DC-1

SEMESTER- 1

SUBJECT: POLITICAL SCIENCE

PAPER: COLONIALISM IN INDIA

SHAPING COMMUNITIES: CENSUS AND

ENUMERATION

Lesson Developer: PRAKASH KUMAR PATEL

&JAYA KUMARI

(RESEARCH SCHOLAR IN DEPARTMENT OF

POLITICAL SCIENCE, DELHI UNIVERSITY)

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CONTENTS

1. Introduction
2. Foundation of British Empire
3. The Structure of Society during the East India Company
 Caste System and Religious Laws
 Caste System and the British Rule
 The Effect of Social Reforms on Caste and Class
4. The Revolt of 1857
 Rebuilding of Army on the Basis of Caste
 Introduction of Census to Study the Caste, Class and Religious
Groups in India
5. Conclusion
6. References

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 SHAPING COMMUNITIES: CENSUS AND ENUMERATION

INTRODUCTION

India has been termed as “the epitome of the world.” It is a land of diversity in race,
religion, caste, language, etc., it also have diverse customs and traditions of numerous
cultural groups living together. Religion has been playing an important role in shaping
the societal values and beliefs of the people. Therefore religion has usually been used to
provide legitimacy to the various social reforms taking place in the Indian society from
time to time. Despite such diversity the people of India have lived together.

People from various parts of theworld have come to India as travellers, traders or
conquerors, from time to time. They found this unity in diversity quite unique and have
mentioned about it in their memoirs. Some settled in Indiaand became a part of its
diversity.It is a great task to make policies and laws that are according to the aspirations
of the people who are, so different as individuals and also culturally distinct. At the same
time these policies and laws should also work towards the growth and development of
the whole nation and this is what the census which is conducted every ten years is
meant to do.

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Foundation of British Empire

Unlike earlier conquerors, the British did not have any intention of settling in India as
natives. They came as traders and their main aim was to exploit the vast resources that
India possessed. The East India Company was established in the subcontinent by the
year 1600, but the British were not the only ones eyeing on the rich reserves of India.
The Portuguese had already reached before the British. The other European powers,
apart from Portuguese were France and Holland and since all of them wanted to exploit
India economically, it became important for the British to take over the administration of
India to get a stronghold.By the middle of the 18th century,British had almost the whole
country under its control. During this time India was divided into small kingdoms and,
largest being the Mughals with their capital at Delhi.

The British rule in India can be divided into two phases: from 1757 (Plassey War) to the
Mutiny of 1857 and from 1858 till the attainment of Independence in the year 1947. In
the first phase, the Company took over the administrative machinery of the Indian state
but did not intervene in the societal issues of the people as this would be best for the
British intentions of trade and commerce and also provide legitimacy to the Company’s
existence on the Indian land. It was the dominant high class who dictated the customs
and traditions of the society. Interfering in the societal issues might make them
aggressive towards the Company and this would have adverse consequences for the
future of the Company.

In the second phase the authority to rule India was passed on to the Crown. The British
Raj tried to divide the people to prevent the nationalist sentiments from growing.
Therefore they followed the policy of divide and rule and disunite the people. They
played with the religious sentiments of the people and tried to cement the divide
between people by playing with the caste and class sentiments.

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The Structure of Society during the East India Company

In order to rule over a foreign society, it is very important to gain the trust of its people
and thus gain legitimacy. For this purpose, it is necessary to understand the society, its
people, their customs and traditions, their beliefs etc. The Britishers called it the
civilising mission. They defined themselves as being modern and civilised as against the
Orient. Edward Said defines ‘Orient’ as “Europe’s greatest, richest and oldest colonies,
the source of its civilisations and languages, its cultural contestants and one of its
deepest and most recurring images of the other.” (Edward Said, 1978)

With the introduction of modernity in the 19th century, there was an urge to study the
Orient (Orientalism), about its culture, traditions and languages etc. which were only
known by the high class learned men of the society i.e. Brahmins and Maulvis.
Orientalism thus defined by Said was a knowledge thrust from above through the power
of the Europeans; moreover it was according to the requirements of the colonial state
and was being accepted by all since it was being legitimated by the colonial powers
itself. Thus this knowledge became very useful for the British as it helped themto
assimilate themselves to their subject society for efficient administration.

