Secularisation of Caste and Making of New Middle Class

Author(s): D. L. Sheth
Source: Economic and Political Weekly , Aug. 21 - Sep. 3, 1999, Vol. 34, No. 34/35 (Aug.
21 - Sep. 3, 1999), pp. 2502-2510
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly

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 Secularisation of Caste and Making
of New Middle Class
D L Sheth

The changes that have occurred in Indian society, especially after India's decolonisation, ha
a de-ritualisation of caste. With the erosion of rituality a large part of the support system of caste has col
Caste now survives as a kinship-based cultural community but operates in a different newly emerge
of social stratification. By forming themselves into larger horizontal social groups, members of d
castes now increasingly compete for entry into the middle class, changing its old pre-independence
and composition. This new and vastly enlarged middle class is becoming, even if slowly, polit
culturally more unified but highly diversified in terms of the social origins of its members.

EXISTING for thousands of years, status

the terms, but also as a plurality of 'self- structed largely from its depiction in the
governing' cultural communities. Fifth, religious scriptures. In the event, Barbosa' s
caste system got its name about 500 years
he stuck to a matter-of-fact account of
ago from the Portuguese when they landed empirical view of caste was now super-
what he saw and was told about caste, and
on the Malabar coast and began to have imposed by the scriptural (ideological)
vara view of caste. Three, with the
refrained from moralising and passing
'direct experience' with Indian society.l
Derived from 'casta' in Portuguese, value
the judgments on it. 'discovery' of Hindu scriptures by the
term caste has since been used generi- Orientalist scholars, caste became a prism
cally to describe the whole ('vama-jati') COLONIAL DISCOURSE through which the colonial rulers began
system as well as specifically to refer to to see Indians and the whole Indian society:
its various orders and the units within anNothing much of significance was added
Caste was now seen as representing a
worldview of Indians and a totality of
or any improvement made to Barbosa's
order. The Portuguese 'discovery' of caste,
India's social and cultural life. Certain
account for the next 250 years by his
however, went much beyond giving a name
to India's vama-jati system. Portuguese
European successors reporting on caste.
non-ritual, even non-religious elements
It was only after the British rule was
were the first among Europeans to provide which always existed in the caste system
detailed accounts of its functioning. established
The in India that a second and informed quite a few aspects of inter-
'discovery' of caste was madecaste
most perceptive, empirical account of caste by relations,
the were theoretically ruled
Europeans. The Western Orientalist
was given by the 16th century Portuguese, out of the system.
Duarte Barbosa. Barbosa identified the scholars, the Christian Missionaries and in the course of setting-up its
Four,
main features of caste: (a) Caste as a the British administrators began,revenue administration, a number of land
in their
hierarchy, with brahmans at the top and different ways, to make senseand
of village
this surveys were launched by the
'untouchables' at the bottom; complex phenomenon. A new, colonial
colonial regime in different regions of
(b) untouchability as linked to the discourse
idea on
of caste was born. It marked India. This focused the attention of revenue
'pollution'; (c) existence of a plurality important ofdepartures from pre-colonial administrators, many of whom were
'castes' separated from each other byof caste. It is important to note
accounts anthropologically inclined scholars, on the
endogamy, occupation and commensality; some distinctive feature of this discourse Indian village - which was also a revenue
(d) application of sanctions by because castes tofor decades after India's unit. This focus developed into a view of
maintain their own customs and independence rules; (e) the studies of caste
village as a microcosm of the Indian society,
relationship of caste with political continued to be guided by the and termscaste
setas constituting its social,
organisation. by the colonial discourse. economic and political organisation
Although Barbosa did not provide a One, the new discourse centred on legitimated by its religious ideology.
'systematic' account, the elements of caste whether caste was a system beneficial to In this village view of caste, caste was
he identified remain central to any Indians or it worked against them. The seen as an ensemble of local hierarchies,
definition of caste, even today. Moreover Orientalist scholars viewed caste as serving each contained within a village or a group
Barbosa's approach to reporting about some positive functions, whereas the of villages. This view contributed to the
caste had some distinctive qualities. missionaries saw it as an unmitigated evil. image of the village as a stable, unchanging
First, he described caste as he saw it Second, both its sympathisers and social system. In the latter ethnographic
functioning on the ground; he got his facts opponents, saw caste in highly schematised studies of caste carried out by Indian
by talking to common people in their own and unidimensional terms: as an inflexible sociologists, although the vara theory
language. Second, he did not use the hierarchy of vertically ranked ritual was discarded, caste continued to be seen
religious scriptures as a source of statuses. The idea of pollution which as a vertical hierarchy of ritual statuses
information on caste; there is no reference Barbosa saw in the context of untouch- embedded in the religious and cultural
context of the village.
to the varnatheory of caste in his narratives. ability was now generalised for the whole
Three, he related the idea of pollution to system in which the idea of ritual purityFifth, the administrative and anthro-
the practice of untouchability and not to and impurity of statuses was considered pological concerns of the British officers
functioning of the whole system. Fourth, the central principle governing the caste- led them to counter both the Orientalist
he saw caste not exclusively in ritual- system. The reality of caste was recon- and the Missionary views of caste. Their

