Secularisation of Caste and Making of New Middle Class D L Sheth caste system got its name about 500 years agof romt heP ortuguesew hent heyl anded on the Malabar coast, Derived from 'casta' in Portuguese Portuguese were were the rst among Europeans to provide p rovide detailed accounts of its functioning !he most perceptive, empirical account of caste was given by the "#th century portuguese, Duarte $arbosa $arbosa identied the main features of caste% &a (aste as a hierarchy, with brahmans at the top and 'untouchables' at the bottom) &b untouchability as lin*ed to the idea of 'pollution') &c E+istence of a plurality of 'castes' separated from each other by endogamy, occupation and commensality) &d pplication of sanctions by castes to maintain their own customs and rules) &e -elationship of caste with political organi.ation Moreover $arbosa's approach to reporting about caste had some distinctive /ualities
" he described described caste caste as he saw it function functioning ing on the ground) ground) he got got his facts by tal*ing to common people in their own language he did not use the religious religious scriptures scriptures as a source source of information information on caste)therei s no reference reference to the varna theory of caste in his narratives 1 he related related the idea idea of pollution pollution to the practice practice of untouchabili untouchability ty and not to functioning of the whole system 2 he saw caste caste not e+clusi e+clusively vely in ritual ritual status status terms, terms, but also also as a plurality of 'self3governing' 'self3governing' cultural communities 5 4ifth, he stuc* to a matter3of3fact account of what he saw and was told about caste, and refrained from morali.ing and passing value udgments on it
6nly after the $ritish rule was established in 7ndia that a second 'discovery' of caste was made by the Europeans !he 8estern 8estern 6rientalist scholars, the (hristian Missionaries and the $ritish administrators began, in their di9erent ways, to ma*e sense of this comple+ phenomenon :ew discourse centred centred on whether caste was a system benecial to 7ndians or it wor*ed against them (aste in highly schemati.ed and unidimensional terms% as an in;e+ible hierarchy of vertically ran*ed ritual statuses
!he idea of ritual purity and impurity of statuses was considered the central principle governing the caste3system Three, with the 'discovery' of Hindu scriptures y the !rientalist scholars, caste eca"e a pris" through which the colonial rulers egan to see #ndians and the whole #ndian society$ Caste was now seen as representing a worldview of #ndians and a totality of #ndia's social and cultural life %illage as a "icrocos" of the #ndian society, and caste as constituting its social, econo"ic and political organi&ation legiti"ated y its reli gious ideology the ad"inistrative and anthropological concerns of the ritish o(cers led the" to counter oth the !rientalist and the Missionary views of caste
!his concern of the colonialists prompted an ideological debate on caste The deate introduced a new, theoretical)co"parative di"ension for viewing caste* Caste now egan to e s een in co"parison with the nor"ative +values of euality, individualis", etc- and social+state, race, class, etc- categories of the western societies .egi"e, caste eca"e a one of contention etween conservatives and progressives, traditionalists and refor"ers* %aluation eca"e the "ode of oservation Method the ritish ad"inistrators adopted was of e"piricis", They also saw castes as separate co")"unities often divided y descent, political organi&ation and custo" Seventh, crucial to the colonial discourse was t he relationship etween caste and the state gave the" speci/c na"es0laels and ranks* #n doing so, the census o(cers tended to rely on their 'reading' of the scriptures as well as local knowledge and practice
!he colonial state, thus, ac/uired an agency, even a legitimate authority, to arbitrate and + the status claims made or contested by various castes about their locations in the ritual hierarchy The enu"eration of castes and their ethnographic descriptions co"piled y t he state, highlighted how the social and econo"ic advantages accrued to so"e castes and not to others in t he traditional hierarchy The colonial state assu"ed a dual role$ of a super rah"in who located and relocated disputed statuses of castes in the traditional hierarchy and of a 1ust and "odern ruler who wished to 'recognise2 rights and aspirations of his weak and poor su1ect it also induced people to organi&e and represent their interests in politics in ter"s of caste identities and participate in the econo"y on the ter"s and through "echanis"s set y the colonial regi"e*
