Caste in India (sanskratization)

7/25/2019 Caste in India (sanskratization)

1/13

Caste in India

Theories

Sanskritization

Dominant Caste


2/13

Is Caste constitute the primaryreality of Indian society

Yes and No

Two contending paradigms:

Culturological and !ar"ist


3/13

Culturological #osition of Dumont

$ouis Dumont relies primarily on ate"tual or %rahmanical tradition toe"plain the caste system&

'e argues that the caste systemconditions material reality in its ownimage and is( therefore an irreduci)le

and immuta)le gi*en&


4/13

The suggestion therefore is that thecaste system is independent ofmaterial conditions and politicalpower&


5/13

!ar"ist #osition

+n the contrary it seeks to unearththe material and historical roots ofthe caste system&

The early !ar"ists in India had placed,uite unam)iguously caste at thele*el of the superstructure and had

not considered it to )e a primordialreality of the Indian society&


6/13

-s an element of superstructure( thecaste system is said to conceal thecontradictions )etween classes insociety and pro*ide a rationale fore"ploitation&

%ut this perspecti*e has of late )een

,uestioned from within the !ar"istsschool&


7/13

!aurice .odelier

'e )elie*es that the caste systeme"ists at the le*el of the )asestructure and not of thesuperstructure&


8/13

Dumonts Theory of Caste

The two central theses of Dumont:

/& Caste system is )ased on the

opposition of the #ure and Impure&The caste hierarchy is defined as thesuperiority of the pure o*er theimpure&


9/13

0& The fundamental characteristic of thecaste system is that the oppositionalprinciple of pure and impure is itselfdepends on the dis1unction )etweenstatus and power&


10/13

Dis1unction )etween Status and#ower

-ccording to Dumont( the opposition)etween pure and impure is sustained )ythe dis1unction )etween ritual status and

the secular power& 2ithin the 'indu society there are two

competing sources of authority3 thereligious authority of %rahmans and thetemporal or political authority of the kings&In the ideology of caste( temporal authorityis su)ordinated or encompassed )yreligious authority&


11/13

!aurice .odelier s Interpretationof Caste system

4or him( the caste is part of )asestructure&

4rom his study of kinship in primiti*esocieties he came to the conclusionthat the kinship relations could ser*eas relations of production& In a similarway( he argued that caste relationscould constitute the productionrelations in India&


12/13

Caste refers to the crucial materialsaspect in defining the processes ofe"ploitation and appropriation ofsurplus la)our&

#roduction relations in India arealways mediated )y the idea of duty3

)ound caste morality


13/13

Sanskritization and Social !o)ilitywithin Caste system

Caste in India (sanskratization)

Documents

Transcript of Caste in India (sanskratization)