To ensure free flow of trade and collection of revenues the Company tried to do away
with the earlier remnants of the Mughal rule and curbed the powers of local Rajas and
Zamindars and became the upholders of the authoritarian rule in India. This was
reasoned as that, since the natives were not used to enjoying freedom, they needed to
be emancipated from their corrupt and abusive feudal lords. On the other hand, the Fort
William College was meant to prevent the ideas of freedom that was preached by the
French Revolution. It was believed that the rule of law and the right to private property
would liberate individuals from the shackles of customs and tradition and thus modernise
the Indian society and for this purpose Lord Cornwallis introduced the Permanent
Settlement and Thomas Munro introduced the Ryotwari Settlement to preserve India’s
village communities but if observed closely both the systems followed the principles of
centralised sovereignty, sanctity of private property to be protected by the British Laws.
According to Sekhar Bandyopadhyay (2009), British believed that the role of the
Company’s government would be protective rather than intrusive and regulative
therefore they tried to incorporate the Indian tradition of personal government.

Caste System and the Religious Laws

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Indian society has been divided on the basis of caste since ancient times. According to
the Hindu scriptures the society was divided into four Varnas- Brahmins, Kshatriya,
Vaishya, and Shudra. This division initially was on occupational basis but gradually it
gave way to the caste system based on birth. For e.g. A Brahmin’s child would be born a
Brahmin and a Shudra’s descendants would be Shudras.

In order to gain a stronghold in the administration of the country it was necessary for
the British to understand the societal structure and transform it accordingly to provide
strength to the British Raj. Warren Hastings designed his policies on the principles of
Orientalism and that the conquered people were to be ruled by their own rules and thus
prepared the codes of Hindu and Muslim laws. The ancient Hindu dharmashastras
became the basis of Hindu laws and the Muslim laws were based on the interpretations
of Quran by the Maulvis and Maulanas. Hastings introduced the new system of judiciary.
Every district was to have courts on two levels, one for criminal justice and the other for
adjudicating personal matters, based on Muslim laws for Muslims and Hindu laws for
Hindus. The division of the topics of law was in accordance with the English system. The
civil courts were presided over by the European official and were assisted by the
Brahmin pundits and Maulvis for interpreting the indigenous laws. It caused a lot of
confusion as they were based on various dharmashatras and varied from case to case
therefore;Hastings formed a committee of eleven pundits and codified the Hindu laws in
1775 and Muslim laws by 1778. Therefore, standardisation of laws centralised the
judicial authority and the administration was reduced to the system.

Manusmriti compiled by the Brahmins dealing with sacraments (samskaras); initiation

(upanayana) and study of the Vedas (the sacred texts of Hinduism); marriage,
hospitality, obsequies, dietary restrictions, pollution, and means of purification; the
conduct of women and wives; and the law of kings,the doctrine of karma, the soul,
and hell.According to Manusmriti, the Hindu society was divided into four varnas. It
further describes that Brahmins emerged from the mouth of the Brahma, which
symbolises that they are the intellectuals and born to gain and spread knowledge,
Kshatriya emerged from the hands of Brahma, which symbolises strength and they are
meant to fight wars and protect people therefore the kings and the rulers were
Kshatriyas. Vaishyas emerged from the thighs of Brahma and were bound to be
merchants and traders. Shudras emerged from the feet of Brahma, therefore were the
lowest caste and bound to be slaves and servants to the upper castes. Since this
hierarchy in society was decided by God, as described in Manusmriti, this could not be
changed.

Caste System and the British Rule

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To strengthen its position in India the colonial rulers hugely depended on the Indian
scriptures. They believed that the scriptures had some very important facts, to play with
and therefore be helpful in creating wide cleavages in the society. They were used very
tactfully by the Britishers to divide the people on the basis of caste and religion and thus
weaken any mobilisation against the Colonial Rule. An important fact to underline here is
that all the British officials were great scholars, for e.g. Thomas Munro in Madras, John
Malcolm in Central India, Elphinstone in Maharashtra, had contributed largely in various
historical and geographical arenas apart from their contribution to the political and the
military issues. The legitimation provided by the British government to the customs and
traditions that were found to be favourable for the growth of the British empire and its
smooth functioning; and the existence of various caste conflicts in society transformed
the Indian society into traditional and backward.

