Caste and Class: An Interlinked View

Author(s): Ajit Roy

Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 14, No. 7/8, Annual Number: Class and Caste in
India (Feb., 1979), pp. 297-299+301+303-304+306-307+309+311-312
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly
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 Caste and Class: An InterJinked View
Ajit Roy

In the face of growing attempts to substitute the concept of caste for that of class in the revolu-
tionary strategy for India, this paper, unabashedly, seeks to uphold the essence of the traditional strategy of
the histortical communist movemlent in India.
First, contrary to the widespread view that the caste is a uniquely Indian phenomenon, the origin of
varna is shown as basically a formzof class differentiation.
Seconidly, caste, with many significant variations no doubt, is traced in the social developments in
other parts of the world.
Thirdly, the historical attempts made by Gandhi, Ambedkar and Lohia to solve the caste problem
are briefly examined and their limitations revealed.
Next, the spontaneous movements within the caste-class dichotomy in India are briefly studied.
Finally, the class essence of the presently accentuated caste tensions is brought out.
CASTE, or more precisely, varna, for hvrmn'sclaim to Rigvedic origin; they The fact that the Kshatriya had been
which the fortner,a Portuguese synonym, believe it to be a later interpolation. differentiated as a separate warrior
has come into wide use in compara- According to one opinion, "the stratum signified the advance of the
tively recent years, has been an invari- emergence of a distinct class structure" process of dissolution of the primitive-
able dirnension of the social evolution among the Aryans coincided with the communal system, in which wars -
in India during the last 3,500 vears. formation of the four varnas or what 1)oth defensive as well as offensive-
While the general connotation of the we have now come to identify as castes. were the common responsibility of all
concept -i-as a hierarchical stratifica- "The earlier division into three social the able-bodied members of the clan.
tion of society- has remained unchang- groups or varnas represented division This separation representing the crea-
ecd, the specifics of the varna order of labour and division of social product tion of a coercive force distinct from
have undergone a few changes, along and not division into classes. The first the collective as a whole signified a
with changes in the socio-economic class-caste division occurred between the class division; the monopoly of the
environmnent. Aryans and the dasas wvhowere major coercive powers in the hands of the
Contrary to. the naive view that the local enemies of the Aryans. New rela- upper stratum in tuirn contributed to
four-fold v1arnadivision, along with the tions of production were introduced a further consolidation of the division.
accompanying residue of 'outcaste', was when the conquered dasas were trans-
Division of labour simultaneously
a readymade scheme of social order, of formed into a servile class and made
representing division of social product
(livine or semi-divine origin, and that the helots or servants of the tribe as
is nothing b)ut a class division,
it has been an inseparable component a whole. The dasas who were absorbed
because the division of labour im-
of the so-called Hindu dharma, most into the Aryan fold as the shudra caste,
plies the possibility, nay the fact that
vedic scholars are in agreement that became the main producers of the so- i ntellectual and material activity
the concept of Varna had undergone cial surpltis. "3 enljoyment and labour, production and
changes even in the vedic phase of It is true that that the first class consumption -devolve on different
indl.vidluals...
history itself. division on the world scale was the
With the division of labour, in
The earliest of the vedas, the Rig- dlivision between master and slave, thb which all these contradictions are
veda, uses the term varna to distin- latter procured from captives of alien implicit, which in its turn is based
guiish the Arya varrna from the dasa tribes. It is also true that the pre- on the natural division in the familv
Varna. Varna means colour and "it was Aryan tribes absorbed into the Aryan andl the separation of society into
in this sease that the word seems to fol0( as helots were turned into the individuial families opposed to one
another, is given simultaneously the
have been employed in contrasting the 'base of the social pyramid and de-
distribution, and indeed the unequal
Arya and the dasa, referring to their signated as the fourth, Shudra, varna. distributionf, both quantitative and
fair and dark colours respectivelv."' Butt the intra-Aryan division among the (uialitative, of labour and its pro-
During the Rigvedic phase itself, the three original varnas was itself a class (ducts, hence property....5
Aryan community had started splitting division, prior to the absorption of the The differentiation betveen the Brah-
into classes. The Rigveda frequently pre-Aryans. The Vis or the Vaisya of mana and the Kshatriya represented a
mentions three strata among the Aryans: the original three-fold varna division division of mental and material labour
Brahma, Kshatra and Vis, the first be- formed the pedestal of the Aryan so- within the ruling class, "so that within
ing the priestly literati, the second, the cietv till the assimilation of the non- this class one part appears as the
warriors and the last comprising the Aryan tribes in the form of the Shu- thinkers of the class (its active, con-
common people. "It is only in one of dras. "The Aitaraya Brahrmanadescribes ceptive ideologists, wN,homake the per-
the later hymns, the celebrated Pur- him [the Vaisva] as tributary to ano- fecting of the illusion of the class
ushasukta, that a reference has been ther" and "to be suppressed at will..."' about itself their chief source of liveli-
made to four orders of society as Indeed, the formation of the three hood), while the others' attitude to
emanating from the sacrifice of the original varn?lassignified the separation) these ideas and illusions is more pas-
Primeval Being. The names of these of the manual and mental labour. The sive and receptive, because they are in
four orders are given there as Brah- Vis or the Vaisyas weve condemned to reality the active members of this class
mana, Rajanya, Vaisya and Sudra..."2 manual labour in order to create and and have less time to make utp illusions
Some scholars have, however, expressed yield surplus produce for the mainten- and ideas about themselves. Within this
doubt about the authenticity of this ance of the two higher varnas. class this cleavage can even develop

297

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Annual Number February 1979 ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY

