Contingent Caste Endogamy and Patriarchy: Lessons for Our Understanding of Caste

Author(s): JANAKI ABRAHAM

Source: Economic and Political Weekly , JANUARY 11, 2014, Vol. 49, No. 2 (JANUARY
11, 2014), pp. 56-65
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/24479015

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
https://about.jstor.org/terms

Economic and Political Weekly is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend
access to Economic and Political Weekly

This content downloaded from

94.232.39.216 on Fri, 01 Oct 2021 05:33:23 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 SPECIAL ARTICLE

Contingent Caste Endogamy and Patriarchy

Lessons for Our Understanding of Caste

JANAKIABRAHAM

From reproduction
While endogamy is critical to caste and the a Sudra man and a Vaisya, Kshatriya, and Brahmana woman are
born Ayogava, a Kshattri, and a Candala respectively, the lowest of
of caste, the shifting circle of endogamy ismeninstructive of
(sons who owe their origin to) a confusion of the castes.
how castes and their practices are dynamic. Insufficient — The Laws of Manu, v 10.12
The real remedy for breaking Caste is inter-marriage. Nothing else
attention has been paid to shifts in the enforcement
will serve as the solvent of Caste.of

endogamy and the ways in which women's sexuality is — BR Ambedkar 2004 (1936): 288-89.

controlled. These have varied not only by caste, but also

been central to both discussions of the perpetuation of
overtime and context. This paper argues that shifts in Endogamy orandmarrying
caste hierarchy within
to its demise. Endogamy a prescribed group has
and hyper
the assertion of endogamy vary according to
gamy (the a caste's
principle of a woman marrying a man ranking
consciousness and its aspirations at a particular historical
higher than her) are seen as central to rules of marriage. Rela
tionships that violated theseto
moment. Further, in looking at varied responses rules in which the woman was of
higher status than the man were called hypogamous and were
non-endogamous relationships and marriages,
considered "against the grain" (pratiloma).' As in the quote
especially the tolerance to them in someabove,
instances,
The Laws of Manu saw theitcreation and proliferation of
low-ranking
explores the contingencies in the response. castes as ashows
This result of the violation of rules of
marriage. Such
that the idea of the "purity of the caste" masks forms relationships have beenof
strongly condemned.
On the other hand, critics of caste such as E V Ramasami
power often played out in the local - in the domestic,
Naikar (Geetha and Rajadurai 1998; Dirks 1996) and
the village, or caste. B R Ambedkar (2004 [1936]) saw endogamy at the heart of
caste and stressed that inter-caste marriage was one way of
ridding India of caste.
This image of caste with endogamy as its central principle is
not only shared by those who seek to maintain caste and those
who have sought to destroy it. In both popular and scholarly
understandings, endogamy (and hypergamy) are presented as
defining features of caste (for example, Ghurye 2000 [1932];
Srinivas 1968; Karve 1961; Dumont 1972). For example, the
textbook on sociology for class xn in English-medium Indian
schools lists the "Features of the caste system".2 "Restrictions
on marriage" is one of the six features, which also includes
"segmental division of society", "hierarchy", "restrictions on
commensality and social intercourse". It says, "Endogamous
marriages are an essential feature of the caste system. A
person has to marry within one's own caste" (Sharma 2003: 37).
Caste appears in such a definition as fixed and unchanging - a
feature not exclusive to this textbook.3 The "distinctive
Versions of this paper were presented at the City University of New York
Graduate Centre and at the South Asia conference infeatures
Madisonapproach"
in may be useful in setting up ideal types to
October 2012.1 would like to thank the audiences inenable comparative
each place for study (Beteille 1990:502), but this and the
questions and comments. I would like to thank Umaobsession with for
Chakravarti definitions presents us with an ahistorical
comments on the paper and a special thank you to Lucinda Ramberg
understanding and
of caste, and also shows caste endogamy to be
Srimati Basu for detailed comments and suggestions. Of course,
an immutable principle.4 This view spills over into the
all shortcomings remain mine.
common sense understanding of caste and it explains
Janaki Abraham (janaki.abraham@gmail.com) is at the Department of
contemporary events such as violent reactions to some
Sociology, Delhi University.
inter-caste marriages.

56 January 11, 2014 vol XLix no 2 0353 Economic & Political weekly

This content downloaded from

94.232.39.216 on Fri, 01 Oct 2021 05:33:23 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 SPECIAL ARTICLE

Thus, in discussions of murders, or so-called "honour" kill- argues that it was land, women, and ritual purity that c
ings, while there has been horror at the killing of a child or a sought to protect and this was done through controlling wom
sibling, the idea that caste endogamy is a norm has remained a sexuality (1993; Yalman 1963).
given.51 argue in this paper that it is important to look both at Chakravarti (1993) holds that the sexuality of upper-c
familial and community-sanctioned inter-caste marriages and women had to be controlled, given the horror of hypo
at histories of a shift in ideas about the breach of endogamy to and the need to protect the "purity of the caste". Some w
challenge the stability of the idea of caste endogamy. however, did not have the "luxury" of practising endo
Endogamy may seem to be a stable norm, but it is quite con- since their bodies were seen as "available" to men of a
tingent. Recent events have thrown into sharp focus what leged caste and economic status. The assertion of caste pow
appears as the "endogamy paradox" - the murder of a child or had thus been gendered and "upper"-caste landlords saw
kinsperson who dared violate the rule of endogamy, alongside access to "lower"-caste women as their caste/class prero
the "import" of scores of brides to deal with the shortage of (Rege 2003: 94; Geetha 2007: 191-2). The working of
marriageable women, particularly in Haryana, where several power makes clear that not all castes policed their cas
such murders have taken place (Kaur 2004,2012). These brides boundaries in the same way, either because they did not
come from far-flung places in India, and from a range of the privilege to do this or because they did not feel the ne
different caste groups, often unknown to the men contracting Ambedkar (2013 [1906]) articulated this well. Extendin
these marriages. understanding of caste as a system of graded inequalities, he
Further, a look at the number of inter-caste, inter-religious argued that caste ensured graded violence ag
marriages in urban India forces one to wonder why some vio- the same time, given that sharp and violent
lations of rules of marriage are tolerated and some are not. In endogamous relationships were far from restri
addition, a consideration of the histories of non-endogamous considered "upper" or savarna (twice born)
sexual relationships (even if they were not considered mar- tant to recognise that hypogamous relatio
riages) will tell one that something may be gained from look- ited (and feared) across all caste communitie
ing at shifts in the response to these relationships. The widespread endorsement of hypergamou
The principle of endogamy is no doubt an important ideal in in which a woman is married into a caste o
a caste society. However, it is important to look at two features starkly shows the way patriarchy is entangled
of endogamy. The first is that the prescribed or acceptable cir- caste. Thus, along-the-grain-of-caste-pow
cle of endogamy shifts over time and context, as does also the along-the-grain-of-patriarchal-power, or cas
rationale for endogamy.6 The second, linked to this, is that ilege and gender power overlap. In hypogamy,
while endogamy is and has been enforced often through vio- belongs to a caste considered superior to that
lence, or the threat of violence or excommunication, this privilege and patriarchal power run in oppos
enforcement has also shifted with time and context. This is contrary to the idea that in a context of
This paper explores the contingencies that have influenced have to have more power - both symbolic in term
the response to non-endogamous relationships. In what ways caste status and otherwise. This was in ke
have the rules and the boundaries of cohabitation and accept- understanding that in Hindu marriages "
able marriage shifted over time and been shown to be contin- considered inferior to "wife takers" and g
gent on a variety of factors? In pursuing this question, I am in- from "givers" to "takers" throughout the
terested not only in pointing to the divergence between the (Vatuk 1975).
ideal of endogamy and marital alliance in practice, but also in Ambedkar's sharp gendered understanding
arguing that this divergence must inform our understanding unfortunately remained unrecognised for a l
of caste, and the way we teach it. I will attempt to do this the centrality of endogamy in both the makin
through a comparative framework, which brings together a perpetuation (Rege 2013). He argues that sati
discussion of the shifts in the enforcement of endogamy among widowhood, and child marriage were centr
the Thiyyas of north Kerala and what has been described ment of endogamy. Chakravarti takes this f
above as the endogamy paradox in Haryana -"honour" killings that "patriarchal practices among the differe
on the one hand and cross-region marriages on the other.7 dissimilar, are part of a larger structure of c
and reproduction" (1995: 2248). Widowhood and social d
Gender and Caste through tance was enforced through an ideological ap
the Enforcement of Endogamy marked a widow as inauspicious, while practices
In her pioneering work on brahmanical patriarchy, Chakravarti suring marked her as an asexual being (C
(1993) argues that women's sexuality was sought to be pro- The brahmanical ideal remained the woman
tected to safeguard the purity of a caste. Women were consid- sati (Ambedkar 2013; Chakravarti 1995).
ered "gateways" of a caste (Das 1976) that needed to be po- Brahmanical ideals were appropriated
liced to protect its purity. Chakravarti cites the work of well- through imitation (as Ambedkar wrote in
known anthropologist Nur Yalman who in an influential essay this was later termed sanskritisation by M N
"On the Purity of Women in the Castes of Ceylon and Malabar" The control of women's sexuality was cons

