Caste and Class

Caste and Class: An Interlinked View Author(s): Ajit Roy Reviewed work(s): Source: Economic and Political Weekly,
Vol. 14, No. 7/8, Annual Number: Class and Caste in India (Feb., 1979), pp. 297-299+301+303-304+306-307+309+311-312 Published by: Economic and Political Weekly Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4367350 . Accessed: 08/03/2013 04:07
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Caste
and
Class:
An
Ajit Roy
InterJinked
View
In the face of growing attempts to substitute the concept of caste for that of class in the revolutionary strategy for India, this paper, unabashedly, seeks to uphold the essence of the traditional strategy of the histortical communist movemlent in India. First, contrary to the widespread view that the caste is a uniquely Indian phenomenon, the origin of varna is shown as basically a formzof class differentiation. Seconidly, caste, with many significant variations no doubt, is traced in the social developments in other parts of the world. Thirdly, the historical attempts made by Gandhi, Ambedkar and Lohia to solve the caste problem are briefly examined and their limitations revealed. Next, the spontaneous movements within the caste-class dichotomy in India are briefly studied. Finally, the class essence of the presently accentuated caste tensions is brought out.
CASTE, or more precisely, varna, for which the fortner,a Portuguese synonym, has come into wide use in comparatively recent years, has been an invariable dirnension of the social evolution in India during the last 3,500 vears. While the general connotation of the concept -i-as a hierarchical stratification of society- has remained unchangecd, the specifics of the varna order have undergone a few changes, along with changes in the socio-economic
environmnent.
Contrary to. the naive view that the four-fold v1arna division, along with the accompanying residue of 'outcaste', was a readymade scheme of social order, of (livine or semi-divine origin, and that it has been an inseparable component of the so-called Hindu dharma, most vedic scholars are in agreement that the concept of Varna had undergone cial surpltis. "3 changes even in the vedic phase of It is true that that the first class history itself. division on the world scale was the The earliest of the vedas, the Rig- dlivision between master and slave, thb veda, uses the term varna to distin- latter procured from captives of alien guiish the Arya varrna from the dasa tribes. It is also true that the preVarna. Varna means colour and "it was Aryan tribes absorbed into the Aryan in this sease that the word seems to fol0( as helots were turned into the have been employed in contrasting the 'base of the social pyramid and deArya and the dasa, referring to their signated as the fourth, Shudra, varna. fair and dark colours respectivelv."' Butt the intra-Aryan division among the During the Rigvedic phase itself, the three original varnas was itself a class Aryan community had started splitting division, prior to the absorption of the into classes. The Rigveda frequently pre-Aryans. The Vis or the Vaisya of mentions three strata among the Aryans: the original three-fold varna division Brahma, Kshatra and Vis, the first be- formed the pedestal of the Aryan soing the priestly literati, the second, the cietv till the assimilation of the nonwarriors and the last comprising the Aryan tribes in the form of the Shucommon people. "It is only in one of dras. "The Aitaraya Brahrmana describes the later hymns, the celebrated Pur- him [the Vaisva] as tributary to anoushasukta, that a reference has been ther" and "to be suppressed at will..."' made to four orders of society as Indeed, the formation of the three emanating from the sacrifice of the original varn?lassignified the separation) Primeval Being. The names of these of the manual and mental labour. The four orders are given there as Brah- Vis or the Vaisyas weve condemned to mana, Rajanya, Vaisya and Sudra..."2 manual labour in order to create and Some scholars have, however, expressed yield surplus produce for the maintendoubt about the authenticity of this ance of the two higher varnas.
hvrmn'sclaim to Rigvedic origin; they believe it to be a later interpolation. According to one opinion, "the emergence of a distinct class structure" among the Aryans coincided with the formation of the four varnas or what we have now come to identify as castes. "The earlier division into three social groups or varnas represented division of labour and division of social product and not division into classes. The first class-caste division occurred between the Aryans and the dasas wvhowere major local enemies of the Aryans. New relations of production were introduced when the conquered dasas were transformed into a servile class and made the helots or servants of the tribe as a whole. The dasas who were absorbed into the Aryan fold as the shudra caste, became the main producers of the so-
The fact that the Kshatriya had been differentiated as a separate warrior stratum signified the advance of the process of dissolution of the primitivecommunal system, in which wars 1)oth defensive as well as offensivewere the common responsibility of all the able-bodied members of the clan. This separation representing the creation of a coercive force distinct from the collective as a whole signified a class division; the monopoly of the coercive powers in the hands of the upper stratum in tuirn contributed to a further consolidation of the division. Division of labour simultaneously representing division of social product is nothing b)ut a class division, because the division of labour implies the possibility, nay the fact that i ntellectual and material activity enljoyment and labour, production and consumption -devolve on different indl.vidluals... With the division of labour, in which all these contradictions are implicit, which in its turn is based on the natural division in the familv andl the separation of society into individuial families opposed to one another, is given simultaneously the distribution, and indeed the unequal distributionf, both quantitative and (uialitative, of labour and its pro(ducts, hence property....5 The differentiation betveen the Brahmana and the Kshatriya represented a division of mental and material labour within the ruling class, "so that within this class one part appears as the thinkers of the class (its active, conceptive ideologists, wN,homake the perfecting of the illusion of the class about itself their chief source of livelihood), while the others' attitude to these ideas and illusions is more passive and receptive, because they are in reality the active members of this class and have less time to make utp illusions and ideas about themselves. Within this class this cleavage can even develop 297
Annual Number February 1979 into a certain opposition and hostility betveen the two parts... "6 But on the whole it was, at least in the early phase, a functional division within the ruling class with opportunity of horizontal mobility. Vedic scholars cite many instances of such mobility in the early vedic phase. For
example, one commentator says:
ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY in the hymns of the Rigveda, the system of castes, as it is described, for instance, in the Laws of Manu, would have been a simple impossibility... On the other hand, even during that early period, there must have been a division of labour, and hence we expect to find and do find in the gramas of the Five Nations, wcarriors, sometimes called nobles, leaders, kings, counsellors, sometimes called priests, prophets, judges; and work'ng men whether ploughers or builders or roadmakers. These three divisions we find clearly even in the early hymns of the Rigveda.10 At a much later period, the varna division was further extended to include a fourth stratum-the Shudras. According to a source quoted earlier, Chudes, a mixed tribe of Austroloids and Negroides, and whose settlements extended from Baltic Esthonia through eastern slopes of Urals, western spars of the Altai up to the western parts of Siberia, on the banks of Yenissi and whose ancient sites show that they were skilled in metalmaking, fruit-raising, irrigation-works and raising of swine, have been known as Shbudras... They were employe(d not only for grazing the cattle, tilling the soil, doing domestic work of drtudgery, but also skilled in crafts so that they might be useful to their masters.1' Besides the Chudes, even if one accepts the above theory, the Shudra tarnia must have over the centuries absorbed the impoverished Vaisyas, the mixed descents from early Aryans and the indigenous pre-Aryan tribes, and other elements of pre-Aryan indigenous population absorbed in the lowest rung of the Aryan society. The original social divisions, based on divisions of economic and political powers, buttressed by ethnic, particularly colour, differentiation over the centuries crystallised into rigid caste divisions. The masses of the indigenous preAryan population, particularly dark in complexion, who refused to be absorbed in the lowest rung of the Aryan order, or vere refused absorption, after the Aryans had consolidated their four-fold varna divisions, gradually came to be regarded as 'untouchables', the outcastes or the fifth varna. Even after it had established its (lecisive sway and had even given rise to a reaction against its rigidity, in tbc form of Buddhism/Jainism, varnua division had not, however, become fullv hereditaiy in all the Aryan settlements. In his dialogue with Assalayana, a Brabmana youth, came to argue with Gotama Buddha, against the latter's teachings on varna divisions, Gotama is reported to have said: "Have you heard that in some of the adjacent districts there are only two castes - masters and slaves and that [a member of] the master [caste] can become a [member of] the slave [caste] and vice versa?" To this Assalayana replied: "yes, sir, I have heard that... 912 The evidence of the Rigvedic texts incdirectly proves the existence of a class division of the contemporaryAryan society although slavery or induction of pre-Aryan clans as helots in thservice of the Aryans was yet to emerge as a significant phenomenon. Without a part of the society having been relieved from the responsibility for material production, those beautiful hymns would never have been composed. Max Muller pays a glowing tribute to "the ancient literature of India, the literature dominated by the Vedic and Buddhistic religions" and says: That literature opens to us a chapter in what has been called the Education of the Human