into a certain opposition and hostility in the hymns of the Rigveda, the two castes - masters and slaves -
betveen the two parts... "6 system of castes, as it is described, and that [a member of] the master
But on the whole it was, at least in for instance, in the Laws of Manu, [caste] can become a [member of]
the early phase, a functional division would have been a simple impos- the slave [caste] and vice versa?"
sibility... On the other hand, even To this Assalayana replied: "yes,
within the ruling class with opportu- during that early period, there must sir, I have heard that... 912
nity of horizontal mobility. Vedic have been a division of labour, and
scholars cite many instances of such hence we expect to find and do find The evidence of the Rigvedic texts
mobility in the early vedic phase. For in the gramas of the Five Nations, incdirectly proves the existence of a
one commentator says: wcarriors, sometimes called nobles, class division of the contemporaryAryan
example,
leaders, kings, counsellors, sometimes society although slavery or induction
Manv members of the ruling called priests, prophets, judges; and
famiiilies,finding court life unpleasant, work'ng men whether ploughers or of pre-Aryan clans as helots in th-
duie to succession disputes, intrigues builders or roadmakers. These three service of the Aryans was yet to emerge
anid revolutions, adopted [the] lucra- divisions we find clearly even in the as a significant phenomenon. Without
tive and influential occupation of early hymns of the Rigveda.10
priesthood. Ikshaku Mandhatri's a part of the society having been reli-
At a much later period, the varna
fourth and fifth descendants, Vishnu eved from the responsibility for mat-
division was further extended to in-
Vriddhas and Haritas, adopted erial production, those beautiful hymns
priesthood... WVhenNavaga's king- clude a fourth stratum-the Shudras. would never have been composed. Max
domiiwas destroyed, his fourth According to a source quoted earlier,
Muller pays a glowing tribute to "the
descendant, Rathithara became ... [a] Chudes, a mixed tribe of Austroloids
priest. Haihaya Vitihavya being ancient literature of India, the litera-
and Negroides, and whose settlements ture dominated by the Vedic and
defeated by Pratardhana of Kasi be- extended from Baltic Esthonia
came a ... priest. We owe the second through eastern slopes of Urals, Buddhistic religions" and says:
Mandala of Rigveda to his son... western spars of the Altai up to the
Kausika Gathina Visvaratlia became That literature opens to us a
western parts of Siberia, on the banks chapter in what has been called the
a priest when his Kanyakubja king- of Yenissi and whose ancient sites
dom was devastated by Haihaya Education of the Human Race, to
show that they were skilled in metal- which we can find no parallel any-
inroads, and he assumed the name of making, fruit-raising, irrigation-works
Visvamitra and founded a priestly wvhereelse. Whoever cares for the
and raising of swine, have been known historical growth of our language,
gotra of his own. The third Mandala as Shbudras... They were employe(d
of the Rigveda is mostly the compo- that is, of our thoughts whoever
not only for grazing the cattle, tilling cares for the first intelligible deve-
sition of the Visvamitras... Bhargava the soil, doing domestic work of
jamaldagni (a Brahmana) became a lopment of religion and mythology
warrior. HI-s son, Parasu Ram, was drtudgery, but also skilled in crafts however cares for the first founda-
a renowned fighter. Drona, an Angi- so that they might be useful to their tion of xwhat we in later times
rasa (one of the four original Brah- masters.1' call the sciences of astronomy, metro-
mania clans) was a teacher of the Besides the Chudes, even if one ac- pomv, grammar and etymology, who-
Pandavas in archery and he by his cepts the above theory, the Shudra over cares for the first intimations of
prowess acquired the South Panchala tarnia must have over the centuries philosophical thought, for the first
kingdom. Not only there were inter- attempt at regulating family life,
absorbed the impoverished Vaisyas, the village life, and state life; as founded
marriages between the Kshatriyas and
Brahmanas, but professions were mixed descents from early Aryans and on religion, ceremonial, tradition
a(lopted and interchanged as circum- the indigenous pre-Aryan tribes, and anid contract (samaya) - must pay
stances demanded. The social organ- other elements of pre-Aryan indigen- the same -attention to the literature
isation was in a fluidic condition.7 ous population absorbed in the lowest of the Vedic period as to the litera-
The two functions of the ruling class ture of Greece and Rome ancd
rung of the Aryan society. The original Germany.13
physical coercion and intellectual social divisions, based on divisions of
coercion - were indeed collateral in As to how this high intellectual
economic and political powers, buttres-
nature. There are many instances in achievement of the Vedic Aryans ha(d
sed by ethnic, particularly colour,
history when there two functions have been possible, Max Muller suggests two
differentiation over the centuries crys-
been performed by one and the same factors by way of explanation, one
tallised into rigid caste divisions.
stratum of the ruling class. For instance, psychological and the other geophysi-
The masses of the indigenous pre- cal. In India, he says, "we find the
in the opinion of Antonio Gramsci, "The
Prussian Junkers resemble a priestlv- Aryan population, particularly dark in Aryan man, whom we know in his
m.ilitary caste".8
complexion, who refused to be absorb- various characters, as Greek, Roman,
ed in the lowest rung of the Aryan German, Celt and Slav, in an entirely
Referring to the picture of the Aryan
life as revealed in the Rigveda, Max order, or vere refused absorption, after new character. Whereas in his migra-
the Aryans had consolidated their tion northward, his active and political
Muller says:
four-fold varna divisions, gradually energies are called out and brought to
We see the Aryan tribes taking
possession of the land and under the came to be regarded as 'untouchables', their highest perfection, we find the
guii(lance of such warlike gods as the outcastes or the fifth varna. other side of the human character, the
Indra and Martits, defending their Even after it had established its passive and meditative, carried to its
newxv home ag,ainst the assaults of the (lecisive sway and had even given rise
black-skinned aborigines as wvell as fullest growth in India"."
to a reaction against its rigidity, in tbc
against the inroads of later Aryan Further, "in the northem climates,
colonists. But the period of war soon form of Buddhism/Jainism, varnua divi-
sion had not, however, become fullv where life is and always must be a
camneto an end and when the great
mass of the people had once settled hereditaiy in all the Aryan settlements. struggle, and a hard struggle too ... the
down in their homesteads, the mili- In his dialogue with Assalayana, a European climate with long cold win-
tary and political duties seem to have Brabmana youth, came to argue with ters, in many places also the difficulties
been monopolised by what we call of cultivating the soil... We work till
a caste, that is a small aristocracv.9 Gotama Buddha, against the latter's
teachings on varna divisions, Gotama we can work no longer, our highest
In a note on the word 'caste', Max
is reported to have said: ideal of life is a fighting life". By con-
Muiller adds:
"Have you heard that in some of trast, in the East, particularly India,
During times of conquest and life is, or at all events was, not very
migration, such as represented to uas the adjacent districts there are only

2AR

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ECONOMIC AND POLITIGAL WEEKLY Annual Number February 1979

severe struggle, where climate was mild, Kshatriyas and Brahmanas, similarly mnainlyin the sharp ethnic differences
the soil fertile, where vegetable food also with the growth of productive between the fair-skinned Aryans who
in small quantities sufficed to keep body forces and consequent separation of formed the ruling elite and the jet-
in health and strength, where the handicrafts and agriculture, there came black aborigines of this subcontinent.
simplest hut or cave in a forest was all to develop functional differentiation When the Aryans realised that a point
the shelter required ... was it not, I among the practitioners of various crafts. has been reached in the process of
say, natural there, or if you like, was In the course of time and under the absorption of the dark-skinned pre-
it not intended there, that another side conditions prevailing, transmission of Aryans at the base of the social pyramid,
of human nature should be developed hereditary skill played an important beyond which, they could not hope to
-not the active, the combative and part in the maintenance and develop- retain even the already somewhat
acquisitive, but the passive, the medita- ment of crafts and services. Therefore, diluted purity of their race, they im-
tive and reflective?"15 the growth of sub-castes and their posed sharp and strict restrictions on
Max Muller certainly has a point petrifaction into hereditary formations mutual contacts between the Aryan so-
here. The mild climate and fertile soil followed as a matter of course. ciety and the pre-Aryan aborigines.
did play a significant part in the evolu- Over the centuries, as new crafts and The Iranian branch of the Aryans
tion of the early Vedic society in India. skills developed and new elements from had no such problems as they did not
They combined to enable a part of the the aboriginal clans became absorbed have to encounter a large mass of
society to produce the basic needs of within the wider social frame, dominat- dark-skinned population. The theory of
the whole community and thus free the ed by the Aryans, the number of sub- unclean jobs, willy-nilly performed by
other part to indulge in passive medita- castes wventon proliferating. And under the fifth varna, would hardly explain
tion and reflection. Because of these the over-powering influence of the the phenomenon of untouchability. In
two distinctive features of the Vedic Brahmanical ideology of hierarchical their primitive community, the Arvans
social order, these sub-castes became
habitat, namely, fewer needs and lighter themselves had to take care of the so-
on embroiled in struggles for relative
labour needed to meet them even called 'unclean' jobs. They "had their
the basis of quite primitive technology, superiority vis-a-vis the other, originally own medicine men as [well as] their
collateral, sub-castes.
extraction of surplus produce was own carpenters who made the chariots,
The practice of untouchability is a their own leather tanners who made
possible even before slavery in one or
much later development and its origin
another form had made its appearance leather for their war and domestic
is still somewhat a matter of specula-
in India. needs... [these jobs] required special
tion. Ghurye, for instance, offers the
The differences in geophysical en- training and technical knowledge.
following explanation of the origin of
vironments may have in course of a Every tribe had them and prized
this practice:
historical span contributed to a process themr".19
of psychological differentiation betxveen Special rights for higher classes The importance of the pigmentation
and disabilities on the lower ones
the northern and southern Aryans, but was almost a universal feature of of the skin as a factor governing the
there could hardly have any major class-society; and the Brahmanic accommodation of population groups
psychological divide between the two theory of four castes with their within the caste system is proved by
branches of the Aryans, so recently rights and disabilities does not call the fact that even after the varna order
parted. for any special explanation. Only had been rigidly established, there was
the practice of untouchability is
Moreover, the high level of medita- peculiar to the Hindu system. It will no difficulty for the established order
tion and reflection expressed in the have been clear from the history of in absorbing the fair-skinned fresh
Vedic literature was far from the uni- this factor of caste ... that the ideas arrivals through the north-west at a
of utntouchability and unapproach- relatively high rung of society.
versal level of the Vedic society. It ability arose out of the ideas of
was the reverse side of the intellectual ceremonial purity, first applied to the From this brief and admittedly
retardation of, originally, the Vaisya aboriginal Shudras in connection schematic sketch of the evolution of
commoners, and then the shudra labour- with the sacrificial ritual and ex- the varna/caste division of the Indian
e1s who were condemned to a life of panded and extended to other groups society, it should be clear that, Krsna's
hard physical labour and subsequently because of the theoretical impurity of
certain occupations.16 emphatic declaration in the Bhagvad-
debarred from access to superior This explanation is far from satis- geeta ("The four-caste division has been
knowledge. factory. First of all, untouchability is created by Me") notwithstanding, the
Finally, as Max Muller himself men- not so particularly an Indian pheno- phenomenon is a product of historical
tions, but without fully realising its menon. As Ghurye himself says else- evolution, conditioned by socio-econo-
significance, conscious attempts were where: "In Japan during her military mic-ethnic factors. Not only that the
made by the emerging power elite- age- twelfth century to the middle of Bhagvadgeeta is an ex poste rationalisa-
the passive meditators to perpetuate the nineteenth century AD - society tion of an existing soclal reality, but
this iniquitous social division by "at- was divided into five distinct groups... religion in general is so. Many enthu-
tempts at regulating family life, village The fifth class was formnedby two siastic crusaders against the obnoxious
life and state life, as founded on reli- groups called the Eta and Hinin, who caste system in India are unaware of
gion, ceremonial, tradition and contract". were the Pariahs and outcastes of the this real interrelation between the
Thus the varna division from its community".'7 Indian social evolution and the evolu-
original beginning in the Rigvedic Ancient Iran also had a four-fold tion of the Hindui religion. Further,
phase was essentially a reflection of social division and a very important ignorant of the fact that Marx had built
class differentiation, sustained by the place for the priests and rituals;'8 but up his world outlook, at least chrono-
ideological and political domination of this had not led to the practice of un- logically speaking, by first revealing
thLe ruling strata. touchability' and unapproachability. The his basic truth -of the derivation of
Just as the ruling class was functio- explanation of the emergence of this religion from the social reality- they
nally, differentiated into collateral obnoxious phenomenon probably lies accuse Marx of having 'failed Hindu
299