Economic & Political weekly ÛQZ3 January n, 2014 vol xlix no 2 57

This content downloaded from

94.232.39.216 on Fri, 01 Oct 2021 05:33:23 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
SPECIAL ARTICLE

caste mobility (Ambedkar 2013 [1906]; Srinivas 1968). What is What also emerged subsequently was that the status of
clear from recent cases of the reaction to inter-caste marriages man that a woman had sambhandam with (the sambh
is that the anxiety over women's sexuality is not restricted to hakaran) was very important and the matrilineal joint fa
the so-called upper castes, and thus the more appropriate term house, the tharavad, kept a close record of this (Kala 19
to express the coming together of caste and gender is "caste Further, the recognition of paternity by a man of approp
patriarchy" rather than "brahmanical patriarchy".10 status was important (Gough 1961). The question we nee
Thus, feminist scholarship starting from Ambedkar's article ask for the Nairs is whether the importance of these - the
in 1906 to the works of scholars such as Chakravarti (1993, tus of the "visiting husband" and the recognition of pater
2003), Dube (1997), Pardeshi (1998), Geetha (2002), Rege (2003, by a man of appropriate status - varied over time.14
2013) and Rao (2003) significantly shaped our understanding Below, I turn to the case of the Thiyyas, who were see
of how caste was gendered, and how endogamy was central to rank below the Nairs in the caste hierarchy. In particu
caste and to the practices of patriarchy. However, what we consider the case of liaisons that some Thiyya women h
have not yet understood adequately are the shifts in the en- with British men, and the shifts in the response of the ca
forcement of endogamy. Looking at these shifts demonstrates will argue that the ways in which endogamy was enforce
that the control of women's sexuality is not so much about the seen as a value to be upheld, varied with a caste's cons
"purity of caste blood" as about maintaining privilege and ness and its aspirations at a particular historical moment,
power, or asserting caste pride.
It will be useful here to discuss the case of matrilineal The Shifting Enforcement of Endogamy
Nairs of Kerala, in southern India, which set up a puzzle for While the practice of endogamy (and hypergamy) is critic
scholars trying to rationalise gendered caste restrictions and the way caste is reproduced, no one will doubt that the b
matriliny. While Nambudiri brahmin sambandhams with aries of the circle of endogamy have changed over time.
Nair women in Kerala was well represented in the anthro- Beteille points out in relation to Tamil brahmins, the horiz
pological canon as an example of institutionalised hyper- of endogamy have expanded from sub-subcaste to sub-cast
gamous relationships, it was descriptions of "visiting husbands", and to caste (1996: 164). This is generally true as marr
"unregulated" polyandry, and the irrelevance of the status of strategies include several considerations, class being an
the father among the Nairs that puzzled anthropologists.11 portant one.
While this image squared well with matrilineal descent, that In Social History of an Indian Caste: The Kayasth
is, a child would belong to the mother's tharavad (joint family Hyderabad, Leonard (1978) discusses in great detail the sh
house and descent group), it did not square well with caste, in the marriage practices of Kayasths in Hyderabad. She ar
This romanticised image of female sexual autonomy, and the that over a period of time there was a relaxation in t
irrelevance of the caste of the man, was at odds with the restricted circle of endogamy, and marriages that were
understanding that the regulation of women's sexuality prohibited between, say, the Mathurs and Srivastav
and the importance of the caste status of both parents were Saxenas became normative. Through rich data, she descri
necessary for the maintenance of the structure of caste. The the way marriage strategies sought to maximise economic
question became whether kinship practices of the Nairs could political opportunities. She shows that there was a sh
be reconciled with the anxiety of "purity of blood" and "purity increase in the number of marriages with non-Kayasths an
of caste" (Yalman 1963). preference for marrying a Hyderabadi rather than a non
Yalman's article (1963) was an important one that looked at Hyderbadi. Thus, pointing additionally to the
why female sexuality was so ritualised across different con- "the political and cultural context" (1978: 284) i
texts. He argues that caste blood was a substance that was shift was taking place. This included a question
transmitted bilaterally even among communities such as the subcaste rules of prohibited degrees of relation
Nairs that followed an extreme case of unilineal descent, came to be seen as "unnecessary, old fashioned b
Hence the caste of the father was indeed considered relevant, desirable marriages" (ibid: 276). "Adaptability"
Dumont's explanation of the Nair case was consistent with his Leonard (1978) uses to describe Kayasth marriag
understanding of caste as being the unitary and encompassing kin groups. This adaptability in relation to mar
principle in Indian society. In looking at times when female its obverse, the contingencies in objections to s
sexuality was ritualised, he holds that the talikettu kalyanam and sexual relationships, is not unique to the K
(a pre-puberty ceremony that Nair girls went through) and The case of the Thiyyas indicates the opposite m
sambandham were primary and secondary marriages which sexual relationships that took place over sever
respectively.12 It was the primary marriage, he says, that was tions become delegitimised at a particular hi
the important and one that ritually linked a Nair woman to a During colonial rule, some Thiyya women in
man of the right category (1964). This distinction between (north Malabar to be precise) had liaisons with
primary and secondary marriages was an important inter- This caste, which ranked below the Nairs in the c
vention to explain the difference in the anxiety about a suffered caste power such as the denial of templ
woman's first marriage and a subsequent one, if there was practices of untouchability. Although known
one or more.13 occupation of "toddy tapping" and coconut tree climbing, the
58 January 11, 2014 vol XLix no 2 Q3S3 Economic & Political weekly

