Cast of the Caste Mould- an Obverse View

Cast of the Caste Mould- an Obverse View
Indian society with the exception of the tribal component has been living, since time immemorial, in caste groups which normally derive their nomenclatures from the occupation they pursued. Occupations with rare exceptions being hereditary caste also came to be hereditary. Even the change of profession on the part of a person would not lead to the change of his or her caste. The position continues to remain the same till his death. The same is largely true also of the religion of a person. One inherits at least the nomenclature of the religion followed by his parents. But the choice for change of religion is always open. On the other hand Indian history is replete with cases of en mass change of religion by conversion to Islam or Christianity voluntarily or under duress and/or by force or through temptations of various sorts. Castes have through the centuries proliferated into sub castes with the proliferation of occupations and vocations. Hierarchy among the castes also developed based on the relative importance of the occupation/ vocation in the life of the community as a whole, the locale or the strength of population of a particular caste. However, the Brahmins have invariably enjoyed precedence in the set up irrespective of their economic status or minority in numbers obviously for the reason of their association with learning as its propagators or custodians and saviours through oral tradition where written words went into flames through fire of invading foreign hordes on innumerous occasions. But all along there had been an element of inter dependency among the various castes assuring dignity and sense of fulfillment to all. Of this we would talk a little later. Now let us consider the relationship of caste with the ancient Varna system.
It is generally held and believed that the Varna system was as old as the Rigveda and that the caste system was a by product of the same through multiplication of the Varnas under a process of exogamy of the obverse and reverse type or through the total breakdown of the code of marriage among the various Varnas (varnasankara). This view happily is not shared by several enlightened indologists like Mahamahopadhyaya P.V. Kane and modern sociologists like G.S. Ghurye. Kane in his History of the Dharmashastras has aptly pointed out that the code of matrimony in ancient India was characterized more in observance than in its violation. Ghurye in his classic work Caste And Race in India has candidly described the Varna system as imaginary (notional). Jati, the Sanskrit word for caste is generally derived from the verbal stem jani (jan-to take birth) pointing to its hereditary nature.
What good the caste system has served our society can not be fully fathomed unless we imagine what would have happened to us without it. But for the present it may be useful to delve upon the reverse side of the mould of the caste System. The perpetual Brahmanic hegemony in social hierarchy abetted by the unscrupulous rulers ever in search of legitimacy for their ill gotten thrones militated against the very postulates for which the Brahmins themselves stood in the Vedic age. The hitherto not so unimportant service class was sought to be divided and denied of rights which were theirs by nature’s law. To perpetuate their degradation, new codes were drawn to give religious sanction to some of the very inhuman acts done against the down trodden. The practice of untouchability combined with the denial of right to education to certain sections of the society gradually turned out to be the scourge of the caste system. To say this is not to deny the relentless work done both in word and deed on the part of the saints like Chaitanya, Ramanuja, Kabir, Guru Nanak and many others who preached in the vernaculars for the social uplift of the downtrodden.
As mentioned above the obverse side of the caste mould in our traditional rural society needs to be highlighted to understand its intrinsic strength so that propelled by our impulsive reflexes we may not, in the manner of throwing the baby away along with the bath water, incur the folly of joining the chorus for abolition of caste. To recount the good done by the caste system and being done even today we may refer to a few positive features of the system. The first and foremost is the matrimonial solutions offered under it for centuries till the present times in the largely rural and far from modernized population. The level of service offered by caste match makers and the judicious settlement of matrimonial disputes by the caste elders are indeed indispensable even in the modern times. No doubt the contentious part of it in denying consenting couples from contracting marriage outside the fold of their caste is slowly dying its own death for the better health of the system. The second notable feature was the interdependency of castes leading to healthy communal relations. The farmers for example depended upon the workers from landless castes for the timely and efficient harvesting of their crops and the workers on their part felt obliged to get from the farmers wages in the form of harvested crop proportionate to the amount of work done. Same was the case of members of castes like potters, carpenters, blacksmiths, barbers etc. who got a fixed measure of grain from each of the farmers in their respective beat (jajmani) in the village in lieu of supplying pots; carrying out minor repairs of agricultural implements; ironing out the ploughshare and the triangular cutter (kartaki) of the plough and other iron implements; providing hair cutting and shaving solutions to male clients in addition to serving as master of ceremonies at marriages