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ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY Annual Number Februar 1979

India'20 by failing to make 'caste' the forth the king alone could elevate a ments and regional/local struggles apart,
central key to the understanding of its person of non-noble birth to the closed India has seen since the twenties three
problems. This accusation is entirely ranks of the nobility. During the height major streams of national campaigns for
baseless as Marx had begun his social of the Middle Ages, kings made but spar- the eradication of caste iniquities in
enquiry on his finding that: ing use of this power."24 The "higher general and the curse of untouchability
Maubmnakesreligion, religion does c.lerical offices weie increasingly pre- in particular, led by Arnbedkar,Gandhi
not make man ... This state, this empted by the younger sons of the and Lohia, according to the chronologi-
society, produce religion, an inverted noble families until the upper ranks of
world vonyciou.sness, because they cal order of their initiation. Ambedkar
are an inverted world. Religion is the church hierarchy became almost started as the spokesman, of a particular
the general theory of that world, its closed to any but those of noble sub-caste, Mahar, in the erstwhile Bom-
encyclopaedic compendium, its logic blood".25 bay province, but later emerged as the
in a popular form, its spiritualistic Just as the Indian varna division was foremost leader of the 'untouchables'
p.:int d'honneur, its enthusiasm, its later sought to be sanctified with the
moral sanction, its solemn comple- of the whole country. 1His lifelong
ment, its universal source of consola- nmythabout the divine origin of the struggles against the caste oppression
tion, and justification...2' precise hierarchical order - that the were, however, constrained within the
Hence, by providing an insight into Brahmana,Kshatriya Vaisya and Shudra boundaries of constitutionalism on the
the process of the stratification of the were created out of the mouth, arm, one hand and religious reforms oni the
Indian society and the evolution of thigh and feet respectively of Brahma, other. The limits of the first dimension
religion as its superstructure, Marx's the Creater - so also was the medleval were reached when as the chairman of
writings help to understand and fight European hierarchy projected as a the Constitution drafting committee, he
caste divisions. divine dispensation. R H Tawney successfully piloted in the Constitutional
quotes a medieval theologist: "The Assembly the republican Constitution of
Church is divided in these three parts, the Independent India - a Constitu-
preachers,and defenders, and.. .labourers tioni which, true to the ideals of bour-
Just as Indian varna/caste divisions
...As she is our mother, so she is a geois democracy, proclaimed an end to
have for their essence the class stratifi-
body, and health of this body stancds all forms of formal inequalities among
cation of society, class differences else-
in this, that one part of her answer to Indian citizens28 (except for preferen-
where also under certain circumstances
another, after the same measure that tial treatment for the depressed sec-
have assumed features of caste distinc-
Jesus Christ has ordained it... Kindly tions of the population - a unique
tions.
man's hand helps his head, and his eye addition to the treasury of bourgeois
Not only had the ancient Egyptians
helps his foot, and his foot his dody... democratic ideals) and further provided
and Iranians and the medieval Japanese
and thus should it be in parts of the for legislation making the practice of
evolved well-developed caste orders,
Church... As diverse parts of man untouchability a criminal and cognisable
only did the Prussian Junkers reveal
served unkindly to man if one took the offence.
many caste-like traits, many other so-
service of another and left his own
cial formations also have displayed The other limiting dimension of his
proper work, so diverse part of the
features of castes: "castelike or quasi- Church approach persuaded him to part way
have proper works to serve
caste systems have occurred in various cod... "26 with Hinduism as a religion and to lead,
societies whenever social strata have shortly before his death in mid-1957, a
All this, however, is not to deny the
tended to evolve into closed, endogam- particularly mass conversion of the 'untouchables'
petrified character that the
ous groups'.22 to Buddhism at a ceremony in Nagpur
caste system cane to assume in India
Superficially viewed, the feudal divi- and the in October 1956.
most obnoxious nature of the
sion of medieval Europe closely res- practice of Although earlier Ambedkar had orga-
untouchability with few
embled the three-fold stratification of historical nised a Labour Party primarily with
parallels. While the roots of
the original Rigvedic varnas. "The the practice of his caste followers and modelled on the
untouchability have al-
nobility (counterpart of Kshatriya) was ready been touched upon, British Labour Party, and, just prior to
ri military aristocracy charged with the
the petrifac-
tion and the seeming unchangeability of his death, he evinced a certain interest
defence of the country and the exer- the caste regime have to be in establishing some sort of liaison with
traced in
cise of judicial power. The clergy the very long period of the Socialist Party led by Lohia, his
historical
(counterpart of Brahmana), an ecclesia- stagnation of the Indian society. entire outlook was firmly rooted in the
As
istical and intellectual elite not only Kosambi has rightly Westminster type of democracy. Lohia's
concluded:
ministered to the spiritual needs of the colleagues who acted as go-between in
population, but, as the literate stratum When the profound ignorance,
generally complete illiteracy, of the the negotiations with Ambedkar report-
in the early medieval period, also ed to Lohia: "He was very sympathe-
U1PBrahmins of the period (i e, late
performed important administrative 19th century) is taken into account, tic, cordial and eager to understand out
functions. The peasanitry's(the counter- this shows that the degenerate caste viewpoint in detail. He explained the
part of the early Vaisya) principal so- system had long outlived its useful- democratic practice in England, at some
cial obligation was to labour for the ness to society - even at the very
centre of Hindu sanctity, Banaras. length, of choosing a candidate, and it
support of the nobility and the clergy, seems is a very great believer in demo-
However, due to historical inertia,
who dominated the feudal oligarchy".23 the institution could be abolished only cracy".29 Lohia confirmed this aspect
Soon the two upper divisions deve- by fundamental alteration of the of Ambedkar'smental make-up when he
loped into closed groups with identical productive mechanism - industrial- wrote back: "With Dr Ambedkar, the
interests as lords lof huge landed estates isation. Transient economic pressure greatest difficulty has always been his
and with close family connections. could accomplish little.27
ideological affiliation with the Atlantic
"After the twelfth century, entrance in- camp. I do not think that this affilia-
to the nobility could be obtained only tion is anything but ideological... You
through heredity or royal grace: hentce- The explicitly religious reform move- might continue a little ideological dis-

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ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY Annual Nuimber February 1979