7ntroduced new terms of discourse on caste, but brought about some changes in the caste system itself large part of these changes, however, were unintended &" some specic policies of the colonial regime, aimed at delegitimi.ing the power of the traditional social elites and creating support for its own rule, had direct conse/uences for the caste system +3- changes were related to the larger historical forces of "oderni&ation, seculari&ation and urani&ation which had egun to "ake so"e i"pact on the #ndian society y the end of 42 th +5- for"ation of a new, trans)local identity a"ong' lower castes', collectively as a people with the consciousness of eing' oppressed' y the traditional syste" of hierarchy +6- :ew ideological categories li*e 'social ustice' began to interrogate the idea of
ritual purity and impurity according to which the traditional straticatory system endowed entitlements and disprivileges to hereditary status :ew categories li*e 'depressed castes' and 'oppressed classes'* +7- several castes occupying "ore or less si"ilar locations in di8erent local hierarchies egan to organi&e the"selves hori&ontally in to regional and national level associations and federations, as it eca"e increasingly necessary for the" to negotiate with the state and in the process pro1ect their larger social identity and nu"erical strength +9- Third, "ove"ents of the lower castes for upward social "oility, which were not new in the history of the caste syste", acuired a ualitatively new di"ension as they egan to attack the very ideological foundations of the ritual hierarchy of castes, in ter"s not internal to the syste"+ as was the case with the uddhist and hakti "ove"ents-, ut in the "odern ideological ter"s of 1ustice and euality* Changes that occurred in the caste syste" during the colonial period have greatly intensi/ed after #ndia's de)colonisation*
!he terms and categories used for describing ualitative changes 3 by the socio3 logists studying caste as well as by social reformers and political thin*ers wanting 7ndia to become a caste3less society 3 were derived from the colonial discourse !his gave rise to two opposite views of change in the caste system +a- view, that has long do"inated studies of caste in post)independent #ndia, e"phasi&es certain structural and cultural continuities the #ndian society has "anifested in the course of "oderni&ation+changes in caste are seen in ter"s of functional ad1ust"ent "ade y the syste" for its own survival and "aintenance&b 3nd view ,sees "oderni&ation as a linear, universal force of history, transfor"ing the caste syste" into a polari&ed structure of econo"ic classes discourse on caste in post)independent #ndia re"ained ogged down in the dichoto"ous deate on 'tradition' verses '"odernity' and 'caste' verses, class'
!wo dimensions of seculari.ation% de3reutili.ation and politici.ation These changes have +a- pushed caste out of the traditional strati/catory syste", +- linked it to the new structure of representational power, and +c- in their cu"ulative i"pact they have "ade it possile for individual "e"ers of di8erent castes to acuire new econo"ic interest and social)political identi/cation and own class)like as well as ethnic)type identity a third course of change* :or a lack of "ore appropriate ter" # call it classisation .ituality +i e, rootedness of caste ehavior and organi&ation in the religious ideology and practices- thus constituted the core of the whole syste" of castes #n this perspective, caste 'acco""odated' social and political changes only to an e;tent the syste" could asor the" without losing its structural and cultural integrity The insularity of the caste syste" is thus guaranteed, ecause #t is ounded y certain ideological and structural conte;ts) each articulating a for" of rituality +a- the religious ideology of purity and pollution +- the religiously sanctioned techno)econo"ic and political organi&ation of the village, especially its food production and distriution syste"< +c- Custo"s and traditions of castes evolved over centuries* Caste not only survived ut grew in these conte;ts and acuired its syste"ic character< they constituted its 'support syste"' of the ritual hierarchy after #ndia's decolonisation, have led to de)ritualisation of caste ) "eaning delinking of caste fro" various for"s of rituality which ounded it to a /;ed status, an occupation and to speci/c rules of co""ensality and endoga"y Caste now survives as a kinship)ased cultural co""unity, ut operates in a di8erent, newly e"ergent syste" of social strati/cation Modernisation of #ndia's econo"y and de"ocrati&ation of its political institutions, have released new econo"ic and political power in the society That of "e"ers elonging to a caste is e;pressed "ore in the nature of co""unity consciousness, rather than in hierarchical ter"s* Caste consciousness is now articulated as political consciousness of groups staking clai"s to power and to new places in the changed opportunity structure :ar fro" strengthening the caste syste", the e"ergent co"petitive character of 'caste consciousness' has contriuted to its syste"ic disintegration
