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Social Structure and Social Change

Notes subordinate position. In fact, it is in the treatment of the untouchable castes that the working of
the caste system is most open to criticism. A cobbler (mochi) or a regar gets the low status only
because he tans the leather and deals with the dead body of animals. A toddy-drawer’s low status
is due to his dealing with liquor which is banned from use. A sweeper’s low status is because he
deals with night-soil and refuse and all those unclean things we throw away. A washerman’s low
status is because he washes the dirty clothes. The caste system treats all these castes as outcastes,
so much so that even their contact is supposed to involve pollution. Their low position is the
result of prejudices and taboos. The number of such exterior castes is 133. 45 million or 15.7 per
cent of the country’s total population of 850 million (1991 Census). These people have meekly
resigned themselves to their fate. Ross (1968: 412) has said that orthodox Hinduism with its promises
of rewards in future births for caste conformity in this birth was truly ‘the opiate of the people’,
dulling the senses of the oppressed to their terrible degradation and lulling them into silent
acquiescence.
8.5.2 Merits of the Caste System
If India’s caste system has demerits, it has some good consequences too. In fact, an evaluation of the
caste system depends entirely on whether we look at it from the standards of a static or of a dynamic
society. The important merits of the caste system could be pointed out as under:
1. Hindu life was given strong continuity by the religious basis of caste
One of the important characteristics of Hindu culture has been the continuity of joint family system
whose customs and traditions are mostly linked with religion and maintained by the Brahmins.
For example, the shradh ceremony observed by the Hindu families is sanctified by religious norms
and values and the ‘worship’ on this occasion stretches back to three generations of ancestors.
Likewise, many mystical customs and traditions and miraculous hymns are preserved and handed
down from father to son by word of mouth. Their sanctity depended not merely on their words
but on every accent rightly placed. There was need for men who could specialize in the study of
the texts, comprehend the symbolic meaning of the ritual and assist in the perpetuation of this
tradition. This philosophic literature was thus transmitted orally from father to son for many
centuries. This would have been impossible if the specialization had not been made hereditary
and given a religious basis. This basis was provided by the caste system which enabled the Hindu
thought and learning to survive for fifty centureis.
2. Arts and crafts were preserved through father-son apprenticeship
Indians, since beginning, possessed arts and crafts which were considered superior in all respects.
Almost every household in the Indus Valley sites had its hand spindles. Archaeologists have
ascertained that these people were the first to spin and weave fibre from the real cotton plant. The
country’s arts and crafts survived until they were destroyed by the competition of western machine
goods in the nineteenth century. It was the caste system which, through occupational endogamy,
supplied the number of workers needed in every craft.
3. A pattern was provided to numerous competing groups to co-exist side by side with little or no
conflict
There have been numerous and diverse races, religions, linguistic groups, etc., in India. The country
faced many wars between local kings and acute conflicts between different social groups. Yet the
caste system enabled the heterogeneous people to live contentedly side by side with harmonious
and stable relationships. The method adopted by the Brahmins (who dominated the caste system
after 650 A.D. after overthrowing Buddhism) to accommodate various diverse groups was based
on compromise than elimination of groups. The caste system thus prevented strifes among the
numberless groups.
4. A firm group solidarity and a sense of responsibility grew up within each caste
All members of the caste and sub-caste helped each other in marriage and funeral rites and on all
festivals and solemnities. This brought the members close to one another and developed a stable
bond of social relationship amongst them. Besides, the rich members of the caste helped the poor
members and provided necessary security to them. Class differences did not affect the caste relations

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