2502 Economic and Political Weekly August 21-28, 1999

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concern was utilitarian, about finding arbitrate and fix the status claims made 'depressed castes' and 'oppressed
administrative and political ways to tame classes'.4
or contested by various castes about their
and change this formidable system locations in the ritual hierarchy. At the Second, seveal castes occupying more
functioning from ancient times, to suit the same time the enumeration of castes and or less similar locations in different local
needs of the colonial polity and economy. their ethnographic descriptions compiledhierarchies began to organise themselves
This concern of the colonialists prompted by the state, highlighted how the socialhorizontally into regional and national level
an ideological debate on caste. The debate and economic advantages accrued to someassociations and federations, as it became
achieved a degree of political sophis- castes and not to others in the traditional increasingly necessary for them to negotiate
tication which was not shown earlier either hierarchy. This led to demands among with the state and in the process project
many castes for special recognition by the their larger social identity and numerical
by the Orientalists in their appreciation or
the Missionaries in their condemnation ofstate for receiving educational and strength.5
the caste system. The debate introducedoccupational benefits as well as for political Third, movements of the lower castes
anew, theoretical-comparative dimension representation. The colonial state assumed for upward social mobility, which were
for viewing caste. Caste now began to be a dual role: of a super brahmin who located not new in the history of the caste system,
seen in comparison with the normative and relocated disputed statuses of castes acquired a qualitatively new dimension as
(values of equality, individualism, etc) in the traditional hierarchy and of a just they began to attack the very ideological
and social (estate, race, class, etc) categories and modern ruler who wished to foundations of the ritual hierarchy of castes,
of the western societies. Eventually, with 'recognise9 rights and aspirations of his
in terms not internal to the system (as was
the casethe
the English educated nationalist Indians weak and poor subjects. This helped with the Buddhist and Bhakti
state to protect its colonial political
joining the debate, on the terms set-up by movements), but in the modem ideological
the colonial regime, caste became a bone economy from incursions of the emerging
terms of justice and equality.
of contention between conservatives and nationalist movement. Among otherthings,
Changes that occurred in the caste system
progressives, traditionalists and reformers.it also induced people to organise andthe colonial period have greatly
during
Valuation became the mode of observation. represent their interests in politics intensified
in terms after India's de-colonisation.
Sixth, the method the British admini- of caste identities and participate in the
Further, with India establishing a liberal
strators adopted in reporting about caste, economy on the terms and through democratic state and the growth of
unlike that of the Orientalist scholars, was mechanisms set by the colonial regime. institutions of competitive, represen-
empirical. The British did not see the caste- On the whole, the colonial regime, not tational democracy, the changes acquired
system only in terms of the varna categories. only introduced new terms of discourse newer dimensions and a greater trans-
They also saw castes as separate com- on caste, but brought about some changes formative edge. All this has produced some
munities often divided by descent, political in the caste system itself. A large part of fundamental structural and systemic
organisation and customs. Consequently these changes, however, were unintended changes in the traditional stratificatory
they theorised caste in terms of its racial consequences of the colonial policies; system.6
and tribal origins and character. In fact they were related to the larger historical Despite the fact that after India's
multiple and elaborate systems of classi- forces of moderisation, secularisation independence such qualitative changes had
fication of castes were evolved by them and urbanisation which had begun to make occurred in the stratificatory system, the
based on a variety of ethnographic mate- some impact on the Indian society by the changes continued to be interpreted, in the
rials, officially obtained through various end of 19th and the beginning of the 20th old. colonial ideological-evaluative frame.
village and caste surveys.2 century. But some specific policies of the The terms and categories used for
Seventh, crucial to the colonial discourse colonial regime, aimed at delegitimising
describing these changes - by the socio-
was the relationship between caste and the the power of the traditional social eliteslogists studying caste as well as by social
state. From 1901 Census, the colonial state and creating support for its own rule, had
reformers and political thinkers wanting
began castewise enumeration of the entire direct consequences for the caste system. India to become a caste-less society - were
Indian population. The decennial censuses Towards the end of the colonial rule such derived from the colonial discourse. This
not only updated, every 10 years, the policies alongside the larger historicalgave rise to two opposite views of change
population figures for enumerated castes, forces, had produced some profound and in the caste system. which in fact
but gave them specific names/labels and far-reaching changes in the caste system.3 represented mirror-images of each other.
ranks. In doing so, the census officers The most important among the changesOne view, that has long dominated studies
tended to rely on their 'reading' of the was the formation of a new, trans-local of caste in post-independent India,
scriptures as well as local knowledge and identity among 'lower castes', collectively emphasises certain structural and cultural
practice. But when a name and/or a rank as a people with the consciousness ofcontinuities the Indian society has
given to a caste was in dispute - and this being 'oppressed' by the traditional system manifested in the course of modernisation.
happened frequently - the census officer's of hierarchy. The discourse of rights, until In this view, changes in caste are seen in
'anthropological' judgment, albeit tem- then quite alien to the concepts governing terms of functional adjustment made by
pered by representations received from ritual hierarchy, made its first appearance the system for its own survival and
leaders of concerned caste, prevailed. Thus, in the context of the caste system. New maintenance. The other view, that domi-
despite the diversity of the debate, at the ideological categories like 'social justice' nated the political-ideological discourse
end of the day, the criterion of 'social began to interrogate the idea of ritual on caste until recently, sees modernisation
precedence of one caste over the other', purity and impurity according to which as a linear, universal force of history,
i e, the scriptural principle of ritual status the traditional stratificatory system transforming the caste system into a
hierarchy, was explicitly and officially endowed entitlements and disprivileges polarised structure of economic classes.
recognised. to hereditary statuses. The established On the whole, the discourse on caste in
The colonial state, thus, acquired an categories of ritual hierarchy began to be post-independent India remained bogged
agency, even a legitimate authority, to confronted with new categories like down in the dichotomous debate on