This content downloaded from

94.232.39.216 on Fri, 01 Oct 2021 05:33:23 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 SPECIAL ARTICLE

Thiyyas have a very long history of work in a range of occupa- was practised. Those with a "white connection" were n
tions, including agriculture. Education was made accessible invited to public functions, feasts, or weddings, and inte
by the Basel Mission and the British as Malabar was a part of tion was minimised and inter-marriage strictly prohibited.2
Madras Presidency. This access led to the creation of a sizeable There are stories told about occasions when those wit
elite among the caste who worked in bureaucratic jobs. At "white connection" were asked to leave. Koroth Kumaran
the same time, some Thiyya men worked with the British as recalled an incident at a wedding when he was a young boy
butlers, bearers, or gardeners and some women as domestic the 1920s). "As everyone sat with their banana leaves fil
helpers. It was during this time that some Thiyya women had with food in front of them, the nattumukyastan (or villa
liaisons with British men. area headman, generally the senior-most person) at the wed
Little is known about the liaisons except for brief documen- ding sadhya (feast) said, 'There is someone here who
tary mention and the memories that people have. Colonial uninvited' and everyone there waited for the person to
texts at the end of the 19th century and the early 20th century Kumaran recalled with a sense of horror how he saw a
mention them and the response of the caste. For example, fair lady" get up and leave, and on her way out bang h
William Logan who served as a collector in Tellicherry (now As she walked out with blood on her forehead, no one
Thalassery) writes in a discussion on the Thiyyas in the Mala- It was only after she had left that the nattumuk
bar Manual (1887), "The women are not as a rule excommuni- announced "pandhiayi" and everyone began eating
cated if they live with Europeans, and the consequence is that from elite Thiyya tharavads, who married descenda
there has been among them a large admixture of European a mixed union, were also socially excluded from fun
blood" (2000 [1887]: 143). P K Damodaran, for example, after his second marriage to the
However, the response of the caste changed with the growth daughter of a British man and Thiyya woman, mention
of the social reform movement around the end of the 19th his diaries that he was invited to fewer weddings. Wh
century. This shift is indicated in later references to the liaisons, was invited, he chose to visit the house the day befor
Thus, the Malabar Marriage Commission, constituted to gather marriage to avoid causing any displeasure. Caste bound
public opinion on a proposed marriage bill, mentions in its and the "self-respect" of the caste were sought to be pres
report submitted in 1894, "In the early days of British rule, through sanctions against these women and their children
the Tiyan women incurred no social disgrace by consorting However, as the letter by Murkoth Kumaran shows, it is
with Europeans...Happily, the progress of education, and the clear that the concern was that some "senior officers" w
growth of a wholesome public opinion, have made shameful taking the "beautiful daughters" (.sundaripenkutikale) bo
the position of a European's concubine" (Report 1894:10). Iyer these liaisons as their "mistresses" (yeppattigal) (Kuny
writes in The Cochin Tribes and Castes that he was "informed 1975: 16).22 The sanctions were clearly not only punishm
that such women and children, with their families, are under a but also a mechanism to minimise interactions and the
ban, and that respectable Tiya gentlemen who have married prevent the "mixing" with others. This suggests that as lo
the daughters of European parentage are not allowed the priv- it was only poor Thiyyas who had liaisons and intermar
ileges of the caste" (1912: 277-78).15 These references point to among other marginal Thiyyas, the problem could have
the change in the response to the liaisons. ignored. The threat of these liaisons seems to be heightened b
the "mixing" of elite "respectable" Thiyya men of high office
Excommunication with WOmen who had a white connection.
Further, through interviews during fieldwork in Thalassery in Thus, the sexuality of men, especially
the late 1990s it was clear that women who had liaisons with men" or "respectable men", of the caste wa
British men had been excommunicated or suspended from the sanctions against women and their famil
caste in the late 19th century.16 In a letter written in 1937 by the sexuality of men was indeed a point of
Murkoth Kumaran, a prominent writer and teacher in nities keen to guard their boundaries to gain
Tellicherry, there is reference to a decision made by a caste though the focus of ritualisation of sexuali
panchayat (caste council).17 He writes that at a caste panchayat the sexuality of men and the conjugal
in the late 19th century in Tellicherry, some members of the established was also of concern. However,
Thiyya caste argued that the liaisons and particularly the access elite men was an anxiety, it was the women
that British men had to Thiyya women was "dishonourable" that were excommunicated.
(heenam) and "degrading to the community" (apakirtikaram) Not only this, some tharavads excomm
(Kunyappa 1975: 16).18 The argument made was that the who had a liaison and her children. In the c
"self-respect of the community" had to be preserved through sions (or more formal interviews) with
the denial of this access. tions, oblique references were made, for examp
What were probably all-male caste sabhas excommunicated mother who never wanted to have a puja r
the women who had liaisons, as well as their children.19 The because her tharavad, which had a big puj
implications of excommunication were that the services of cer- her out of it. In another instance, Rohin
tain service-castes - washermen, barbers, and others - were liaisons with two British men and had chil
denied to these families.20 In addition, a form of social boycott mentioned that her mother's ties had be

Economic & Political weekly nrani January 11, 2014 vol xlix no 2 59

This content downloaded from

94.232.39.216 on Fri, 01 Oct 2021 05:33:23 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
SPECIAL ARTICLE