cussion with him through your common competition, a spirit of contentment because I have found in it no war-
friends." *would pervade society and there rant for uintotchabailityas we know
While Ambedkar's ilfelong efforts in- would he no struggle for existence.2 it to(lay.3
However, to do justice to Gandhi, it Gandhi sought to avoid any confronta-
cluding his part in the making of the
should be mentioned that his advocac) tion of the 'untouchables' with their
Constitution have made some important
of the continuation of the varna divi- oppressors on either economic or social
contributions towards bettering the lot issues. For their economic ameliora-
sions was based on the utopian expec-
of the 'untouchables', they have been
tion that all work would be regarded tion, be would depend on velfare
far from successful in liberating the
in equal esteem and would be equally measures undertaken by reformists; at
latter. His religious excursion, leading
rewarded. the social level he would depend on
him and his followers into the fold ot
Gandhi's approach was one of acco- the enlightened caste Hindus for slowly
Buddhism, has produced hardly better
mnodation, instead of challenge. This persuading the conservative majority to
results: indeed in so far as the eradica-
will be clear from the practice he eschew untouchability. To a corres-
tion of the inequality of the 'untoucha-
introduced in the Satyagraha Ashram, pondent who wanted to know if the
bles' is concerned, this has been as un-
about which he writes: Harijan labourers should be advised to
productive as the earlier conversions of
The Ashram does not believe in retaliate against harassment by the
the 'untouchables' to Christianity. subcastes. There are no restrictions lanidlords, Gandhi replied:
This was inevitable for two reasons: on interdining and all Ashramites sit No one can be compelled to slave
first, the superficial changes, represented to dinner in the same line. But no for another. Hence, those Harijans
by the legal-constituitional measures as propaganda in favour of interdining who are oppressed should learn to
well as the change of religion on the is carried on outside the Ashram, as quit the oppressors' lands. The ques-
it is unnecessary for the removal of tion naturally arises: Where should
part of the oppressed masses had no untouchability, which implies the
struicturalchanges in the bases of the they go after quitting these lands?
lifting of bans imposed on Harijans It is the dutv of a Ilarijan sevak to
social system as their counterpart; in public institutions and discarding find some work or other for such
second and more important, as long as the superstition that a man is pol- helpless Ilarijans.3 6
the wider fllindu society stuck to its luted by the touch of certain persons T-) another question: "Rathelrthan do
traditional moorings, the overwhelming by reason of their birth in a parti-
cular caste. This disability can also constructive work among Ilarijans,
impact of its massive presence would be removed by legislation. Interdin- will it not be better to create intense
successfuilly nullify the effects of any ing and intermarriage are reforms of dissatisfaction amongst them with their
superficial and/or peripheral changes. a different type which cannot be condition and thus promote such self-
Gandhi's commitment to the eradica- promoted bv leaislation or social help as they can generate among them-
tion of untouchability was total. A firm pressu-re. The Ashramites therefore selves? It is no use your trying to
feel free to take permitted food with
believer in the Hindu religion and hence everyone else but do not carry on convert the savarnas", Gandhi replied:
an ardent aspirant for moksha, from the anv such propaganda.33 The question betrays ignorance of
twenties onward, he "declared, times It will be be seen from the above the whole scope of the movement.
without number, from various public To create dissatifaction among the
that like Ambedkar, Gandhi also de- Harijans can bring no immetiate
platforms that it is the prayer of my pended substantially on legal-constitu- relief to them and can only perpetu-
heart that if I should fail to obtain tional, that is, superstructural changes ate a vicious division amongst Hindus
mrokshain this very birth, I might be for achieving the desired reforms in ... the movement is one of repentance
b)orna bhanlgi in my next. ... if there social practice. In other words, he had and reparation. Hence it is confined,
is a rebirth in store for me, I wish to on the one hand, to constructive
no consciousness about the need for work among Harijans, and, on the
be born a pariah in the midst of demolishing the social reality which other, to conversion of savrnas by
pan:ahs, because thereby I would be had given rise to and continued to persuasion, arguments and, above all,
able to render more effective service to sustain the obnoxious practice of un- by correct conduct on the part of
themand also be in a better position to touchability. This was the fundamental the reformers.37
plead with other communities on their limitation of his 'Harijan' campaign Gandhi was, it will be seen from the
b)ehalf".31 ever since he had launched on it after above, against any militant activism on
But as in other social spheres, Gandhi his fast in the Yervada jail in 1932. the part of the Harijans.
sought to achieve his objective in the His main weapon in combating this Religious reform movements, of
sphere of caste relations also without evil was his re-interpretation of the course, have played and can play
destroying, even seriously disturbing, Hindu scriptures. He wrote in Harijao. significant roles in bringing about
the existing order. He sought to I have, indeed, said that the verses historical progress under certain condi-
tackle his task through an idealised and produced by the Sanatanists in sup- tions. But they can do so only if they
utopian interpretation of the varna divi- port of untouchability as they de- reflect the urges and efforts, even if
sion. This shouldl be clear from the scribe it are whollv inconsistent with indirectly, for effecting the needed
following exposition of his views given the fundamental principles of Hindu-
ism. Therefore, under the canons of structural changes in society. Since
in 1932: interpretation laid down in the Gandhi left the entire question of
The varna system is ethical as well Shastras themselves, such verses must structural changes out of his terms of
as economic. It recognises the in- be repudiated as devoid of autho- reference, his ceaseless campaigns on
fluience of previous lives and of here- rity.34 behalf of the 'untouchables' for a
dity. All are not born with equal He made it clear repeatedly that vis-a-
powers and similar tendencies. Nei- quarter of century were hardly more
ther the parents nor the State cani vis the question of untouchability, his effective than, say, the efforts of mis-
measture the intelligence. But there aim was reforms within the framework sionaries to eradicate the evils of al-
would be no difficulty if each child of the Hindu religion. As he says: coholism or prostitution.
is prepared for the profession indi- ... have no doubt that, if Hindus That the 'Harijan'work was the least
cated by heredity, environment and cling to untouchability, Hinduism and
the influence of former lives; no time successful among Gandhi's multifarious
Hindus will be swept out of exist-
wvould b-e lost in fruitless experimen- ence. I cling to Hinduism because undertakings is proved by the fact that
tation, there would he no soul-killing it gives me all the solace I need, and none of the 113 contributions fromi the

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Annual Number February 1979 ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY

world and Indian statesmen and thinkers the objective reasons for it. He says: able aims of common and festival
to a volume38 brought out in his hon- Caste is presumably world's largest meals";
our - a tome of 459 pages - makes insurance for which one does not nay (iii) "demand the securing of sixty
any mention of this part of his activ- a formal or regular premium. The per cent of the leadership posts in
ities; only the editor of the volume, solidarity is always there, when every-
thing else fails. In fact, there are few government, political parties, business
S Radhakrishnan, devotes half a dozen occasions for other things being tried and armed services, by law or by con-
lines to this in his editorial introduc- ouit. Men julst tend to make friends vention, to the backward castes and
tion. within the caste, their family most groups ... taking care to see that one
certainly. Such a close solidarity at or two numerically powerful backward
Although he felt a measure of child-bearing, funeral obsequies, wed-
spiritual affinity with Gandhi, particu- dings and other rituals must neces- groups do not usurp the right of the
larly on the question of "non-violent, sarily have its consequences on other immensely more massive but splintered
peaceful means of propaganda, organ- aspects of life including the political. totality of the lower castes...";
isation and struggles", and later on It muist, in fact, influence and deter- (iv) not to "act electorally but may,
mine the mind and its basic thought. through appropriate decision and if
developed a lot of respect for Ambed- The political aspects are easily in-
kar, Lohia advanced the struiggle against fluenced. When a continual get-to- requisite strength is reached, affiliate...
untouchability considerably beyond the gether takes place on all majOr an(l with an existing political party of its
limits imposed by the two earlier ex- personal events of life, it must be choice or turn itself into one..."43
ponents of the struggle against this somewhat bizarre if political events The above programme was drawn uIp
took place outside that framework.
practice. As against Gandhi's advice When men are puzzled at a caste bv Lohia for the Association for Study
to the 'untouchables' to eschew active voting more or less alike, they be- and Destruiction of Caste some time in
resistance against caste oppressions and have as though they had come from 1960. In 'A Note on Caste', presented
his efforts to solve the problem within another planet.40 at the special conference of the Socia-
the framework of varna divisions, Even if one makes allowance for the list Party at Gorakhpurin June 1963-
Lohia advocated militant struggles by fact that with the progress of urbanisa- the note in which he claims that "The
the 'untouchables' themselves, though, tion and modernisation and the advance Socialist Party is the first political
rightly, in alliance with elements from of intra-caste class differentiation and party in India, which has understood
the upper castes, for the total abolition inter-caste class solidarity, there have the caste system and has launched a
of the caste system. While Ambedkar's been some modifications, the picture policy of abolition of castes"- Lohia
activities were mainly limited to the drawn above is still largely true in so says:
'untouchables' themselves -in Lohia's far as the backward and less dynamic The attack on caste has till now
words, he (Ambedkar) "refused to be- rural areas of the country are concerned. been from one and a half sides -
come a leader of non-Harijans"- He reveals correctly how different from the religious side and partly
Lohia's conception of struggle envisaged lower' castes have successfully challeng from social movements. Now simulta-
neously with the economic approach,
a common front against the caste insti- ed Brahminsupremacy in various regions the attack has to be launched from
tutions embracing forward-looking ele- only to claim the same privileges for the side of marriage relationship
ments from all parts of society. themselves vis-a-vis the other oppressed also, may it be verbal only, so that
If the collection of his articles, castes. "Again and again," he says, the social attack may be perfect.
speeches and notes, published under "the revolt of the down-graded castes Adult franchise and the principle of
has been misused to upgrade one or preferential opportunity constitute
the title "The Caste System" in 1964 the political approach, while increased
is any guide, then it may be concluded another caste rather than to destroy the wages, abolition of taxes on uneco-
that before 1953, Lohia had not paid entire edifice of castes".4' nomic holdings, distribution of land,
any particular attention to this prob- He repeatedly - and rightly - stres-
etc, would be the economic measures
lem. In the ten years between 1953 an(l for abolishing caste. Such an all-
ses that only a miniscule section of rouind attack alone would render the
1963, he seems to have developed a the high caste population form the destruiction of caste possible at last.44
comprehensive approachto this question. ruling elite because of their economic First of all, a little reflection would
Though be claims that "the Socialist power, professional excellence and reveal that Lohia's analysis of the caste
Party [that is, after he had split away intellectual accomplishments. The rest situation does not fully tally with his
from the PSP to form a separate party of the so-called high caste population programme for its abolition. If the
of which he was the undisputed leader] are duped into supporting this elite out caste has acted, as it really has, as a
is the first political party in India which of a false consciousness of caste sort of social insurance, then the caste
has understood the caste system...',39 affinity.42 institution cannot be overthrown un-
his exposition of the problem was Alongside this analysis, Lohia form- less an alternative system has emerged
extremely scrappy and superficial. His ulates the following programme for to substitute it. An alternative frame-
publication on the subject, referred to destroying the caste institution: work to replace caste can only be, in
above, does not even try to look into (i) "Studies, debates, seminars and so far as the oppressed masses are con-
the social and historical origin of the all other types of meetings and discus- cerned, organisations on class lines and
castes, or its evolution overtime. His sions [to] lay bare such elements of fraternal ties among them. But the role
passionate zeal and crusading spirit of such class organisations and of class
India's culture, thought and life, as
notwithstanding, Lohia's outpourings on have produced stagnation and caste"; strtugglesfor throwing up these organisa-
the subject of caste are marked by (ii) actions "to purify religion and tions is totally absent in Lohia's scheme
simplistic exposition, if not self-con- its practices of the taints of caste, for struggles aga nst caste.
tradictions, as may be seen from the which shall, while believing that inter- He correctly reveals the dynamics of
following analysis of his writings and marriage alone ultimately dissolves the caste struggles seen so far; one
speeches on the subject. castes and propagating for it through low caste or sub-caste seeking its own
Lohia gives a correct estimate of the scientific studies and the creative arts, advancement, not only in isolation from
traditional strength of the caste ties and concentrate on the immediately attain- but also at the cost of other low or