Economic and Political Weekly August 21-28, 1999 2503

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'tradition' verses 'modernity' and 'caste' and structural contexts - each articulatingFundamental changes have occurred in
verses, class'O the occupational structure of the society.
a form of rituality. More specifically, these
contexts pertain to: (a) the religious A vast number of non-traditional,
I ideology of purity and pollution (b) theunbound-to-caste occupations and a new
Secularisation of Caste religiously sanctioned techno-economic type of social relations among occupational
groups have emerged. This has resulted
and political organisation of the village,
especially its food production andin breaking down the nexus between
The dichotomous view of change has
distribution system; (c) customs and
prevented scholars, policy-makers and hereditary?ritual status and occupation -
traditions of castes evolved over centuries.
political activists alike, from taking a view one of the caste-system' s defining features.
of the process by which caste has changed Caste not only survived but grew in these It is no longer necessary to justify status
and a new type of stratificatory systemcontexts
has and acquired its systemic of one's occupation in terms of its
emerged. This process, which can broadly character; they constituted its 'support correlation with degree of ritual purity or
be characterised as secularisation of caste,
system' of the ritual hierarchy. impurity associated with it. The traditional,
has detached caste from the ritual status In what follows, I argue that the changes ritualistic idea of cleanliness or otherwise
hierarchy on the one hand, and has impartedthat have occurred in Indian society, of the occupation one follows has become
especially after India's decolonisation,
it a character of the power-group function- unimportant; crucial consideration is what
ing in the competitive democratic politicshave led to de-ritualisation of caste - brings a good income to the individual.
A brahman dealing in leather or an ex-
on the other. Changes in caste thus couldmeaning delinking of caste from various
be observed along these two dimensionsforms of rituality which bounded ituntouchable
to a dealing in diamonds is no
of secularisation: de-ritualisation and longer looked upon as a socially deviant
fixed status, an occupation and to specific
politicisation. These changes have rules of commensality and endogamy. behaviour.
I That the former is more a
(a) pushed caste out of the traditional further argue that with the erosion frequent
of occurrence than the latter has
only to do with the resources at one's
stratificatory system, (b) linked it to the rituality, a large part of the 'support system'
new structure of representational power, of caste has collapsed. Uprooted from command
its and not with observance of ritual
and (c) in their cumulative impact they ritually determined ideological, economic prohibitions attached to the statuses
have made it possible for individual and political contexts it has ceased to be
involved. More importantly, the cleanliness
members of different castes to acquire a unit of the ritual-status hierarchy. Caste or otherwise of an occupation is increas-
new economic interest and social-political now survives as a kinship-based cultural ingly seen in physical and biological sense
identification and own class-like as well community, but operates in a different, than in ritual or moral terms.7
newly emergent system of social
as ethnic-type identites. Thus secularisation Significant structural differentiations
of caste, brought about through its de- stratification. have taken place within every caste.
ritualisation and politicisation, has openedModernisation of India's economy and Traditionally, an individual caste bounded
up a third course of change. For a lack democrati
of sation of its political institutions, by rituals and customs, functioned
more appropriate term I call it classisation.have released new economic and political internally as a truly egalitarian community,
In the following sections I shall describe power in the society. The hierarchically both in terms of rights and obligations of
these three processes of change in caste ordered strata of castes now function as members vis-a-vis each other and of life-
and their implications for the emergence horizontal groups, competing for power styles, i e, the food they ate, the clothes
of a new type of stratificatory system in and control over resources in society.they wore, the houses they lived in, etc.
India. Alongside this change in the organisational Differences in wealth and status (of clans)
structure, i e, its horizontalisation, the that existed among households within the
DE-RITUALISATION form consciousness takes has also changed. same caste were expressed, often apo-
That of members belonging to a caste logetically, is on such occasions as weddings
Caste has been conventionally conceived expressed more in the nature of community and funerals but rarely in power terms vis-
as an insulated system of ritual status consciousness, rather than in hierarchical a-vis other members of the caste. Today,
hierarchy, embedded in the 'perennial' terms. Caste consciousness is now households within a single caste have not
religious culture of India. Rituality (i e, articulated as political consciousness only beenofgreatly differentiated in terms
rootedness of caste behaviour and groups staking claims to powerofand
their
tooccupations, educational and
new and
organisation in the religious ideology places in the changed opportunity income levels and lifestyles but these
structure.
practices) thus constituted the core of the It is a different kind of collective
differences have led them to align outside
whole system of castes. It enabled caste
consciousness from that of belongingthe caste,
towith different socio-economic
to maintain autonomy and stability a 'high'ofor 'low' ritual status-group. The and groupings in the society -
networks
rise of such consciousness of castes has
status-hierarchy in the face of changes, categories which can not be identified in
both economic and political, that led
occur in
to disruption terms of the caste system.
of hierarchical relations
the wider society. In this perspective, caste
and to The caste rules of commensality (i e,
increase in competition and conflict
'accommodated' these changes only to an
among them. Far from strengthening restrictions
the about accepting cooked food
extent the system could absorbcaste themsystem, the emergent competitive from members of other castes) have become
without losing its structural and character
cultural of 'caste consciousness' has almost totally inoperative outside one's
integrity. In responding to thesecontributed
changes household. Even within the household,
to its systemic disintegration.
caste was seen to have found 'new fields The disintegrating system of traditional
observance of such rules has become quite
of activity' and assume new functions, but statuses is now thickly overlaid by the
relaxed. In 'caste dinners', for example,
all this to retain its basic structure and friends and wellwishers of the host,
new power system created by elections,
political parties and above all by social
ideological (religious) core. The insularity belonging to both the ritually lower as well
of the caste system is thus guaranteed, policies - such as of affirmative action
as higher strata than that of the host are
- of the state.
because itis bounded by certain ideological invited and are seated, fed and served

2504 Economic and Political Weekly August 21-28, 1999

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together with the members of the caste required, from nearby towns. Members of In a few specific contexts where ritual
hosting the dinner. The caste panchayats, such castes continuing to live in the relationships between castes still survive,
where they exist, show increasingly less villages have largely moved out of the they have acquired contractual, often
concern to invoke any sanctions in such 'village-system' of economic and social conflictual, forms negating the system's
situations. interdependence of castes. They hierarchical aspect. Ritual roles which
The castes which occupied a similar increasingly function in the emergent members of some castes (e g, the role of
ritual status in the traditional hierarchy, national-market related rural economy or a priest or a barber) still perform have
but were divided among themselves into the secondary and tertiory sectors of been reduced to those of functionaries
sub-castes and sub-sub-castes by rules of employment. called upon to do a job for payment on
endogamy, are now reaching out In this process many a caste has specific occasions (weddings, deaths, etc).
increasingly into larger endogamous structurally severed its relationship from Performance of such roles/functions by
circles, in some cases their boundaries co- the system of ritual obligations and rights a few members of a caste, however, has
terminate with those of the respective varna which once governed its economic and no relevance for determining its place in
in a region to which they supposedly social existence and gave it an identity in the changed stratificatory system. Such
belong. More importantly, intercaste terms of its status in the ritual hierarchy. roles, it seems, now survive outside the
marriages across different ritual strata, even Intercaste relations in the village today stratificatory system, as a part of Hindu
often crossing the self acknowledged varna operate in a more simplified form, as religious practices. But such phenomenal
boundaries, are no longer uncommon. Such between castes of land holders/operators changes have, occurred in Hinduism itself
marriage alliances are frequently made by and those of the landless labour. This in recent years, that intercaste relations
matching education, profession and wealth relationship between them is often can no longer be viewed as constitutive
of brides and grooms and/or their parents, articulated in terms of political cons- of a ritually determined religious practice.
ignoring traditional differences in ritual ciousness of two groups of castes The growth in popularity of new sects,
status among them. Significantly, such representing different economic interests of deities and shrines, and the growing
intercaste marriages are often arranged by in the changed political-economy of the importance of gurus and godmen and the
the parents or approved by them when village. new practice of public celebrations of
arranged by the prospective spouses on The socio-religious content of economic Hindu religious festivals on a much wider
their own. The only 'traditional' consi- relationships in the village has thus largely social and geographical scale, involving
deration that enters into such cases is the disappeared; they have become more participation of members of a number of
vegetarian-meat-eating divide which is also contractual and almost totally monetised. castes across ritual hierarchy and regions,
becoming quite fuzzy. Although statis- The traditional jajmani relationships, have all shored up popular-cultural and
tically the incidence of such inter-caste which regulated economic transactions political aspects of Hinduism. These have
marriages may not be significant, the trend between castes in social-ritual terms, have considerably weakened the traditional
they represent is. A more important point been replaced by relationships of employer ritual and social organisational aspects of
is that the mechanisms through which and employee, of capital and wage labour. Hinduism. In this process. intercaste
castes-enforced rules of endogamy have When the traditional social and religious relations have not only lost systemic
weakened in many castes. aspects of economic relationships are context, but also to a large extent the
The ideology and organisation of the insisted upon by any caste, such as religious reference. Castes, now negotiate
traditional caste system have thus become traditional obligations of one status group their status claims in the newly emergent
vastly eroded. Its description as a system to another, it often leads to intercaste stratificatory system.
of ritual status hierarchy has lost theoretical conflicts and violence in the villages. In The simultaneous processes of detach-
meaning.8 As may be expected, such brief, the pattern of social relations ment of castes from ritual hierarchy and
erosion has taken place to a much greater sustained by the internal system of food the growth, albeit in varying degrees, of
extent and degree in the urban areas and production of a village and by conformity economic, social and cultural differen-
at the macro-system level of social of status groups to their religiously tiations within every caste have resulted
stratification. But the local hierarchies of assigned roles in the system and to norms in castes entering into various new, larger
castes in rural areas are also being defining the roles, has virtually social-political formations which have
progressively subjected to the same disintegrated. emerged in India's changing stratificatory
process.9 In the villages, too, traditional In sum, while castes survive as micro- system. As we shall see in the next section,
social relationships are being redefined in communities based on kinship sentiments each such formation grew in the process
economic terms. This is largely because and relationships, they no longer relate to of politicisation of castes and has acquired
in the last three decades, particularly after each other as 'units' of a ritual hierarchy. a new form of collective consciousness,
the 'Green Revolution' and with the The caste system, for long conceived as a consciousness different from that of a
a ritual
status system, has imploded. ritual-status group. Yet the new cons-
increasing role of the state and other outside
agencies in the food production Having
and failed to cope with the changes ciousness is not of a 'class' as in a polarised
that have occurred in the larger society, class structure. This consciousness is
distribution system in rural areas, the social
particularly after India's decolonisation, based on a perception of common political
organisation of the village has substantively
the caste 'system' is unable to maintain interest and modem status aspirations on
changed. From the kind of social-religious
system the Indian village was, ititself,
is on the basis of its own principle the part of members of these new
increasingly becoming primarilyof anritual hierarchy. It cannot sustain formations. In this process, the unitary
economic organisation. The priestly,
vertical linkages of interdependence and consciousness of individual castes has
trading and service castes, i e, social groups
cooperation among its constituent units, become diffused into an expanded cons-
not directly related to agricultural nor can it enforce its own rules governing ciousness of belonging to a larger social-
operations, are leaving villages or serving obligations and privileges of castes vis- political formation, which cannot be des-
them, if and when such services are still a-vis each other. cribed as a 'caste' or 'class'.