The British cannot be totally blamed for the rebirth of the caste system in the society,
but, according to Bryce, since the Brahmins were not ready to compromise with their
dominant position they supported the will of the British government. According to
Ludden, the term ‘Hindu’ was used for the people living in the area east of Indus but
the usage of the term by the British for their official census and elections, was for those
people who are not Muslims, Christian, Parsi, Jain, Buddhist, Sikhs. Though BritishIndia
had Hindus as a majority but this community was not homogeneous like Islam and
Christianity who followed one Quran and Bible respectively. Instead the Hindus followed
different religious leaders or worshipped different Gods and Goddesses. For e.g.some
within the Hindus worshipped Vishnu and called themselves Vaishnavas instead of Hindu,
worshippers of Shiva were known as Shaivites. The Hindus recognised themselves as
Vaishnava, Shaivites etc. and not as Hindus.

As we can see that the Brahmins came closer to the British to maintain their superiority
and for economic and social benefits.The Brahmins were learned and had a superior
position in the society; they enthusiastically participated in the economic machinery of
the country and collected taxes from the people for the government, under the
Zamindari system. This led to the cementing of good relations between Brahmins and
the British.

In the 19th century, Thomas Munro introduced the Ryotwari system and directly collected
taxes from the farmers. Munro believed, as Burton Stein argues, that he insisted the
traditional Indian forms of the government would function well if “directed by men like
him, knowledgeable and sympathetic, with great and concentrated authority”. This
authoritative paternalism rejected the idea of direct political participation by Indians.
Another example where the Brahmins were the beneficiaries was, their role in the

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administrative services under the British government were they were in large numbers
as compared to the other castes.

Education was also accessible to these upper caste intellectuals and thus they were the
only ones eligible for the government jobs and the people had to do menial jobs to earn
their livelihood, and this resulted in the disagreements and discontent between the
different classes of people in the society. This is how the government attained success
through its policy of “Divide and Rule” within which it provides benefits to one class and
the other class which is less privileged was being made aware of their position in the
society.

The Effect of Social Reforms on Caste and Class

The idea of liberalism emerged in the West as result of Renaissance and the Industrial
Revolution which also gave way to various social and religious reforms. The western
educated elite tried to reform Hinduism from within, in the light of post-Enlightenment
rationalism.The Hindu customs, traditions, cultural practices, caste system were being
criticised and an intellectual challenge was posed against the religious and social
orthodoxy of Hinduism.

The western educated liberal intellectuals also felt the same about the Indian society and
people like Raja Ram Mohun Roy started various reform movementsagainst the practices
of Sati, Devdasis etc. and tried to promote widow remarriage, inter-caste marriages etc.
the efforts by Raja Ram Mohun Roy led to the British government under Lord William
Bentinck to legally ban the practice of Sati in the year 1928. These social reformers
undertook to reform their societies, its religious practices and to abolish the evil
practices.

Through the introduction and spread of modern scientific education, Lord Macaulay tried
to develop modern rational thinking and to liberate Indians from the shackles of the
religious and social orthodoxy. The intention behind the spread of English education was
not only that but according to Macaulay , it was also meant to create “a class of persons
between us and the millions whom we govern, a class of persons Indian in blood and
colour but English intaste, in opinions, in moral and intellect.”

The Revolt of 1857

After the Revolt of 1857, the East IndiaCompany lost its authority over India and it was
passed on to the British Crown by an Act of Parliament. The post of the Governor-
General was done away with and from now onwards the Viceroy acted as the
representative of the British Crown in India. Though there were many reasons for the fall

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of the Company Rule, the major was the interference of the Company into the religious
affairs of the people. By the late January 1857, rumours spread that the cartridges of the
new Enfield Rifles had been greased with cow and pig fat. This had hurt the religious
sentiments of both the Hindus and the Muslims. Since the cartridges had to be bitten off
before leading, it confirmed the sepoy’s old suspicion about a conspiracy to destroy their
religion and caste and convert them to Christianity. The Revolt of 1857 drew the
attention of the colonial powers towards the unity among the people which might have
adverse consequences for the British rule therefore it was important for them to decide
their policies to curb their unity through the weapons of caste and class and the religious
differences ingrained in the society. This policy of Divide and Rule proved fatal for the
country and later on led to the partition of the country into India and Pakistan, on
communal basis.

