Dear All,

All the topics covered in the course are relevant. The following should be considered as
reference notes and should be built on the references already discussed in the class.

**

**
**

Concerned with belief in Concerned about damaging

science/reasons effects of applied science on
environment, humanity and
nature

Believes in Social Progress Focuses on growing

awareness of the risks and
destructive consequences of
the pursuit of progress

Perceives Nation State as Refers to process of

the boundary of the Society Globalisation

Emphasises economic Emphasises on increasing

development importance of cultural
development
 Tends to see the world in Tends to see similarities and
terms of dualisms unities in seeming
opposities (subjective and
objective)

Priority of Persuation Priority of Experience,

Contingent Theories – Open
System

Progress as the Master Questions the Master

Narrative / Grand Theories Narratives & Grand
on History, Culture, Identity Theories – emphasis on
local narratives, cultures,
deconstruction of
everything

Efforts towards unifying Emergence of Social and

values, customs, traditions Cultural Pluralism

Objectivity – Logic, Social Subjectivism

Reason, Experience

**
Sanskritisation

Sanskritisation : (a) identified with imitation of the Brahminical customs and manners by the lower
castes,
(b) With Brahmins to be the sole model of emulation for the sanskritizing groups, and (c) reflects
upward
Mobility.
MN Srinivas defines Sanskritisation as "the process by which a 'low' Hindu caste, or tribal or other
group, changes its customs, ritual, ideology, and way of life in the direction of a high, and frequently,
'twice-born' caste”.
Why was not it called Brahminisation? Instead of Sanskritisation?? Any thoughts?

a) Firstly, Srinivas found that "Brahminization is subsumed under the wider process of Sanskritization.
However, he also points out that the two may be at variance with each other at times. For example,
though Sanskritization necessitates renunciation of certain habits and customs on the part of the
sanskritizing groups such as drinking liquor, eating beef and pork, etc, the Brahmins themselves have
followed some of these customs at some stage of the evolution of the Hindu society, including in the
contemporary times. For ex: the Assamese, Bengali, Kashmiri, Maithili, Oriya and Saraswat Brahmins
eat non- vegetarian food.
b) The Brahmins are characterized by many other regional variations suggesting that they can not be
treated as a homogeneous group with respect to their habits and customs. Therefore, if the term
Brahminization was used it would have been necessary to specify which particular Brahmin group was
meant.
c) Brahmins are also undergoing various changes over time in the cultural domain it would have been
further necessary to specify at which particular period of its history a particular Brahmin group is
referred to as a model for Sanskritization. Secondly:
d) The agents of Sanskritization are not always the Brahmins. In fact, there was prohibition on the non-
twice-born castes from following the customs and rites of the Brahmins, and it is not unreasonable to
suppose that the Brahmins were responsible for this.
e) On the other hand, there were non-Brahmin agents of Sanskritization. The Lingayats of South India,
for example, have been a powerful force for Sanskritization of several low castes of Karnataka. Though
founded by a Brahmin named Basava in the 12th century, the Lingayat movement was anti- Brahminical
in tone and spirit drawing a large number of followers from the lower castes. In fact, the Lingayats of
Mysore claim equality with Brahmins, and the more orthodox of them do not accept food cooked or
handled by Brahmins (Srinivas 1962/89: 43).

**

NCST monitors the following safeguards provided under the Constitution for STs.

(a) Acting upon Article 23 of the Constitution which prohibits traffic in human beings and forced
labour etc; in respect of STs.

(b) Prohibition of child labour under Article 24; in respect of STs.

(c) Educational safeguards under Article 15 (4) for reservation of seats for STs in educational
institutions.

(d) Economic safeguards under Article 244 and working of Fifth and Sixth Schedules and release of
grants for raising the level of administration in tribal areas.

(e) Safeguarding the distinct language, script or culture of STs under Article 29(i).
(f) Working of service safeguards provided under Articles 16 (4), 16 (4) (a),16 (4) (B) and 335
providing for adequate representation of Scheduled Tribes in appointments or posts.

(g) Enforcement of various laws such as:

(i) The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

(ii) Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976 (in respect of Scheduled Tribes).

(iii) The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 (in respect of Scheduled Tribes).

(iv) State Acts and Regulations concerning alienation and restoration of land belonging to Scheduled
Tribes.

(v) Forest Conservation Act, 1980 (in respect of Scheduled Tribes)

(vi) The Panchayat (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996.

(vii) Minimum Wages Act, 1948 (in respect of Scheduled Tribes).

**

Origin of Village Studies in India

Develop the answer on the following points:

- Indologists and Sociologists who relied on the ancient texts have examined the village as a holistic
and self-sufficient and a true representation of the Hindu social organization → treatises available
on the nature of administration during the pre-colonial times until the advent of colonialism.
- Likewise, it was during the British colonial rule that an image of the Indian village was constructed
by the colonial administrators that was to have far reaching implications — ideological as well as
political — for the way Indian society was to be imagined in the times to come.
- Charles Metcalfe (British Colonial Administrator): “the Indian village communities were little
republics, having nearly everything they wanted within themselves, and almost independent of
foreign relations. They seemed to last where nothing else lasted. Dynasty after dynasty tumbled
down; revolution succeeded revolution but the village community remained the same”→ this view
clearly had an impression on the colonial administrators →
- The Indian village, in the colonial discourse, was a self-sufficient community with communal
ownership of land and was marked by a functional integration of various occupational groups.
 Things as diverse as stagnation, simplicity and social harmony were attributed to the village which
was taken to be the basic unit of Indian civilization.
- Gradual dissolution of administrative and legal powers that were with villages during the colonial
times → the decadence of the village was seen as a result of colonial rule and therefore village
reconstruction was, along with political independence, an important process for recovery of the lost
self (Jodhka, 2002).
- In the post-Independence India also ‘village’ has continued to be treated as the basic unit of Indian
society. Among the academic traditions, the study of village has perhaps been the most popular
among the sociologists and social anthropologists working on India.
- They carried-out a large number of studies focussing on the social and cultural life of the village in
India. Most of these studies were published during the decades 1950s and 1960s. These “village
studies” played an important role in giving respectability to the disciplines of sociology and social
anthropology in India →
- Generally basing their accounts on first-hand fieldwork, carried out mostly in a single village, social
anthropologists focused on the structures of social relationships, institutional patterns, beliefs and
value systems of the rural people. The publication of these studies also marked the beginning of a
new phase in the history of Indian social sciences.
- They showed, for the first time, the relevance of a fieldwork based understanding of Indian society,
or what came to be known as “field-view” of the India, different from the then dominant “book-
view” of India, which was developed by the Indologists and orientalists from classical Hindu
scriptures.
- Village as a Little Community: The single most popular concept used by the anthropologists
studying the Indian village was Robert Redfield’s notion of ‘little community’. Among the first
works on the subject, Village India: Studies in the Little Community (edited by M. Marriot, 1955)
was brought out under the direct supervision of Redfield.

Perceived significance of the village:

- Many monographs were also taken up to support projects initiated by development agencies and
also by the government in terms of access to housing, health, education, land consolidation
programme and the role of government-sponsored panchayats.
- Lewis, who studied a village near Delhi, was appointed by the Ford Foundation → Our work was
problem oriented from the start. Among the problems we studied intensively were what the villagers
felt they needed in housing, in education, in health; land consolidation programme; and the newly
created government-sponsored panchayats (Lewis, 1958:ix).
- A typical anthropologist, unlike his/her economist counterpart, saw the village ‘in the context of
the cultural life lived by the people’ and the way ‘rural life was inter-locked and interdependent’
 which ‘baffled social engineers as it could not be geared to planned economy. It was here that the
economists needed the assistance of sociologists and anthropologists’ (Majumdar, 1955:iv).
- Though they were supposed to only assist the ‘big brothers’ economists in the planning process, the
anthropologist viewed their perspective as being “superior” because ‘they alone studied village
community as a whole, and their knowledge and approach provided an indispensable background
for the proper interpretation of data on any single aspect of rural life. Their approach provided a
much-needed corrective to the partial approach of the economist, political scientist and social
worker (Srinivas, 1955:90).
- The debate around quantitative (economists) and qualitative (anthropologists/sociologists).

**
Caste – Varna – Definitions of Caste

Most visible form of social stratification in the Indian society.

Unit- A closed-rank status group → a group in which the status of the members, their occupations, the
field of mate-selection, and interaction with others is fixed.

System - As a system it refers to the collectivity of restrictions, namely restrictions of change of

membership, occupation, marriage, and commensal and social relations → no caste can exist in
isolation, and each caste is closely related to other castes.

Caste vs. Varna in tabular form:

1.

Varna Caste / Jati

Vedic in origin Post-vedic development

Origins traced to the Aryans Often considered as rigid

form of the varna system

The word varna literally Root word is Jana – or birth

means color & the word vri
 means choice of one’s One’s caste is decided by
occupation → his/her birth

Non-hereditary in nature Completely hereditary / by

birth

Four Varnas by occupation – Castes are many – the

Brahmin, Kashatriya, numbers differ from region
Vaisya, and Sudra to region in India, including
their hierarchy (both
perceived and actual) →
sub castes

Flexible with a scope for Closed stratification with

mobility based on less potential for mobility
individual’s qualities and
capabilities

Evolution of caste
consciousness, caste
identities, movements and
caste representation →
political economy of caste
and the politics of it

Bougle - Hereditarily specialized and hierarchical groups → 3 characteristics: Hierarchy, Hereditary

and Repulsion → repulsion is manifested in endogamy, commensal restriction and social contact.

Gough - Ranked birth-status groups which are usually endogamous and tend to be associated with an
occupation

Senart - A closed corporation, rigorously hereditary, bound with other (castes) by common occupation,
and equipped with a council that rules its members by the sanction of certain penalties.
 Dutt - Caste System→ Referred to restrictions on marriage, eating and drinking, occupation, change in
hereditary membership, and the hierarchical gradation of castes.

Morris - Caste System as characterized by hereditary membership and endogamy and prescribing
specific norms which regulate social interaction.

Ghurye - Hereditary membership, caste councils, hierarchy, endogamy, restrictions on feeding and
social intercourse, lack of unrestricted choice of occupation, and civil and religious disabilities.

D’Souza - Defined caste system as the integration of the interacting and heterogeneous but internally
homogenous hereditary groups into a structure of status hierarchy → indicating superiority and
subordinate relationships among hereditary groups in society and explains conditions under which the
relationship exists.
Bailey - Referred to caste stratification as closed organic stratification in contra-distinction to with the
class principle which is based on segmentary stratification.

**
Mention five books each in respect of Prof. G S Ghurye and Prof. M. N. Srinivas along with year of
publication.

Prof. GS Ghurye:

1.Caste and Race in India (1932, 1969), 2. Culture and Society (1947), 3. Indian Sadhus (1953), 4.
Bharatnatyam and Its Costume (1958), 5. Family and Kin in Indo-European Culture (1955, 1961),
6. Cities and Civilization (1962), 7. Gods and Men (1962), 8. Anatomy of a Rural-Urban
Community (1962), 9. Scheduled Tribes (first published as The Aborigines So-called and their
Future) (1943, 1959, 1963), 10. Religious Consciousness (1965), 11. Indian Costume (1966), 12.
Social Tensions in India (1968), 13. I and Other Explorations (1973), 14. Whither India (1974), 15.
Indian Acculturation (1977), 16. Vedic India (1979) & 17. Bringing Cauldron of North East India
(1980).
 Prof. MN Srinivas:

Marriage and Family in Mysore (1942). Religion and Society Among the Coorgs (1952), Caste in
Modern India and other essays (1962), The Remembered Village (1976, reissued by OUP in 2013),
Indian Society through Personal Writings (1998) Village, Caste, Gender and Method (1998). Social
Change in Modern India(1966), The Dominant Caste and Other Essays (ed.)(1986) & Dimensions
of Social Change in India(1977)

**
strategic themes identified in the National Population Policy 2000,

1. Decentralised planning and programme implementation based on the 73rd and 74th
Amendments
2. Convergence of Service Delivery at Village Levels
3. Empowering Women for Improved Health and Nutrition
4. Child Health and Survival
5. Meeting the Unmet Needs for Family Welfare Services
6. Under-Served Population Groups
7. Diverse Health Care Providers
8. Collaboration With and Commitments from Non-Government Organisations and the Private
Sector
9. Mainstreaming Indian Systems of Medicine and Homeopathy
10. Contraceptive Technology and Research on Reproductive and Child Health
11. Providing for the Older Population
12. Information, Education, and Communication

Ref: National Population Policy 2000 Document

**

Purity & Pollution – Dumont

Contribution by Louis Dumont, a French Sociologist

Major contribution to the understanding caste system in India – spent years in Tamil Nadu - village
studies →

Dumont has developed a general theory, an "ideal type", of the traditional Hindu caste system.

- Though he used ethnographic material (field-work based accounts of the way caste system is
practiced) in support of his arguments, his main sources were Indological, the classical Hindu
texts.
- He approached the Hindu caste system form a structuralist perspective that focused on the
underlying structure of ideas of a given system – emphasizing the uniqueness of the caste
system to Hindu social organization, and not likened comparing it with the western system
(say feudal etc) .
- He suggests that the Hindu caste system needed to be look-at as a system that was an opposite
of the West. While the West was a modem society based on individualism, India was a
traditional society. The social structures of traditional societies functioned on very different
principles and could be understood only in "totality". It was only through this framework of
"totality" or "holism" that a proper theory of caste could be developed.
- This is wherein he differentiates between the modern and traditional societies → with
traditional societies in general, were not bothered with maintaining equality of status among
individuals, and were concerned with h maintaining social differences and inequalities → The
ideal of "totality" was more valued in a traditional society than that of the "individual".

- Caste. Dumont argues, was above all an ideology, 'a system of ideas, beliefs and values'. It
was in the ideological aspect of the caste system that one should look for the essential
structure of the Hindu society.
- It was only via ideology that the essence of castes could be grasped and true principle behind
the system could be known.

Essential components of the ideology: Hierarchy → "The castes", teach us a fundamental social
principle, hierarchy.”
- Hierarchy was the essence of caste. Hierarchy was not merely another name for inequality or
an extreme form of social stratification, but a totally different principle of social organization.
- His notion of hierarchy was almost the same as that of Bougle (as discussed previously) who
has explained caste by referring to three principles, viz., hierarchy, occupational
specialization and mutual repulsion.
- Dumont argues that for a proper theoretical explanation of the system, it was important to
identify one common element, a single true principle’, to which the three features of the caste
 system as suggested by Bougle could be reduced. It was only then, that we would be able to
uncover the structure of caste system. Such a principle, Dumont suggests, was ‘opposition of
the pure and the impure‘.
- Hierarchy, defined as superiority of the pure over the impure, was the keystone in Dumont's
model of caste system. He points out that this opposition underlines the hierarchy, which is
the superiority of the pure to the impure, underlines the separation because the pure and the
impure must be kept separate, and further underlines the division of labor as pure and impure
occupations must likewise be kept separate. The whole is founded on the necessary and
hierarchical co-existence of the opposites.
- Caste. Dumont argues, was above all an ideology, 'a system of ideas, beliefs and values'. It
was in the ideological aspect of the caste system that one should look for the essential
structure of the Hindu society.
- It was only via ideology that the essence of castes could be grasped and true principle behind
the system could be known.
- Essential components of the ideology: Hierarchy → "The castes", teach us a fundamental
social principle, hierarchy.”
- Hierarchy was the essence of caste. Hierarchy was not merely another name for inequality or
an extreme form of social stratification, but a totally different principle of social organization.
- His notion of hierarchy was almost the same as that of Bougle (as discussed previously) who
has explained caste by referring to three principles, viz., hierarchy, occupational
specialization and mutual repulsion.
- Dumont argues that for a proper theoretical explanation of the system, it was important to
identify one common element, a single true principle’, to which the three features of the caste
system as suggested by Bougle could be reduced. It was only then, that we would be able to
uncover the structure of caste system. Such a principle, Dumont suggests, was ‘opposition of
the pure and the impure’.
- Hierarchy, defined as superiority of the pure over the impure, was the keystone in Dumont's
model of caste system. He points out that this opposition underlines the hierarchy, which is
the superiority of the pure to the impure, underlines the separation because the pure and the
impure must be kept separate, and further underlines the division of labor as pure and impure
occupations must likewise be kept separate. The whole is founded on the necessary and
hierarchical co-existence of the opposites.

**

6 FEATURES OF Caste – by GS Ghurye

 1. Segmental division of society:

- Membership is not voluntary, but by birth, and the status is dependent on the traditional
importance of the caste, not by wealth. Irrespective of the occupation pursued, the caste
remained the same, thus the social status. For ex: A Brahmin and a Maratha General in the
Army → equal status in the army, but belong to two different caste groups in the society and
there could not be any social intercourse between them on equal terms.

- Yet another aspect is most castes having their own standing councils, like a governing body
called panchayat, dealing directly with some offences.

- So, segmental division → also connotes punishments that these councils award, such as (a)
out-casting, temporary or permanent, (b) fines, (c() feats to be given to the castemen, (d)
corporal punishment, and (e) sometimes religious expiation → caste is its own ruler.

- Castes having their own deities (for ex: Brahmins in the south do not indulge in worship of
grama devata, to which the aboriginal population almost exclusively bows down.

