Page 173 - DSOC201_SOCIAL_STRUCTURE_AND_SOCIAL_CHANGE_ENGLISH

Social Structure and Social Change

Notes the services of the parjans. In modern times currency notes are fast replacing all other media of
exchange even in villages. In Jajmani system, Jajman enjoys so much respect that he is often referred
to as Rajah (King) and parjans as subjects.
7.2 Characteristics of Jajmani Systems

1. Relationship under Jajmani was permanent
2. Jajmani was hereditary
3. Castes received grains against services rendered
4. Barter system
Various studies of Jajman system in India have been made. Oscar Lewis studied Jajmani is North Indian
villages. Jajmani in Eastern U.P was studied in 1955 by Opler and Singh and in 1955 N.S. Reddy studied
this system in North India. Miller studied Jajmani system in Cochin in 1952, and in 1955, Sri Niwas and
Bir Singh studied the same system in Mysore District. Sk. C. Dube’s Indian villages are based on his
classics study of Jajmani in Hyderabad. Jajmani in Tanjore was studied by though in 1955. In Gujarat
Jajmani was studied by steel in 1953. An early study, in 1934, of Jajmani in Punjab was made by darling.
All these studies revealed and confirmed the universality of this system in Rural India but they also
revealed that there were minor variations in the system from regions to region.
In Vetti-chakiri and Begar lower castes have only had obligations or duties to render free services to
the upper caste community also called as Vetti or Vetti chakiri.
The system
Interactions between the oonchi zat (upper caste) and neechi zat (lower caste) are regulated by established
patron-client relationships of the jajmani system, the upper castes being referred to as the ‘Jajmans’,
and the lower caste as ‘Kamin’.
Upon contact with a low-caste Muslim, a Muslim of a higher zat can “purify” by taking a short bath,
since there are no elaborate rituals for purification. In Bihar state of India, cases have been reported in
which the higher caste Muslims have opposed the burials of lower caste Muslims in the same graveyard.
Some data indicates that the castes among Muslims have never been as rigid as that among Hindus.
The rate of endogamous marriage, for example, is less than two thirds. An old saying also goes “Last
year I was a Julaha (weaver); this year a Shaikh; and next year if the harvest be good, I shall be a
Sayyid.” However, other scholars, such as disagreed with this thesis (see criticism below).
This coercive system has given rise to rebellion by lower castes against the jamindars in Telangana
region called as in 1946.
7.3 Jajmani System in Rural Society

The notion of the jajmani system was popularized by colonial ethnography. It tended to conceptualize
agrarian social structure in the framework of exchange relations. In its classical construct, different
caste groups specialized in specific occupations and exchanged their services through an elaborate
system of division of labor. Though asymmetry in position of various caste groups was recognized
what it emphasized was not inequality in rights over land but the spirit of community. Wiser argued,
each served the other. Each in turn was master. Each in turn was servant. This system of inter relatedness
in service within Hindu community was called the Jajmani system. Central to such a construction of
exchange is the idea of reciprocity (Gouldner) with the assumption that it was a non-exploitative system
where mutual gratification was supposed to be the outcome of the reciprocal exchange.
7.4 Features of Jajmani System

The jajmani system is characterized by the following features:
Unbroken relationship- Under the jajmani system the kameen remains obliged to render the services
throughout his life to a particular jajman and the jajman in turn has the responsibility of hiring
services of a kameen.

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