There was a recent press item that in a Tamil Nadu village Dalit Christians were forbidden entry into an upper caste church and that Dalit Christians have to use a separate burial ground. From Abbe Dubois to M.N. Srinivas, we have had many analysts and scholars studying caste. Its persistence in our so-called modernising society remains a puzzle to many. Clearly, caste goes much beyond the Hindoo religious fold. My friend Richard Pon Arul considers his Nadar identity more important than his Roman Catholic one; the same goes with Steven Pinto who refers all the time to his being a Saraswat; and Mathew Jose, the upper crust Syrian Christian that he is, has maintained that he comes from one of six Namboodri families that befriended the apostle St Thomas. Even egalitarian Moslems are not exempt. The Ashrafs, who claim descent from Middle Eastern immigrants, contend that they are superior to indigenous converts and frown on inter-marriage. Some 40 years ago in Chennai, my friend Shahul Hamid explained to me that Labbai Moslems will not inter-marry with those of Deccani descent. The noted historian, Fr. John Afonse-Correia, once said to me, “In India we drink in our caste with our mother’s milk”.A considerable body of research has emerged that shows that the British attempts at census classifications and ethnological categorisations strengthened and concretised a rather fluid, hazy and amorphous social system that prevailed in India prior to their arrival. But the British did not invent our obsession with the genetic principle, with hierarchical descriptors and hereditary occupations. As efficient, if slightly obtuse, administrators they merely stated with clarity what we as a people believed and practiced in a confused way. Since it is politically fashionable to blame the British for all our woes, one can as an aside note that the insistence on persons having “surnames” may have unintentionally helped strengthen caste. Having had no tradition of surnames, many fell into the trap of calling themselves Narayana Nair, Narayana Mudaliar, Narayana Gowda, Narayana Reddy, Narayan Bhosale, Narayan Varma, Narayan Chatterjee, Narayan Gupta, Narayan Sharma and so on, all of which invariably revealed the caste origins of the individuals. The film industry realised that if they had to appeal to broader audiences, a “decastification” process was a good idea. Plain Ashok Kumar was preferred to Ashok Kumar Ganguly. When Yusuf Khan adopted a Hindoo name, clearly he did not want to align himself with just one caste. So Dilip Kumar it was. As for women actors (who according to the misogynist Manu were of no consequential caste anyway), many were quite comfortable living with a single given name like Nutan, Padmini and so on. It is to Srinivas’s credit that he came up with the important insight that census enumerations and electoral politics have actually given fresh life and impetus to our age-old caste system. Those who ignore caste ignore what is an overwhelming social reality in India. The late Kanshi Ram was acutely aware that the communist parties who talk about “classless” societies seem to be almost invariably led by an upper caste politburo. Many British administrators argued that with their departure, free India would deteriorate into rule by an upper caste Hindoo oligarchy. To an extent, the early years of Independence in fact bore this out. But the strange genius of India has ensured that gradually but inexorably this has changed.It started, as such things must, with the political leadership. Virtually all the regional political parties are now led by members of castes which a century ago were excluded from power. Soon it will be the turn of Central government leadership on a sustained and not just an episodic basis. Over time, this pattern has moved from the world of politics into the more rarefied realms of the bureaucracy and the judiciary. The demographics were always in favour of the lower castes who constituted the majority of the country. In the last century, these demographics have moved even more emphatically and decisively to strengthen the position of the lower castes. And given the context of universal adult franchise this is by no means a trivial matter. Today we have accepted the reality of the assertion of caste identity. We have even accepted that this identity can be gainfully leveraged by individuals. We are sensitive to the fact that the Scheduled Castes (a brilliant bureaucratic use of the much-maligned English language; they are “scheduled” because their list appears in a “schedule” of the Constitution) prefer to be called “Dalits” rather then the patronising “Harijans”. We have widely expanded quotas and reservations to cover OBCs. (Another brilliant bureaucratic term. “Other” than whom? “Backward” as compared to whom?) And our judiciary has created a new sub-caste known as the “creamy layer”. In future, it is entirely possible that on government forms that we hapless Indian citizens tend to fill out in quadruplicate some of us may have to describe ourselves as “CL” or “NCL”. What of the future? What Toynbee said of race applies to caste too. Clearly inter-marriage is the long-term nemesis of caste. And marriages across the caste divide happen increasingly and easily among the rich, the middle class and the poor in urban settings. Those who would like to see a quick demise of the caste system should agitate not for rural welfare funding, but for urban development.Having said that, as a betting person one could argue that the genius of Indian civilisation will certainly attempt to resurrect caste in different ways. For instance, English-speaking Indians could very well be considered a caste where the precise sub-caste one is assigned to may depend on one’s accent rather than on one’s birth. Another fascinating caste is that of NRIs; and of course one can find dozens of sub-castes among NRIs. A hereditary choice of occupations has been one of the features of the caste system. One finds this feature quite prevalent among politicians and film stars. We might see it getting extended to other professions. The more things change. The writer divides his time between Mumbai and Bangalore jerry.rao@expressindia.com