tharavad after she had had a liaison with a sahib. Her mother It was during the period of social reform (late 19th and
had not received her share of property from her tharavad. 20th centuries) that the boundaries of the Thiyya caste
Thus, some matrilineal tharavads sought to protect their singly came to be defined in distinctive ways, esp
"status" by excommunicating the woman and her children through the control of women's sexuality. Liaisons with
and thus denying them a right to residence and property. Here men were in this changing context seen as being "dish
a woman's right to residence and property was contingent on ble" and "degrading to the community". The assertion
her following the rules of cohabitation and/or marriage. dogamy was identified as one way through which the stat
There were many domestic arrangements that Thiyya the caste could be enhanced,
women and men entered into, which existed alongside the It is no coincidence that these strictures took place in
more socially recognised forms (such as mangalam).23 These late 19th century and the early 20th century. This peri
were sambandham24 (sexual union or connection), kootikon- the rise of Sri Narayana Guru's movement and the form
dupokal (taking home with you), and veetilvechhu (literally to of the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (sndp) Yogam
keep in your house, or a keep). The latter two may have been other caste associations that addressed issues of "social r
polygamous relationships entered into while the man was in a in their respective groups.26 These were aimed at enabl
socially sanctioned marriage. The reaction to a woman enter- caste to "progress" and prosper. Social reform was add
ing into one of these conjugal relationships is likely to have in a context of castes competing for social legitimac
shifted, based on a variety of factors, including whether it was political and economic power. The growth of caste
her primary or secondary marriage. Prior to the social reform tions also resulted in the question of who belonged to
movement, did the breach of endogamy evoke sanctions of any caste. Further, as demonstrated above, social reform w
kind in the early and the mid-i9th century? Were these liai- at a time when castes were challenging processes that
sons with British men seen as "hypergamous" - in which the not seen as status enhancing (such as non-endogamous
men bore not caste status but class and power? Were they toi- relationships) and thus asserting the boundaries of thei
erated because the practice of the talikettu kalyalam or the pri- The debates and shifts during this period in relation to w
mary marriage established a "marriage" with a man of the and marriage are well documented (see, for example, S
right category and secured a woman's sexuality? Would rela- and Vaid 1989; Sarkar and Sarkar 2008; Sreenivas 2008).
tionships with castes ranking below the Thiyyas have been tol
erated before the late 19th century? These are not easy ques- Sambandham
tions to answer with the evidence available. In Kerala, for example, in the late 19th century, elite Nair
However, what is significant is that the response in the late sought the intervention of the colonial state to intro
19th century to domestic arrangements with British men was marriage legislation for all people following maru
not only influenced by changing notions of legitimacy, respect- thayam or matriliny. Their primary concern was to legi
ability, and conjugality, but also sharpened by the apparent unions referred to as sambandham. They sought to bring
signs on the bodies of the children born of these liaisons. Their marriage and kinship system in line with what they ima
pale skin, and sometimes blue eyes or blond hair, were mark- to be "modern" by not only defining sambandham in
ers that made the liaisons visible and identifiable to a wider marriage, but also in ensuring that marriage would lea
public. This visible evidence of the liaisons is clearly what woman's rights to some of her husband's property. More
made members of the caste see them as dishonourable and what they sought to be altered were sambandham betw
shameful. However, as mentioned earlier, class was critical to Nambudiri men and Nair women in which a Nambudir
the objection made to the liaisons. had few formal obligations towards the woman and his
Class was also critical to the response to other non-endoga- dren. Several people argued that they wanted Nair-Nam
mous relationships. In an autobiography, Sharda Amma writes sambandham to come under this law that would give a
about how her grandmother's grandmother had around the the right to a share of her husband's self-acquired prop
1830s "married" a Gujarati seth who had come to Tellicherry to This demand from the colonial state clearly indicates that
trade.25 She says her grandmother, who told them the story, the attitude towards institutionalised hypergamous r
said that because the seth was very wealthy, people accepted ships shifted over time.27
his wife. But some people did ostracise her and she was not in- What was, however, demanded was not that Nam
vited to a few weddings and other ceremonies. For subsequent men should not be able to have sambandham with
generations, it appears as though the Gujarati connection was women". Instead, given the prestige attached to hyperg
evoked when a marriage alliance was being arranged for unions in caste society, they sought to bring these relat
someone in the family. This case suggests that women who did ships under the purview of the marriage legislation. T
marry outside the caste may have been ostracised by some but riage legislation would ensure that the Nair woman wo
this was contingent on the wealth and the influence of the per- a share of the self-acquired property of the Nambudiri
son she married, and on the visibility of race as discussed ear- was having sambandham with. But when the legislat
lier. What is important as well is that it is on certain occasions passed in 1896, Nair-Nambudiri sambandham did no
that a history of a non-endogamous relationship was evoked, under the purview of it.28 However, discussions in the
most crucially the occasion of a marriage alliance. that preceded the passing of the law indicate the shift i
60 January 11, 2014 vol XLix no 2 E32S3 Economic & Political weekly

This content downloaded from

94.232.39.216 on Fri, 01 Oct 2021 05:33:23 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 SPECIAL ARTICLE

of not only marriage, but also in the boundaries of the caste, However, despite several intermarriages between fam
and the "access" some men had to "their" women. What was with a white connection and others, this old stigma is oft
different though was that these relationships were only sought evoked. In conversation, Radhakrishnan, who retired from t
to be legalised, not discouraged through sanctions against army, said that now there are several marriages across wh
women. Consistent with the ideal of hypergamy, a Nambudiri was considered the white line, but if something goes wro
connection in a Nair tharavad continues to be spoken about the old stigma is evoked. This indicates that class and co
with pride. Thus, while in both cases there was a shift in the may trump issues of purity of caste at the time an allianc
way these relationships were viewed, the Nair-Nambudiri case being made. However, when things go wrong, this is evok
is in sharp contrast to the liaisons that some Thiyya women indicating that the anxiety is not so much about purity of bloo
had with British men. as about an assertion of power, or a point to justify why thing
In the 1920s or early 1930s there was a decision to readmit go wrong. Non-endogamous relationships with groups th
families with a white connection back into the community were earlier considered stigmatised in the local have a diff
(Kunyappa 1975). The reason offered was that although those ent import to ones not stigmatised in the local, precis
born of mixed unions could have converted to Christianity, be- because old ideas of inferiority and superiority can be evoke
come Anglo-Indians, and reaped the benefits of jobs reserved Although, some tharavad members may now boast abo
for Anglo-Indians, they chose to remain Hindus and became having "the un in their tharavad" (implying that peopl
successful in prestigious jobs such as the Indian Civil Service several nationalities have married into the family), they
and the Indian Economic Service (ibid). Caste lines were simultaneously boast that they do not have a drop of white
redrawn at least formally. blood. Those who counter this stigma, often say they have had
Both in the rationale presented for excommunication of the United Nations (un) in their tharavad for a long time,
those with a white connection and in their reincorporation, Two issues emerge. While the principle of endogamy may
the class of these caste members was critical. The perceived important to the reproduction of caste, the ways in which
threat to the caste seemed heightened when the distance be- has been enforced have varied, not only between one c
tween the "elite" and "poor" families in which there had been and another in the caste hierarchy, but across time. And two,
non-endogamous sexual relationships was reduced. Similarly, marriage with someone from another country may be acce
the reintroduction seems to not only have hinged on the and collectively celebrated, while a marriage of a man or a
decision of those excommunicated to stay within the fold of woman with someone from a caste earlier considered stig
the caste and religion, but also on their success in modern tised in the local is resisted, condemned, or at least whisper
bureaucratic jobs. about. Thus, indicating that the issue at stake is less the ideal
Although the caste panchayat reincorporated those with a of endogamy or the purity of blood, and more the anx
white connection into the community, the social divisions con- about changing relationships of power in the local. I will
tinued. These were, however, contextually drawn and also de- on this argument in the next section,
pended on the orthodoxy of the tharavad. Once again the area
in which difference was marked the most sharply was the time The Endogamy Paradox in Haryana
of a marriage alliance. However, over time, what I call the How do we understand the violent response to some mar
"stain of white" (Abraham 2006) has begun to fade. As one that violate rules of endogamy and exogamy, often refe
person said to me, "Earlier if a girl's name was suggested, they as "honour killings"? And, in contrast, how do we und
would say, 'She is from that family. We don't want.' But now familial and community approval for unmarried men i
they don't mind. They get beautiful girls." On the other side, ana who contract marriages with women from distant
while some still make the assertion that they do not have a and unknown caste statuses? What can this tell us about
"drop of white blood in their family", they admit that "now value and practice of caste endogamy?
people marry - they like the colour". The killing of a kinsperson, child, sister, or niece be
In addition to the shift based on the desire for brides with a they loved across caste or community has in the last deca
light skin, what again seems to have been critical was class, so come to media attention with frightening frequency
While it was primarily the "elite" tharavads in towns such as extreme reaction has not only been in relation to inter-c
Thalassery or Kannur that saw intermarriage with those with inter-community relationships, but also in relation to ones
a "white connection" as undesirable, it was equally the genea- are seen as violating rules of marriage of one kind or a
logical charts of some of these tharavads that indicate the con- - for example, village or gotra (lineage) exogamy. The
tingency of this avoidance. Thus, genealogical charts of some ings, inappropriately termed "honour killings", are so
elite tharavads show two or three marriages with members of that it is hard to speak about them in all their complexity
a prominent family with a white connection. The stigma of ever, I would like to consider a few cases to indicate the w
white blood was clearly overcome by the equally elite family issues at play in these cases.
position of the tharavad. The response to an erring couple varies on the basis of t
Today, genealogical charts of elite tharavads in Thalassery caste and class affiliations. Hypogamous relationships
and Kannur indicate the range of marriages outside the caste - been seen as far more of a threat than hypergamous o
marriages across religion and region, including with foreigners, other words, when a young man belongs to a caste consid
Economic & Political weekly DQ52 January 11, 2014 vol xlix no 2 6l