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Annual Number February 1979 EC(ONOMICAND POLITICAL WEEKLY

lower castes. But he does not seem to haps be conceivable in a highly deve- perpetuate the divisions and dissensions
realise that this is inevitable as long loped country like the United King- among the backward sections, instead
as the movement is motivated by caste dom, wherein for historical reasons a of unifying the masses of the oppressed
consciousness. He obviously does not large stratum of the working class has and exploited population?
accept the Marxist position that of all been won for collaboration with the Lohia suggests that the movement
the social forces, it is only the working economically and politically dominant for the abolition of castes may in future
class which is objectively and historically class, so that the manning of formal opt for an existing political party or
compelled to emancipate all other op- leadership positions by elements frotn form a new one. But nowhere does he
pressed and exploited segments along the working class will not jeopardise elaborate the nature of politics, appro-
with its own emancipation. He clings the statuis qua. But it is idle to expecL priate for the basic objectives of the
to the utopian hope that a struggle in- such a development in a country like movement. Politids implies a comprehen-
spired and limited by caste conscious- India, pregnant with explosive poten- sive perspective of social development,
ness can rise above its raison d'etre tialities because of massive and grow- not merely the pursuit of a single or
and seek the liberation of the other ing deprivation of the vast majority of partial objective.
segments of the oppressed population, the population. Moreover, if the last excerpt from
beyond the circle of its own caste. Indeed, by raising such a demand, Lohia's writing, quoted earlier, is sup-
While Lohia is aware of the facf Lohia has revealed the reformist cha- posed to represent his ideszs about
that the actually ruling or dominant racter of his approach. He does not the political frame of the movement
force in the Indian society is not high advocate a revolution - peaceful or visualised by him, then Lohia's politics
castes as such, but a very small frac- otherwise - involving the overthrowand is hardly distinguishable fromn,say,
tion of it, yet he does not accept that destruction of the existing order. He Indira Gandhi's. For, adult franchise
it is class struggle and class struggle aims at its reform - conceivably major and preferential opportunities have al-
only that can dispel the false (caste) reform- but without endangering its ready been there for some time, taxes
consciousness that ties the depressed foundation. on uneconomic holdings were abolished
masses of the high castes to their af- Lohia demands the same proportion by maniy a state government under
fluent 'brethren' within the common of leadership posts in the political Congress rule, distribution of land and
castes. parties also for the backward castes some increases in wages have also been
The specific programme suggested by and groups. Since he does not qualify promised and partially implemented.
Lohia cannot basically alter the social or specify the parties, the implication It will thus be seen that in conceptual
reality that has arisen in the course of is that all political parties, including terms, Lohia's programme was basically
3,500 years of history. For instance, the parties of the dominant social a moderate one, which did not chal-
studies, seminars and symposia can forces, are also covered by this demand. lenge the class rule of a minoritv,
contribute to altering the social reality One fails to understand what leadership monopolising the productive resources
only if they are related to revolutionary role can the elements from backward of the society. It is a programme for
mass practice. Lohia's programme of castes and groups play in the political bargaining for improved status within
struggle against caste is not interwoveni parties, i e, political instruments, of the existing system. Hence apparent
with the class struggles of the working the ruling classds/strata. differences notwithstanding, Lohia's
class and the toiling peasantry. In How and why should business which programme is not a radical alternative
isolation from these struLggles, studies is run for private profit be persuaded to Ambedkar'sand Gandhi's approaches,
and debates would be a sterile intel- and/or cajoled to recruit its leadership but merely a development thereof.
lectual pastime, which within the according to the Lohia formula? Due The basic homogeneity of all these
existing socio-economic milieu can be to competition among business estab- strands is rooted in their non-historical
indulged in only by the edcucatedupper lishments, the only criterion in their and anti-Marxist approach. Moreover,
caste elements. recruitment can and must be efficiency. Anti-Marxismis more explicit in Lohia's
Inter-dining will be a symbolic act Finally, can a modern society be run case than in the case of the other two.
only without affecting the condition of by a leadership, 60 per cent of whose Before we come to anti-Marxism, let
actual social existence, and inter- personnel would be chosen because of us take a particular sample of Lohia's
marriage, a rarity, as long as an econo- their backwardness? Or, maybe, what non-historicism.
mic and cultural guilf continues to Lohia had in mind was advanced, i e, The resolution "Towards destruction
divide the high and low castes. Inter- educated and skilled, elements from of caste", drafted by Lohia begins as
marriage between the high and low backward grouLps.If so, isn't there a follows:
castes cannot be the means, as Lohia real danger of these elements getting The Third National Conference of
alienated from their own social base the Socialist Party views the caste
expects, for achieving the dissolutior system in India as the largest single
of castes; it can only be the consum- and absorbed as elements subservient cauise of the present material and
mation of the process of the abolition to the vested interests within the spiritual degeneration of the country.45
of castes. existing structture? Lohia's talk of degeneration is his-
Lohia demands 60 per cent of the Moreover, how can it he ensured -that torically untrue. Compared to any pre-
leadership post in government, busi - some particular castes, sub-castes or vious period of the Indian history, the
ness, armed services, etc, for backward groups will not try to monopolise the present period represents considerable
castes and groups. It is, to say the least, benefits of Lohia's formula? Or, alter- advancement in both material and
totally unreal and utopian to expect natively, how to draw up a formula spiritual terms, all the growth of crisis
that a major and decisive part of gov- xvhich will do justice to and satisfy all factors notwithstanding. Indeed, even
ernment and armed services leadership the innumerable sub-castes and groups the present accentuation of the caste
will be handed over within a class among the backward segment of the tensions represents an advance of self-
society to elements from the oppressed Indian population? Will not such a awareness - a relative growth of the
segments of the society. It may per- venture serve only to intensify anad critical self-co)nsciousness -and an

