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Eternal India
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differences have not vanished. The National Movement and the efforts
of Gandhiji and Ambedkar tried to blunt the edges of caste differences
and forge social unity and eradicate untouchability. But the post-
Independence democratic process and elections have strengthened the
caste feelings by creating vote banks. The reservation policy in
appointments and entry to educational institutions has again made eve-
rybody to remember one's ‘assets’, the caste of one’s birth.
Marriage between converts coming from two different castes is not
common. Even the converts of Indian origin to Islam try to have
honorifics like Sheikh or Sayyad, which are actually groups of Ara-
bic origin involving some status. The caste system appears to be
an inseparable part of Hindu society. It was not created only by the
Vedic religion. It was found in the pre-Vedic society of the Dravida
(Tamil) country as amply demonstrated by the Tamil classics of the
Sangam Age.
So long as Indian society remains divided on the basis of caste
and religion, it will not achieve the social cohesion necessary for
achieving national unity and public peace and tranquillity. Formerly
there used to be challenges to the law and order situation due to
religious processions or marriage processions being taken out in a
particular area or street. There were violent incidents among the
so-called right-hand castes or left-hand castes in the South. Lin-
gayat gurus being taken in a procession riding a palanquin was
objected to by Brahmins. Many such issues not only gave rise to an
outbreak of riots, but caste rivalries being taken even to law courts
including the Privy Council during British rule. Muslims objecting to
playing of instrumental music in front of or beside mosques when
the Hindus take a religious procession is common even today
leading to riots. Now, communal outbreaks among the castes are
caused mostly by land disputes and petty personal disputes and the
Dalit SCs who were till now at the receiving end have organised
themselves into resistance groups and their retaliatory acts have
led to many conflagrations.
Castes have organised their own community benefit pro-
grammes like co-operative societies, hostels, trusts offering
scholarships, co-operative banks, marriage halls etc., and their
efforts to secure a political position by aligning themselves with
various political parties as in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan,
Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Kerala are well known. The major group
of a caste aligns itself with a party. The Yadavas (traditional
cowherds) in Bihar identify themselves with the Janata Dal and
Christians and Muslims in Kerala have formed their own separate
parties and bargain for spoils with the party in power.
But the growth of the middle class in urban areas has been
changing, the social scene. The educated higher castes undergo
'Westernisation'; and the lower castes 'Sanskritisation' (taking to
Vedic rituals and other forms of brahmanical life including even
naming their children), as pointed out by M.N. Srinivas. They visit
holy places, go on pilgrimage and perform various traditional rites,
by inviting Brahmin priests, which their own parents had not per-
formed. Different castes in towns and cities have become secular in
their social interactions with each other and those who can afford a
non-brahmin 'servant' for household jobs have become liberal
enough to admit him even to the kitchen. Such a development indi-
cates how the ritual practices of purity and pollution are slowly
changing. Besides, caste people largely in cities are found to accept
inter-caste (and inter-regional) marriages for obvious reasons.
Castes based on profession, though differing from one another due
to regional or language differences among various Brahmin groups,
had become quite common by the time of Independence, and now a
Kannada Vokkaliga boy marrying a Telugu Reddy bride from
Andhra, or a Malayalee Ezhava groom entering into wedlock with a
Kannada Idiga girl (both belonging to the toddy-tappers caste) are
not uncommon.
Expansion of the middle class may result in blunting the edge of
caste rivalries. The concept of
Hindutva
being popularised from
political platforms may also have a similar effect. But expansion of
caste-based social services and educational facilities may make
people to continue caste loyalties. Every caste, of late, is trying to
have a
Gurupeeta
(Matha
) with a pontiff from its own caste, thus trying
to strengthen the caste's base, but the educated and the rationalist
groups are indifferent to such arrangements. The changes likely to be
seen by the close of this century will be marginal, though the trends
towards secularisation are bound to be articulate. Most of the religious
leaders, especially those connected with the
bhakti
(intense devotion)
movement, have tried to condemn the caste restrictions or segregation
of castes. Some of the leaders of the
bhakti
movement like the Shaiva
saint, (Nayannmar) Appar, were non-Brahmins, but were highly ven-
erated by the Brahmins. Acharya Ramanuja, the founder of Srivaish-
navism, was educated by a non-Brahmin scholar, and Ramanuja per-
suaded his orthodox followers to make a beginning in the emancipa-
tion of the untouchables by calling them as "Tiru-Kulattars" (of holy
lineage) and permitting them to enter temples at least three days in a
year. Basaveshwara (founder of the Veerashaiva cult) from Karnataka
condemned caste differences severely. Many Vaishnava saints in
Maharashtra preached an egalitarian set-up and many of them were of
the lower castes like Tukaram who was a
vani
(merchant), Namdev, a
tailor (
shimpi),
and Chokhamela, an untouchable. In the North too,
Raidas was a cobbler and Kabir, a devotee of Rama, was a Muslim.
Kanakadas in Karnataka was a shepherd (
Kuruba
). The efforts of these
saintly men and the
bhakti
movement considerably blunted the edge of
severity of caste differences. Still it persisted due to a variety of reasons
mentioned above.
S.U.K
SELECTED REFERENCES
Mahadevshastry Joshi (Ed),
Bharateya Samskriti Kosh
(Marathi) Vol III,
Pune 1965.
Srinivas Murthy H.V and Kamath S.U
Studies in Indian Culture,
Bombay
1973.
Dube S.C.,
Indian Society,
New Delhi 1990.
Srinivas M.N.,
Caste in Modern India and other Essays.
The Constitution of India specifies safeguards to protect the
interests of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. These
safeguards include reservation of seats in the House of the People
(Lok Sabha) and the Legislative Assemblies of the states. The
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes have also job reservations
in the Central and state services and in educational institutions.
The list of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes pertaining to
each state is given on pages D7 - D11.
QUOTES
"Caste system outcome of trust, tolerance, co-operation, con-
solidation - later became an institution of discrimination, segrega-
tion repugnant to the very spirit of Hinduism.
"Dharma keynote of Hindu social organisation gave way to
Artha and Kama
"Inequality is the official doctrine of Brahminism and the sup-
pression of the lower classes aspiring to equality has been looked
upon by them and carried out by them without remorse as their
bounden duty".
B.R. Ambedkar