Economic and Political Weekly August 21-28, 1999 2505

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 POLITICISATION OF CASTES being politically aware of the changeThis in collaboration between the two types
the agrarian context, saw castes as socio-of elites, created a new structure of
For some two decades after indepen- economic entities seeking new identities representational power in the society,
dence, the political discourse on caste was through politics in the place of thearound old which grew a small middle class.
dominated by left-radical parties and identities derived from their traditional This class constituted of the upper caste
liberal-modernist intellectuals who saw, status in the ritual hierarchy. Thus, by national elite living in urban areas and the
rather simplistically, changes in the caste relying on the caste calculus for its electoralrural social elite belonging to the dominant
system in linear terms, i e. changes as politics and, at the same time, articulatingpeasant castes as well as those upper caste
suggestive of its transformation into a political issues in terms of economic members living in rural areas. The ruling
system of polarised economic classes. In development and national integration, the national elites, although they belonged to
believing so, they ignored the fact that Congress was able to evolve durable the upper 'dwija' castes had become
while caste had lost its significance as a electoral bases across castes and to detached from their traditional ritual status
ritual status-group it survived as a maintain its image as the only and and functions. They had acquired new
truly
'community', seeking alliances with other national party. This winning combinationinterests in the changed (planned)
similar communities with whom it shared of 'caste politics' and 'nationalist economy, and lifestyles which came
commonality of political interest and ideology' secured for the Congress Party through modem education, non-traditional
consciousness. Consequently, political a dominant position in Indian politics for
occupations, and a degree of westemisation
parties of the left, both the communist and nearly three decades after independence.which
12 accompanied this process. The
the socialist, by and large, sought to The Congress Party rarely used dominant such castes of the regional elites, still
articulate political issues and devise dichotomies as upper castes vs lower castes depended more on sanskritisation than on
strategies of mobilising electoral support or the capitalists vs working class in its
'westernisation' in their pursuit of upward
in terms of economic interests which in political discourse. Its politics was largely
social mobility. But they encouraged their
their view divided the social classes in addressed to linking vertically the rulenew ofgenerations to take to modem,
the newly emergent upper casteEnglish-medium
India. 0 In the event, although these parties and education and to new
could credibly claim to represent the poorerEnglish speaking- 'national elite' to lower
professions. In the process, despite their
strata and they even occupied some caste support. And the ideology used'sudra'
for origins, but thanks to their
significant political spaces in opposition acquisition of new power in the changed
legitimation of this vertical social linkage
to the Congress Party at the time of in politics was neither class-ideology noreconomy and politics, several peasant
rural
independence, they failed to expand their caste-ideology; the key concept was communities succeeded in claiming social
'nation-building'.
electoral support in any significant measure status equivalent to the middle class
for decades after independence. The Congress Party projected its politics dwijas.
and programmes at the national level as Consequently, such communities as
Put simply, competitive politics required
representing 'national aspirations' of the patidars, marathas, reddys, kammas, and
that a political party seeking widerelectoral
Indian people. At the regional levels, the their analogues in different regions were
bases view castes neither as a pure category
of 'interest' nor of 'identity'. The party consolidated its social base by identified with 'upper castes', and not
involvement of castes in politics fused endorsing the power of the numerically with 'backward castes'. Acquisition of
'interest' and 'identity' in such a manner strong and upwardly mobile dominant, modem education and interest in the new
that a number of castes could share but traditionally of lower status, castes of (planned) economy enabled them, like the
common interests and identity in thelandowing
form peasants, e g. the marathas in dwija upper castes, to claim for themselves
of larger social-political conglomerates.
Maharashtra, the reddys in Andhra, the a new social status and identity, i e, of the
patidars in Gujarat, the jats in Uttar middle class.
The process was of politicisation of castes,
which by incorporating castes in Pradesh, and so on. In the process it created At the same time, the caste identities of
competitive politics reorganised and recastpatron-client type of relationships in both these sections of the 'middle class'
the elements of both hierarchy and electoral politics, relationships of unequal were far from dissolved. They could
separation among castes in larger social but reliable exchanges between political comfortably own both the upper caste
collectivities.11 These new collectivities patrons - the upper and dominant status and the middle class identity as both
did not resemble the varna categories or (intermediate) castes - and the numerous categories had become concomitant with
anything like a polarised class-structure in 'client' castes at the bottom of the pile, each other. While the alliance between the
politics. The emergence of these socio- popularly known as the Congress' 'vote- upper caste national elite and the dominant
political entities in Indian politics defied banks'. Thus, in the initial two decades caste regional elites remained tenuous in
the convental categories of political after independence, the hierarchical caste politics, they together continued to function
analysis, i e. class analysis versus caste relations were processed politically as a new power-group in the larger society.
analysis. The singular impact of through elections. This ensured for the In the formation and functioning of this
Congress a political consensus across middle class as a power group of elite
competitive democratic politics on the caste
system thus was that it delegitimised the castes, despite the fact that it was presided caste had indeed fused with class and
old hierarchical relations among castes, over by the hegemony of a small upper- status dimension had acquired a
caste, English-educated elite in
facilitating new, horizontal power relations pronounced power dimension. But insofar
among them. collaboration with the regional social elites as this process of converting traditional
The process of politicisation of castes belonging by and large to the upwardly status into new power was restricted only
acquired a great deal of sophistication inmobile castes of landed peasants. The to the upper rungs in the ritual hierarchy,
the politics of the Congress Party, whichlatter, however, were often viewed by the they sought to use that power in establishing
scrupulously avoided taking any former (i e. the "national elite', with the their own caste-like hegemony over the
self-image of modemisers) as parochial
theoretical-ideological position on the issue rest of the society. It is this nexus between
of caste versus class. The Congress Party, traditionalists. Still the alliance held. the upper traditional status and new power