and providing through their women folk hair management and make up solutions for women clients respectively from families(jajman) allotted to each- a smooth and efficient system indeed involving no cash transactions so infested with cuts and levies of the modern times like the nagging service tax. The village washer man fell in the same category. On the spot transactions generally in cash were practiced in case of services like those rendered by the goldsmith, the bangle man, the tailor, the shoe maker et. The scavenger was a class apart. His family got cooked food daily in the morning to be collected pro rata from each family in his beat (jajmani) in lieu of services rendered for disposal of the daily household waste and animal dung and for brooming the respective environ. Interestingly the scavenger appeared in an entirely new avatar when he assembled others of his caste to form a Band of music players at marriage processions. He got his fees in cash for the service rendered in such cases. He also acted as the fuel man at the small sugarcane crushers and was also responsible for the management of the sugarcane waste like begasse (khohi) and press mud (maili). The shoe maker i.e. the Chamar was available for giving a helping hand to the farmer in many ways. He took responsibility for disposal of the dead animals. The animal hide obtained in the process was his wage with bonus, one could say. He sometimes took responsibility for rearing a female buffalo calf of a husbandman till she grew up into age of reproduction on the basis of sharing fifty percent of the valuation arrived at mutually. In some cases he would enter into a contract of working as the ploughman against twenty percent of the produce. Such arrangements were observed in the families of farmers with depleted male workforce or who had ample produce to share. The non farming communities in a village utilized one another’s services on a reciprocal basis. The system of interdependency fostered mutual respect and a sense of being wanted. This phenomenon of interdependency was at the core of our life since ages. The vedic householder offered prayers and made oblations to gods to get in return all the wealth and riches in cash and kind and in addition good health and desired progeny. The same mutuality of interests and reciprocity is echoed in Shrimadbhagavadgita (III.11). It is a pity that with such a great tradition of caste playing a positive role it degenerated into a vehicle of oppression and denial of justice to the deprived. But at the same time all ills of society can not be attributed to one single factor. The bitter truth is that in the process of fragmentation of traditional institutions under foreign yoke, caste also slumped into slumber and failed to rise to the occasion when circumstances demanded. Thus on India getting freedom as a result of the national upsurge all caste relations appeared to be shaking. However, the orthodox elements and the progressive ones differed in approach to tackle the ills of the caste system. One school of thought was for reverting to the imagined ancient four Varna system. Ghurye reminds us of Gandhiji having advocated such an approach early in his political career albeit without fuller details of the procedure for achieving such a social order. Equally utopian was another suggestion pleading for the progressive amalgamation of sub-castes into one caste on the basis of cultural commonality and economic similarity. After such castes reach approximate equality there could be further amalgamation. The process could go on till a caste-less society was achieved. The third school of thought stood for its total abolition on grounds of several of its feature being degrading and obnoxious. Sixty years of struggle brought us freedom but an equal number of years of self governance has not succeeded in bringing about a casteless society. On the contrary caste patriotism has given place to caste-ism. Caste-ism at social level has declined considerably but narrow caste-ism is becoming a hall mark of our political life. Exclusiveness is the characteristic of newly emerging identities. Our joint achievements are sought to be deconstructed for claiming credit for separate identities. And this is happening in almost all domains of our life. There is a caste-based proliferation of charitable, cultural and educational Trusts and caste welfare associations. Now we have caste hospitals, roads named after persons highlighting their caste identities. Caste based reservations originally conceived to end after a limited period of affirmative action do not seem to achieve the stated objective of dispensing social justice even in infinity of time. There are clamourous claims being made on behalf of different caste groups in various states to get included in the lists of castes granted reservations. All this is happening when our successive governments irrespective of their avowed political ideology have been fiercely engaged in the almost impossible task of removing all caste inequalities among our people. The problem is that we are trying to handle the horse by trying to twist its tail and getting hurt in the process. Experienced cavalrymen would tell us that we need to hold the horse from the front and ride it for benefit keeping balance. Kin feeling is a natural instinct. Caste feeling is a slight extension of kin feeling. Therefore to tackle caste distortions we have to first recognize its reality and then proceed to harness it in the context of interdependencies and mutuality of interests and pooling of strengths rather than denounce it without being able to renounce it. Let us recognize the obverse side of the coin of caste and dust the mould into which it is cast.

[Dr.S.S.RanaPhone-28081836]