This content downloaded from

94.232.39.216 on Fri, 01 Oct 2021 001 Jan 1976 12:34:56 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
SPECIAL ARTICLE

inferior to the caste of the young woman he marries, the could marry women from any caste they wanted and
response has often been sharp. For example, in the case of a women would be incorporated into the caste. She qu
Jat woman (a dominant landowning intermediate caste in local belief, "The Jat is like an ocean and whichever river
north India) marrying a Jatav man (a dalit caste), a village into this ocean loses its identity and become the ocean it
acted sharply. The case was considered one in which the Jatavs (1994: 127). She describes how during colonial rule
were becoming too powerful, and were expressing this by married "lower caste" women from the Churhi or Cha
laying claim to a woman of the "dominant caste". A People's castes. The children of such marriages "were called J
Union for Democratic Rights (pudr) fact-finding report (2003) though often they were ridiculed as Churhifce or Chamar
on the lynching of five men in Jhajjar, Haryana, argued that (ibid). She argues that this changed with property an
this incident was not unrelated to an incident in which a Jat desire for upward mobility at stake. In the "chang
woman and a Jatav man had eloped. This was read as part of economy of the post-colonial period such a breach of c
the assertion of Jatavs in the area and action was sought to be no longer possible" (ibid: 128). On the basis of intervie
taken to keep them "in their place". Enforcing endogamy, writes that this shift was equally a result of the diff
then, is one way in which communities seek to reiterate their experienced in arranging marriage alliances for child
caste/community power. such marriages - a difficulty that had not been noticeable
In recent years, a huge debate has erupted in Kerala (and earlier (ibid). These relationships that wer
Karnataka) on what has been called by some as a "love jihad", that the man was of superior caste stat
In the initial outcry, inter-religious marriages in which a considered acceptable.
Hindu woman had chosen to marry a Muslim man were Cases like this are similar to instances
likened to a capture at war through the term "love jihad" tive caste positioning of the couple did not
(Devika 2009). Emptying women of the capacity to choose, much a problem as the idea that the woma
to exercise their own agency, these marriages were seen as ing familial patriarchal authority (of the fa
ones in which Hindu women were being forcibly married and Consider, for example, the case of Bharti
forcibly converted to Islam. The tension in relation to differ- of a Rajya Sabha member, and Nitish Kat
ent religious communities in a communalised context was Indian Administrative Service officer in ur
superimposed on to these marriages, somewhat similar to Delhi.31 In this case, the man was perceived
the way in which hypogamous marriages are seen as ones in this authority by not backing off when
which men gain power through marrying women who were brother. Several other cases indicate the w
considered prohibited to them. the family and the community is seen as undermined in self
Cases of hypergamous relationships in the recent past chosen relationships,
between a man and woman who are from very differently
ranked castes have met with violence, though not necessarily Exclusive Male Inheritance of Land
death. Chowdhry (2007) describes a case in which a Jat man At the same time, as Chowdhry (1998) suggests, this threat to
and a Balmiki (dalit) woman were hauled up by an all-caste the masculinity of men in a group, needs to be understood in
panchayat in a Jat-dominated village for their "love affair", relation to its material basis. She asks why there is such a vi
Their faces were blackened, their hair cut, and they were pa- lent reaction to a couple marrying when they both belong to
raded on donkeys in the village. However, in some cases, even the same caste but break the rule of village exogamy. It is tru
hypergamous instances bring on a sharp reaction. In a case that residents of a village are considered fictive brothers and
reported in the media in the middle-class colony of Ashok Vi- sisters and such relationships are seen as incest. Marriages
har in Delhi, Kuldeep and Monica, both residents of the colony, within the village would mean that the woman would con
were murdered by Monica's brother and cousin as they be- tinue to live in the village after marriage and, as Chowdhry
lieved the couple set a bad example for others in the family by (1998) argues, this has to be seen in relation to the new rights
marrying outside their caste.29 Kuldeep was from the Rajput that women have as a result of the Hindu Succession Act of
caste and Monica was from the Gujjar caste. Monica's cousin, 1956 and more instances of women staking a claim to nata
Shobha, was also subsequently murdered for eloping with a property. These cases have to be seen in the context of the
man of another caste. Despite this being a hypergamous rela- increased ritualisation of Rakhi, the occasion a woman ties a
tionship, the assertion of endogamy is clearly part of strength- decorated thread on her brother's wrist in return for his pro
ening the pride of the caste group - a process that is symboli- tection. This, Chowdhry points out, has become an occasion
cally expressed by "Gujjar" splashed across the rear screen of when brothers get their sisters to sign away their share of lan
some cars in Delhi.30 in their favour. The fear of women staking a claim to material
It is useful to remember that the tolerance towards non- resources and as it were upsetting the exclus
endogamous relationships has shifted over time. Chowdhry to inherit immovable land is important in un
describes the shifts in the response to Jat men in Haryana to violent reaction to intra-village marriages i
marrying women from across the caste line. She points out claim to property may be tangible. In thes
that although these marriages neither became a norm nor violence, brothers often play a key role. "H
were they very widespread, there was a belief that Jat men defined in terms of retaining privilege - he
62 January 11, 2014 vol XLix no 2 mavi Economic & Political weekly