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ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY Annual Number February 1979

upsurge of mass resistance on the part who are by and large the Harijan to suggest that the so-called 'ironbound'
of the most downtrodden segments of castes. This phenomenon of Harijan caste dimensions of Indian social situa-
the Indian masses. Instead of degenera- loyalty to the Communist Party pre- tion have not only continued to remain
tion from. any idealised, hypothetical vails over all of South India.48 as strong as ever, but even become
milieu in the past, all social symptoms Flying in the face of his own find- stronger. The reality, however, is
indicate powerful struggles for regenera- ing, Lohia characterised the (pre-split)
entirely different. The whole course of
tion and upliftment, struggles which C1PIlin Andhra Pradesh as an instru-
socio-economic and political develop-
have been fed in varying measures by ment of the Kamma caste. He said: ments, particularly since Independence,
many streams, including those repre-s- The Kammas of Andhra "have almost has considerably weakened the caste
ented by Ambedkar, Gandhi and Lohia. as an entire caste sought to revenge element in all its dimensions. While
themselves on the lieddys [another in a vast country that India is, there
In proclaiming the superiority of his dominant caste in Andhra P-radesh]
own recipe over Marxi:sm,Lohia says: are naturally wicle differences between
through the instrument of the Com- one region and another, there is no
Karl Marx tried to destroy class, munist Party".49 In this, he was only doubt about the logic of the overall
withouit being aware of its amazing repeating the opinion of the American
capacity to change itself into caste, development. The flollowing empirical
author Selig Harrison.5"How jaundiced clata and analytical commenits are in-
not necessarily the ironbound caste this view is may be seen from the
of India but immobile class any tended to give only samle broad indica-
way.46 following comments by another Ameri- tions of these developmnents.
One is not fully clear about the real can academic: An American sociologist writes about
import of the above statement. If it is Because many of the Communist thc changes on the caste front in a
leaders [in Andhra Pradeshj were
meant only to convey the idea that all Kammas, the party has often been small town (population 3,886) in the
social distinctions have not been entirely considered a Kammaparty. This ana- Nellore district in Andhra Pradesh,
removed in the historically evolved so- lysis must be qualified, however. which he calls by a. pseudonym, Peddur.
cialist societies, Lohia can hardly claim '1he Communist movement did not re-
present a continuation of the senti- [l-he] character and organisation of
greater prescience than Marx. For, caste in tedclur is unciergoing many
ments which first emerged in the
more than a century ago, in his famous caste hostel movement and continued changes toclay. All the people caii
"Critique of the GCtha Programme", in the Justice Party and self-respect remember wthen Madiga and Mala
Marx not only foretold, but justified movements. Its demand tor greater L[larijan] children had to sit sepa-
participation of deprived groups were rately in school, if they were allowed
this. These "defects", he *said, "are in- to attend at all; when high caste
evitable in the first phase of communist generalised beyond the specific ex-
perience of Kammas and non-Brah- chilireni returniisg from school had
society as it is when it has just emerged mins. With this demand it was able to leave their clothes at the doors of
after prolonged birth pangs from to mobilise persons from many castes, their homes ancd bathe before entering;
capitalist society". including many Brahmins among the when low caste teachers were not
founders of the party... . There were allowed to touch high caste childrer
It is only "In a higher phase of com- and higher caste teachers would never
mutnistsociety, after the enslaving sub- also several Reddis, including the
brother and the brother-in-law of the touch lower caste children, even in
ordination of the individual to the then young Congress leader [present discipline. Children now sit together
(livision of labour, and therewith also in the schools, some low caste teaches.;
President of India] N Sanjiva Reddy. are even asked to lead certain high
the antithesis between mental and phy- To these persons, youth and a desire
for reform were more important than caste children to school by the hand
sical labour, has vanished; after labour and few children of any caste would
has become not only a means of life caste. The Kamma support given to
the Communist Party does not re- think of bathing before entering their
buit life's prime want; after the produc- homes after a clay of study.
present a caste-wide solidarity which
tive forces have also increased with consciously opted for communism in Sonme years ago, low caste people
the all-rou-nd development of the indi- order to oppose the Brabmin-domi- were seldomn called by their proper
vidual, and all the springs of co-opera- nated Congress. It was more an ex- names, being summoned by a desul-
plosion into politics by a group of toiy word or a shortened form of
tive wealth flow more abundantly",47- their names instead. Today they are
only then, existing social distinctions persons who were doing the same
things at the same time, and the first often called politely. Whereas they
can fully disappear. generation of Kammas to be educated wvere once not permitted to appear
Moreover, Lohia is wrong in sup- joined this trend.51 well-dressedl or to smoke in the pre-
sence of others, thev now can often
posing that any class or caste, including His passionate commitment to the (o1 so withouit the fear of a rebuke.
the so-called ironclad caste in India cause of eradicating caste divisions not- They can now legallv enter temples,
can really be immobile. Humanity is withstanding, his anti-Marxismand anti- handle the cloth they wish to buy
imioving ahead towards the ultimate communism prevented Lohia from before puirchasing it in certain stores
abolition of class and caste distinction, ancd sometimes hand the cloth they
arriving at a correct understanding of w^vantmade into garments to tailors
however devious the road it may have the caste problem and the solution without wvetting it first.
to traverse, in all societies, including, thereof. ... After the first two panchayat
as we shall see below, the Indian. elections of the 1950s the Madiga
On a number of occasions, Lohia member was not allowed to speak at
IV meetings and was offered neither
brackets the Indian communist move-
ment with the Congress and Nehru as In discussing the caste situation in chair nor mat to sit on. Now he is
permitted a chair and is sometimes
forces upholding the status quo in India today, it is possible for a super- asked to comment on issues which
the sphere of the caste. But he provides ficial viewer to miss the wood for the concern him ancd the people he re-
the Imiost irrefutable argument against trees. The barbarous atrocities on the presents.52
hs own contention when he says about 'Hlarijan'masses in certain pockets of At the other pole of the society,
the pre-split Communist Party: the country and the recent re-emergence Not long ago, Brahmins, Razus, and
of caste alignments as important and Komtis [all 'twice-born' castes] would
It has indeed achieved remarkable take purificatory baths and say man-
success in acquiring for itself the sometimes even apparently detei-mining tras before taking a meal. Now many
loyalty of the agricultural labourers, factor in the institutional politics tend of them would enter a hotel in a

307

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ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY Annual Number February 1979