2506 Economic and Political Weekly August 21-28, 1999

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that inhibited the transformative potentials functioned in politics with the self-identity
that too not through open competition but
of both modernisation and democracy in of a class (ruling or 'middle') and theon 'caste-based' reservations. This created
India. lower castes, despite their class-like
a confrontation of interest between the
This conflation of the traditional status
political aspirations, with the con-upper and intermediate castes on the one
system with the new power system, sciousness of their separate caste hand and the lower castes on the other.
however, worked quite differently for the identities. The latter were linked to the But, it led to a resurgence of lower castes
numerous non-dwija lower castes. In former in a vertical system of politicalin national politics. This resurgent politics,
negotiating their way into the new power- exchange through the Congress Party, guided by lower caste aspirations to enter
system, theirtraditional low status, contrary rather than horizontally with one another.
the middle class, was pejoratively derided
to what it did for the upper and the inter- as the 'Mandalisation of politics' by the
mediate castes, worked as a liability. The POLITICS OF RESERVATIONS
English-educated elite. The so called
functions attached to their very low Mandalised politics, an euphemism for
traditional statuses had lost relevance or It took some three decades after politicisation of lower castes, has since
were devalued in the modem occupational independence for the lower castes of
resulted in radically altering the social
system. Moreover, since formal education peasants, artisans, the ex-untouchables
bases of politics in India.
was not mandated for them in the traditional and the tribals to express their resentment
Firstly, the Congress Party-dominated
status system, they were slow to take to about the patron-client relationship that of social consensus, presided over
politics
moder education when compared with had politically bound them to the by the hegemony of an upper caste,
the upper castes. Nor did they have the Congress Party. With a growing awareness English-educated elite came to an end.
advantage of inherited wealth as their of their numerical strength and the role The Congress organisation could no longer
traditional status had tied them to it could play in achieving their share in function as the system of vertical
subsistence livelihood patterns of the power, their resentment took the management of region-caste factions. The
political
jajmani system. form of political action and movements. elite at the top could not accommodate
In brief, for the lower castes ofAn small
awareness among the lower castes the ever increasing claims and pressures
and marginal peasants, artisans, the about ex-
using political means for upward from below, by different sections of the
untouchables and the numerous tribal social mobility and for staking claims as lower castes, for their share in power.
communities, their low statuses in the larger social collectivities for a share in Since mid- 1970s through the 1980s, large
traditional hierarchy worked negatively political power had arisen during the sections of the lower strata of social groups
for their entry in the modem sector. colonial period, but it was subdued after abandoned the Congress and constituted
Whatever social capital and economic independence, for almost three decades themselves into shifting alliances of their
and a half of Congress dominance.
security they had in the traditional status own separate political parties. The vertical
system was wiped out through theIt was around mid-1970s that the upper arrangement of the region-caste factions
moderisation process; they no longer caste hegemony over national politics that the Congress had perfected just
the to be seriously challenged. This was collapsed. The national parties - the
enjoyed the protection that they had inbegan
traditional status system against largely
the due to the social policies of the Congress, the BJP, and the Communist
arbitrary use of hierarchical power by state,
the particularly that of reservations parties alike - had to now negotiate for
upper castes. On top of that they had(affirmative
no action). Despite tardy political support directly with the social-
means or resources to enter the modem implementation, towards the end of the political collectivities of the other
sector in any significant way, except 1970s the reservations policy that was for backward castes (OBCs) the scheduled
becoming its underclass. They remained long inexistence in many states of the castes (SCs) and scheduled tribes (STs)
Indian union had created a small but
at the bottom rung of both the hierarchies, or with the regional-caste parties
the sacred and the secular, of caste and significant section, in each of theconstituted
lower by them.
class. caste groups, which had acquired modem Secondly, the categories of the OBCs,
This did objectively create an elite- education, had entered the bureaucracy SCs and the STs, expressly devised for
mass kind of division in politics, but itand other non-traditional occupations. the administrative
In purpose of imple-
still did not produce any awareness ofthe process a small, but highlymenting vocal the reservations policy, perhaps
polarisation of socio-economic classes inpolitical leadership emerged from among as an unintended consequence, acquired
the society. In any event, it did not create the lower castes. a strong social and political content and
surfaced as new social formations in the
any space for class based politics. In fact, The process of politicisation of castes,
macro-stratificatory system. They now
all attempts of the left parties at politicalhowever, came to a head at the beginning
mobilisation of the numerous lower castes of the 1980s. This was when the Second operated in politics with the self-
as a class of proletarians did not achieve Commission for Backward Classes (the consciousness of socio-economic groups.
any significant results either for their Mandal Commission) proposed to extend Not content with proxy-representations
electoral or revolutionary politics. Neitherreservations in jobs and educational seats by the upper caste - middle class elites,
did their politics, focused as it was on to the other backward classes (i e, to they wanted political power for
class ideology, make much of a dent on castes of lower peasantry and artisans) in themselves. Politics now became a contest
Congress-dominated politics marked by all states and union territories and at the for representation among horizontal power
the rhetoric of national integration and central government level. This proposalgroups, representing social collectivities
social harmony. In effect, the Congress was stoutly opposed by sections of the as identified by the policy of
could establish the political hegemony of upper and the intermediate castes who byreservations.13 These groups began to
the upper castes oriented middle class then were largely ensconced in the middle-bargain with different existing parties or
with the electoral consent of the lower class. They saw the newly politicised lower formed their own new parties. Whatever
castes! A very peculiar caste-class linkage castes forcing their way into the middle survived of the hierarchical dimension of
was thus forged in which the upper castes class (particularly into white-collarjobs),the traditional stratificatory system in