This content downloaded from

94.232.39.216 on Fri, 01 Oct 2021 05:33:23 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 SPECIAL ARTICLE

material resources. This is also true in contexts where there is establish a web of relationships. In such a context, a w
a perception that dalits are usurping jobs of the dominant can be fully incorporated into the family without upse
caste (Chowdhry 2009). local hierarchies.35
Several killings have involved couples who were ostensibly The assertion of
from the same gotra or clan - a relationship considered as ing about the puri
incest and strongly prohibited. However, in some of these about mixing wit
cases, couples have had family-arranged marriages in which This is true of hi
the panchayat (caste council) later declared that they were white" among t
from gotras that are considered sister-brother ones. What was rary and chan
made clear was that the relationship between different gotras larly true of cr
changed over time. Jagmati Sangwan, an activist with the All
India Democratic Women's Association (aidwa), the women's Conclusion: Ret
wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), who has The violent reac
worked on this issue for a long time, has argued that in cases riages or elope
of migration, members of the dominant gotra in a village have to the range o
decided that if a woman from another village of their gotra volved in opposin
gets married into a group that is considered subordinate to this picture is th
them in the local, it would undermine their dominant relation- a village or cast
ship.32 This is what motivates dominant groups to declare that priated by oth
there will be no marriages between two clans, or that mar- cases marriage
riages between the two gotra must be annulled and the couple have been asked
declared brother and sister. Thus, changes in the circle of nised in the prese
endogamy, and equally in exogamy, may be linked to relation- In this pape
ships of power and domination in the local. women's sexuality is con
In another instance, in which a couple was asked to become caste. While endo
brother and sister, it was found that the man had refused to of caste, the sh
vote for the dominant person in the panchayat and this person castes and the
had vowed to take revenge. He got the panchayat to state that sufficient attent
the man's marriage had to be annulled. Branding a marriage and the ways in
illegitimate was here tied then to asserting power over some- have varied not
one in the village and disciplining him.33 While the control of w
The nature of these responses gets clearer when we look at the ritual and m
what would appear to be an "endogamy paradox". Men, mainly restricted to p
Jat men in Haryana, have been going to far-flung places like considered hig
Kerala and Assam (Kaur 2004, 2012) to find brides because of in themselves.
the skewed sex ratio in the state (877 women per 1,000 men, I have argued
according to the 2011 Census). Kaur's work on these cross- endogamy vary
region marriages explores this migration of brides and aspirations at a par
relationships they set up in the new place. During a visit to ing at varied re
Payyanur, in north Kerala, from where several women have marriages, espec
migrated for marriage to Haryana, I interviewed family mem- I explored the co
bers- of women who were married to men from Haryana.34 liaisons some
When I asked them or women who had been marriage brokers, reform of th
they spoke about how the men from Haryana asked for girls their children w
of "good" castes. In many cases, the mothers of these men liaison was marke
were told that the women did not eat meat. This and the rela- colour of their sk
tively lighter skin of the women were seen as markers of a tifiable and heig
"good" caste. significant is that despite these markings on the body of the
These are marriages in which no dowry is transacted. In children, until the late 19th century, women who had liai
fact, the groom pays for all the expenses of the marriage. What and their children, were not excommunicated,
marks these marriages out from those which were self- In instances of so-called "honour" killings or the threat o
arranged? Here, it is the Haryanvi men who are choosing a violence, the value of caste endogamy is often a ruse for
bride. They also have familial support for searching far away ing in self-chosen marriages that are either seen as und
when they cannot find a bride at home. When marriages are mining familial (most often patriarchal) power and/or c
contracted very far from the local, they do not set up a and community power. In many cases it is not caste endo
marriage alliance with another family, and thus do not amy as such that is seen as being violated. An injunction is
Economic & Political weekly EEE3 January 11, 2014 vol xlix no 2 63

This content downloaded from

94.232.39.216 on Fri, 01 Oct 2021 05:33:23 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
SPECIAL ARTICLE

almost always against a marriage with someone from a group endogamy tells us is that ideas of purity and pollution
that is considered inappropriate or stigmatised at the local tremely flexible. "Purity and pollution" was clearly an id
level. Thus, in some cases, marriage to a foreigner or to some- ical cloak that shrouded something else - the attempt t
one from a different region may not elicit the kind of reaction tain power and the status quo, whether in terms of w
as a marriage to someone from the local that not only access to property, jobs, prestige or caste superiority (Chowd
breaks rules of marriage, but is also stigmatised. In the case 1998,2007,2009; Chakravarti 2005).
of Thiyyas, it was not uncommon to hear someone boast What do the shifting circles of caste endogamy a
about having many nationalities in the family, while also shifting enforcement of it tell us about caste? Can it pers
asserting that there is not a drop of "white blood" in the us to revisit our common sense about the features of cast
family. The memory of past stigmatised relationships is firmly rooted in our textbooks and our understanding of c
evoked in the present and may be seen as less status enhanc- Can we persuade others that definitions cannot capture
ing than a marriage with someone from far away.36 In the multiple and contextual meanings of caste (Beteille 19
case of imported brides to Haryana, social approval is given capture the idea that caste is like an agile genie that shift
to this practice given the low sex ratio and also because transforms itself according to context? The complex way
brides are brought from outside the local, their caste identity which it works on the ground brings together both pas
remains unknown or vague, and it does not disturb equations ory of stigma and discrimination, relationships of powe
of power at the local level. domination in the present, and aspirations for the future. If
Thus, the idea of the "purity of the caste" masks forms of endogamy is contingent, so is the form that caste takes.37
power often played out in the local - in the domestic, the lining the six features of caste, including endogamy, mas
village, or caste. Endogamy is reproduced less as a value in this very nature of caste, particularly the complex way i
itself and more as an ideal critically tied to power and forms of which it is gendered and how patriarchy and caste meet
social status. What the contingencies in the enforcement of mesh together to protect male privilege and power.