Race, to which we can find no parallel anywvhereelse. Whoever cares for the historical growth of our language, that is, of our thoughts whoever cares for the first intelligible development of religion and mythology however cares for the first foundation of xwhat we in later times call the sciences of astronomy, metropomv, grammar and etymology, whoover cares for the first intimations of philosophical thought, for the first attempt at regulating family life, village life, and state life; as founded on religion, ceremonial, tradition anid contract (samaya) - must pay the same -attention to the literature of the Vedic period as to the literature of Greece and Rome ancd Germany.13 As to how this high intellectual achievement of the Vedic Aryans ha(d been possible, Max Muller suggests two factors by way of explanation, one psychological and the other geophysical. In India, he says, "we find the Aryan man, whom we know in his various characters, as Greek, Roman, German, Celt and Slav, in an entirely new character. Whereas in his migration northward, his active and political energies are called out and brought to their highest perfection, we find the other side of the human character, the passive and meditative, carried to its fullest growth in India"." Further, "in the northem climates, where life is and always must be a struggle, and a hard struggle too ... the European climate with long cold winters, in many places also the difficulties of cultivating the soil... We work till we can work no longer, our highest ideal of life is a fighting life". By contrast, in the East, particularly India, life is, or at all events was, not very
Manv members of the ruling famiiilies,finding court life unpleasant, duie to succession disputes, intrigues anid revolutions, adopted [the] lucrative and influential occupation of priesthood. Ikshaku Mandhatri's fourth and fifth descendants, Vishnu Vriddhas and Haritas, adopted priesthood... Navaga's kingWVhen dom iiwas destroyed, his fourth
descendant, Rathithara became ... [a]
priest. Haihaya Vitihavya being defeated by Pratardhana of Kasi became a ... priest. We owe the second
Mandala of Rigveda to his son... Kausika Gathina Visvaratlia became a priest when his Kanyakubja kingdom was devastated by Haihaya inroads, and he assumed the name of Visvamitra and founded a priestly gotra of his own. The third Mandala of the Rigveda is mostly the composition of the Visvamitras... Bhargava jamaldagni (a Brahmana) became a warrior. HI-s son, Parasu Ram, was a renowned fighter. Drona, an Angirasa (one of the four original Brahmania clans) was a teacher of the Pandavas in archery and he by his prowess acquired the South Panchala kingdom. Not only there were intermarriages between the Kshatriyas and Brahmanas, but professions were a(lopted and interchanged as circumstances demanded. The social organisation was in a fluidic condition.7 The two functions of the ruling class physical coercion and intellectual coercion - were indeed collateral in nature. There are many instances in history when there two functions have been performed by one and the same stratum of the ruling class. For instance, in the opinion of Antonio Gramsci, "The Prussian Junkers resemble a priestlvm.ilitary caste".8
Referring to the picture of the Aryan life as revealed in the Rigveda, Max Muller says: We see the Aryan tribes taking possession of the land and under the guii(lance of such warlike gods as Indra and Martits, defending their home ag,ainst the assaults of the newxv black-skinned aborigines as wvell as against the inroads of later Aryan colonists. But the period of war soon camneto an end and when the great mass of the people had once settled down in their homesteads, the military and political duties seem to have been monopolised by what we call a caste, that is a small aristocracv.9 In a note on the word 'caste', Max Muiller adds: During times of conquest and migration, such as represented to uas
2AR
ECONOMIC AND POLITIGAL WEEKLY Kshatriyas and Brahmanas, similarly also with the growth of productive forces and consequent separation of handicrafts and agriculture, there came to develop functional differentiation the shelter required ... was it not, I among the practitioners of various crafts. say, natural there, or if you like, was In the course of time and under the it not intended there, that another side conditions prevailing, transmission of of human nature should be developed hereditary skill played an important -not the active, the combative and part in the maintenance and developacquisitive, but the passive, the medita- ment of crafts and services. Therefore, the growth of sub-castes and their tive and reflective?"15 petrifaction into hereditary formations Max Muller certainly has a point here. The mild climate and fertile soil followed as a matter of course. Over the centuries, as new crafts and did play a significant part in the evolution of the early Vedic society in India. skills developed and new elements from They combined to enable a part of the the aboriginal clans became absorbed society to produce the basic needs of within the wider social frame, dominatthe whole community and thus free the ed by the Aryans, the number of subon proliferating. And under other part to indulge in passive medita- castes wvent the over-powering influence of the tion and reflection. Because of these Brahmanical ideology of hierarchical two distinctive features of the Vedic social order, these sub-castes became habitat, namely, fewer needs and lighter embroiled in struggles for relative labour needed to meet them even on the basis of quite primitive technology, superiority vis-a-vis the other, originally collateral, sub-castes. extraction of surplus produce was The practice of untouchability is a possible even before slavery in one or much later development and its origin another form had made its appearance is still somewhat a matter of speculain India. tion. Ghurye, for instance, offers the The differences in geophysical enfollowing explanation of the origin of vironments may have in course of a this practice: historical span contributed to a process Special rights for higher classes of psychological differentiation betxveen and disabilities on the lower ones the northern and southern Aryans, but was almost a universal feature of there could hardly have any major class-society; and the Brahmanic theory of four castes with their psychological divide between the two rights and disabilities does not call branches of the Aryans, so recently for any special explanation. Only parted. the practice of untouchability is Moreover, the high level of meditapeculiar to the Hindu system. It will have been clear from the history of tion and reflection expressed in the this factor of caste ... that the ideas Vedic literature was far from the uniof utntouchability and unapproachversal level of the Vedic society. It ability arose out of the ideas of was the reverse side of the intellectual ceremonial purity, first applied to the retardation of, originally, the Vaisya aboriginal Shudras in connection with the sacrificial ritual and excommoners, and then the shudra labourpanded and extended to other groups e1s who were condemned to a life of because of the theoretical impurity of hard physical labour and subsequently certain occupations.16 debarred from access to superior This explanation is far from satisknowledge. factory. First of all, untouchability is Finally, as Max Muller himself men- not so particularly an Indian phenotions, but without fully realising its menon. As Ghurye himself says elsesignificance, conscious attempts were where: "In Japan during her military made by the emerging power elitetwelfth century to the middle of agethe passive meditators to perpetuate the nineteenth century AD - society this iniquitous social division by "at- was divided into five distinct groups... tempts at regulating family life, village The fifth class was formnedby two life and state life, as founded on reli- groups called the Eta and Hinin, who gion, ceremonial, tradition and contract". were the Pariahs and outcastes of the Thus the varna division from its community".'7 original beginning in the Rigvedic Ancient Iran also had a four-fold phase was essentially a reflection of social division and a very important class differentiation, sustained by the place for the priests and rituals;'8 but ideological and political domination of this had not led to the practice of unthLe ruling strata. touchability' and unapproachability. The Just as the ruling class was functio- explanation of the emergence of this nally, differentiated into collateral obnoxious phenomenon probably lies severe struggle, where climate was mild, the soil fertile, where vegetable food in small quantities sufficed to keep body in health and strength, where the simplest hut or cave in a forest was all
Annual Number February 1979 mnainlyin the sharp ethnic differences between the fair-skinned Aryans who formed the ruling elite and the jetblack aborigines of this subcontinent. When the Aryans realised that a point has been reached in the process of absorption of the dark-skinned preAryans at the base of the social pyramid, beyond which, they could not hope to retain even the already somewhat diluted purity of their race, they imposed sharp and strict restrictions on mutual contacts between the Aryan society and the pre-Aryan aborigines. The Iranian branch of the Aryans had no such problems as they did not have to encounter a large mass of dark-skinned population. The theory of unclean jobs, willy-nilly performed by the fifth varna, would hardly explain the phenomenon of untouchability. In their primitive community, the Arvans themselves had to take care of the socalled 'unclean' jobs. They "had their own medicine men as [well as] their own carpenters who made the chariots, their own leather tanners who made leather for their war and domestic needs... [these jobs] required special training and technical knowledge. Every tribe had them and prized themr".19 The importance of the pigmentation of the skin as a factor governing the accommodation of population groups within the caste system is proved by the fact that even after the varna order had been rigidly established, there was no difficulty for the established order in absorbing the fair-skinned fresh arrivals through the north-west at a relatively high rung of society. From this brief and admittedly schematic sketch of the evolution of the varna/caste division of the Indian society, it should be clear that, Krsna's emphatic declaration in the Bhagvadgeeta ("The four-caste division has been created by Me") notwithstanding, the phenomenon is a product of historical evolution, conditioned by socio-economic-ethnic factors. Not only that the Bhagvadgeeta is an ex poste rationalisation of an existing soclal reality, but religion in general is so. Many enthusiastic crusaders against the obnoxious caste system in India are unaware of this real interrelation between the Indian social evolution and the evolution of the Hindui religion. Further, ignorant of the fact that Marx had built up his world outlook, at least chronologically speaking, by first revealing his basic truth -of the derivation of religion from the social reality- they accuse Marx of having 'failed Hindu 299
ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY India'20 by failing to make 'caste' the central key to the understanding of its problems. This accusation is entirely baseless as Marx had begun his social enquiry on his finding that: Maubmnakesreligion, religion does not make man ... This state, this society, produce religion, an inverted world vonyciou.sness, because they are an inverted world. Religion is the general theory of that world, its encyclopaedic compendium, its logic in a popular form, its spiritualistic p.:int d'honneur, its enthusiasm, its moral sanction, its solemn complement, its universal source of consolation, and justification...2' Hence, by providing an insight into the process of the stratification of the Indian society and the evolution of religion as its superstructure, Marx's writings help to understand and fight caste divisions. forth the king alone could elevate a person of non-noble birth to the closed ranks of the nobility. During the height of the Middle Ages, kings made but sparing use of this power."24 The "higher c.lerical offices weie increasingly preempted by the younger sons of the noble families until the upper ranks of the church hierarchy became almost closed to any but those of noble
blood".25
Annual Number Februar 1979 ments and regional/local struggles apart, India has seen since the twenties three major streams of national campaigns for the eradication of caste iniquities in general and the curse of untouchability in particular, led by Arnbedkar,Gandhi and Lohia, according to the chronological order of their initiation. Ambedkar started as the spokesman, of a particular sub-caste, Mahar, in the erstwhile Bombay province, but later emerged as the foremost leader of the 'untouchables' of the whole country. 1His lifelong struggles against the caste oppression were, however, constrained within the boundaries of constitutionalism on the one hand and religious reforms oni the other. The limits of the first dimension were reached when as the chairman of the Constitution drafting committee, he successfully piloted in the Constitutional Assembly the republican Constitution of the Independent India - a Constitutioni which, true to the ideals of bourgeois democracy, proclaimed an end to all forms of formal inequalities among Indian citizens28 (except for preferential treatment for the depressed sections of the population - a unique addition to the treasury of bourgeois democratic ideals) and further provided for legislation making the practice of untouchability a criminal and cognisable offence. The other limiting dimension of his approach persuaded him to part way with Hinduism as a religion and to lead, shortly before his death in mid-1957, a mass conversion of the 'untouchables' to Buddhism at a ceremony in Nagpur in October 1956. Although earlier Ambedkar had organised a Labour Party primarily with his caste followers and modelled on the British Labour Party, and, just prior to his death, he evinced a certain interest in establishing some sort of liaison with the Socialist Party led by Lohia, his entire outlook was firmly rooted in the Westminster type of democracy. Lohia's colleagues who acted as go-between in the negotiations with Ambedkar reported to Lohia: "He was very sympathetic, cordial and eager to understand out viewpoint in detail. He explained the democratic practice in England, at some length, of choosing a candidate, and it seems is a very great believer in democracy".29 Lohia confirmed this aspect of Ambedkar'smental make-up when he wrote back: "With Dr Ambedkar, the greatest difficulty has always been his ideological affiliation with the Atlantic camp. I do not think that this affiliation is anything but ideological... You might continue a little ideological dis-
Just as the Indian varna division was later sought to be sanctified with the nmythabout the divine origin of the precise hierarchical order - that the Brahmana,Kshatriya Vaisya and Shudra were created out of the mouth, arm, thigh and feet respectively of Brahma, the Creater - so also was the medleval European hierarchy projected as a divine dispensation. R H Tawney quotes a medieval theologist: "The Church is divided in these three parts, preachers,and defenders, and.. .labourers Just as Indian varna/caste divisions ...As she is our mother, so she is a have for their essence the class stratifibody, and health of this body stancds elsecation of society, class differences in this, that one part of her answer to where also under certain circumstances another, after the same measure that have assumed features of caste distincJesus Christ has ordained it... Kindly tions. man's hand helps his head, and his eye Not only had the ancient Egyptians helps his foot, and his foot his dody... and Iranians and the medieval Japanese and thus should it be in parts of the evolved well-developed caste orders, Church... As diverse parts of man only did the Prussian Junkers reveal served unkindly to man if one took the many caste-like traits, many other soservice of another and left his own cial formations also have displayed proper work, so diverse part of the features of castes: "castelike or quasi- Church have proper works to serve caste systems have occurred in various cod... "26 societies whenever social strata have All this, however, is not to deny the tended to evolve into closed, endogam- particularly petrified character that the ous groups'.22 caste system cane to assume in India the feudal Superficially viewed, divi- and the most obnoxious nature of the sion of medieval Europe closely res- practice of untouchability with few embled the three-fold stratification of historical parallels. While the roots of the original Rigvedic varnas. "The the practice of untouchability have alnobility (counterpart of Kshatriya) was ready been touched upon, the petrifacri military aristocracy charged with the tion and the seeming unchangeability of defence of the country and the exer- the caste regime have to be traced in cise of judicial power. The clergy the very long period of historical (counterpart of Brahmana), an ecclesia- stagnation of the Indian society. As istical and intellectual elite not only Kosambi has rightly concluded: ministered to the spiritual needs of the When the profound ignorance, population, but, as the literate stratum generally complete illiteracy, of the in the early medieval period, also U1PBrahmins of the period (i e, late performed important administrative 19th century) is taken into account, functions. The peasanitry's(the counterthis shows that the degenerate caste system had long outlived its usefulpart of the early Vaisya) principal soness to society even at the very cial obligation was to labour for the centre of Hindu sanctity, Banaras. support of the nobility and the clergy, However, due to historical inertia, who dominated the feudal oligarchy".23 the institution could be abolished only Soon the two upper divisions deveby fundamental alteration of the productive mechanism - industrialloped into closed groups with identical isation. Transient economic pressure interests as lords lof huge landed estates could accomplish little.27 and with close family connections. "After the twelfth century, entrance into the nobility could be obtained only through heredity or royal grace: hentceThe explicitly religious reform move-
ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY competition, a spirit of contentment *would pervade society and there would he no struggle for existence.2 However, to do justice to Gandhi, it should be mentioned that his advocac) of the continuation of the varna divisions was based on the utopian expection that all work would be regarded in equal esteem and would be equally rewarded. Gandhi's approach was one of accomnodation, instead of challenge. This will be clear from the practice he introduced in the Satyagraha Ashram, about which he writes: The Ashram does not believe in subcastes. There are no restrictions on interdining and all Ashramites sit to dinner in the same line. But no propaganda in favour of interdining is carried on outside the Ashram, as it is unnecessary for the removal of untouchability, which implies the lifting of bans imposed on Harijans in public institutions and discarding the superstition that a man is polluted by the touch of certain persons by reason of their birth in a particular caste. This disability can also be removed by legislation. Interdining and intermarriage are reforms of a different type which cannot be promoted bv leaislation or social pressu-re. The Ashramites therefore feel free to take permitted food with everyone else but do not carry on anv such propaganda.33 It will be be seen from the above that like Ambedkar, Gandhi also depended substantially on legal-constitutional, that is, superstructural changes for achieving the desired reforms in social practice. In other words, he had no consciousness about the need for demolishing the social reality which had given rise to and continued to sustain the obnoxious practice of untouchability. This was the fundamental limitation of his 'Harijan' campaign b)ehalf".31 ever since he had launched on it after But as in other social spheres, Gandhi his fast in the Yervada jail in 1932. sought to achieve his objective in the His main weapon in combating this sphere of caste relations also without evil was his re-interpretation of the destroying, even seriously disturbing, Hindu scriptures. He wrote in Harijao. the existing order. He sought to I have, indeed, said that the verses tackle his task through an idealised and produced by the Sanatanists in support of untouchability as they deutopian interpretation of the varna diviscribe it are whollv inconsistent with sion. This shouldl be clear from the the fundamental principles of Hindufollowing exposition of his views given ism. Therefore, under the canons of in 1932: interpretation laid down in the The varna system is ethical as well Shastras themselves, such