larger town and eat without hesita- ing caste group go beyond its own ingly powerful dissolvent of the anti-
tion though they cannot be sure who varna and seek support from other quated social ties - the advancing pro-
cooks for and serves them.53 caste groups. This necessarily wide- cess of class differentiation - the fact
Among the middle order castes also, ned the scope, of political involvement that castes are getting split into oppos-
the restrictions on social relations are and the caste groups which stood on ing classes and that elements from
the periphery of political universe
breaking down. were inducted into it.... At the time diverse castes are getting unified into
Twentyfive years ago, only the of their entry into politics, most of confronting classes.
Reddis, Kamiimas and Baljas would these caste groups functioned as ap- The volume, from which the above
eat together. Now the Gollas Gaond- pendages of the main contenders in
las anydBegamas will also eat and lines are quoted, itself gives some in-
the upper castes; leaders from the sight into this process of class differen-
drinikwith these castes and all of them upper castes co-opted men from the
are beginning to attend the ceremo- lower castes to leadership positions. tiation. Relating to the developments
nies that occur in the different castes.54 The latter were for a time satisfied within the Nadar commlilunityin Tamil
It would, however, be entirely wrong with their role as political apprentices Nadu, it is said:
to suppose that caste is disappearing of the former but slowly they suc- The very success of the Nadar
at Peddur. The "system of caste", the ceeded in building their own autono- community in its rise socially, econo-
mous support structure and emerged mically and politically has eroded the
report underlines, "though it is under- as leaders in their own right. Thus
going many changes, is still of basic unity ol- the community which had
a slow process of induction of the in tact inade the uplift possible...
significance in the social organisation of uniderprivilegedcaste groups has been T'he differences within the caste have
Peddur."55 in operation in Bihar. This process become increasingly more significant
Various studies about the role of has, however, led to the emergence of than the differences between the in-
the underprivileged caste groups as dividuals of differenit castes sharing
caste in the alignments of forces in crucial forces to be reckoned with in
different states reveal that apart from similar social and economic back-
any political calculation.58 grounds. The decline in the barriers
the dynamics of socio-economic deve- It is true [he continues], that the of ritual purity have in the cities
lopments, the imperatives of political underprivileged caste groups have, released the individual for the possi-
contests in representative institutions more or less, succeeded in breaking bility of new interests and associa-
based on universal adult suffrage were through the social barriers and effect- tions. The Nadar mill workers in
ing an entry into the political realrm Madurai are far more likely to vote
promoting a devaluation of caste exclu- thus overcoming many difficulties in
siveness. For instance, an observer of communist along with the Thevar
their path of social mobility, but this workers than they are to vote Con-
the Andhra Pradesh scene comments is attributable, by and large, to the gress despite the continuing charisma
about the electoral contest in a parti- levelling effect of democratic poli- of Kamaraj... The increasing diffe-
cular constituency in 1962 that "It is a tics and the compulsions that such rentiation within the community and
politics creates in its wake. ..59 a concomitant decline in the elabo-
rivalry which is not based on intrinsic While the political process, analysed
or historic sub-caste rivalry, but on above, has led to a weakening of the ration of caste ranking has funda-
mentally affected the homogeneity of
differing political interests..."56 caste-exclusiveness, it is still subject to the caste community... they too
Abotut the state level politics in caste determination. As Rajni Kothari provide the foundation for the emer-
Andhra Pradesh, the same author says: rightly points out: gence of a political culture characte-
Since 1962 both the Congress fac- rised by the interests of economic
The process of factionalism within class.62
tions have been led by Reddis.. the entrenched castes, a similar struc-
Each man has mobilised factional sup- turing of the ascendant castes, the To take another isolated and perhaps
port in most of the state's twenty system of co-optations and caste very much non-representative example
cdistricts, cutting across caste and coalitions - all of these, though they today, in the village Thaiyur, 35 miles
regional lines for political interests. brought about a fragmentation of the south of the Madras city, out of the
Since the 1967 election each group caste system, were in reality very
has recruited members from the im- 45 big farmer households, owning 9.75
much caste-oriented and sought their
portant castes in the state. T1h-e bases in caste identities, in the pro- acres or more each, 26 were 'Harijan'
ministry contains several Reddis, two cess of course, also generating politi- as against 19 non-'Harijan', while
Kammanas, two members of other minor cised values and impulses for personal among the small farmer and landless
landed castes, one member of a Powver. 60 labourer households, owning 0.00 to
lesser status agricultural caste, two Kothari, however, fails to identify 1.49 acres each, there were 63 non-
Brabminis,one Muslim, one weaver, correctly the real source of 'politicised
and two Scheduled Caste persons. values', which he locates only in 'Harijan' compared with 648 'Harijan'.
The dissident group has almost The joint authors of the study conclude:
exactly the same composition, for it the impact of education, technology,
changing status symbols, and urbani- The mainly Harijan rural proletariat
has recruited the rival to each of continue to be exploited by the non-
these persons, usually one of the same sation. New and more expanded
castc groutp. Similarly the two wings networks of relationship come into Harijan rich farmers, and we can
of the CommutnistPartv have mobi- being, new criteria of self-fulfilment predict that, as a result, the old caste
lised persons from bo'th dominant are created, the craving for material ideology is likely to remain in-
castes, both under the leadership of l)enefits becomes all-pervasive and fluential. But, in terms of absolute
Reddlis. As in the villages, so in the family and migration systems undergo number, the class of big farmers con-
drastic change. With these, the sists of more Harijan households than
State, political conflict in Andhra non-Harijan ones. This implies that
Pra(lesh takes place within both the structure of particularistic loyalties
gets overlaid by a more sophisticated members of the same caste meet in
dominant castes which have assumed relation of exploitation, and since
state leadership. And as one goes system of social and political parti-
higher, the term 'caste conflict' cipation, with cross-cutting allegi- this is at variance with caste ideo-
begins to lose its usual meaning.57 ances, a greater awareness of indivi- logy, we also expect changes in the
dual self-interest, and forms of in- ideological universe.63
Almost the same process has been volvement and alienation that are Along with the economic stratifica-
discerned in Bihar state politics by pre-eminently the products of modern tion, social and cultural differentiations
another social scientist who says: education and the system of modern
communication.61 also are growing apace within the so-
The fact that the upper castes con- With all his academic perspicacity, called scheduled caste communities. A
tended among themselves for politi-
cal power required that each contend- Kothari misses the essential and grow- study on the social background of the

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ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY Annual Number February 1979

Lok Sabba members shows that "Tho tions,6 one reinforcing the other, eco- appearance of caste struggle. But re-
scheduled caste members with low levels noiniic and social differentiations within volutiL)narypractice has to take cogni-
of education were more in the third these castes are progressively eroding sance of the essence of the pheno-
Lok Sabha and they were equally divi- the capacity of caste bonds to unify menon, instead of being guided by the
ded betxveen high and low levels in the them into a militant force for resistance appearance.
fourth Lok Sabba. In the fifth Lok an(l social transformation. Besides, as The above should not be construed
Sabha, the highly educated schedule(d. stated earlier, the common denomi- to mean that class struggle alone can
caste members formed a clear majority nation of the 'scheduled castes' conceals lead to the eradication of caste oppres-
[among the scheduled caste members the multiplicity of sub-divisions en- sion. Caste discriminations have to be
as a whole]".64 compassed within it, generally ranged directly fought on their own grounds,
Since the educational level of the against one another and often indulging but subordinated to the overall con-
scheduled caste masses is significantly in the same obnoxious practice of un- frontation on the class lines. The point
lower than the general educational level touchability and discrimination among at issue is not the caste dimension of
of the country, "The elite-mass gap in themselves as are practised against them social struggles but its exact place and
terms of levels of education was more collectively by the so-called high castes. role in the overall revolutionary strategy.
among the scheduled castes than among All this renders the choice of caste Indeed it should be the bounded duty
general members". Between the third struggle, that is, choosing the concept and constant responsibility of the ad-
and the fifth Lok Sabbas, the represen- of caste as the key instrument of re- vanced elements among the toiling
tatives from business, industry and in- volutionary mobilisation totally unsuita- people in fields and factories, who
tellectual professions among the sche- ble for bringing about such changes in belong to the so-called higher castes,
duled caste contingent registered a the structure and superstructure of the to spearhead the attacks against caste
marked increase. The study also showed Indian society as woould lead to the prejudices and persecutions in social
that the continuity in the membership emancipation of the most downtrodden spheres; the advanced elements amang
of the Lok Sabha was higher among the and forcibly degraded masses of the the 'untouchables', while fighting against
scheduled caste MPs than among the so-called untouchables. caste oppression and discrimination
other sections in the House. should generally emphasis among their
The preferential opportunities offered V community the class solidarity irrespec-
to the scheduled castes since independ- tive of castes. Ouit of this differentiated
While the historically inherited pre- buit co-ordinated attack only can emerge
ence, however niggardly in terms of
requirements for raising the vast masses judices still persist in shaping the psy- a real fighting front of struggle for
of the historically deprived population, chology and conduct of the upper human emancipation from both class
have nevertheless helped the emergence castes' relation with the 'untouchables', and caste dimensions of oppression and
of a significant stratum of the schedul- what has aggravated their aggressive- exploitation.
ed caste elite. As a Bihar study shows, ness in the recent years is the sharpen- A basic precondition of the emergence
the differences between the privileged ing of the class contradictions in the of this front is that advanced social
tol) of the scheduled castes and the countryside. The demand of the 'Hari- thinkers and activists should learn to
basic masses thereof have become wide jans' for the implementation of the take a comprehensive and interlinked
enough. It says: declared policy of giving preference to view of caste and class - a view that
them in the distribution of land at the does not neglect the caste dimension
By and large, however, large num-
bers of the elite in both towns- and disposal of the states, their refusal to of the class, or the class dimension of
villages have taken little interest in render begar (unpaid labour), and the caste. A lot of imprecise, unsci-
bettering the lot of their less fortu- attempts to end the discriminatory entific and even confused thinking has
nate brethren. They feel alienated lover wages, usually offered to 'Harijan'
from their own base and have betray-
emerged in this vital sector of con-
labourers, along with their growing temporary politics which can seriotusly
ed an incapacity to apply themselves
to the task of reshaping the larger assertion of human dignity and equality, lisorient the revolutionary practice,
society into egalitarian structures. have provoked the landowning classes, notwithstanding the honest and well-
Their major preoccuipation is to a great mnajority of whom belong to meaning intentions of the proponents
satisfy the needs of their immediate the, higher castes, to launch on aggres-
favmilv and kin.
of these views. It is therefore neces-
sive actions against the 'Harijans' on a sary that a wide discussion takes place
Some of the elite who have risen
high in the social hierarchy have mass scale. among the exponents of the contending
snapped their ties with their bleak The relatively recent growth of tho viewpoints as that a unity of will and
Past. They are largelv ouit of tune kulak stratum and its emergence as a action is forged for the resolution of
with the mass of the community and major political factor in certain parts the longstanding controversy within
seek a realignment with status and of the country particularly following
power grouips in the wider society. the Left in India.
This is more common with the puiblic tne Lok Sabha elections in March 1977
servants as social workers and legisla- have contributed to an intensification
Notes
tors have to maintain a double face, of the kulak counter-offensive against
one for the wvider communitv with the landless agricultural laboureis and 1 G S Ghurye, "Caste and Classes
whom thev interact in closest possible small peasants in the northern states. in India", Popular Book Depot,
terms for furthering their own inte- Bombay, 1957, p 46,, Many
rest and the other for their own com- The fact that a majority of kulaks have scholars cite this division between
murnitv whose support they have to sprung up from the intermediate land- the Arya varna and Dasa varna as
seek at the time of the election.65 owning castes and the 'Harijan' small evidence of differentiation within
While the vast masses of the 'low peasants and landless labourers have the early Rigvedic, Aryan society.
caste' and 'outcaste' population conti- been chosen by them as the immediate The above conclusion is unjustifi-
able. During the period under
nte to suffer in 'a twilight world of pre- target of attack because of the latter's reference, according to many hymns
judice and persecution' uinderthe double vulnerability has lent this sharpening of the Rigveda, the Dasa or Dasyu
burden o? economic and social depriva- class struggle in the countryside an varna was regarded by the Aryans

