political power or inheriting a literary tradition, were able to dominate the villages. Srinivas has
provided historical reasons for the power exercised by the traditional higher castes. He says that the
traditional high castes had influence because of western education and the benefits which they
conferred.
Earlier, numerical strength of a caste was not much important.
But with the coming of adult suffrage and the reservation given to scheduled castes and scheduled
tribes, numerical strength has assumed importance. Srinivas writes:
Nowadays, with the coming of adult suffrage, numerical strength has become very
important and the leaders of the dominant castes help the political parties to secure
votes. But the traditional forms of dominance have not entirely disappeared and neither
has dominance shifted fully to the numerically strongest caste, there is no doubt,
however, that there is a shift and this traditional phase is marked by inter-group tensions.
But what is significant from our point of view is that in many parts of India there are
castes which are decisively dominant.
It was in 1962 that M.N. Srinivas specified the following three characteristics of a dominant caste:
1. A caste dominates when it wields economic and political power.
2. It has a high rank in caste hierarchy.
3. Numerical strength.
The earlier definition of dominant caste was reviewed by writers of several village studies. Srinivas
also looked into the field and the comments made by the others. In 1966, he reviewed his earlier
definition which runs below:
For a caste to be dominant, it should own a sizable amount of the arable land locally available, have
strength of numbers, and occupy a high place in the local hierarchy. When a caste has all the attributes
of dominance, it may be said to enjoy a decisive dominance.

Characteristics
On the basis of the definitions of dominant caste given by Srinivas and the comments offered by
other sociologists, a construct could be made which includes the ideal type of dominant caste.
1. Economic and political power
The power of a particular caste lies in the owning of land. The caste which has larger portion of the
land in the village wields greater power. First, his agricultural income increases. The size of the land
is also related to irrigation. In case of larger landowning and adequate irrigation facilities, naturally,
the wields of the casteman increase. Second, the larger landowning caste also provides jobs to the
landless farmers and marginal farmers. Such a situation renders the superordinated landless labourers
as the ‘servants’ of the large landowning caste. These castes also apply modern techniques of
agriculture such as chemical manure, improved implements and new patterns of cropping.
Yogendra Singh (1994) observes that the social anthropologists have found the presence of
dominant castes in most of the south Indian villages. The basic determinant of a dominant caste is

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