Economic and Political Weekly August 21-28, 1999 2507

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politics was thus effectively hori- them in its own image to maintain its upward social mobility today motivates
zontalised. systemic continuity. people of all castes (not just of the 'lower'
Thirdly, Mandalised politics by Classisation neither follows a linear,
castes), collectively as well as individually.
generating aspirations among the lower teleological course of change nor does it For, the quest today is not for registering
castes to attain 'middle class' status and represent the caste-system's own higher ritual status; it is universally for
lifestyles prevented the process of class reproductive process. I, therefore, view wealth, political power and modern
polarisation. This politics created new classisation as a twofold process: (consumerist) lifestyles. In short, caste has
compulsions in the social arena. The old (a) releasing of individual members of allceased to 'reproduce' itself, as it did in
middle class, dominated by the upper and castes (albeit, extent of which may varythe past.
from one caste to another) from the
intermediate castes, was now compelled
religiously sanctioned techno-economic
to admit expansion beyond itself and make II
and social organisation (i e, occupational Emergence of a New Middle Class
spaces, even if grudgingly, for different
sections of the lower castes. At the same and status hierarchy) of the village system;
All these changes have imparted a
(b) and linking of their interests and
time, lower castes while forming coalitions
in politics, began to compete among
identities to organisations and categoriesstructural substantiality to the macro-
relevant to urban-industrial system and
themselves intensely at the social level for stratificatory system of a kind it did not
an entry into the growing middle class. moder politics. This process operateshave in the past. In absence of a centralised
In sum, the state policy of affirmative not only in urban areas, but also polity, the system functioned super-
action gave a big impetus to the process increasingly in the rural areas. The twostructurally as an ideology of varna
aspects of the process are not temporallyhierarchy. Lacking structural substance,
of politicisation of castes (as well as to
de-ritualisation of inter-caste relations).
sequential, nor spatially separated. Theyit served as a 'common social language'
The policy itself, by providing special criss-cross, and the changes become and supplied normative categories of
visible in form of elements of the newlylegitimation of statuses to various local,
educational and occupational opportunities
to members of the numerous lower castes,emergent, macro-system of social substantive hierarchies ofjatis. 4 But after
converted their traditional disability of stratification. Thus viewed, classisation India became a pan-Indian political entity
is a process by which castes, but more governed by a liberal democratic state, as
low ritual status into an asset for acquiring
new means for upward social mobility. frequently their individual members, we saw earlier, new social formations -
What politicisation of castes has thus done,relate to categories of social strat- each comprising a number of jatis, often
along with the spread of urbanisation and ification of a type different from that of across ritual hierarchies and religious
industrialisation, is to have contributed tocaste. communities - emerged at the regional
the emergence of a new type of strati- The emergent stratificatory arrangement, and all-India levels. Deriving its nomen-
ficatory system in which the old middlehowever, is far from having acquired clature
a from the official classification
class has not only expanded in numbers, 'systemic' form. Yet, new and different devised by the state in the course of
but has begun to acquire new social and types of social and economic categories implementing its policy of affirmative
political characteristics. have emerged at all levels of the society action (reservations), the new formations
by relating to which caste is not only began to be identified as: the forward or
CLASSISATION OF CASTE losing its own shape and character,the but'upper castes', the backward castes
is acquiring a new form and ideology. (OBCs), the dalits or scheduled castes
'Classisation' is a problematic, andThus, as we saw earlier, caste survives, (SCs) and the tribals or the scheduled
admittedly an inelegant, concept used for but as a kinship-based cultural community, tribes (STs).
describing certain type of changes in caste.not as a status group of the ritual hierarchy. Unlike status groups of the caste system,
As a category derived from the conven- It has acquired new economic interest and the new social formations function as
a political identity. Its members now relatively loose and open-ended entities,
tional class analysis it articulates the issue
of change in linear and dichotomous terms, negotiate and own larger and multiple competing with each other for political
i e, how (rather 'why not') is caste social and political identities. In this power. In this competition, members of
process, caste-identity has lost its old the upper-caste formation have available
transforming itself into a polarised structure
of economic classes? Just as the role of character and centrality. The economic to them the resources of their erstwhile
and political activities in which members traditional higher status and those of
status and other 'non-class' elements (e g,
of a caste are now engaged are of a radically lower-caste formations have the
gender, ethnicity, etc) is routinely ignored
different type from the ones perpetuated advantages accruing to them from
in analyses of class in the western society,
class analysis in India undermines the roleby the caste system. The ritually state's policy of affirmative action. T
of caste elements in class and vice versa. determined vertical relationship of the emergent stratificatory syst
statuses, which encouraged harmony and represents a kind of fusion between
At the other end the spectrum are scholars
co-operation among castes, has got
devoted to caste-analysis; they have little old status system and the new pow
use for a concept like classisation. transformed into that of horizontally system. Put differently, the ritual hierar
Accustomed to viewing caste as a local competing, often conflicting power blocs, of closed status groups has transfor
hierarchy and to interpreting changes in each constituted of a number of castes into a fairly open and fluid system
it, in terms of the caste system's own occupying different statuses across social stratification.
ideology and rules, they view class traditional local hierarchies. In the process, This system is in the making; it cannot
elements in caste (e g, the role of modem new socio-economic formations, somebeof described either in caste terms or in
education, occupational mobility, 'ethnic-type', have emerged at the pure
macro- class terms. However, the salience
economic and political power, etc) as level of the society. They compete for of one category in this newly emergent
elements extraneous to the caste system; control of economic, political and cultural stratificatory system has become visible
which, it, of course, incorporates and recastresources in the society. The idea of in recent years. It can be characterised as

