Page 103 - DSOC202_SOCIAL_STRATIFICATION_ENGLISH

Social Stratification

Notes by a Brahman). Diners are seated in lines; members of a single caste sit next to each other in a row,
and members of other castes sit in perpendicular or parallel rows at some distance. Members of
Dalit castes, such as leatherworkers and sweepers, may be seated far from the other diners—even
out in an alley. Farther away, at the edge of the feeding area, a sweeper may wait with a large
basket to receive discarded leavings tossed in by other diners. Eating food contaminated by contact
with the saliva of others not of the same family is considered far too polluting to be practiced by
members of any other castes. Generally, feasts and ceremonies given by Dalits are not attended by
higher-ranking castes. Among Muslims, although status differences prevail, brotherhood may be
stressed. A Muslim feast usually includes a cloth laid either on clean ground or on a table, with all
Muslims, rich and poor, dining from plates placed on the same cloth. Muslims who wish to
provide hospitality to observant Hindus, however, must make separate arrangements for a high-
caste Hindu cook and ritually pure foods and dining area. Castes that fall within the top four
ranked varnas are sometimes referred to as the “clean castes,” with Dalits considered “unclean.”
Castes of the top three ranked varnas are often designated “twice-born,” in reference to the ritual
initiation undergone by male members, in which investiture with the Hindu sacred thread
constitutes a kind of ritual rebirth. Non-Hindu caste like groups generally falls outside these
designations. Each caste is believed by devout Hindus to have its own dharma, or divinely ordained
code of proper conduct. Accordingly, there is often a high degree of tolerance for divergent
lifestyles among different castes. Brahmans are usually expected to be nonviolent and spiritual,
according with their traditional roles as vegetarian teetotaler priests. Kshatriyas are supposed to
be strong, as fighters and rulers should be, with a taste for aggression, eating meat, and drinking
alcohol. Vaishyas are stereotyped as adept businessmen, in accord with their traditional activities
in commerce. Shudras are often described by others as tolerably pleasant but expectably somewhat
base in behaviour, whereas Dalits—especially Sweepers—are often regarded by others as followers
of vulgar life-styles. Conversely, lower-caste people often view people of high rank as haughty
and unfeeling. The chastity of women is strongly related to caste status. Generally, the higher
ranking the caste, the more sexual control its women are expected to exhibit. Brahman brides
should be virginal, faithful to one husband and celibate in widowhood. By contrast, a sweeper
bride may or may not be a virgin, extramarital affairs may be tolerated, and, if widowed or
divorced, the woman is encouraged to remarry. For the higher castes, such control of female
sexuality helps ensure purity of lineage—of crucial importance to maintenance of high status.
Among Muslims, too, high status is strongly correlated with female chastity. Within castes explicit
standards are maintained. Transgressions may be dealt with by a caste council meeting periodically
to adjudicate issues relevant to the caste. Such councils are usually formed of groups of elders,
almost always males. Punishments such as fines and out casting, either temporary or permanent,
can be enforced. In rare cases, a person is excommunicated from the caste for gross infractions of
caste rules. An example of such an infraction might be marrying or openly cohabiting with a mate
of a caste lower than one’s own; such behaviour would usually result in the higher-caste person
dropping to the status of the lower-caste person.
Activities such as farming or trading can be carried out by anyone, but usually only member of the
appropriate castes act as priests, barbers, potters, weavers, and other skilled artisans, whose
occupational skills are handed down in families from one generation to another. As with other
key features of Indian social structure, occupational specialisation is believed to be in accord with
the divinely ordained order of the universe.
The existence of rigid ranking is supernaturally validated through the idea of rebirth according to
a person’s karma, the sum of an individual’s deeds in this life and in past lives. After death, a
person’s life is judged by divine forces, and rebirth is assigned in a high or a low place, depending
upon what is deserved. This supernatural sanction can never be neglected, because it brings a
person to his or her position in the caste hierarchy, relevant to every transaction involving food or
drink, speaking, or touching.

98 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY