...SIR Changing dynamics of Caste In Indian Politics The word ‘CASTE’ is derived from Spanish word ‘CASTA’ which means , ‘breed or lineage or race’. It was first applied by the Portugues to the particular Indian Institutions known by the name of ‘Jati’. CASTE is a ‘state of mind’, ( Ambedkar, 1936 : 33) In 1955, M N Srinivas presented a paper, ‘Castes: Can They Exist in the India of Tomorrow?’, at a national seminar on “Casteism and Removal of Untouchabilty” in Delhi, attended, among others, by such distinguished persons as S. Radhakrishnan, Jagjivan Ram, Govind Ballabh Pant V .Rao, Kaka Kalelkar and Irawati Karve. The paper was published in the seminar report as well as in the Economic weeky , under the title, ‘An Obituary on Caste as a System’. Srinivas expanded this title into a sentence, “While caste as a system is dead, individual castes are flourishing” (Srinivas ,1962 : 51) M.N.Srinivas defines ‘caste’ as a hereditary usually localised group, having a traditional association with an occupational group and a particular position in the local hierarchy. (ibid : 52) Colonial Understanding Of Caste The Colonial rulers understood caste as a feature of Hindu Religion. It is through the Colonial census that ethnographic details and theories of caste evolved. According to this understanding , Caste derives it’s legitimacy from the ‘ four-fold verna hierarchy’ found in Manusmriti. (Jones,1796:103) The Verna System divides society into 4 groups: 1 BRAHMIN...
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...“Caste is not mere a symbolic issue, it is a deep structural issue” T N Ayshvarya Despite the efforts of leaders like Periyar, Ambedkar, the c-word caste is never likely to get a closure. You can chop down the trees, but how do you remove its roots? India and caste are inseparably linked, putting unity up in the air. India is a place not only known for her culture but also for the complex social structure. The basic element of social structure is ‘caste’. According to definition, caste is just a social stratification. But, beyond definitions, caste is the phenomenon by which people identify themselves with, in India. This indeed became a tool for caste politics in India. “India is heterogeneous is nature. Democratically if you see, we are...
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...PAPER 28 THE HISTORY OF THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT FROM THE LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY TO THE PRESENT DAY READING LIST: 2012-13 C. A. Bayly cab1002@cam.ac.uk 1 The History of The Indian Subcontinent From The Late Eighteenth Century To The Present Day A fifth of the world's population lives in the Indian subcontinent. While today the region’s place in the global world order is widely recognised, this is in fact only the most recent chapter in a longer history. This paper offers an understanding of the part played by the Indian subcontinent role and its people in the making of the modern world. From the decline of the great empire of the Mughals and the rise of British hegemony, to the rise of nationalism, the coming of independence and partition, the consolidation of new nation states despite regional wars and conflicts, and the emergence of India as the largest democracy in the world, this paper is a comprehensive and analytical survey of the subcontinent's modern history. The dynamic and complex relationships between changing forms of political power and religious identities, economic transformations, and social and cultural change are studied in the period from 1757 to 2007. In normal circumstances students will be given 6 supervisions in groups of 1 or 2. Key themes and brief overview: The paper begins by examining the rise of British power in the context of economic developments indigenous to southern Asia; it analyses the role played by Indian polities and social groups...
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...HM 327: CULTURE. POLITICS, IDENTITY Dr. Madhumita Mazumdar Final Project Report Gujjar – Meena Reservation Conflict Ganpat Meena 201001006 In recent times, identity issues have had a significant influence on how conflicts arise and escalate. Identity issues are those in which collective identities such as those based on language, religion, sect, caste and tribe, assume preeminence.Identity issues are not unique to India, they are a worldwide phenomenon although they prevail in a particularly intense form in today’s India where communities based on language, religion, sect, caste and tribe have strengthened their identities. Conflicts based on such identity issues often lead to violence. A recent example is the increasing conflict generated by sections of society wanting to be counted as tribes, as evident in the agitation by the Gujjar community and its opposition by the Meena community in Rajasthan. Ideally, such issues should be adjudicated by the institutional mechanisms provided for the purpose such as the National commissions for Scheduled castes, Scheduled Tribes and the backward classes and the decisions of these commissions should be final and accepted by all concerned. Gujjar or Gurjars — a farming and trading community — are classified by the government as an "Other Backward Class". They are part of the caste system that does not face as much exclusion or discrimination in society. The Gurjar community feels...
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...Politics of Coalition in India Politics of coalition has become the ultimate truth of Indian politics these days. No doubt, a coalition gives the chance and pleasure of running a government, but in the course of time, temporal friendships, deceit and blackmailing turn out to be the cause of brutal termination of a coalition government. In most of the cases, a coalition is a principle less, irresponsible and unaccountable alliance of some power-seeking individuals. We have the very current example of Karnataka where the BJP got deceived in a game of ridiculous political farce. The Indian society is divided into different religions, castes, sects and regional mindsets. Principle-based politics has become a deed on papers only and what are more visible nowadays are parties of castes and castes of parties. There are regional parties having special zones for them. We find regional barons and country heads of various castes. These small and regional groups never hesitate to unabashedly indulge in the act of blackmailing for their own purpose. There is no discussion on the burring and relevant topics of national interest. Agriculture, employment, economic policies, education, public welfare, etc. are out of their agenda. These coalitions have become a severe headache for our nation. The pertinent question arise here :what these characterless coalitions have to offer to our nation? The answer is not hidden from the known fact that these coalitions could not become a medium of...
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...therefore cannot interact with other members of their society, for fear of the pollution they would spread. In both India and Japan, there has been action against untouchability, yet there is still widespread discrimination of these people because of cultural ideals, the impure history attached to them and the traditional occupations that they are associated with. While the abolishment of caste discrimination in India in 1950 and the Buraka Liberation League in Japan has improved the lives of many people within these communities, there is still a great level of discrimination against the Indian untouchables, the Dalits, and Japanese untouchable population, the Burakumin. A Dalit is a member of the lowest rank in the Hindu caste system and Indian society. The term, Dalit, translates to “oppressed” or “broken”, signifying that members of the Dalit caste are immediately labelled as inferior to the rest of Indian society. In India today, Dalits make up 16.2% of its population, that number being approximately 166 million, which conveys the large spread of Dalits across the Indian population. The traditional Dalit position in Hindu society is one of great inequality in terms of their economic, social, political, and cultural rights. The Hindu caste system is relatively based on purity, and henceforth those that are outside of this caste system are considered impure. The Dalits are untouchable for this very reason of being below the caste system, which means that a Dalit must perform...
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...facts about these two places, especially their history and geography, society and culture, economy and politics. Roy grew up in Kerala, where her mother’s family had a home in the village of Aymanam, located on the outskirts of the town of Kottayam, on the other side of the River Minachil. Most of the action of The God of Small Things takes place in a village called “Ayemenem,” set near a river called “Meenachal.” Roy’s fictionalized village and river strongly resemble the real-life Aymanam and Minachil, and her narrative contains numerous references to the actual landscape of south-central Kerala, its people and their common customs, their music and dance, their religions and social organization, and their economic and political activities. The narrative also mixes its fictional elements with factual elements on a larger scale. Some of the novel’s “imaginary” episodes occur in the real town of Kottayam (about 2 miles from Ayemenem/ Aymanam, across the river) and in the historic port-city of Cochin (now Kochi, about 50 miles away to the northwest). The novel’s political discussion frequently blends fictional characters and organizations with real politicians and political parties: Comrade Pillai, for example, is an invented figure, but E.M.S. Namboodripad, the Communist Party, and the Congress Party are historical entities. The mixture of fictional and factual elements in The God of Small Things has led many Indian readers to interpret it as a “semi-autobiographical” novel. But attempts...
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...Organizations of Nayar of India The Nayar, are a group of Indian castes, described as not a unitary group but a named category of castes. The Nayar caste of Kerala in southwestern India has for over 100 years served as a source of paradigm and paradox (Moore, 1985). They are a power caste society that lives in extended matrilineal family groups. Hinduism is the main religion of these people and that combined with their social and economic structure make for an interesting combination of kinship, gender relations, beliefs, and values. The Nayar of India is an ethnographic and folk-culture society. The people are a complex, interesting, large and power cast society that live in extended matrilineal family groups. Hinduism is the main religion of these people and that combined with their social and economic structure make for an interesting combination of kinship, gender relations, beliefs, and values. This paper will discuss the fascinating aspects of this culture focusing on their kinship, gender relations, and their beliefs and values. The Nayars ought to be 'typical' of South Asia as any other group. As a populous caste of cultivators, warriors and sometimes rulers, they are far from being peripheral to the larger Hindu community of which they are a part, and can even be accorded the status of a dominant caste (Moore, 1985). History of Nayars Nayar also known as Nair is a name of one of the Hindu castes from the Indian state of Kerala, located on the coast of South-West India...
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...special article caste in the 21st century: From system to elements A M Shah The argument that while caste as a system is more or less dead, individual castes are flourishing is widely accepted. However, the notion of “caste as a system” is derived mainly from studies of the rural rather than the urban community. In this article, individual caste is seen in the context of both rural and urban communities and its several aspects, particularly the rule of endogamy as its defining criterion, are analysed at some length and some implications of the analysis are pointed out. n 1955, M N Srinivas presented a paper, ‘Castes: Can They Exist in the India of Tomorrow?’, at a national seminar on “Casteism and Removal of Untouchabilty” in Delhi, attended, among others, by such distinguished persons as S Radhakrishnan, Jagjivan Ram, Govind Ballabh Pant, V K R V Rao, Kaka Kalelkar and Irawati Karve. The paper was published in the seminar report as well as in the Economic Weekly (1955). After a lifetime of scholarship on caste, in 1999, the last year of his life, Srinivas delivered a lecture under different titles in Bangalore, Delhi and Kolkata, on the passing away of caste as a system. It was published posthumously in 2003 in the Economic and Political Weekly under the title, ‘An Obituary on Caste as a System’. Srinivas expanded this title into a sentence, “While caste as a system is dead, individual castes are flourishing” (ibid: 459). He made this statement almost at the end of...
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...for over six decades. In this time it has achieved some remarkable successes but also failed in significant ways. While economic growth has been rapid over recent decades, this has not translated into greater welfare for the majority of the Indian population. Despite being severely critical of its politicians, the electorate however remains enthusiastic in its political participation, especially at elections. In 1947, when India gained her independence from colonial rule, the choice of parliamentary democracy and a universal franchise for such a poor, vast and largely illiterate nation was considered foolhardy by many observers, at home and abroad. Nevertheless the first general election was held with great rigour, enthusiasm and success in 1952. In the meantime, a Constitution reflecting the political and ideological goals of the new nation had been adopted. It was authored by the Constituent Assembly made up of 299 members who represented the enormous class, religious and linguistic diversity of India’s population and who after much debate and deliberation set out the framework for India’s future as a republic and parliamentary democracy. Enshrined within it were the principles of the separation of powers, a universal Indian citizen with constitutional rights, equality before the law, the separation of civil and military powers, and the necessity for political competition. The press remains as free as any in the world and contributes to a lively and highly contested...
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...MERITS AND DEMERITS OF CASTE SYSTEM Merits of caste system: In spite of various demerits, caste system in India has been proved to be a stabilizing and interacting force. It cannot be denied that since its origin it has served the development and preservation of Hindu community. According to K.M. Panikkar, “The Hindu people constitute one of the oldest integrated societies of the world. For over two thousand five hundred years the Hindu have been a people. They had, broadly speaking, an organized social system the main characteristic of which were the same from Himalayas to Cape Comorin, No doubt the Dharma Shastras and the Griha Sutras which embody these principles applied only to certain dominant classes and beneath them were many communities professing a wide variety of customs and practices. And yet it is one of the miracles of history that loosely knit though it was, Hindu society has survived over two and half millions and remains today an active and vigorous society ready to make its place, in the world. Some of the principal merits of Indian caste system are mentioned as below: Harmonious Division of Society: Classification of society is indispensable in every country. In ancient India such classification existed in a perfect form. The whole society was divided into four classes namely. Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishayas and Sudras. These classes were not rigid and closed. No one was Brahmin by blood nor was any one Sudra by birth. Everyone was free to attain the...
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...Panikkar, “Casteism is the loyalty to the sub caste translated into political. This is unavoidable as long as the conception of sub-caste exists, for that is the one permanent loyalty that the Hindu has inherited. In fact, no organisation of society on the basis of equality is possible so long as the sub- caste exists.” According to D.N. Prasad, “Casteism is a loyalty to the caste translated into politics. In general, Casteism may be defined as a phenomenon by virtue of which persons belonging to a certain caste group are either discriminated against or shown favour regardless of their merits and demerits, just on the basis of their caste. Casteism exhibits a number of characteristics. They are as follows: 1. Casteism signifies blind caste or sub-caste loyalty. It either ignores or does not care for the interests of other castes. 2. For a casteist “My caste man and my caste only, right or wrong” is the principle. 3. Casteism goes against the spirit of democracy. 4. It submits one’s sense of justice, fair play and humanity to the interest of his own caste. 5. It is against the lofty ideal of the constitution. 6. Casteism is a big hurdle in the way of nation-building and national integration. 7. Casteism creates caste solidarity to the extent that: (a) one caste seeks to dominate over others, (b) higher castes exploit the lower castes, (c) elections are contested and won on caste basis, and (d) inter-caste conflicts increase in society. 8. Casteism is essentially a rural phenomenon...
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...Hindu Practices and Rituals Hindus prescribe to certain traditional practices in accomplishing the basic goals of their faith. The basic spiritual ideal is to be unworldly but some worldly goals are also respected. These values are kama (pleasure), artha (power and security), and dharma (religious and social duty). Hindus consider Moksha the highest goal. Moksha is liberation or complete freedom. Yoga is a technique, which Hindus use to accomplish these goals. Yoga is a method or path oriented to the work of a person’s place in society or the work required by his or her caste. These differing paths have created different forms of Yoga. One type of yoga is Jnana Yoga (wisdom yoga) acquired by studying Hindu doctrine and teachings from the enlightened. Karma Yoga (right action yoga) is based on the idea that all purposeful work is done selflessly as a path to perfection. Bhakti Yoga (love and devotion yoga) involves loving devotion to saints or gods. Also, Raja Yoga (meditation yoga) is practiced by inward thought, sitting quietly, and calming one’s thoughts (Molloy 2010). This method conducted regularly in short periods brings peace and lessens stress; practiced for longer durations, it can initiate new states of awareness. Hindus in their practice of worship seek awareness of God. This can involve pursuing a Deva’s blessing. Worship can either be done at home by creating a shrine with various icons of gods of their choosing or in a temple where there is usually one main...
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...Religious Politics in India There are one billion people in India, the second most populous country in the world. This means every sixth person in the world is an Indian. About 450 million Indians live below the poverty line. Suppression of religious minorities and its nuclear blasts have made India visible to the world. One of the messages that India sent to the world was that it needs to be reckoned with. The Hindu nationalist leadership on the whole sent this message. While each country needs dignity before others, many ask why such a poverty-ridden country should invest massive amounts in nuclear devices and why it persecutes a Christian religious minority that has made bold attempts to empower the poor of India. Religious Landscape in India Of the one billion people in India, 85 percent are Hindus, 10 percent Muslims, and 2.5 percent Christians. The rest belong to other religious minorities: Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsees and other groups. Though the decennial census classifies 85 percent as Hindus, there is no positive definition of what Hinduism is. Negatively, whoever does not belong to any of the other religious minorities is taken to be a Hindu. British discourse shaped the terminology used in reference to Hinduism. The British in India began by asking the Indians: "Our religion is called Christianity, what is yours?" It was then decided to call India’s religion Hinduism. The British asked, "We have the Bible as our scripture, what is your scripture?" It was...
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...Religions and Politics (Prof. Mondonga M. Mokoli, Ph.D.) According to the scientific theory of evolution, life on Earth evolved naturally over time. Evolutionary theory was proposed by Charles Darwin in the 19th century and it was affirmed by the 20th century biologists and geneticists. Thus, this theory has achieved scientific consensus as the origin of human humankind. In contrast, supporters of intelligent design believe that all life on the Earth was created deliberately. Intelligent design theory proposes that the overwhelming complexity of the universe suggests a rational, omnipotent designer, be it God, an alien, or some other source. Thus, intelligent design theory was developed as an alternative not only to Darwin’s evolutionism but also to religious creationism which argues that God is the only creator of life, universe and their contents. The Purpose of this Chapter • Our purpose in this chapter is not to show the truth or falsehood of any of these perspectives nor the doctrines of any particular faith. Rather, it is: - To describe the nature of religion and the general character of certain major religions of the past and the present; - To give some attention to the role that religion has played in the development of human societies, that is; o not only to integrate and stabilize them but also, o at times, to create conflicts; - To consider the present-day influence of social change on religion and, - conversely, the influence of religion...
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