The process of rebuilding of army gave rise to questions as to what should be the
proportion of Hindus and Muslims in Government Service; apart from this it was also a
matter of concern for the government as to what would be its policies towards the
classes which have been fortunate enough to have education. The revolt caused Queen
Victoria to announce non-interference of the British officials in the religious matters of
the subjects and respect towards the religious and social sentiments of the people.
Queen Victoria also made Indians believe that there would be no discrimination
whatsoever on the basis of caste, class, religion or race and opportunities of education
would be available for all equally, but in reality this wasn’t the case as the lower classes
were still being deprived of the facilities while the upper classes maintained their
domination.

The colonial subjects feared their conversion into Christianity and the British tried to
study the present religious and caste system to understand which groups were
vulnerable enough to become the supporters of the British Empire.

After the Revolt of 1857, the British government took over the administration of India
and followed the policy of non-interference in the religious sentiments of the people.
Indian society was so engrossed within themselves that they did not realise that certain
policies of the colonial rule were intended to divide the society to avoid revolts similar to
1857. Therefore it followed the following policies to fulfil its interests:

Rebuilding of Army on the Basis of Caste

During the Revolt of 1857 the soldiers refused to fire at the rebels who belonged to their
region, or were of their own castes, therefore now Britishers decided to build an army
that would be loyal to their masters and will not resist from military operations being

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conducted at any part of the country. Therefore the Peel Commission which was
appointed to look into the military affairs recommended that the “native army should be
composed of different nationalities and castes, and as a general rule, mixed
promiscuously through each regiment.” Therefore during the next few years regiments
which had mutinied were disbanded, castes were more evenly mixed across the
regiments, recruitment remained focussed on Punjab which had remained loyal during
the Mutiny, and the regional elements were carefully kept separate. The colonial
knowledge of Indian ethnicity and racial stereotypes were deployed to evolve the theory
of “martial races”. Apart from this, the British also tried to develop discontent among the
Aryans and the Dravidians for each other. Therefore it not only tried to divide the people
on the basis of caste but also on the basis of region and the languages (Aryans resided
in the Northern India and Dravidians were a South Indian race, and they spoke Sanskrit
and Dravidian language respectively).

Introduction of Census to Study Caste, Class and Religious Groups in India

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Another policy adopted by the colonial rulers to maintain a stronghold on the Indian soil
was the introduction of census and enumeration. In the 19th century census had been
largely introduced in many countries but the purpose behind conducting the census in
these countries was to study the poverty levels in these countries and if necessary
provide state aid for their benefits. Looking at the census data in the European countries
they appeared to be a secular institution but, were a total contrast of the situation that
existed in India. The process of census introduced in India was aimed at attaining
information about the caste structure in society and not for the economic benefits of the

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people. After the 1857 Mutiny, the study of languages, race, religion, caste etc. in India
became important for the British Rule and the Regional Gazetteer was appointed to
collect data for the purpose. There were several reasons why the British Government
started censusin India. From an administrative point of view, clear knowledge of
thecomposition of Indian society was necessary to exert control and extractrevenue.
According to Ramachandra Guha (2003), “census enumeration was not a novel
practice adopted by the British, but was equally practiced in earlier times particularly in
the Moghul period. But the factremains that the earlier enumerations were very much
confined to the purposes of land revenue and taxation and also geographically very
much limited. In contrast to this, thecolonial census was interested in anthropological
knowledge and was carried out coveringmost parts of the country.”

Initially census included questions based on family, religion, education, caste, health etc.
the information thus collected would have been used for the administrative purposes
instead the census data was used to develop knowledge about India and to exploit it
further. The enumeration of castes led to the better understanding of the structure and
the existing cleavages in the society and therefore the British government was successful
in creating a society where caste identity became synonymous to national pride.
Similarly the question of religion also became fundamental to the census and this data
was being used differently, for instance, the history of India instead of being divided into
Ancient, Medieval and Modern periods, it was being divided intoHindu and Muslim
periods. Therefore we can say that the purpose of census in Indiawas to create tension
between various societal groups and thus try to curb the sense of nationalism that might
emerge against the British rule. The diversity in the Indian scenario was not new but it
did not have such prominence, it was only after the census that these cleavages had
widened and deepened.