- Customs about marriage and death vary widely amongst the castes → castes are small and
complete social worlds in themselves marked off definitely from one another, through
subsisting within the larger society.

2. Hierarchy
- Variation in the degree of status.

- Across India, there is a definite scheme of social precedence amongst the castes, with the
Brahmin as the head of the Hierarchy.

For ex: in South India, the Kammalan (artisan) caste disputed the supremacy of the Brahmins and that
they held themselves as equal to the Brahmins (noted by John Fryer, during his travels to India –
1670).
- Excepting on the extremes, members of a large proportion of intermediate castes think or
profess to think they their caste is better than their neighbors should be ranked accordingly.

3. Restrictions on Feeding and Social Intercourse

- Minute rules as to what sort of food or drink can be accepted by a person and from what
castes→ but there is a great diversity in this matter.

- - The practices in the matter of food and social intercourse divide India into two broad belts
→

4. Civil and Religious Disabilities and Privileges of the Different Sections

5. Lack of Choice of Occupation
6. Restrictions on Marriage

**

**

SC Dube on Indian Village: Setting & Economic Obligatons – 4 types

Setting:
- 25 miles away from the twin cities of Hyd and Sec – culturally, lies in Telangana – Deccan
plateau – located on the Hyd-Karimnagar highway – part black and part red soil- cultivation
of rice, millet, castor and other oil-seeds, pulses and tobacco

- 2494 people as per 1951 census – inclusive of two neighbouring hamlets Babuguda and
Upparapalli – with a total of 508 houses

- Hindus (Clean Castes – 1434, Untouchables or SCs – 680) & Muslims (340)

- Telugu as predominant language – however, dialect is a bit rustic and countryside, with Urdu
spoken by 340 persons – Urdu was erstwhile official language of the Hyderabad State.

- Hindus classified under 3 broad divisions – cultivators, occupational castes with traditional
castes and professions and the depressed castes

- Cultivators – Reddi and Muttarasi and their subdivisions – these groups are often referred to
as kapu or agricultural castes – majority of them are into tilling land – some might have taken
occupations in the urban areas

- Occupational castes – Brahmins (priests), Komti (traders), kummari (potters), golla

(shepherds), five sections of pancha brahma which include wadla (carpenters), kammari
(blacksmiths), ausula (goldsmiths), kase (workers in bell-metal), kanchari (sculptors), and
many other castes that include sale (weavers), gaondha (toddy-toppers), saakali (washerman),
mangali (barber) – with all traditional occupations – also, included are vaddar (stone-
breakers), erkala (hunters and basket makers)
 - Two untouchables depressed casters – Mala and Madiga – malas consider themselves
superior to madigas. It is extremely important to note that the Govt of India banned
untouchability and discrimination in any form is strictly punishable by law.

Key observations from the Economic Structure:

a. The occupations and functions of the different castes are not wholly exclusive, but the
economic system of rural India is founded mainly on their functional specialization and
interdependence.

b. Tradition has given to each group a definite position in the structure of the community, and
with that position also goes a definite economic function which is the major source of
livelihood for that group.

c. Important: As agriculture is the mainstay of the rural economy of India, the crafts and
occupations of the country-side are generally integrated with it.

d. Most of the castes have a major craft or occupation which is their traditional monopoly.
Besides this they are free to exploit certain other subsidiary sources of livelihood also.

Four major types of economic dealings:

a. Obligations to render to the agriculturists occupational services having a direct bearing on

their agricultural activities. No immediate payment is expected for services of this kind. Ex:
Ploughs and other implements repaired by the carpenter → twice a year, the carpenter is given
a share of the harvest – usually decided based on the size of the holding and the volume of
implements.

b. Obligations to render some occupational services, to the agriculturists as well as to many non-
agriculturists, having a bearing on their socio-religious life. Castes such as a potter, madiga,
barber, washermen, have definite functions in the rites and ceremonies connected with the
major crises of life. These are performed as a matter of routine, without any direct
negotiations regarding the wages that they may expect in return for their services →
convention has fixed some minimum payment → or depending on the capacity of the family,
paid during the ceremony itself.

c. c. Obligations to render some occupational services to other occupational castes in return for
their traditional services → a barber will tend to grooming of hair for the weaver’s family →
no cash payment → weaver’s family gives him few yards of cloth and possibly a saree or two
for his wife.
 d. d. Occupational services rendered with an expectation of cash payment in return for the work.

Important: Not very easy to remove the services provided by a member of an occupational caste and
look for substitution.