NOTES 16 Hayden (1999) discusses the different ways in

understand this phenomenon (1972). This is
notwithstanding problems with Dumont's ar which "excommunication" has been under
According to convention, these terms are stood in the literature. He takes the case of the
always used in relation to a woman.
gument that assumes consensus in the caste
hierarchy and focuses on hierarchy rather than working of the caste councils among two
Titled Structure of Indian Society: A Sociology
exploitation, subordination, and violence. groups of Nandiwalla, non-pastoral nomads in
Textbook for Class XII.
However, this imitation must be seen as not Maharashtra, to argue that the word "excom
Definitions of caste and several descriptions of munication" is inadequate and in India a more
merely about copying a practice of castes con
the institution have tended to present this un appropriate term would be "suspension".
sidered superior but about an appropriation of
changing quality. See, for example, the coloni 17 This letter was later published with a bio
a practice which was considered a resource.
al People of India by Herbert Risley and the
Further, both secular power and ritual power graphy of Murkoth Kumaran by his son (see
post-Independence Anthropological Survey of
worked to produce a context in which certain Kunyappa 1975).
India's "Peoples of India" series.
practices were sought to be imitated. 18 The lack of documentation on the workings of
In his somewhat masked critique of Dumont's
The term "brahmanical patriarchy" tends to caste panchayats has meant that many ques
Homo Hierarchicus (1972), Beteille writes that
beg the labelling of patriarchies of different tions about the decisions made regarding the
these may be useful in setting up ideal types to liaisons are not known.
caste groups, particularly at a time when the
enable comparative study, but when applied to
whole nations or civilisations, it isnature
notofjust
caste power can no longer be cap 19 The composition of the caste panchayat is un
tured by the term brahmanism. known. However, descriptions of dispute set
intellectual error but political mischief (1990:
Among the Nambudiris, to ensure that land tlement bodies such as the tera, believed to
502).
was not partitioned, only the eldest son was al have been comprised of karanavars from elite
The quotes around "honour" indicate a distance
lowed to marry within the caste. The younger tharavads, suggests that they were all-male.
from this term, which blunts calling these kill
sons were to have sambandham with Nair 20 At the time, each of these castes also provided
ings murders and shrouds patriarchal domina
women. Nambudiri women were often married a range of ritual services at, for example, birth,
tion, control, and violence. Izzat or honour is
off at an early age to much older men, many of death, and childbirth.
critical to patriarchal ideology and practice
whom died a few years after marriage, leaving 21 An older generation of those with a "white con
and refers to the idea of masculinity in which the
"honour" of men, the family, and community is the young woman a widow. Sambandham liter nection" remembered their mothers speaking
seen to lie with the women of the community. ally translates as a "connection". about this social boycott.
This and whether there was marriage at all22 "Senior officers" or "respectable gentlemen"
As Fuller argues, caste is "now justified by
among the Nairs was a subject of hot debate (manyanmar) is a recurring reference. The
claiming that the khan-pin (food and drink)
among anthropologists and led to debates about reference to these children of white men as
or rahan-sahan (way of life) of each caste is
the definition of marriage. See, for example, "beautiful" is clearly in relation to their light
distinctive and expressive of cultural differ
ences that should not be mis-matched, rather Gough 0959). skin tone. This is also expressed in the quote by
than by suggesting that purity-based hierarchy More recently this has been discussed by Parry Iyer (1912: 277-78).
of castes should not be undermined" (1996:12). (2001) in relation to contemporary marriages 23 Kalyanam or the marriage ceremony was
This is consistent with Dumont's (1972) argu in the Bhilai steel plant in Chhattisgarh, India. brief and involved the exchange of garlands.
ment about the increasing substantialisation He argues that the status of the first marriage Until the marriage reforms introduced by
of caste in which they take on a community was far more important than that of subse Sri Narayana Guru (a religious and social
like character stressing a common culture. quent marriages or relationships. reformer), the ceremony was not presided over
One must stress that "honour" killings are not In her thesis, Gough (1950) describes instances by a religious authority, and even today, many
restricted to Harayana, or to north India. And in which a man of the "right" category would in marriages are conducted without a religious
the "endogamy paradox", where some non-en some instances be persuaded to marry a authority.
dogamous relationships are accepted while woman who was found to be pregnant. This was 24 Although Thiyyas would often tell me with a
others are seen as threatening, can be observed often in instances of affairs between parallel sense of pride that unlike the Nairs they did not
in different parts of the country. cousins (prohibited and considered incest). have sambandham, I heard the term being
In this respect, Dumont's structural argument Thurston and Rangachari (1909) quote at length used for sexual relationships that did not have
about a caste associating with castes above it from both the Malabar Marriage Commission the status of a marriage, most often because
in opposition to castes below it is useful to Report (1894) and from Iyer (1912). it was a relationship the man established in

64 January il, 2014 vol XLix no 2 EGE3 Economic & Political weekly

This content downloaded from

94.232.39.216 on Fri, 01 Oct 2021 05:33:23 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 SPECIAL ARTICLE