The Census was introduced first in the year 1872 and was based on caste and class as
according to the colonial rulers these two were the prominent aspects of the Indian
society and needed to be studied. According to this, within Hindu there were various
caste classifications and within Muslims castes were classified as Syed, Sheikh, Pathans
and Moghuls. Again in the year 1881, census was conducted in the whole of BritishIndia
andpriority was givento race and caste questions after whichthe questions on religion
appeared. The scheme of classification adopted in this census was

I. Indo-Aryan

(A) Hindu: (a) Hindu Brahmanic (b) Hindu (Arya-Vedic theists) and (c) Hindu
(Brahmo-Eclectic Theists)

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 (B) Sikhs

(C) Jains

(D) Buddhist

II Iranian

(A)Zoroastrian (Parsi)

III Semitic

(A)Mussalman

(B) Christian

(C) Jews

IV Primitive

(A) Animistic

V Miscellaneous

Thus, this became the basis of further censuses which were being conducted every 10
years. The census of 1891 was based on the caste categories based on occupation.The
census of 1901 under the chairmanship of H.R. Risley emphasized on the caste
categories based on the superiority in the society and this census, incorporated the
category of tribefor the first time.

It was decided by the British Government to hold a census as early as in 1856 but it
could not be held due to mutiny in 1857, so it was conducted in the year1861. In 1865,
the Government ofIndia and the Home Government again had agreed upon the principle
that a general population census would be taken in 1871. But, the years 1867-72 were
actually spent incensus taking. This series of census is in fact known as the Census of
1872, which was neitherasynchronous census nor covered the entire territory controlled
by the British.

Gradually the society in India came to be divided on communal terms and since the
census revealed that Hindus were in a majority, the minority communities were
convinced that they were politically and economically vulnerable as compared to the
majority. The government tried to create hostility within different religious groups on the
basis of social, political and religious issues and thus aimed to weaken the wave of
nationalism which was emerging with the formation of the Indian National Congress.

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Unfortunately the colonial government tasted success in its policy to Divide and Rule,
when the Muslim League was formed in the year1906-07 and demanded for separate
electorate. The government’s long wait to break the unity of the people was thus fulfilled
and it acted promptly, first by the Partition of Bengal in the year 1905 and then granting
reserved seats to the Muslims in the imperial as well as provincial legislature through the
Morley-Minto Act of 1909.Later on the census of 1921 focused on the recognition of the
backward and the deprived classes but this was dropped in the 1931 census as it was
found detrimental to the colonial rule.

Initially the divisions of caste, class and religion found in the Indian society were blurry,
the sudden emergence of the religious sentiments were the result of the colonial rule
and the process of census and enumeration introduced by it. But we find that through
colonial census, caste existing at the perceived level of relationship was objectified,
entered into the officialdocument and their social and geographical boundaries were well
identifiedthrough enumeration. Theenumeration of castes and their
ethnographicdescriptions also highlighted how the social and economic
advantagesaccrued to some castes and not to others, which led to demands from many
castes for special recognition by the state in order to receive educational
andoccupational benefits as well as political representation. It generated
newconsciousness among caste groups, and the democratic process in the post-colonial
India brought them into the political arena of electoral politics.

CONCLUSION

The process of census though,was introduced by the colonial rulers for understanding
the society in order to weaken it and exploit it but the process of census and
enumeration has also helped in the recognition of various social groups based on caste,
religion, class, occupation etc. which have been deprived of benefits being enjoyed by
many other social groups. Thus the process of census has helped in the strengthening
the voices of these deprived sections of the society. This decennial census which is the
most exhaustive and reliable exercise in the country thus help in the policy formulations
by the state. The importance of census is not merely for understanding the demographic
structure but to use the input from it to improve the governance structures and
governance systems at different levels.

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Deshpande, S, Sunder N., Caste and Census: Implications for Society and the Social
Sciences, Economic and Political Weekly, August 8, 2157-2159

Jaisawal S., Caste, Origin Function and Dimension of Change, Delhi, Manohar

Talbot, I., India and Pakistan: Inventing the Nation

Susan B., Caste, Society and Politics in India from the Eighteenth Century to the Modern
Age.

Bandyopadhyay, S., From Plassey to Partition

Bhagat, R.B., Role of Census in Racial and Ethnic Construction: U.S., British and India
Censuses, Economic and Political Weekly, February22, 686-691.

Chandra, N., Caste, Class and the State in Colonial and Post-Colonial India

Roy, Kushik, The Construction of Regiments in the Indian Army: 1859.

Bhagat, R.B., Census and the Construction of Communalism in India, Economic and
Political Weekly, November, 4352-4355.

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