verses must as economic. It recognises the inbe repudiated as devoid of authofluience of previous lives and of hererity.34 dity. All are not born with equal He made it clear repeatedly that vis-apowers and similar tendencies. Neither the parents nor the State cani vis the question of untouchability, his measture the intelligence. But there aim was reforms within the framework would be no difficulty if each child of the Hindu religion. As he says: is prepared for the profession indi... have no doubt that, if Hindus cated by heredity, environment and cling to untouchability, Hinduism and the influence of former lives; no time Hindus will be swept out of existwvould b-e lost in fruitless experimenence. I cling to Hinduism because tation, there would he no soul-killing it gives me all the solace I need, and cussion with him through your common friends." While Ambedkar's ilfelong efforts including his part in the making of the Constitution have made some important contributions towards bettering the lot of the 'untouchables', they have been far from successful in liberating the latter. His religious excursion, leading him and his followers into the fold ot Buddhism, has produced hardly better results: indeed in so far as the eradication of the inequality of the 'untouchables' is concerned, this has been as unproductive as the earlier conversions of the 'untouchables' to Christianity. This was inevitable for two reasons: first, the superficial changes, represented by the legal-constituitional measures as well as the change of religion on the part of the oppressed masses had no struicturalchanges in the bases of the social system as their counterpart; second and more important, as long as the wider fllindu society stuck to its traditional moorings, the overwhelming impact of its massive presence would successfuilly nullify the effects of any superficial and/or peripheral changes. Gandhi's commitment to the eradication of untouchability was total. A firm believer in the Hindu religion and hence an ardent aspirant for moksha, from the twenties onward, he "declared, times without number, from various public platforms that it is the prayer of my heart that if I should fail to obtain mrokshain this very birth, I might be b)orna bhanlgi in my next. ... if there is a rebirth in store for me, I wish to be born a pariah in the midst of pan:ahs, because thereby I would be able to render more effective service to themand also be in a better position to plead with other communities on their
Annual Nuimber February 1979 because I have found in it no warrant for uintotchabailityas we know
it to(lay.3
Gandhi sought to avoid any confrontation of the 'untouchables' with their oppressors on either economic or social issues. For their economic amelioravelfare tion, be would depend on measures undertaken by reformists; at the social level he would depend on the enlightened caste Hindus for slowly persuading the conservative majority to eschew untouchability. To a correspondent who wanted to know if the Harijan labourers should be advised to retaliate against harassment by the lanidlords, Gandhi replied: No one can be compelled to slave for another. Hence, those Harijans who are oppressed should learn to quit the oppressors' lands. The question naturally arises: Where should they go after quitting these lands? It is the dutv of a Ilarijan sevak to find some work or other for such helpless Ilarijans.3 6 T-) another question: "Rathelrthan do constructive work among Ilarijans, will it not be better to create intense dissatisfaction amongst them with their condition and thus promote such selfhelp as they can generate among themselves? It is no use your trying to convert the savarnas", Gandhi replied: The question betrays ignorance of the whole scope of the movement. To create dissatifaction among the Harijans can bring no immetiate relief to them and can only perpetuate a vicious division amongst Hindus
... the movement is one of repentance
and reparation. Hence it is confined, on the one hand, to constructive work among Harijans, and, on the other, to conversion of savrnas by persuasion, arguments and, above all, by correct conduct on the part of the reformers.37 Gandhi was, it will be seen from the above, against any militant activism on the part of the Harijans. Religious reform movements, of course, have played and can play significant roles in bringing about historical progress under certain conditions. But they can do so only if they reflect the urges and efforts, even if indirectly, for effecting the needed Since structural changes in society. Gandhi left the entire question of structural changes out of his terms of reference, his ceaseless campaigns on behalf of the 'untouchables' for a quarter of century were hardly more effective than, say, the efforts of missionaries to eradicate the evils of alcoholism or prostitution. That the 'Harijan'work was the least successful among Gandhi's multifarious undertakings is proved by the fact that none of the 113 contributions fromi the
Annual Number February 1979 world and Indian statesmen and thinkers to a volume38 brought out in his honour - a tome of 459 pages - makes any mention of this part of his activities; only the editor of the volume, S Radhakrishnan, devotes half a dozen lines to this in his editorial introduction. Although he felt a measure of spiritual affinity with Gandhi, particularly on the question of "non-violent, peaceful means of propaganda, organisation and struggles", and later on developed a lot of respect for Ambedkar, Lohia advanced the struiggle against untouchability considerably beyond the limits imposed by the two earlier exponents of the struggle against this practice. As against Gandhi's advice to the 'untouchables' to eschew active resistance against caste oppressions and his efforts to solve the problem within the framework of varna divisions, Lohia advocated militant struggles by the 'untouchables' themselves, though, rightly, in alliance with elements from the upper castes, for the total abolition of the caste system. While Ambedkar's activities were mainly limited to the 'untouchables' themselves -in Lohia's words, he (Ambedkar) "refused to become a leader of non-Harijans"Lohia's conception of struggle envisaged a common front against the caste institutions embracing forward-looking elements from all parts of society. If the collection of his articles, speeches and notes, published under the title "The Caste System" in 1964 is any guide, then it may be concluded that before 1953, Lohia had not paid any particular attention to this problem. In the ten years between 1953 an(l 1963, he seems to have developed a comprehensive approachto this question. Though be claims that "the Socialist Party [that is, after he had split away from the PSP to form a separate party of which he was the undisputed leader] is the first political party in India which has understood the caste system...',39 his exposition of the problem was extremely scrappy and superficial. His publication on the subject, referred to above, does not even try to look into the social and historical origin of the castes, or its evolution overtime. His passionate zeal and crusading spirit notwithstanding, Lohia's outpourings on the subject of caste are marked by simplistic exposition, if not self-contradictions, as may be seen from the following analysis of his writings and speeches on the subject. Lohia gives a correct estimate of the traditional strength of the caste ties and
ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY the objective reasons for it. He says: Caste is presumably world's largest insurance for which one does not nay a formal or regular premium. The solidarity is always there, when everything else fails. In fact, there are few occasions for other things being tried ouit. Men julst tend to make friends within the caste, their family most certainly. Such a close solidarity at child-bearing, funeral obsequies, weddings and other rituals must necessarily have its consequences on other aspects of life including the political. It muist, in fact, influence and determine the mind and its basic thought. The political aspects are easily influenced. When a continual get-together takes place on all majOr an(l
personal events of life, it must be somewhat bizarre if political events took place outside that framework. When men are puzzled at a caste voting more or less alike, they behave as though they had come from another planet.40 Even if one makes allowance for the fact that with the progress of urbanisation and modernisation and the advance of intra-caste class differentiation and inter-caste class solidarity, there have been some modifications, the picture drawn above is still largely true in so far as the backward and less dynamic rural areas of the country are concerned. He reveals correctly how different lower' castes have successfully challeng ed Brahminsupremacy in various regions only to claim the same privileges for themselves vis-a-vis the other oppressed castes. "Again and again," he says, "the revolt of the down-graded castes has been misused to upgrade one or another caste rather than to destroy the entire edifice of castes".4'
He repeatedly
-
and rightly
stres-
ses that only a miniscule section of the high caste population form the ruling elite because of their economic power, professional excellence and intellectual accomplishments. The rest of the so-called high caste population are duped into supporting this elite out of a false consciousness of caste
affinity.42
Alongside this analysis, Lohia formulates the following programme for destroying the caste institution: (i) "Studies, debates, seminars and all other types of meetings and discussions [to] lay bare such elements of India's culture, thought and life, as have produced stagnation and caste"; (ii) actions "to purify religion and its practices of the taints of caste, which shall, while believing that intermarriage alone ultimately dissolves castes and propagating for it through scientific studies and the creative arts, concentrate on the immediately attain-