= vast nu"er of non)traditional, unound)to)caste occupations and a new type of social relations a"ong occupational groups have e"erged* This has resulted in reaking down the ne;us etween hereditary> .itual status and occupation)one of the caste)syste"'s de/ning features More i"portantly, the cleanliness or otherwise of an occupation is increasingly seen in physical and iological sense than in ri tual or "oral ter"s* Traditionally, an individual caste ounded y rituals and custo"s, functioned internally as a truly egalitarian co""unity, oth in ter"s of rights and oligations of "e"ers vis)a)vis each other and of li fe)style Today, households within a single caste have not only een greatly di8erentiated in ter"s of their occupations, educational and inco"e levels and lifestyles ut these di8erences have led the" to align outside the caste, with di8erent socio) econo"ic networks and groupings in the society ) categories which can not e identi/ed in ter"s of the caste syste"* The caste rules of co""ensality have eco"e al"ost totally inoperative outside one's household #n 'caste dinners', for e;a"ple, friends and well wishers of the host, elonging to oth the ritually lower as well as higher strata than that of the host are invited and are seated, fed and served The castes which occupied a si"ilar ri tual status in the traditional hierarchy, ut were divided a"ong the"selves into su)castes and su)su)castes y rules of endoga"y, are now reaching out increasingly into larger endoga"ous circles, in so"e cases their oundaries co)ter"inate with those of the respective varna in a region to which they supposedly elong* =lthough statistically the incidence of such inter)caste "arriages "ay not e signi/cant, the trend they represent is* = "ore i"portant point is that the "echanis"s through which castes)enforced rules of endoga"y have weakened in "any castes* #ts description as a syste" of ritual status hierarchy has lost theoretical "eaning* ?ran areas and at the "acro)syste" level of social strati/cation* ut the local hierarchies of castes in rural areas are also eing progressively su1ected to the sa"e process %illages, too, traditional social relationships are eing rede/ned i n econo"ic ter"s* This is largely ecause in the last three decades, particularly after the '@reen .evolution' and with the increasing role of t he state and other outside agencies in the food production and distriution syste" in rural areas, the social organi&ation of the village has sustantively change
7ntercaste relations in the village today operate in a more simplied form, as between castes of land holders=operators and those of the landless labour political) econo"y of the village*
the pattern of social relations sustained y the internal syste" of food production of a village and y confor"ity of status groups to their religiously assigned roles in the syste" and to nor"s de/ning the roles, has virtually disintegrated* The caste syste", for long conceived as a ritual status syste", has i"ploded* Having failed to cope with the changes that have occurred in the larger society, particularly after #ndia's decolonisation, the caste 'syste"' is unale to "aintain itself, on the asis of its own principle of ritual hierarchy #n a few speci/c conte;ts where ritual relationships etween castes still survive, they have acuired contractual, often conAictual for"s negating the syste"'s hierarchical aspect + the role of a priest or a barber paid ob The growth in popularity of new sects, of deities and shrines, and t he growing i"portance of gurus and god "en and the new practice of pulic celerations of Hindu religious festivals on a "uch wider social and geographical scale Hinduis"* These have consideraly weakened the traditional ritual and social organisational aspects of Hinduis"
(astes entering into various new, larger social3political formations which have emerged in 7ndia's changing straticatory system This consciousness is ased on a perception of co""on political interest and "ode" status aspirations on the part of "e"ers of these new for"ations
