Page 18 - DSOC201_SOCIAL_STRUCTURE_AND_SOCIAL_CHANGE_ENGLISH

Unit 1: Indian Society

There used to be castes which were predominantly composed of members who were almost Notes
hereditary debtors while some others were those who were mainly creditors. Recent studies have
shown change in this aspect. There is also change in the habitat pattern based on caste. While
earlier, the areas in which houses were located and the type of the houses built, depended on caste
membership, today there is no relation between caste and habi-tat. Another factor important in the
caste system in rural areas was occupational, economic, and social mobility. Now the members of
a caste do not necessarily perform caste-determined occupation. As the result, some castes slide
down the economic ladder while some castes go up. Earlier, caste determined the attitude of rural
men towards education but now even the most backward castes have started giving their children,
including girls, education. Religious life of rural people which was rigorously determined by caste
is no longer affected by it. Religious practices are slowly changing in villages. Caste, however,
influences today political life of the villagers. The choice or rejection of candidates as well as the
nature of propoganda in political elections are not fully determined by caste considerations alone.
Extra-caste considerations too, to a large extent, influence political prejudices and predilections.
Leadership too is not totally based on caste membership in the rural society. Caste leaders are no
longer leaders of the social, economic, political, and ideological life of the villagers. The jajmani
system and inter-caste economic relations have also undergone significant change. New legislative
measures too have affected inter-caste relations among the villagers. In short, caste in rural life has
undergone crucial changes in varied fields.
Religion
Rural religion can be studied in relationship to three aspects: (i) as providing a specific outlook,
say belief in possession by spirits, magic, witchcraft, worship of dead ancestors, and so on
(ii) as a body of religious practices including prayers, sacrifices and rituals (iii) as an institutional
complex, i.e., as a conglomeration of numerous sub-religious and religious cults, say Vaisvanism,
Shivaism, etc.
In period before independence, religion played a significant role in determining the life processes
of the rural society. This was because rural people had greater predisposition to religion than
what the urban people had. Explaining high and low production in agriculture, dependence on
the forces of nature like rains, natural calamities, etc., and pleasure and displeasure of gods also
pointed out religiosity among the villagers. Belief in spirits, magic, ghosts, witchcraft and other
forms of primitive religion was rampant among the rural people. Further, religious outlook of the
rural people overwhelmingly dominated their intellectual, emotional and practical life. It was
difficult to locate any aspect of their life which was not permeated with and coloured by religion.
Religious beliefs also affected their folk songs, paintings, marriage customs, and social festivals,
etc. Rituals are religious means by which purity of an individual and his social life becomes
guaranteed. There are eating rituals, birth rituals, marriage rituals, death rituals, occupational
rituals, sowing and harvesting rituals, and so on. Rituals dominated the life of the rural people.
They prescribed a pattern of behaviour for individuals as well as for various social groups in all
spheres of life. Particular sets of rituals were dictated to a particular caste. Social condemnation
and even a threat of excommunica-tion provided sanction for the strict enforcement of rituals
among their members.
Temples too had and continue to have great significance in rural areas. These are used not only for
prayers but also for education, organising cultural activities, social functions, social welfare work,
holding political and public meetings, propagating ethical values, dispensing justice, and so on.
There are temples with idols of gods and godesses as well as local dei-ties. Some village temples
are owned publicly and some privately.
In the new economic and political environment, after independence, new norms, basically non-
religious and secular and derived out of a liberal democratic philosophy, have emerged and
increasingly began to super-sede the authoritarian religious norms. Villagers started picking up
democratic and equalitarian ideas. New secular institutions and associations and new secular
leadership and social controls began to emerge within the rural society. This also does not mean
that religion does not excercise a powerful hold over the mind of the rural people today. In fact,

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