able aims of common and festival meals"; (iii) "demand the securing of sixty per cent of the leadership posts in government, political parties, business and armed services, by law or by convention, to the backward castes and groups ... taking care to see that one or two numerically powerful backward groups do not usurp the right of the immensely more massive but splintered totality of the lower castes..."; (iv) not to "act electorally but may, through appropriate decision and if requisite strength is reached, affiliate... with an existing political party of its choice or turn itself into one..."43 The above programme was drawn uIp bv Lohia for the Association for Study and Destruiction of Caste some time in 1960. In 'A Note on Caste', presented at the special conference of the Socialist Party at Gorakhpurin June 1963the note in which he claims that "The Socialist Party is the first political party in India, which has understood the caste system and has launched a policy of abolition of castes"- Lohia says: The attack on caste has till now been from one and a half sides from the religious side and partly from social movements. Now simultaneously with the economic approach, the attack has to be launched from the side of marriage relationship also, may it be verbal only, so that the social attack may be perfect. Adult franchise and the principle of preferential opportunity constitute the political approach, while increased wages, abolition of taxes on uneconomic holdings, distribution of land, etc, would be the economic measures for abolishing caste. Such an allrouind attack alone would render the destruiction of caste possible at last.44 First of all, a little reflection would reveal that Lohia's analysis of the caste situation does not fully tally with his programme for its abolition. If the caste has acted, as it really has, as a sort of social insurance, then the caste institution cannot be overthrown unless an alternative system has emerged to substitute it. An alternative framework to replace caste can only be, in so far as the oppressed masses are concerned, organisations on class lines and fraternal ties among them. But the role of such class organisations and of class strtugglesfor throwing up these organisations is totally absent in Lohia's scheme for struggles aga nst caste. He correctly reveals the dynamics of the caste struggles seen so far; one low caste or sub-caste seeking its own advancement, not only in isolation from but also at the cost of other low or
Annual Number February 1979 lower castes. But he does not seem to realise that this is inevitable as long as the movement is motivated by caste consciousness. He obviously does not accept the Marxist position that of all the social forces, it is only the working class which is objectively and historically compelled to emancipate all other oppressed and exploited segments along with its own emancipation. He clings to the utopian hope that a struggle inspired and limited by caste consciousness can rise above its raison d'etre and seek the liberation of the other segments of the oppressed population, beyond the circle of its own caste. While Lohia is aware of the facf that the actually ruling or dominant force in the Indian society is not high castes as such, but a very small fraction of it, yet he does not accept that it is class struggle and class struggle only that can dispel the false (caste) consciousness that ties the depressed masses of the high castes to their affluent 'brethren' within the common castes. The specific programme suggested by Lohia cannot basically alter the social reality that has arisen in the course of 3,500 years of history. For instance, studies, seminars and symposia can contribute to altering the social reality only if they are related to revolutionary mass practice. Lohia's programme of struggle against caste is not interwoveni with the class struggles of the working class and the toiling peasantry. In isolation from these struLggles, studies and debates would be a sterile intellectual pastime, which within the existing socio-economic milieu can be indulged in only by the edcucatedupper caste elements. Inter-dining will be a symbolic act only without affecting the condition of actual social existence, and intermarriage, a rarity, as long as an economic and cultural guilf continues to divide the high and low castes. Intermarriage between the high and low castes cannot be the means, as Lohia expects, for achieving the dissolutior of castes; it can only be the consummation of the process of the abolition of castes. Lohia demands 60 per cent of the leadership post in government, busi ness, armed services, etc, for backward castes and groups. It is, to say the least, totally unreal and utopian to expect that a major and decisive part of government and armed services leadership will be handed over within a class society to elements from the oppressed segments of the society. It may per-
EC(ONOMICAND POLITICAL WEEKLY haps be conceivable in a highly developed country like the United Kingdom, wherein for historical reasons a large stratum of the working class has been won for collaboration with the economically and politically dominant class, so that the manning of formal leadership positions by elements frotn the working class will not jeopardise the statuis qua. But it is idle to expecL such a development in a country like India, pregnant with explosive potentialities because of massive and growing deprivation of the vast majority of the population. Indeed, by raising such a demand, Lohia has revealed the reformist character of his approach. He does not advocate a revolution - peaceful or otherwise - involving the overthrowand destruction of the existing order. He aims at its reform - conceivably major reform- but without endangering its
foundation.
Lohia demands the same proportion of leadership posts in the political parties also for the backward castes and groups. Since he does not qualify or specify the parties, the implication is that all political parties, including the parties of the dominant social forces, are also covered by this demand. One fails to understand what leadership role can the elements from backward castes and groups play in the political parties, i e, political instruments, of the ruling classds/strata. How and why should business which is run for private profit be persuaded and/or cajoled to recruit its leadership according to the Lohia formula? Due to competition among business establishments, the only criterion in their recruitment can and must be efficiency. Finally, can a modern society be run by a leadership, 60 per cent of whose personnel would be chosen because of their backwardness? Or, maybe, what Lohia had in mind was advanced, i e, educated and skilled, elements from backward grouLps.If so, isn't there a real danger of these elements getting alienated from their own social base and absorbed as elements subservient to the vested interests within the existing structture? Moreover, how can it he ensured -that some particular castes, sub-castes or groups will not try to monopolise the benefits of Lohia's formula? Or, alternatively, how to draw up a formula xvhich will do justice to and satisfy all the innumerable sub-castes and groups among the backward segment of the Indian population? Will not such a venture serve only to intensify anad
perpetuate the divisions and dissensions among the backward sections, instead of unifying the masses of the oppressed and exploited population? Lohia suggests that the movement for the abolition of castes may in future opt for an existing political party or form a new one. But nowhere does he elaborate the nature of politics, appropriate for the basic objectives of the movement. Politids implies a comprehensive perspective of social development, not merely the pursuit of a single or partial objective. Moreover, if the last excerpt from Lohia's writing, quoted earlier, is supposed to represent his ideszs about the political frame of the movement visualised by him, then Lohia's politics is hardly distinguishable fromn,say, Indira Gandhi's. For, adult franchise and preferential opportunities have already been there for some time, taxes on uneconomic holdings were abolished by maniy a state government under Congress rule, distribution of land and some increases in wages have also been promised and partially implemented. It will thus be seen that in conceptual terms, Lohia's programme was basically a moderate one, which did not challenge the class rule of a minoritv, monopolising the productive resources of the society. It is a programme for bargaining for improved status within the existing system. Hence apparent differences notwithstanding, Lohia's programme is not a radical alternative to Ambedkar'sand Gandhi's approaches, but merely a development thereof. The basic homogeneity of all these strands is rooted in their non-historical and anti-Marxist approach. Moreover, Anti-Marxismis more explicit in Lohia's case than in the case of the other two. Before we come to anti-Marxism, let us take a particular sample of Lohia's non-historicism. The resolution "Towards destruction of caste", drafted by Lohia begins as follows: The Third National Conference of the Socialist Party views the caste system in India as the largest single cauise of the present material and spiritual degeneration of the country.45 Lohia's talk of degeneration is historically untrue. Compared to any previous period of the Indian history, the present period represents considerable advancement in both material and spiritual terms, all the growth of crisis factors notwithstanding. Indeed, even the present accentuation of the caste tensions represents an advance of selfawareness - a relative growth of the an critical self-co)nsciousness -and
ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY upsurge of mass resistance on the part of the most downtrodden segments of the Indian masses. Instead of degeneration from. any idealised, hypothetical milieu in the past, all social symptoms indicate powerful struggles for regeneration and upliftment, struggles which have been fed in varying measures by many streams, including those repre-sented by Ambedkar, Gandhi and Lohia. In proclaiming the superiority of his own recipe over Marxi:sm,Lohia says: Karl Marx tried to destroy class, withouit being aware of its amazing capacity to change itself into caste, not necessarily the ironbound caste of India but immobile class any
way.46
Annual Number February 1979 to suggest that the so-called 'ironbound' caste dimensions of Indian social situation have not only continued to remain as strong as ever, but even become stronger. The reality, however, is entirely different. The whole course of socio-economic and political developments, particularly since Independence, has considerably weakened the caste element in all its dimensions. While in a vast country that India is, there are naturally wicle differences between one region and another, there is no doubt about the logic of the overall development. The flollowing empirical clata and analytical commenits are intended to give only samle broad indications of these developmnents. An American sociologist writes about thc changes on the caste front in a small town (population 3,886) in the Nellore district in Andhra Pradesh, which he calls by a. pseudonym, Peddur. [l-he] character and organisation of