concurrence with a marriage or after a mar - (1996): "Caste in Contemporary India" in Karve, Irawati (1961): Hindu Society: An Interpreta
riage but was not given social sanction. C J Fuller (ed.), Caste Today (Delhi: Oxford tion (Poona: Deshmukh Prakashan).
25 It is unclear what the nature of the conjugal University Press), pp 150-79. Kaur, Ravinder (2004): "Across-Region Marriages:
arrangement really was and the kind of ritualChakravarti, Uma (1993): "Conceptualising Brah Poverty, Female Migration and the Sex Ratio",
that preceded it. Name changed like others to manical Patriarchy in Early India: Gender, Economic & Political Weekly, Vol 39, No 25,
protect the identity of the family. Caste, Class and State", Economic & Political pp 2595-2603.
26 The Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam Weekly, Vol 27, No 14, pp 579-85. - (2012): "Marriage and Migration: Citizenship
was formed in 1903 and the Nair Service Society
- (1995): "Gender, Caste and Labour: Ideological and Marital Experience in Cross-border Mar
in 1908. The Yogakshema Sabha, which built and Material Structure of Widowhood", Econo
riages between Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal
a movement for social reform among the mic & Political Weekly, Vol 30, No 36, pp 579-85
and Bangladesh", Economic & Political Weekly,
Nambudiris, began much later in 1930.
- (2003): Gendering Caste: Through a Feminist Vol 47, No 43, pp 78-84.
27 A similar shift took place in Bengal in relation Lens (Calcutta: Stree).
to institutionalised hypergamy in the form of
Kunyappa, Murkoth (1975): Murkoth Kumaran:
- (2005): "From Fathers to Husbands: Of Love, Jeevacharitram (A Life Story), (Malayalam)
Kulinism where a shortage of men of the higher
Death and Marriage in North India" in Lynn (Kottayam: National Book Stall).
brahmin castes led to polygamy. Starting from
Welchman and Sara Hossain, Honour: Crimes,
the 19th century, this was attacked and gradu Larsen, Mattias and Ravinder Kaur (2013): "Signs
Paradigms and Violence against Women (New
ally disappeared (Beteille 1996:166). of Change? Sex Ratio Imbalance and Shifting
Delhi: Zubaan).
28 The Act was called the Malabar Marriage Act Social Practices in Northern India", Economic &
Chowdhry, Prem (1994): The Veiled Women: Shift Political Weekly, Vol 47, No 35, pp 45-52.
(1896). The uproar from the Nambudiri com
ing Gender Equations in Rural Haryana 1880
munity cited the Queen's proclamation (1856) Laws of Manu (1991): Trans: Wendy Doniger with
îçgo (Delhi: Oxford University Press).
on non-interference in local custom to say that Brian Smith (New Delhi: Penguin).
this would constitute interference in local cus - (1998): "Enforcing Cultural Codes: Gender and Leonard, Karen Isaksen (1978): Social History of
tom since Nambudiri men other than the eldest Violence in Northern India in Mary E John and
an Indian Caste: The Kayasths of Hyderabad
were not permitted to marry.
Janaki Nair (ed.), A Question of Silence? The
(Berkeley: University of California Press).
Sexual Economies of Modern India (New Delhi:
29 Seehttp://news.outlookindia.com/items.aspx? Logan, William (2000 [1887]): Malabar Manual,
Kali).
artid = 685616. Vols I and II (New Delhi and Madras: Asian
30 There are scores of similar cases that can be- (2007): Contentious Marriages, Eloping Educational Services).
Couples: Gender, Caste and Patriarchy in North
cited from different parts of the country. Dirk,
India (New Delhi: Oxford University Press). Madan, T N (1975): "Structural Implications of
for example, describes a case in the 1990s in
- (2009): '"First Our Jobs Then Our Girls': The Marriage in North India: Wife-givers and Wife
Pudukkottai in Tamil Nadu of a Thevar man
Dominant Caste Perceptions on the 'Rising' takers among the Pandits of Kashmir", Contri
(non-brahmin) and a brahmin woman who fell
Dalits", Modern Asian Studies, 43:2, pp 437-79. butions to Indian Sociology, 9, pp 217-44.
in love. While the parents of the woman were
willing to accept the marriage, the father of the Das, Veena (1976): "Indian Women: Work, Power
Pardeshi, Pratima (1998): Dr Ambedkar and the
groom was not - despite it being a hyperga and Status" in B R Nanda, Indian Women: From Question of Women's Liberation in India, trans
mous relationship (1996: 284). Purdah to Modernity (New Delhi: Vikas). lated by Sharmila Rege, Pune: Krantijyoti
Savitribai Phule Women's Studies Centre, Uni
31 For a discussion of the case, see http://news. Devika, J (2009): "Who's at 'Jihad? 'Love Jihad'
and the Judge in Kerala", http://Kafila.Org/ versity of Pune.
outlookindia. com/items. aspx?artid=684488;
http://news.outlookindia.com/items. 2009/12/10/Whos-At-Jihad-Love-Jihad-And Parry, Jonathan (1979): Caste and Kinship in
aspx?artid=368637 The-Judge-In-Kerala/accessed on: 7 July 2013. Kangra (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul).
32 A woman from their clan would become a Dirks, Nicholas B (1996): "Recasting Tamil Socie - (2001): "Ankalu's Errant Wife: Sex, Marriage
daughter-in-law of their village, and would put ty: The Politics of Caste and Race in Contem and Industry in Contemporary Chhattisgarh",
them in a subordinate position as a "wife-giver". porary Southern India" in C J Fuller (ed.), Modern Asian Studies, 35, pp 783-820.
As mentioned earlier, this is because of the idea Caste Today (Delhi: Oxford University Press), PUDR (2003): "Courting Disaster: A Report on
that the family of the bride is considered to be PP 263-95 Intercaste Marriages, Societies and State".
subordinate to the family of the groom. Or, in Dube, Leela (1997): "Caste and Women" in Rao, Anupama, ed. (2003): Caste and Gender (New
kinship parlance, "wife-givers" are subordinate to M N Srinivas (ed.), Caste: Its Twentieth Century Delhi: Women Unlimited).
"wife-takers" (Madani975;Partyi979;\&tuki975). Avatar (New Delhi: Penguin). Rege, Sharmila (2003): "A Dalit Feminist Stand
33 In each of these cases, there is complicity of the Dumont, Louis (1964): "Marriage in India: The
point" in Anupama Rao (ed.), Gender and Caste
state (see, for example, Chakravarti 2005; Present State of the Question: Postscript to Part (New Delhi: Kali).
Chowdhry 2007). I, II: Marriage and Status; Nayar and Newar",
- (2013): Against the Madness of Manu:
34 I am grateful to Ravinder Kaur for prompting Contributions to Indian Sociology, 7, pp 77-98.
B RAmbedkar's Writings on Brahmanical Patri
me to go there and do the interviews. - (1972): Homo Hierarchicus: The Caste System archy, selected and introduced by Sharmila
35 The low sex ratio in Harayana has also led to and its Implications (London: Paladin).
Rege (New Delhi: Navayana).
the relaxation of the marriage rule of gotra Fuller, C J, ed. (1996): Caste Today (Delhi: Oxford
(clan) exogamy (Larsen and Kaur 2013). Report of the Malabar Marriage Commission 1894
University Press).
(Madras: Lawrence Asylum Press).
36 Thus, the memory of past hierarchies needs to Geetha, V and S V Rajadurai (1998): Towards a
be incorporated into our understanding of what Sangari, Kumkum and Sudesh Vaid, ed. (1989):
Non-Brahman Millennium (Calcutta: Samya).
Dumont called the "substantialisation of caste" Recasting Women: Essays on Colonial India
Geetha, V (2007): Patriarchy (Kolkota: Stree). (New Delhi: Kali).
(1972). In other words, castes that become com
Ghurye, G S (2000 [1932]): Caste and Race in India
munity-like may retain internal fissures that Sarkar, Sumit and Tanika Sarkar, ed. (2008): Women
are evoked at certain occasions.
(Bombay: Popular Prakashan).
and Social Reform in Modern India, Vols I and II
Gough, Kathleen E (then Kathleen E Miller) (1950): (Ranikhet: Permanent Black).
37 In a slim book called Caste published in 1999, "Changes in Matrilineal Kinship on the Mala
Sharma called for transcending definitional bar Coast", unpublished PhD Dissertation subSharma, Amit Kumar (2003): Structure of Indian
anxiety and accepting caste as a contingent Society: A Sociology Textbook for Class XII (New
mitted to the University of Cambridge.
category with an ever-changing content. Delhi: NCERT).
- (1959): "Nayars and the Definition of Mar
riage", Journal of the Royal AnthropologicalSharma, Ursula (1999): Caste (London: Open
Institute, 89, pp 23-34. University Press).
REFERENCES
- (1961): "Nayar: Central Kerala; Nayar: NorthSrinivas, M N (1968): Social Change in Modern
Abraham, Janaki (2006): "The Stain of White: Liai
Kerala: The Modern Disintegration of Matrilin India (Berkeley: University of California Press).
sons, Memories, and White Men as Relatives", eal Descent Groups" in David M Schneider andSreenivas, Mytheli (2008): Wives, Widows and Con
Men and Masculinities, 9 (2), pp 131-51. Kathleen Gough (ed.), Matrilineal Kinship cubines: The Conjugal Family Idea in Colonial
Ambedkar, B R (2013 [1906]): "Castes in(Berkeley India" in and Los Angeles: University of Cali India (New Delhi: Orient Blackswan).
Sharmila Rege, Against the Madness of fornia Press).
Manu: Thurston, E and K Rangachari (1909): Castes and
B R Ambedkar's Writings on Brahmanical Hayden, Robert M (1999): Disputes and Arguments Tribes in Southern India, Vol VII (Madras:
Patriarchy (New Delhi: Navayana). amongst Nomads: A Caste Council in India Government Press).
- (2004 [1936]): "The Annihilation of Caste" (New Delhi:in
Oxford University Press). Vatuk, Sylvia (1975): "Gifts and Affines in North
Valerian Rodrigues (ed.), Essential Writings of Krishna (1912): The Cochin Tribes
Iyer, L K Anantha India", Contributions to Indian Sociology, 9,
B R Ambedkar (New Delhi: Oxford University and Castes (Madras: Higginbothams). PP 155-96.
Press). Kala, C V (1982): "Trends of Change in Matrilineal Yalman, Nur (1963): "On the Purity of Women in
Béteille, André (1990): "Race, Caste and Gender", Kinship: The Nayar Case", unpublished PhD the Castes of Ceylon and Malabar", Journal of the
Man, 25(3), pp 489-504. Dissertation, University of Delhi. Royal Anthropological Institute, 93,1, pp 25-58.

Economic & Political weekly B5C3 January 11, 2014 vol xlix no 2 65

This content downloaded from

94.232.39.216 on Fri, 01 Oct 2021 05:33:23 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms