Caste In 19th Century India Essay

‘Matters of caste customs, norms related to marriage and purity of caste came to be regarded as matters of religion and were to be executed through the caste councils. Women were dispensable to the agenda of the British in the early rule in western India though the attitude to gender was clearly influenced by caste and class considerations. In several cases of contestations of caste status, the purity of women was often more important than the right to Vedic rites and rituals.' (Rege 20)

According to Dumont purity is a key of the caste system. Every caste is separate from each other with repulsion. The caste groups follow endogamy, restriction, contact and division of labour with a system of relations from highest to lowest. The lower castes always obeyed the ritual dominance of Brahmins and upper castes without demur. But the Dalit autobiographies discredit Dumont's assumption. They discard ritual dominance of caste relations or strive for ‘post-Dumonian approaches'.

Construction of Religion and understanding Caste:

They had invented ‘Nationalism’ for that sake. They searched for the native power in history to defend foreign rulers. They found common cause in Non-Muslim identities to fight against the foreign power once again. In the ‘war of position’ against the British, the native intellectuals engulfed the non-Muslim identities as Hindus. Now, the ‘Nationalism’ was a war between Hindu, the native Indians and British, the foreign power. The ‘Nationalism’ at the political forefront, remained Hinduism in Indian society. Simultaneously, ‘Nationalism' strengthened the network of caste system at the social level. It demanded social contribution from the castes in accordance with their attachment to the varnas. Varnashramdharma and caste occupation were made more rigid in the freedom struggle of