Page 113 - DSOC202_SOCIAL_STRATIFICATION_ENGLISH

Social Stratification

Notes engaged in inferior occupations are avoided by the upper caste people. Likewise, the chamars,
dhobis, doms and hundreds of beef-eating low castes, commonly known as untouchables, are
shunned by the high caste Hindus. There are also specific rules for greeting and interacting
with members of high or intermediate castes, for sharing common cot (charpoi) with others,
and for day-to-day as well as ritual interaction.
(d) The Outcaste Substratum
Castes engaged in defiling or menial or polluting occupations are treated as untouchables.
They are called outcastes, depressed classes or scheduled castes. These castes are believed to
have descended from the races originally inhabiting India before the invasion of the Aryans.
Later they accepted servitude on the lowest fringes of Hindu society. They mostly live
outside the village and eke out their existence by labour like scavenging, shoe-making,
tanning, etc. They are not permitted to draw water from wells used by the uppercaste
people. They are even debarred from the use of public roads, schools, temples, cremation
grounds, hotels and tea-shops. They sacrifice animals to appease the dreaded demons that
dominate their lives. Their presence and their touch is thought to contaminate others. In the
Peshva period, Doms were not permitted to enter Poona city between 6:00 p.m. and 9:00 a.m.
because it was thought that even their shadows (which become longer in this period due to
the setting and the rising of the sun) could pollute the high caste people. For the same
reason, Brahmin doctors in South India used to wrap their hands with a silken cloth before
examining the pulse of their Sudra patients. On the same ground, Panan (basket-maker),
Tiyan (toddy-drawer), Pulayan, Shanan and other lower castes in South India were not
allowed to approach high castes within certain distances. They were to maintain a distance
of thirty-six, seventy-two or ninety-six paces from these people, depending on their status.
Caste mores have held these untouchable castes down in abysmal ignorance and degradation
on the assumption that they suffer justly for their vicious deeds in previous lives. However,
many of the prohibitions imposed on the out castes have now been relaxed. But, though
legally these restrictions have been removed, and socially also pollution is no longer treated
very seriously by the majority of the high caste Hindus, yet we continue to find the practising
of some restrictions in ritual situations, though no longer enforced in ordinary day-to-day
secular life.
Features (of Caste) as a Unit
(a) Ascribed Status
The membership of an individual in a caste is determined by his birth. Since each caste has
its own rank in relation to other castes, the high or low status of an individual depends upon
the ritual status of the caste in which he is born. In fact, every aspect of the life of an orthodox
Hindu hinges on his birth. His domestic ceremonies and customs, temple worship, circle of
fniends and occupation, all depend upon the level of the caste into which he is born.
(b) Endogamy
The members of a caste have to marry in their own caste and sub-caste. Endogamy has, thus,
been permanently enforced within caste groups.
(c) Fixed Occupation
Each caste has a fixed hereditary occupation. There is an old saying, once a Brahmin, always
a Brahmin and once a Chamar, always a Chamar. Since certain occupations are considered
unclean, persons following them become untouchable and anyone adopting them, unless in
company with his caste, must necessarily be outcasted to preserve the whole caste from
pollution. But this also does not mean that all Brahmins have always to remain engaged in
priestly occupation, or all Rajputs are always to take to protective function by joining the

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