caste in tedclur is unciergoing many changes toclay. All the people caii remember wthen Madiga and Mala L[larijan] children had to sit separately in school, if they were allowed to attend at all; when high caste chilireni returniisg from school had to leave their clothes at the doors of their homes ancd bathe before entering; when low caste teachers were not allowed to touch high caste childrer and higher caste teachers would never touch lower caste children, even in discipline. Children now sit together in the schools, some low caste teaches.; are even asked to lead certain high caste children to school by the hand and few children of any caste would think of bathing before entering their homes after a clay of study. Sonme years ago, low caste people were seldomn called by their proper names, being summoned by a desultoiy word or a shortened form of their names instead. Today they are often called politely. Whereas they wvere once not permitted to appear well-dressedl or to smoke in the presence of others, thev now can often (o1 so withouit the fear of a rebuke. They can now legallv enter temples, handle the cloth they wish to buy before puirchasing it in certain stores ancd sometimes hand the cloth they w^vant made into garments to tailors without wvetting it first. ... After the first two panchayat elections of the 1950s the Madiga member was not allowed to speak at meetings and was offered neither chair nor mat to sit on. Now he is permitted a chair and is sometimes asked to comment on issues which concern him ancd the people he represents.52
One is not fully clear about the real import of the above statement. If it is meant only to convey the idea that all social distinctions have not been entirely removed in the historically evolved socialist societies, Lohia can hardly claim greater prescience than Marx. For, more than a century ago, in his famous "Critique of the GCtha Programme", Marx not only foretold, but justified this. These "defects", he *said, "are inevitable in the first phase of communist society as it is when it has just emerged after prolonged birth pangs from capitalist society". It is only "In a higher phase of commutnistsociety, after the enslaving subordination of the individual to the (livision of labour, and therewith also the antithesis between mental and physical labour, has vanished; after labour has become not only a means of life buit life's prime want; after the productive forces have also increased with the all-rou-nd development of the individual, and all the springs of co-operative wealth flow more abundantly",47only then, existing social distinctions can fully disappear. Moreover, Lohia is wrong in supposing that any class or caste, including the so-called ironclad caste in India can really be immobile. Humanity is imioving ahead towards the ultimate abolition of class and caste distinction, however devious the road it may have to traverse, in all societies, including, as we shall see below, the Indian. On a number of occasions, Lohia brackets the Indian communist movement with the Congress and Nehru as forces upholding the status quo in the sphere of the caste. But he provides the Imiost irrefutable argument against hs own contention when he says about the pre-split Communist Party: It has indeed achieved remarkable success in acquiring for itself the loyalty of the agricultural labourers,
who are by and large the Harijan castes. This phenomenon of Harijan loyalty to the Communist Party prevails over all of South India.48 Flying in the face of his own finding, Lohia characterised the (pre-split) in Andhra Pradesh as an instruC1PIl ment of the Kamma caste. He said: The Kammas of Andhra "have almost as an entire caste sought to revenge themselves on the lieddys [another dominant caste in Andhra P-radesh] through the instrument of the Communist Party".49 In this, he was only repeating the opinion of the American author Selig Harrison.5"How jaundiced this view is may be seen from the following comments by another American academic: Because many of the Communist
leaders [in Andhra Pradeshj were
Kammas, the party has often been considered a Kammaparty. This analysis must be qualified, however. '1he Communist movement did not represent a continuation of the sentiments which first emerged in the caste hostel movement and continued in the Justice Party and self-respect movements. Its demand tor greater participation of deprived groups were generalised beyond the specific experience of Kammas and non-Brahmins. With this demand it was able to mobilise persons from many castes, including many Brahmins among the founders of the party... . There were also several Reddis, including the brother and the brother-in-law of the
then young Congress leader [present
President of India] N Sanjiva Reddy. To these persons, youth and a desire for reform were more important than caste. The Kamma support given to the Communist Party does not represent a caste-wide solidarity which consciously opted for communism in order to oppose the Brabmin-dominated Congress. It was more an explosion into politics by a group of persons who were doing the same things at the same time, and the first generation of Kammas to be educated joined this trend.51 His passionate commitment to the cause of eradicating caste divisions notwithstanding, his anti-Marxismand anticommunism prevented Lohia from arriving at a correct understanding of the caste problem and the solution thereof.
IV
In discussing the caste situation in India today, it is possible for a superficial viewer to miss the wood for the trees. The barbarous atrocities on the 'Hlarijan'masses in certain pockets of the country and the recent re-emergence of caste alignments as important and sometimes even apparently detei-mining
factor in the institutional politics tend
At the other pole of the society, Not long ago, Brahmins, Razus, and Komtis [all 'twice-born' castes] would take purificatory baths and say mantras before taking a meal. Now many of them would enter a hotel in a 307
ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY ing caste group go beyond its own larger town and eat without hesitavarna and seek support from other tion though they cannot be sure who caste groups. This necessarily widecooks for and serves them.53 ned the scope, of political involvement Among the middle order castes also, and the caste groups which stood on the restrictions on social relations are the periphery of political universe down. breaking At the time were inducted into it.... Twentyfive years ago, only the of their entry into politics, most of Reddis, Kamiimas and Baljas would these caste groups functioned as apeat together. Now the Gollas Gaondpendages of the main contenders in las anydBegamas will also eat and the upper castes; leaders from the drinikwith these castes and all of them upper castes co-opted men from the are beginning to attend the ceremolower castes to leadership positions. nies that occur in the different castes.54 The latter were for a time satisfied It would, however, be entirely wrong with their role as political apprentices of the former but slowly they sucto suppose that caste is disappearing ceeded in building their own autonoat Peddur. The "system of caste", the mous support structure and emerged report underlines, "though it is underas leaders in their own right. Thus going many changes, is still of basic a slow process of induction of the uniderprivilegedcaste groups has been significance in the social organisation of in operation in Bihar. This process Peddur."55 has, however, led to the emergence of Various studies about the role of the underprivileged caste groups as caste in the alignments of forces in crucial forces to be reckoned with in different states reveal that apart from any political calculation.58 the dynamics of socio-economic deveIt is true [he continues], that the underprivileged caste groups have, lopments, the imperatives of political more or less, succeeded in breaking contests in representative institutions through the social barriers and effectbased on universal adult suffrage were ing an entry into the political realrm promoting a devaluation of caste excluthus overcoming many difficulties in siveness. For instance, an observer of their path of social mobility, but this is attributable, by and large, to the the Andhra Pradesh scene comments levelling effect of democratic poliabout the electoral contest in a partitics and the compulsions that such cular constituency in 1962 that "It is a politics creates in its wake. ..59 rivalry which is not based on intrinsic While the political process, analysed or historic sub-caste rivalry, but on above, has led to a weakening of the differing political interests..."56 caste-exclusiveness, it is still subject to Abotut the state level politics in caste determination. As Rajni Kothari Andhra Pradesh, the same author says: rightly points out: Since 1962 both the Congress facThe process of factionalism within tions have been led by Reddis.. the entrenched castes, a similar strucEach man has mobilised factional supturing of the ascendant castes, the port in most of the state's twenty system of co-optations and caste cdistricts, cutting across caste and coalitions - all of these, though they regional lines for political interests. brought about a fragmentation of the Since the 1967 election each group caste system, were in reality very has recruited members from the immuch caste-oriented and sought their portant castes in the state. T1h-e bases in caste identities, in the proministry contains several Reddis, two cess of course, also generating politiKammanas, two members of other minor cised values and impulses for personal landed castes, one member of a 60 Powver. lesser status agricultural caste, two Kothari, however, fails to identify Brabminis,one Muslim, one weaver, correctly the real source of 'politicised and two Scheduled Caste persons. values', which he locates only in The dissident group has almost the impact of education, technology, exactly the same composition, for it changing status symbols, and urbanihas recruited the rival to each of sation. New and more expanded these persons, usually one of the same networks of relationship come into castc groutp. Similarly the two wings being, new criteria of self-fulfilment of the CommutnistPartv have mobiare created, the craving for material lised persons from bo'th dominant l)enefits becomes all-pervasive and castes, both under the leadership of family and migration systems undergo Reddlis. As in the villages, so in the drastic change. With these, the State, political conflict in Andhra structure of particularistic loyalties Pra(lesh takes place within both the gets overlaid by a more sophisticated dominant castes which have assumed system of social and political partistate leadership. And as one goes cipation, with cross-cutting allegihigher, the term 'caste conflict' ances, a greater awareness of indivibegins to lose its usual meaning.57 dual self-interest, and forms of inAlmost the same process has been volvement and alienation that are discerned in Bihar state politics by pre-eminently the products of modern education and the system of modern another social scientist who says: communication.61 The fact that the upper castes conWith all his academic perspicacity, tended among themselves for political power required that each contend- Kothari misses the essential and grow-
