Page 164 - DSOC201_SOCIAL_STRUCTURE_AND_SOCIAL_CHANGE_ENGLISH

Unit 6: Caste System in India

Dietary relations refer to sharing food, smoking, and drinking. A member of a high caste does not Notes
take water from the lota (vessel) used by the member of a low caste unless washed with sand or ashes.
For sharing hooka (hubble-bubble), the rules are similar to those as for accepting the food. Regarding
eating with others, there are separate taboos for eating kachcha food, pucca food, and green vegetables
and fruits with peelable skins. The kachcha food is regarded as pure (because it is cooked in water and
salt); hence it is highly pollutable. The pucca food is regarded as less pollutable as it is cooked with
ghee. The green fruits and vegetables are regarded least pollutable. While there is one-way acceptance
of kachcha food (that is, members of clean castes do not accept kachcha food from the members of the
unclean or the untouchable castes), there is two-way acceptance of pucca food. Thus, the dietary
relations depend upon: (i) the ritual status of the giver and the acceptor, and (ii) the ritual purity of
the type of food given or accepted.
K.S. Mathur (1964) in his study of a multi-caste village divided the castes into five groups. Groups I,
II, and III consisted of clean castes, Group IV of unclean castes, and Group V of untouchable castes.
The following diagram shows the commensal relations among the five groups:
Diagram 1
Structure of clean and unclean castes and commensal relations among various castes in five
groups in a multi-caste village studied by K.S. Mathur

Group I Brahmins
Rajput Group II Baniya Nai Group III Lohar
(Five Castes)
(Nine Castes)
Group IV Group V Bhangi
(Four Castes)
Jogi (Nine Castes) Chamar

D.N. Majumdar (1958) also studied commensal relations among various castes in a village Mohana,
near Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh in 1955. The village consisted of 112 houses with a total population of
806 persons belonging to fifteen castes. Of the total (112) families, 23.5 per cent were Chamar, 21.5
per cent Thakur, 18.5 per cent Pasi, 10.8 per cent Ahir, 5.8 per cent Kumhar, 5.6 per cent Dhobi, and
3.1 per cent Nai. The remaining eight castes (Barhai, Kalwar, Gadaria, Lohar, Brahmin, Bhaksar,
Khatik and Kurmi) consisted of 0.1 per cent to 2.5 per cent of the families each. All castes, except
Bhaksar, depended for their livelihood on agriculture either directly or indirectly. Thakurs possessed
41.3 per cent of the total land in thevillage, Pasis 15.0 per cent, Chamars 12.6 per cent, Ahirs 9.4 per
cent and Kumhars 8.5 per cent.
The hierarchical structure of various castes is shown in the following diagram:
Diagram 2
Hierarchical structure of castes in Mohana Village in Uttar Pradesh studied by D.N. Majumdar

Brahmin Thakur
Kurmi
Ahir Gadari
Barhai
Lohar Kumhar
Nai/Khatik/Kalwar
Pasi Chamar, Bhaksor Dhobi

Majumdar found that Brahmins accepted seedha (raw food) from other castes; Ahirs did not accept
kachcha food even from Thakurs; Thakurs took water from the hands of Ahirs but Ahirs did not
accept water from Thakurs’ hands.

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