2508 Economic and Political Weekly August 21-28, 1999

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the 'new middle class': 'New' because its The survey, based on a stratified-random of the sample population, their 50 per cent
emergence is directly traceable to the sample (probability proportionate to size) representation in the middle class is much
disintegration of the caste system, this of 9,614 Indian citizens (male and female) lower than that of the upper and inter-
has
made it socially much more diversified drawn from all the Indian states, except mediate castes. But seen in the context of
compared to the old, upper caste orientedthe state of Jammu and Kashmir, was their inherited lower ritual status in the
middle class that existed at the time of conducted by the Centre for the Study of traditional hierarchy, this is a significant
independence. Moreover, high status Developing
in Societies (CSDS) Delhi, in development. Even more significant is
June-July 1996. Based on the preliminary the fact that when members of the lower-
the traditional hierarchy worked implicitly
analysis of the survey data, I provide castes, including those belonging to castes
as a criterion for entry into the old middle-
class, and 'sanskritised' lifestyles con-
below a broad profile of the new middle of 'ex-untouchables', acquire moder
class.15
stituted its cultural syndrome. Both rituality means of social mobility, such as
and sanskritisation have virtually lost their1) The middle class which was almost education, wealth, political power, etc,
relevance in the formation of the 'new' exclusively constituted at the time of their low ritual status does not come in
middle class. Membership of today's
Independence by English educated the way of their entering the middle class
middle class is associated with new life members of the upper castes, had expanded and, more importantly, acquiring the
styles (modem consumption patterns),
to include the upwardly mobile dominant consciousness of being members of the
ownership of certain economic assets and castes of rich farmers, during the initial middle class.
the self consciousness of belonging to the
three decades after independence. In other 5) The analysis of the survey data also
words this period saw the emergence of
middle class. As such, it is open to members revealed statistically highly significant
of different castes - which have acquireda small rural-based middle class. differences in political attitudes and
modern education, taken to non-traditional 2) The survey conceived the category preferences, between members of the
occupations and/or command higher middle class in terms of subjective and middle class and the rest of the population.
incomes and the political power - to enter More importantly, on certain crucial
objective variables. The subjective variable
this middle class. pertained to respondent's own identi- political variables (e g, support to apolitical
And yet, the new middle class cannot fication as 'middle class' and an explicit
party) and cultural variables (e g, belief in
be seen as constituting a pure class rejection of 'working class' identity for the 'Karma' theory), the difference
category - a construct which in fact is ahimself/herself. Using self-identity asbetween a the lower caste and upper-caste
theoretical fiction. It carries some elements precondition, certain objective criteria members of the middle class was found
of caste within it, insofar as entry of an to be much less than that between members
were applied for inclusion of a respondent
individual in the middle class is facilitated of the middle class and their caste
in the 'middle class' category. Thus, from
by the collective political and economic among those with middle class self- compatriots not belonging to the middle
resources of his/her caste. For example, identification, respondents possessing twoclass.
upper caste individuals entering the middle of the following four characteristics were6) The Indian middle class today has
class have at their disposal the resources included in the middle class category: a significant rural component, thanks to
that were attached to the status of their (i) 10 years or more of schooling, the earlier inclusion in it of the rural based
caste in the traditional hierarchy. Similarly(ii) ownership of at least three assets out dominant castes and now of the members
for lower caste members, lacking inof four, i e, motor vehicle, TV, electric of the lowercastes participating in modem
traditional status resources, their entrypumping-set and non-agricultural land, economy and administration. In brief, the
into the middle class is facilitated by the(iii) residence in a pucca house - built of middle class in India today is not a simple
modem-legal provisions like affirmative brick and cemen, (iv) white-collar job. demographic category comprising of
action to which they are entitled by virtueAccordingly, 20 per cent of the sample certain ritual-status groups. It is a social-
of their low traditional status. It seems the population was identified as belonging to cultural formation in which as individuals
Indian middle class will continue to carrythe middle class. from different castes and communities
caste elements within it, to the extent that 3 ) The survey analysis revealed that enter, they acquire new economic and
moder status aspirations are pursued, even today, the upper and the rich farmer political interests, and life styles, in
common with the other members of that
and the possibility of their realisation iscastes together dominate the Indian 'middle
seen, by individuals in terms of the castes class'. While members of the two upper 'class'. Within this new middle class, caste
to which they belong. identities of its members survive, but
categories, the dwija upper castes and the
Yet, crucial to the formation of the newnon-dwija dominant castes, account for operating in conjunction with the new,
middle class is the fact that while usingabout a quarter of the sample population,
overarching identity of middle class, they
collective resources of their castes, they constitute nearly half of the new acquire a different political and cultural
individuals from all castes entering itmiddle class. But this also means the meaning.
undergo the process ofclassisation; (a) they representation of upper castes has reduced To conclude, secularisation of caste,
become distant from ritual roles and occurring along the dimensions of de-
in today's middle class, for the old middle
functions attached to their caste, class was almost entirely constituted by
ritualisation, politicisation and classisation,
(b) acquire another, but new, identity of them. has reduced caste to a kinship-based micro-
belonging to middle class, (c) their 4) About half of the middle class community, with its members acquiring
economic interest and life style converge population came from different lower-new structural locations and identities
more with other members of the middle caste social formations, i e, the dalits derived from categories of stratification
class than with theirnon-middle class caste (SCs), the tribals (STs) the backward premised on a different set of principles
compatriots. communities of peasants and artisans than those of the ritual hierarchy. By
The process of middle class formation (OBCs) and the religious minorities. forming themselves into larger horizontal
in India is empirically illustrated by Considering that members of all these social groups, members of different castes
findings of a recent all-India sample survey. social formations constituted 75 per now centincreasingly compete for entry into

