Caste in India

Theories
Sanskritization
Dominant Caste

Is Caste constitute the primary

reality of Indian society

Yes and No
Two contending paradigms:
Culturological and Marxist

Culturological Position of Dumont

Louis Dumont relies primarily on a

textual or Brahmanical tradition to
explain the caste system.
He argues that the caste system
conditions material reality in its own
image and is, therefore an irreducible
and immutable given.

The suggestion therefore is that the

caste system is independent of
material conditions and political
power.

Marxist Position

On the contrary it seeks to unearth

the material and historical roots of
the caste system.
The early Marxists in India had placed
quite unambiguously caste at the
level of the superstructure and had
not considered it to be a primordial
reality of the Indian society.

As an element of superstructure, the

caste system is said to conceal the
contradictions between classes in
society and provide a rationale for
exploitation.
But this perspective has of late been
questioned from within the Marxists
school.

Maurice Godelier

He believes that the caste system

exists at the level of the base
structure and not of the
superstructure.

Dumonts Theory of Caste

The two central theses of Dumont:
1. Caste system is based on the
opposition of the Pure and Impure.
The caste hierarchy is defined as the
superiority of the pure over the
impure.

2. The fundamental characteristic of the

caste system is that the oppositional
principle of pure and impure is itself
depends on the disjunction between
status and power.

Disjunction between Status and

Power

According to Dumont, the opposition

between pure and impure is sustained by
the disjunction between ritual status and
the secular power.
Within the Hindu society there are two
competing sources of authority- the
religious authority of Brahmans and the
temporal or political authority of the kings.
In the ideology of caste, temporal authority
is subordinated or encompassed by
religious authority.

Maurice Godelier s Interpretation

of Caste system

For him, the caste is part of base

structure.
From his study of kinship in primitive
societies he came to the conclusion
that the kinship relations could serve
as relations of production. In a similar
way, he argued that caste relations
could constitute the production
relations in India.

Caste refers to the crucial materials

aspect in defining the processes of
exploitation and appropriation of
surplus labour.
Production relations in India are
always mediated by the idea of dutybound caste morality

Sanskritization and Social Mobility

within Caste system