Page 194 - DSOC201_SOCIAL_STRUCTURE_AND_SOCIAL_CHANGE_ENGLISH

Unit 8: Changing Trends and Future of Caste System

1. It acts as a barrier to social progress Notes
Durkheim has suggested that the function of division of labour is to give an individual more
freedom because it substitutes mechanical economy with an organic economy. The caste system
created the division of labour which denied freedom to an individual. In the rigid caste system,
occupation was determined by the ascribed status instead of contract, and transition from ascribed
status to contract, according to Henry Maine, is an essential feature of political progress. The caste
system did not make such transition possible.
Some say that in the twentieth century, India has made an industrial progress but it is not because
of the caste system; rather it is in spite of the caste system. Industrialization and technological
changes are linked with political system, economic system and the value (or caste) system. The
caste system was a barrier in our progress and modernization. People followed the crafts and
skills transmitted to them by their ancestors. Introducing change was considered a sin. The
carpenter would use the age-old adze but not the saw; even in sawing wood, he would use age-
old methods and not the modern machinery. So was the case with weaver, blacksmith, goldsmith
and even cultivator. Caste thus made no compromises (Sherring, Ibid.). P.N. Bose too has pointed
out that caste system has acted essentially to impose that attitude of mind needed to raise men
from savagery but to stop them half way on the road to progress.
2. It thwarts political unity
According to Bougle (Contributions to Indian Sociology, 2, 1958), patriotism for the Hindus consists
of attachment to the caste system. Therefore, they are unable to unite except in the very culture
pattern that divides them. Why are Hindus attached to caste so much? This is because caste has a
religious sanction which prescribes that perfection can only be attained by a man who does not
deviate from the duties of caste. In the Gita, it has been emphasized that one’s own duty, though
defective, is better than another’s duty well performed. Manu code is that obeyance of custom
and performance of duty are transcendent laws. Observance of caste duties is considered as dharma
in Hinduism. It is a moral obligation. Thus, the social practices of caste are inextricably tied up
with religion and their sanction is reinforced by the doctrine of karma. Sherring (Ibid: 276) has
stated: “With many Hindus, the highest form of religious observance is the complete fulfilment of
the claims of caste; and most of them conceive breach of caste discipline as a sin rather than
violation of moral law. Thus, so long people give more importance to their caste, the national
unity is bound to suffer.
3. It acts as a screen and justification for persistent anti-social conduct
We have a story in which a fisherman justified his sin against the fish by an appeal to the practice
of his caste. In another case, an identical argument is pleaded by a butcher for practising his
hereditary trade. Precisely, the same justification has been used by many criminal castes to justify
their behaviour towards their fellowmen. For example, the thugs (swindlers) strangled their victims
to the honour of their goddess Bhavani as well as to the enrichment of their pockets. They considered
that their victims were killed by God, with them as his agents, their appointed job being to kill
travellers (Sleeman, J.L., Thug or a Million Murders, 1939). Other criminal castes like Korava (robbers)
regard their criminal practices as justified by their membership of the caste to which they belong.
According to Abbe Dubois, people of Kallan caste regard their profession of robber, without
disguise, as their birth-right and conceive their calling no way discreditable to themselves or their
tribe, as having legitimately descended to them by way of inheritance. So, far from shrinking at
the appellation, if one of them be asked who he is, he will cooly answer that he is a robber.
4. It is responsible for the low status of women
Caste imposes many restrictions on women; for example, on education, on participation in religious
discussions, on participation in politics, and so forth. It insists on the marriage of girls before they
reach the age of puberty. It also forbids girls’ marriage even if widowed in infancy.
5. It is responsible for the low status and unjust treatment of outcastes and lowcaste people
The uppercaste people have deprived the lowcaste people of human rights and privileges. They
command servile (like slaves) obedience from all the groups at the bottom and give them

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