B!L#T#C#S=T#!N !: C=STS :or so"e two decades after indepen)dence, the political discourse on caste was do"inated y left)radical parties and lieral)"odernist intellectuals who saw, rather si"plistically, changes in the caste syste" in linear ter"s, they ignored the fact that while caste had lost its signi/cance as a ritual status)group it survived as a 'co""unity', seeking alliances with other si"ilar co""unities with who" it shared co""onality of political interest and consciousness*
(onse/uently, political parties of the left, both the communist and the socialist, by and large, failed to e+pand their electoral support in any signicant measure for decades after independence The involve"ent of castes in politics fused 'interest' and 'identity' in such a "anner that a nu"er of castes could share co""on interests and identity in the for" of larger social) political conglo"erates
!he process was of politicisation of castes, which by incorporating castes in competitive politics reorganised and recast the elements of both hierarchy and separation among castes in larger social collectivities !he emergence of these socio3political entities in 7ndian politics deed the convental categories of political analysis, i e class analysis versus caste analysis
!he singular impact of competitive democratic politics on the caste system thus was that it delegitimised the old hierarchical relations among castes, facilitating new, hori.ontal power relations among them y relyingo n thec astec alculusf ori tse lectoral politics and, at the sa"e ti"e, articulating political issues in ter"s of econo"ic develop"enta ndn ationali ntegration,th e Congress was ale to evolve durale electoral ases across castes and to "aintain its i"age as the only and truly nationalp art+'caste politics' and 'nationalist ideology' secured for the Congress Barty a do"inant position in # ndian politics for nearlyt hreed ecadesa ft eri ndependencediscourse* #ts politics was largely addressedt o linkingv erticallyt he ruleo f the newly e"ergent upper caste and nglishs peaking) 'national elite' to lower caste support* =nd the ideology used for legiti"ationo f this verticals ocial linkage in politics was neither class)ideology nor caste)ideology< the key concept was 'nation)uilding i t created patron)client type of relationships in electoralp olitics,r elationships of uneual ut reliale e;changes etween political patrons ) the upper and do"inant +inter"ediate-ca stes) andt he nu"erous 'client' castes at the otto" of the pile, popularlyk nowna s the Congress' 'vote)anks' Thisc ollaoration etweent het wot ypes of elites, created a new structure of representational power in the society, around which grew a s"all "iddle class+upper caste national elite living in urban areas rurals ociale lite elongingt o thed o"inant peasant castes as well as those upper caste "e"ers living in rural areasThe do"inantc asteso f the regionale lites,s till depended" oreo n sanskritisationth ano n 'westernisation'in theirp ursuito f upward social" oility* ut theye ncouragedth eir new generations to t ake to "ode", nglish)"ediu" education and to new professions* #n the process, despite their 'sudra' origins, ut thanks to their acuisition of new power in the changed rural econo"ya ndp olitics,s everalp easant co""unitiess ucceededi n clai"ings ocial status euivalent to the "iddle class dwi1as* hile the alliance etween the upperc asten ationale lite andt hed o"inant caste regional elites re"ained tenuous in politics,t heyt ogetherc ontinuedto function as a new power)groupin thel argers ociety , caste had indeed fused with class and status di"ension had acuired a pronouncedp owerd i"ension
for the lower castes of small and marginal peasants, artisans, the e+3untouchables and the numerous tribal communities, their low statuses in the traditional hierarchy wor*ed negatively for their entry in the modem sector they had no means or resources to enter the modem sector in any signicant way, e+cept becoming its underclass !hey remained at the bottom rung of both the hierarchies, the sacred and the secular, of caste and class
the (ongress could establish the political hegemony of the upper castes oriented middle class with the electoral consent of the lower castes> very peculiar caste3 class lin*age was thus forged B!L#T#CS!: . S.%=T#!NS