Annual Number February 1979 ingly powerful dissolvent of the antiquated social ties - the advancing process of class differentiation - the fact that castes are getting split into opposing classes and that elements from diverse castes are getting unified into confronting classes. The volume, from which the above lines are quoted, itself gives some insight into this process of class differentiation. Relating to the developments within the Nadar commlilunity in Tamil Nadu, it is said: The very success of the Nadar community in its rise socially, economically and politically has eroded the unity ol- the community which had in tact inade the uplift possible... T'he differences within the caste have become increasingly more significant than the differences between the individuals of differenit castes sharing similar social and economic backgrounds. The decline in the barriers of ritual purity have in the cities released the individual for the possibility of new interests and associations. The Nadar mill workers in Madurai are far more likely to vote communist along with the Thevar workers than they are to vote Congress despite the continuing charisma of Kamaraj... The increasing differentiation within the community and a concomitant decline in the elaboration of caste ranking has fundamentally affected the homogeneity of the caste community... they too provide the foundation for the emergence of a political culture characterised by the interests of economic
class.62
To take another isolated and perhaps very much non-representative example today, in the village Thaiyur, 35 miles south of the Madras city, out of the 45 big farmer households, owning 9.75 acres or more each, 26 were 'Harijan' as against 19 non-'Harijan', while among the small farmer and landless labourer households, owning 0.00 to 1.49 acres each, there were 63 non'Harijan' compared with 648 'Harijan'. The joint authors of the study conclude: The mainly Harijan rural proletariat continue to be exploited by the nonHarijan rich farmers, and we can predict that, as a result, the old caste ideology is likely to remain influential. But, in terms of absolute number, the class of big farmers consists of more Harijan households than non-Harijan ones. This implies that members of the same caste meet in relation of exploitation, and since this is at variance with caste ideology, we also expect changes in the ideological universe.63 Along with the economic stratification, social and cultural differentiations also are growing apace within the socalled scheduled caste communities. A study on the social background of the
ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY Lok Sabba members shows that "Tho scheduled caste members with low levels of education were more in the third Lok Sabha and they were equally divided betxveen high and low levels in the fourth Lok Sabba. In the fifth Lok Sabha, the highly educated schedule(d. caste members formed a clear majority [among the scheduled caste members as a whole]".64 Since the educational level of the scheduled caste masses is significantly lower than the general educational level of the country, "The elite-mass gap in terms of levels of education was more among the scheduled castes than among general members". Between the third and the fifth Lok Sabbas, the representatives from business, industry and intellectual professions among the scheduled caste contingent registered a marked increase. The study also showed that the continuity in the membership of the Lok Sabha was higher among the scheduled caste MPs than among the other sections in the House. The preferential opportunities offered to the scheduled castes since independence, however niggardly in terms of requirements for raising the vast masses of the historically deprived population, have nevertheless helped the emergence of a significant stratum of the scheduled caste elite. As a Bihar study shows, the differences between the privileged tol) of the scheduled castes and the basic masses thereof have become wide enough. It says: By and large, however, large numbers of the elite in both towns- and villages have taken little interest in
one reinforcing the other, econoiniic and social differentiations within these castes are progressively eroding the capacity of caste bonds to unify them into a militant force for resistance an(l social transformation. Besides, as denomistated earlier, the common nation of the 'scheduled castes' conceals enof sub-divisions the multiplicity compassed within it, generally ranged against one another and often indulging in the same obnoxious practice of untouchability and discrimination among themselves as are practised against them collectively by the so-called high castes. All this renders the choice of caste struggle, that is, choosing the concept of caste as the key instrument of revolutionary mobilisation totally unsuitable for bringing about such changes in the structure and superstructure of the Indian society as woould lead to the emancipation of the most downtrodden and forcibly degraded masses of the so-called untouchables.
tions,6
Annual Number February 1979

appearance of caste struggle. But re-
While the historically inherited prejudices still persist in shaping the psychology and conduct of the upper castes' relation with the 'untouchables', what has aggravated their aggressiveness in the recent years is the sharpening of the class contradictions in the The demand of the 'Haricountryside. of the jans' for the implementation declared policy of giving preference to them in the distribution of land at the disposal of the states, their refusal to render begar (unpaid labour), and bettering the lot of their less fortuattempts to end the discriminatory nate brethren. They feel alienated lover wages, usually offered to 'Harijan' from their own base and have betraylabourers, along with their growing ed an incapacity to apply themselves to the task of reshaping the larger assertion of human dignity and equality, have provoked the landowning classes, society into egalitarian structures. a great mnajority of whom belong to Their is major preoccuipation to satisfy the needs of their immediate the, higher castes, to launch on aggresfavmilv and kin. sive actions against the 'Harijans' on a Some of the elite who have risen mass scale. high in the social hierarchy have The relatively recent growth of tho snapped their ties with their bleak Past. They are largelv ouit of tune kulak stratum and its emergence as a with the mass of the community and major political factor in certain parts seek a realignment with status and of the country particularly following power grouips in the wider society. This is more common with the puiblic tne Lok Sabha elections in March 1977 have contributed to an intensification servants as social workers and legislators have to maintain a double face, of the kulak counter-offensive against one for the wvider communitv with the landless agricultural laboureis and whom thev interact in closest possible small peasants in the northern states. terms for furthering their own inteThe fact that a majority of kulaks have rest and the other for their own commurnitv whose support they have to sprung up from the intermediate landseek at the time of the election.65 owning castes and the 'Harijan' small While the vast masses of the 'low peasants and landless labourers have caste' and 'outcaste' population conti- been chosen by them as the immediate nte to suffer in 'a twilight world of pre- target of attack because of the latter's judice and persecution' uinderthe double vulnerability has lent this sharpening burden o? economic and social depriva- class struggle in the countryside an
volutiL)narypractice has to take cognisance of the essence of the phenomenon, instead of being guided by the appearance. The above should not be construed to mean that class struggle alone can lead to the eradication of caste oppression. Caste discriminations have to be directly fought on their own grounds, but subordinated to the overall confrontation on the class lines. The point at issue is not the caste dimension of social struggles but its exact place and role in the overall revolutionary strategy. Indeed it should be the bounded duty and constant responsibility of the advanced elements among the toiling people in fields and factories, who belong to the so-called higher castes, to spearhead the attacks against caste prejudices and persecutions in social spheres; the advanced elements amang the 'untouchables', while fighting against caste oppression and discrimination should generally emphasis among their community the class solidarity irrespective of castes. Ouit of this differentiated buit co-ordinated attack only can emerge a real fighting front of struggle for human emancipation from both class and caste dimensions of oppression and exploitation. A basic precondition of the emergence of this front is that advanced social thinkers and activists should learn to take a comprehensive and interlinked view of caste and class - a view that does not neglect the caste dimension of the class, or the class dimension of the caste. A lot of imprecise, unscientific and even confused thinking has emerged in this vital sector of contemporary politics which can seriotusly lisorient the revolutionary practice, notwithstanding the honest and wellmeaning intentions of the proponents of these views. It is therefore necessary that a wide discussion takes place among the exponents of the contending viewpoints as that a unity of will and action is forged for the resolution of the longstanding controversy within the Left in India.