311

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Annual Number February 1979 ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY

as elements outside the pale of families would be quite unusual. 46 Ibid, p 104.
humanity, not to mention the 19 Chandra Chakra'varty, op cit, 47 Karl Marx and Frederick Engels,
Aryan social order. There are p 201. "Selected Works" (two volume ed),
numerous invocations to Indra to vol II, Moscow, 1951, p 23.
kill and destroy the alien, despi- 20 For instance, V T RajshekarShetty,
"How Marx Failed in Hindu 48 Lohia, op cit, p 94.
cable Dasas. Hence, these varna
specifications refer to the division India", Karnataka Rationalist As- 49 Ibid, p 93.
between the mutually exclusive and sociation, Bangalore, 1978. 50 Selig Harrison, "India: The Most
hostile Aryan and pre-Aryan popu- 21 Karl Marx, "Contribution to the Dangerouis Decade", Princeton
lations, and not to any differentia- Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of University Press, 1960, p 209.
tion within the Aryan social order. Law", in K Marx and F Engels, 51 Carolyn M Elliot, "Caste and Fac-
2 Ibid, p 44. "Collected Works", vol 3, Moscow, tion among the Dominant Caste:
3 Bipan Chandra, "Karl Marx-His 1975, p 175, emphasis in the The Reddis and Kammas of
Theories of Societies and Colonial original. Andhra", in Raini Kothari. (ed)
Rule", Centre for Historical 22 KuirtB Mayer and Walter Bucklay, "Caste in Indian Politics", Orient
Studies, JNU, (mimeographedcopy), "Class and Societv", Random Longman, 1970, n 158, emphasis
p 71. House, New York, 1969, n 14. added.
4 Ghurye, op cit, p 50. 23 ibid, pp 34-5.
5 Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, 52 Pauil C Wiebe, "Religious Change
2.4 Ibid, p 35. in Souith India: Persuective from
"The German Ideology", Moscow, 25 Ibid, p 37.
1964, pp 43-4; emphasis in the a Small Town", in "Religion and
original. 26 R H Tawney. "Relicion and the Society", Bangalore, December
6 Ibid, p 611. Rise of Canitalism", Pelican Books. 1975.
7 Chandra Chakravarty, "The Racial 1948, pp 37-8. 53 Ibid.
Ilistory of Tndia", Calcutta, 27 Kosambi, op cit, p 391. 54. Ibid.
pp 200-01. 28 Karl Marx. "On the Tewish Ques- 55 Ibid.
8 Antonio Gramsci, "Selections from tion": "The state abolishes, in its
own wav, distinctions of birth, 56 Carolyn M Elliot, op cit, n 143.
Prison Notebook", Intemational
Publishers, New York, 1973, p 19. social rank, education, ocupation. 57 Ibid, p 162.
9 Max Muller, "Heritage of India", when it declares that birth, social 58 Ramashray Roy, "Caste and Poli-
Shushil Gupta (India) Ltd, Calcutta, rank, education, occupation, are tical Recruitment in Bihar", Raini
1951, pp 21-2, emphasis in the non-political distinctions, when it Kothari (ed) op cit, p 245.
original. proclaims, without regard to these
dlistinctions, that everv member of 59 Ibid.
10 Ibid, p 135, emphasis in the the nation is an equal participant 60 II#d, p 18.
original. in national sovereigntv, when it 61 Ibid, pp 18-9.
11 Chandra Chakravarty,op cit, p 202. troats all elements of the real life 62 Robert L Hardgrave, "Political
12 Ananda K Coomaraswamy and I B of the na io.n from the standpoint Participation and Primordial Solid-
Horner, "The Living Thoughts of of the st;te. Nevertheless, the state arity", ibrd pp 125-26, emphasis
Gotama the Buddha", Cassell and allows nr)rivatepropertv, education, in the original.
Co, London, 1948, p 125, Kosambi occupation, to act in their way,
gives a somewhat different version i e, as private property, as educa- 63 Coran Dijurfeldt and Staffan Lind-
of the above dialogue and com- tion, as occtupation, and to exert berg, "Behind Poverty", Scandi-
ments on the basis of internal evid- the influence of their special na- navian Institute of Asian Studies
ence in his citation that "this ture. Far from abolishing theqe -Cruzon Press, p 216.
passage could not have been writ- real distinctions, the state onlv 64 G Naravana. "Social Backgrouind
ten before Alexander's conquest of exists on the presiipno-rition of of Scheduled Caste Lok Sabha
the Persian empire. The Buddha their existence .. " ("Collected Members", EPW, September 16,
does not refer to the Rigvedic two- Works", on rit. p 153, emphasis 1978.
varna system, for the Arya could in the original.) 65 Saehchidananda. "Emergent Sche-
not become a Dasa...."; but he also 29 Rammonobar Lohia. "The Caste dltiled Caste Elite in Bihar" ini
agrees that "it sufficed to refute Svstem", Navahind, Hyderabad. "Religion an(d Societv", Bangalore,
the theory that the four castes 1964 p 31. September 1974, According to
were in some way a law of nature". 30 Ibid, p .33. official information in 1975 there
(D D Kosambi. "Introduction to 31 Young nrlida, TanuarV 22, 1925, were 1197 Class I officers and 2689
the Studv of Indian History", Popii- reprinted in "None TTich-None Class II officers uinder the Union
lar Prakashan, Bombay, 1975, T.ow", Pocket Gandhi Series, Government. belonging to the
p 169.) BPblaratiyaVidya Bhavan, Bombav Scheduilecl Castcs. Of them. the
13 Max Muller, op cit, p 17. 1965. p 37. [AS and IPiS officers numbered 252
14 Ibid, p 21, emphasis added. and 130 respectively (in 1974). Be-
32 M K Gandhi. "Collected Works", sides, there were 881 and 164?
15 Ibid, p 26. Government of India, Publication
16 Ghurye, op cit, p 182. officers belonging to the Scheduiled
Division, vol 50, np 226-27. Castes among the Class I and Class
17 Ibid, p 148. .33 Ibid, p 223. TI cadres respectively in the Putblic
18 Kosambi, however, rejects the view 34 Ibid, vol 58, p 47. Sector undertakings under the
that the Iranians also had a rudi- 35 Harijan, December 8, 1933, reprint- Union Government. The Class III
mentary caste system. The division, ed in "None High - None Low" officers in the Union Government
he says, into "four classes: the op cit, p 21. and( the Central PLublic Sector
priest, the charioteer, the tiller and 36 "Collected Works". vol 65, p .365. IUndertakings in 1975 numbered
the artisan ... has nothing to do .37 Ibid. vol 58, p 80. 174, 02,5 and 104, 119 respectivelv.
with caste, for endogamy is no- 38 S Radhakrishnan (ed), "Mahatma (See Gnvernment of India, DAVP.
where mentioned ... all four classes Gandhi", Jaico, 1977. Rightfil Place for Harijans, 1976
seem equally honoured..." (op cit, rm 22-3.)
39 Lohia, op cit, p 146.
rnp 100-01). It is difficult to accent 40 Ibid, p 80. 66 For short discuissions on the basic
Kosambi's view that even after the social frame in India today, see
division of mental and manual 41 Ibid, p 89-90. Ajit Roy, "Economic and Politics
labour, all classes were in reality 42 See, for instance, ibid, p 98. of Garibi Hatao" (1973) and "Poli-
equally honoured. If not, then, 43 Ibid, p 114. tical Power in India: Nature and
whatever the formal dispensation, 44 IbLid,p 145. Trends" (1975), Naya Prakash,
the union between prieQstand tiller 45 Ibid, p 134, emphasis added. Calcutta.

312

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