itha growinga wareness of their nu"erical st rength and the role it could play in achieving their share in politicalp ower,t heirr esent"entto ok the for" of political action and "ove"ents #t was around "id)42EFs that the upper caste hege"ony over national politics egant o e seriouslyc hallenged the 42GFs* This was when the Second Co""ission for ackward Classes +the Mandal Co""ission- proposed to e;tend reservationsin 1 os ande ducational seats to the other ackward classes +i e, to castes of lowerp easantrya nda rtisans-i n all states and union territoriesa nd at the central govern"ent level* it led to a resurgenceo f lowerc astes in national politics*T hisr esurgent politics, guided y lower caste aspirationsto enter the "iddlec lass, was pe1orativelyd erided as the 'Mandalisationo f politics' y the nglish)educated elite /rst,TheC ongresso rganisationco uldn o longer function as the syste" of vertical "anage"ent of region)castefa ctions Since" id)4 2EFst hrought he 42GFs,l arge sectionso f thel owers tratao f socialg roups aandoned the Congress and constituted the"selves into shifting alliances of their own separatep oliticalp artiest Secondly, the categories of the !Cs, SCs and the STs, e;pressly devised for the ad"inistrative purpose of i"ple)"entingt he reservationsp olicy, perhaps as an unintended conseuence, acuired a strong social and political content and surfaced as new social for"ations in the " acro)strati/catorysy ste"* Thirdly, Mandalised politics y generatinga spirationsa "ong t he lower castes to attain '"iddle class' status and lifestyles prevented the process of class polari&ation the state policy of a(r"ative action gave a ig i"petus to the process of politicisation of castes +as well as to de)ritualisationo f inter)caster elations
CL=SS#S=T#!N!: C=ST 'Classisation' is a prole"atic, and ad"ittedly an elegant, concept used for descriing certain type of changes in caste class analysis in #ndia under"ines the role of caste ele"ents in class and vice versa classisation as a twofold process$
+a- releasing of individual "e"ers of all castes +aleit, e;tent of which "ay vary fro" one caste to another- fro" the religiously sanctioned techno)econo"ic and social organi&ation +i e, occupational and status hierarchy-of the village syste"< +- and linking of their interests and identities to organi&ations and categories relevant to uran)industrial syste" and "odern politics #t has acuired new econo"ic interest and a political identity* #ts "e"ers now negotiate and own larger and "ultiple social and political identities the uest today is not for registering higher ritual status< it is universally for wealth, political power and "odern +consu"erist-lifestyles* #n short, caste has ceased to 'reproduce' itself, as it did in the past* Deriving its no"enclature fro" the o(cial classi/cation devised y the state in the course of i"ple"enting its policy of a(r"ative action+ reservations-,the new for"ations egan to e identi/ed as$ the forward or the 'upper castes', the ackward castes +!Cs-, the dalits or scheduled castes +SCs- and the trials or the scheduled tries +STs-* #n this co"petition, "e"ers of the upper)caste for"ation have availale to the" the resources of their erstwhile traditional higher status and those of lower)caste for"ations have the advantages accruing to the" fro" the state's policy of a(r"ative action newly e"ergent strati/catory syste" has eco"e visile in recent years* #t can e characteri&ed as the 'new "iddle cl ass'$ 'New' ecause its e"ergence is directly traceale to the disintegration of the caste syste" Me"ership of today's "iddle class is associated with new li fe styles +"ode" consu"ption patterns-, ownership of certain econo"ic assets and the self consciousness of elonging to the "iddle class #t see"s the #ndian "iddle class will continue to carry caste ele"ents within it, to the e;tent that "odern status aspirations are pursued, and the possiility of their realisation is seen, y individuals in ter"s of the castes to which they elong the process of classisation<+<+a - they eco"e distant f ro" ritual roles and functions attached to their caste, +- acuire another, ut new, identity of elonging to "iddle class, +c- their econo"ic interest and life style converge "ore with other "e"ers of the "iddle class than with their non)"iddle class caste co"patriot secularisation of caste, occurring along the di"ensions of de)ritualisation, politici&ation and classisation, has reduced caste to a k inship)ased "icro) co""unity, with its "e"ers acuiring new structural locations and identities derived fro" categories of strati/cation pre"ised on a di8erent set of principles than those of the ritual hierarchy The result is, "e"ers of the lower caste shave entered the "iddle class in si&eale nu"ers* This has egun to change the character and co"position of the old, pre)independence, "iddle class which was constituted al"ost entirely y a
s"all nglish)educated upper caste elite* The new and vastly enlarged "iddle class constituting aout one)/fth of #ndian population, is eco"ing, even if slowly, politically and culturally "ore uni/ed ut highly diversi/ed in ter"s of social origins of its "e"ers