Economic and Political Weekly August 21-28, 1999 2509

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the middle class. The result is, members Concomitantly, the traditional patterns of the essay, observes: "In the first place, it may
of the lower castes have entered the middle organisation and leadership in the village not be appropriate any more to refer to caste
class in sizeable numbers. This has begun setting were displaced by voluntary in rural India as a 'system'. Castes exist as
associations with officials whose delimited individual groups, but no longer integrated
to change the character and composition
authority derived from elections". Galanter, into a system, with the dovetailing of their
of the old, pre-independence, middle class
(note 1 supra) p 23. interests" (106).
which was constituted almost entirely by 6 For a recent argument articulating a 10 The writings and politics of Ram Manohar
a small English-educated upper caste elite. contrary position emphasising that the caste Lohia, a renowned socialist leader, however,
The new and vastly enlarged middle class system has, even in the face of such changes, constituted an exception to this approach of
constituting about one-fifth of Indian maintained systemic continuity, see A M the Left parties to political mobilisation. In
population, is becoming, even if slowly, Shah, 'A Response to the Critique on Division his view, horizontal mobilisation of lower
politically and culturally more unified but and Hierarchy' in A M Shah and I P Desai, castes on issues of social justice had greater
highly diversified in terms of social origins Division and Hierarchy: An Overview of political potential for organising the poor
of its members. Caste in Gujarat, Hindustan Publishing and deprived populations of India than the
Corporation, Delhi, 1988, pp 92-133. Shah ideology of class-polarisation which, in his
Notes sees horizontal divisions as intrinsic to the view, lacked an empirical, social-basis for
caste-system itself, representing another mobilisational politics. See Ram Manohar
[An earlier version of the paper was presented
principle of caste organisation which has Lohia, The Caste System (Ram Manohar
to the conference on Contemporary India in
always operated in juxtaposition with Lohia Samata Vidyalaya Nyas, Hyderabad,
Transition, Lisbon. Portugal: 18-20 June 1998.
'hierarchy'. The horizontal divisions in caste, 1964). Also see, D L Sheth, 'Ram Manohar
The conference was sponsored by Fundacao
in his view, are thus produced and reproduced Lohia on Caste in Indian Politics', Lokayan
Oriente as part of its larger programme of
promoting north-south civilisational dialogues. as part of the continuous process within the Bulletin (Vol 12, No 4, January-February
The paper will appear in Peter deSousa (ed) system, a kind of change that a system 1996) pp 31-40; also D L Sheth, 'Ram
Transitions: Contemporary India (forthcoming). undergoes for its own survival and Manohar Lohia on Caste, Class and Gender
I am indebted to Fundacao Oriente for their maintenance. Whereas for his interlocutor in in Indian Politics', Lokayan Bulletin (Vol 13.
financial support and to Peter deSouza for histhe debate I P Desai, the horizontal divisions No 2, September-October 1996) pp 1-15.
very useful editorial comments.] which are prior to caste but were integrated 11 The concept 'politicisation of castes' was first
in the system of castes by the principle of used by Rajni Kothari in early 1970s, to
I The Portugese account of caste presented hereritual hierarchy, are now breaking away from describe changes that had occurred in the
and the following discussion on the colonial that hierarchy and interact in horizontal social caste-system with its involvement in
discourse draw heavily on: Bernard S Cohnand political spaces. In this sense, for Desai, democratic politics See 'Chapter 1:
'Notes on the History of the Study of Indian horizontal divisions represent a new principle Introduction' in his Caste in Indian Politics,
Society and Culture', An Anthropologistfor the emerging stratificatory system which (22) pp 3-25.
Among the Historians and Other Essays,has undermined the caste principle of ritual 12 Rajni Kothari in his pioneering work on the
Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1987, hierarchy, I P Desai, 'A Critique of Division Congress Party saw this aspect of Congress
pp 139-40. and Hierarchy' in the above cited Division politics, i e, expanding its social base through
2 Ibid, pp 141-62. and Hierarchy, pp 40-49. management of caste-based political factions
3 For a detailed discussion on changes in castes 7 For an illuminating discussion on the changed regionally and seeking consensus on issues
under British Rule in India and the impact relationship between ritual status and of development and modernisation nationally,
the colonial policies had on the caste system, occupation and its implications for the as crucial to the Congress Party's prolonged,
see G S Ghurye. 'Caste during the British emergence of a new type of stratificatory political and electoral dominance. See Rajni
Rule' in his Caste and Race in India Popular system in India, see I P Desai, 'Should 'Caste' Kothari, 'The Congress System in India',
Prakashan, Bombay: 1962, pp 270-305. Also be the Basis forRecognising Backwardness?' 'Asian Survey (Vol 4, No 12, December 1964)
see Marc Galanter, 'Reform, Mobility, and Economic and Political Weekly,Vol 19, pp 1161-73; see also 'The Congress System
Politics Under British Rule' in his Competing No 28, July 1984, pp 1106-16. Revisited', in his Politics and People: In
Equalities: Law and Backward Classes in 8 Of late, such recognition of systemic changes Search of Humane India, Vol 1 (Ajanta
India, Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1984, in caste is reflected in the mainstream Publishers, Delhi, 1989) pp 36-58.
pp 18-40. sociological writings. For example, M 13 N
See D L Sheth, 'Reservations Policy
4 Collective self-awareness among the lower- Srinivas in one of his latest writings has Revisited', Economic and Political Weekly,
caste as a people, oppressed socially and characterised the changes that have November 14, 1987, pp 1957-87.
economically by the ritually high-ranking occurred in the caste-system as systemic 14 M N Srinivas, 'Varna and Caste' in Caste
castes, developed and found organisational in nature: "As long as the mode of production in Modern India and Other Essays. Asia
articulation through their participation in at the village was caste-based, denunciation Publishing House, Bombay, 1962, pp 63-69.
anti-Brahman movements which grew in the of inequality from saints and reformers, or Also see, Andre Betelle, 'Varna and Jati',
early decades of this century. See Gail Sociological Bulletin, Vol 45, No 1, March
from those professing other faiths proved
Omvedt, Cultural Revolt in a Colonial ineffective. It was only when, along with 1996, pp 15-27.
Society: The Non-Brahman Movements inideological attacks on caste, education and 15 I would like to emphasise that presented here
Western India - 1873 to 1930, Scientific employment were made accessible to all, and are preliminary findings of the survey. The
Socialist Education Trust, Bombay: 1976; urbanisation and industrialisation spread that author and the research team at the CSDS
see also Eugene F Irshick, Politics and Social systemic changes occurred in caste" (italics are in the process of refining the index of
Conflict in South India: The Non-Brahman mine). See 'Introduction' in Caste: Its middle class membership. In the final analysis
Movements and Tamil Separatism 1916- Twentieth Century Avatar, M N Srinivas percentage figures for the representation of
1929, University of California Press, (ed), Viking, Penguin India, New Delhi, 1996, social formations into the middle class and
Berkeley, 1969. p XIV. for the magnitude of the middle class may
5 Galanter sees this development during the 9 For an overview of comprehensive, slightly change (by about + 1 to 2 per cent
colonial rule as having brought about some systemic changes that have occurred in local difference. I have reported here 'work in
important changes in the caste-system: "Caste hierarchies of castes in rural areas see G K progress' and not a completed analysis of the
Organisation brought with it two important Karanth, 'Caste in Contemporary Rural composition of the middle class, which will
and related changes in the nature of castes. India' in M N Srinivas (ed) Caste: Its soon appear in a separate monograph. The
The salient groups grew in size from Twentieth Century Avatar (note 7) pp 87- idea is to give a broad, even if bit tentative,
endogamous jatis into region-wise alliances. 109. Karanth, in his concluding remarks to picture of the emerging new middle class.

2510 Economic and Political Weekly August 21-28, 1999

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