Notes
1 G S Ghurye, "Caste and Classes in India", Popular Book Depot, Bombay, 1957, p 46,, Many scholars cite this division between
the Arya varna and Dasa varna as
evidence of differentiation within the early Rigvedic, Aryan society. The above conclusion is unjustifiable. During the period under reference, according to many hymns of the Rigveda, the Dasa or Dasyu varna was regarded by the Aryans 311
Annual Number February 1979 as elements outside the pale of humanity, not to mention the Aryan social order. There are numerous invocations to Indra to kill and destroy the alien, despicable Dasas. Hence, these varna specifications refer to the division between the mutually exclusive and hostile Aryan and pre-Aryan populations, and not to any differentiation within the Aryan social order. Ibid, p 44. Bipan Chandra, "Karl Marx-His Theories of Societies and Colonial Rule", Centre for Historical Studies, JNU, (mimeographedcopy), p 71. Ghurye, op cit, p 50. Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, "The German Ideology", Moscow, 1964, pp 43-4; emphasis in the original. Ibid, p 611. Chandra Chakravarty, "The Racial of Ilistory Tndia", Calcutta, pp 200-01. Antonio Gramsci, "Selections from Prison Notebook", Intemational Publishers, New York, 1973, p 19. Max Muller, "Heritage of India", Shushil Gupta (India) Ltd, Calcutta, 1951, pp 21-2, emphasis in the original. Ibid, p 135, emphasis in the original. Chandra Chakravarty,op cit, p 202. Ananda K Coomaraswamy and I B Horner, "The Living Thoughts of Gotama the Buddha", Cassell and Co, London, 1948, p 125, Kosambi gives a somewhat different version of the above dialogue and comments on the basis of internal evidence in his citation that "this passage could not have been written before Alexander's conquest of the Persian empire. The Buddha does not refer to the Rigvedic twovarna system, for the Arya could not become a Dasa...."; but he also agrees that "it sufficed to refute the theory that the four castes were in some way a law of nature". (D D Kosambi. "Introduction to the Studv of Indian History", Popiilar Prakashan, Bombay, 1975, p 169.) Max Muller, op cit, p 17. Ibid, p 21, emphasis added. Ibid, p 26. Ghurye, op cit, p 182. Ibid, p 148. Kosambi, however, rejects the view that the Iranians also had a rudimentary caste system. The division, he says, into "four classes: the priest, the charioteer, the tiller and the artisan ... has nothing to do with caste, for endogamy is nowhere mentioned ... all four classes seem equally honoured..." (op cit, rnp 100-01). It is difficult to accent Kosambi's view that even after the division of mental and manual labour, all classes were in reality equally honoured. If not, then, whatever the formal dispensation, the union between prieQst and tiller
ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY families would be quite unusual. 19 Chandra Chakra'varty, op cit, p 201. 20 For instance, V T RajshekarShetty, "How Marx Failed in Hindu India", Karnataka Rationalist Association, Bangalore, 1978. 21 Karl Marx, "Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Law", in K Marx and F Engels, "Collected Works", vol 3, Moscow, 1975, p 175, emphasis in the original. 22 KuirtB Mayer and Walter Bucklay, "Class and Societv", Random House, New York, 1969, n 14. 23 ibid, pp 34-5. 2.4 Ibid, p 35. 25 Ibid, p 37. 26 R H Tawney. "Relicion and the Rise of Canitalism", Pelican Books. 1948, pp 37-8. 27 Kosambi, op cit, p 391. 28 Karl Marx. "On the Tewish Question": "The state abolishes, in its own wav, distinctions of birth, social rank, education, ocupation. when it declares that birth, social rank, education, occupation, are non-political distinctions, when it proclaims, without regard to these dlistinctions, that everv member of the nation is an equal participant in national sovereigntv, when it troats all elements of the real life of the na io.n from the standpoint of the st;te. Nevertheless, the state propertv, education, allows nr)rivate occupation, to act in their way, i e, as private property, as education, as occtupation, and to exert the influence of their special nature. Far from abolishing theqe real distinctions, the state onlv exists on the presiipno-rition of their existence .. " ("Collected Works", on rit. p 153, emphasis in the original.) 29 Rammonobar Lohia. "The Caste Svstem", Navahind, Hyderabad. 1964 p 31. 30 Ibid, p .33. 31 Young nrlida, TanuarV 22, 1925, -None reprinted in "None TTich T.ow", Pocket Gandhi Series, Vidya Bhavan, Bombav BPblaratiya 1965. p 37. 32 M K Gandhi. "Collected Works", Government of India, Publication Division, vol 50, np 226-27. .33 Ibid, p 223. 34 Ibid, vol 58, p 47. 35 Harijan, December 8, 1933, reprinted in "None High - None Low" op cit, p 21. 36 "Collected Works". vol 65, p .365. .37 Ibid. vol 58, p 80. 38 S Radhakrishnan (ed), "Mahatma Gandhi", Jaico, 1977. 39 Lohia, op cit, p 146. 40 Ibid, p 80. 41 Ibid, p 89-90. 42 See, for instance, ibid, p 98. 43 Ibid, p 114. 44 IbLid,p 145. 45 Ibid, p 134, emphasis added. 46 Ibid, p 104.
47 Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, "Selected Works" (two volume ed), vol II, Moscow, 1951, p 23. Lohia, op cit, p 94. Selig Harrison, "India: The Most Princeton Decade", Dangerouis University Press, 1960, p 209. Carolyn M Elliot, "Caste and Faction among the Dominant Caste: Kammas of and Reddis The Kothari. (ed) Andhra", in Raini "Caste in Indian Politics", Orient Longman, 1970, n 158, emphasis added. Pauil C Wiebe, "Religious Change in Souith India: Persuective from a Small Town", in "Religion and December Bangalore, Society", 1975. Ibid. Ibid. Carolyn M Elliot, op cit, n 143. Ibid, p 162. Ramashray Roy, "Caste and Political Recruitment in Bihar", Raini Kothari (ed) op cit, p 245. II#d, p 18. Ibid, pp 18-9. "Political L Hardgrave, Robert Participation and Primordial Solidarity", ibrd pp 125-26, emphasis in the original. Coran Dijurfeldt and Staffan Lind"Behind Poverty", Scandiberg, navian Institute of Asian Studies Press, p 216. -Cruzon "Social Backgrouind G Naravana. Sabha of Scheduled Caste Lok Members", EPW, September 16, 1978. "Emergent ScheSaehchidananda. dltiled Caste Elite in Bihar" ini "Religion an(d Societv", Bangalore, to According 1974, September official information in 1975 there were 1197 Class I officers and 2689 Class II officers uinder the Union to the belonging Government. Of them. the Scheduilecl Castcs. [AS and IPiS officers numbered 252 and 130 respectively (in 1974). Besides, there were 881 and 164? officers belonging to the Scheduiled Castes among the Class I and Class TI cadres respectively in the Putblic the under undertakings Sector The Class III Union Government. officers in the Union Government and( the Central PLublic Sector IUndertakings in 1975 numbered 174, 02,5 and 104, 119 respectivelv. (See Gnvernment of India, DAVP.
48 50
49 Ibid, p 93.
2 3
51
4 5
52
6 7 8 9
53 Ibid.
54. 55 56 57 58
10 11 12
59 Ibid.
60 61 62
63
64
65
13 14 15 16 17 18
Rightfil Place for Harijans, 1976
66
rm 22-3.) For short discuissions on the basic social frame in India today, see Ajit Roy, "Economic and Politics of Garibi Hatao" (1973) and "Political Power in India: Nature and Naya Prakash, (1975), Trends" Calcutta.
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Caste and Class: An Interlinked View Author(s): Ajit Roy Reviewed work(s): Source: Economic and Political Weekly,

Annual Number February 1979

Rightfil Place for Harijans, 1976

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