01-28-2005, 06:30 PM
book rewview in The Telegraph, 28 Jan., 2005
CASTE IN QUESTION:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->DOWN IN THE DUMPSÂ
CASTE IN QUESTION:
IDENTITY OR HIERARCHY?
Edited by Dipankar Gupta, Sage, Rs 480
<b>Caste, like religion, is one of the most contentious issues in the politics of post-independence India.</b> There is a huge corpus of polemical writings on caste as the basis of community formation. But in the last two decades or so, increasing urbanization and radical changes in the rural economy have complicated the issue. <b>The traditional basis for caste â occupation â has steadily given way to new identities based on economic and political empowerment.</b>
This book is the 12th in the âContributions to Indian Sociologyâ series. <b>The edition makes two important points about caste identities. First, it says that caste identities are âdiscreteâ and ânon-encompassingâ, repudiating Dumontâs theory of homo hierarchus which argued for a commonly accepted âpureâ Brahminical caste-order. Second, the eight articles of the book painstakingly examine how different subaltern castes valourize their identities through origin-tales, by re-inventing their histories, and how the question of caste is played out in modern Indian politics. </b>
<b>Thus the book challenges the absolutist and homogenizing trend of the oriental or colonial approaches to Indian caste history.</b> It also highlights culture-specific modes of maintaining hierarchy within caste groups, based on belief-systems, histories and also economic conditions.
In his introduction, Dipankar Gupta defines the focus of the book. The first essay is by Prem Chowdhury, who unravels caste hostilities between two âgotsâ (the Dagars and the Gehlots) in a Haryana village, which jeopardizes a marriage, as also the aggressive role of caste and khap panchayats. This is a case-study of internal (not imposed) caste-hierarchy triggered mostly by jealousy.
John E. Cortâs âJains, Caste and Hierarchy in north Gujaratâ shows that the division of Vanya castes is based on âeconomic success and urban residenceâ and not on orthodox Brahminic prescription. Surinder S. Jodhkaâs essay brings to the fore the Dalit politics, vis-Ã -vis Sikhism, in Punjab today, borne out by the conflict between the Ad-Dharmis and Jats in Talhan village. <b>Here again, the emphasis is on the socio-political motivation of the assertion of identity (and not on the scriptural ideology of the Granth Sahib).</b>
Badri Narayanâs article is a study of how the Pasis of Uttar Pradesh have invented their caste-history by glorifying their nationalist caste-icon, Uda Devi. Narayan shows how this is the Pasisâ attempt to integrate themselves with the history of the freedom movement. At the same time, it is also a form of expressing resentment over the stateâs indifference to their cause. The way the Samajwadi Party and Bharatiya Janata Party have appropriated the Uda Devi legend indicates how much importance they accord to the Dalits.
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CASTE IN QUESTION:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->DOWN IN THE DUMPSÂ
CASTE IN QUESTION:
IDENTITY OR HIERARCHY?
Edited by Dipankar Gupta, Sage, Rs 480
<b>Caste, like religion, is one of the most contentious issues in the politics of post-independence India.</b> There is a huge corpus of polemical writings on caste as the basis of community formation. But in the last two decades or so, increasing urbanization and radical changes in the rural economy have complicated the issue. <b>The traditional basis for caste â occupation â has steadily given way to new identities based on economic and political empowerment.</b>
This book is the 12th in the âContributions to Indian Sociologyâ series. <b>The edition makes two important points about caste identities. First, it says that caste identities are âdiscreteâ and ânon-encompassingâ, repudiating Dumontâs theory of homo hierarchus which argued for a commonly accepted âpureâ Brahminical caste-order. Second, the eight articles of the book painstakingly examine how different subaltern castes valourize their identities through origin-tales, by re-inventing their histories, and how the question of caste is played out in modern Indian politics. </b>
<b>Thus the book challenges the absolutist and homogenizing trend of the oriental or colonial approaches to Indian caste history.</b> It also highlights culture-specific modes of maintaining hierarchy within caste groups, based on belief-systems, histories and also economic conditions.
In his introduction, Dipankar Gupta defines the focus of the book. The first essay is by Prem Chowdhury, who unravels caste hostilities between two âgotsâ (the Dagars and the Gehlots) in a Haryana village, which jeopardizes a marriage, as also the aggressive role of caste and khap panchayats. This is a case-study of internal (not imposed) caste-hierarchy triggered mostly by jealousy.
John E. Cortâs âJains, Caste and Hierarchy in north Gujaratâ shows that the division of Vanya castes is based on âeconomic success and urban residenceâ and not on orthodox Brahminic prescription. Surinder S. Jodhkaâs essay brings to the fore the Dalit politics, vis-Ã -vis Sikhism, in Punjab today, borne out by the conflict between the Ad-Dharmis and Jats in Talhan village. <b>Here again, the emphasis is on the socio-political motivation of the assertion of identity (and not on the scriptural ideology of the Granth Sahib).</b>
Badri Narayanâs article is a study of how the Pasis of Uttar Pradesh have invented their caste-history by glorifying their nationalist caste-icon, Uda Devi. Narayan shows how this is the Pasisâ attempt to integrate themselves with the history of the freedom movement. At the same time, it is also a form of expressing resentment over the stateâs indifference to their cause. The way the Samajwadi Party and Bharatiya Janata Party have appropriated the Uda Devi legend indicates how much importance they accord to the Dalits.
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