Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c47.s1.13
Indische Paläographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c47.s1.13
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c47.s1.13.1
§ 20. Thus, in the south-Dravidian part of the peninsula, the caste system flourishes in full vigour; but it has simply been engrafted upon Tamil institutions, and, as far as the masses of the people are concerned, little change has been effected by it in their food or their special regulations regarding marriage; still less in their worship, in which the Brāhman takes no part except where one of the more powerful of the local maleficent goddesses has been adopted as a manifestation of some Purānic divinity. The lower orders there occupy a position of degradation differing from that of the corresponding castes further north in that a good many of them do not accept it; and having a working tradition of former power, if not supremacy, they are continually making efforts to get their claim to a higher rank recognised by their actual superiors. The subdivisions among them increase accordingly. On the other hand, the artisan castes are here found united to an extent unknown in the present day elsewhere. This combination is of long standing, and is probably the origin of the Right and Left-handed distribution of castes which is only found amongst the Tamil people. The South, again, having always been fertile in sectarian disputes, doctrinal schism amongst the local Brāhmans has resulted in some instances in separation in social intercourse, another development not found elsewhere.
c47.s1.13.2
The Brāhmanism of Telingāna has considerably less of the pre-Āryan element, left in it, probably because there was partial colonisation of the Andhra region through Orissa or otherwise, by immigrants from the Ganges valley, before the Draviḍa region was reached. The inhabitants, accordingly, though lax in their observances compared to the Brāhmanists of the North, consider themselves higher in position than the Tamil castes, and when settled amongst the latter, avoid intermixture as far as possible. The greater prosperity of the South, however, has given to its caste system a strength and complexity not found in the present day in the less favourable conditions of the upland tracts. Along the East coast the Tamil features prevail almost till they join the Orissa system, which, probably from the isolation and the timid character of the population, has the reputation of being the most bigotted and priest-ridden of its kind. In Lower Bengal, the system is an exotic, as in Madras, and was introduced long after it had reached maturity in upper India. It took root however, under different auspices.
c47.s1.13.3
The country was occupied by the Āryas or their hybrid descendants in the course of their general expansion down the valley, and the population encountered consisted of the wild tribes of the forest or amphibious dwellers in the Delta, Kōl or Mongoloid, easily subjected, like the Dasyu of the north, and not, like the Tamil communities, long settled on an agricultural basis, to be approached by missionary enterprise only, not by armed force. The subject classes seem to have been left to assimilate their organisation to that of their superiors without tradition or authority to guide them. When, at length, the official graduation of society was taken in hand by one of the more powerful local rulers, the flood of Islām overran the country before the new regulations had time to gain foothold amongst the people. It appears, therefore, from physical features and the titles of caste subdivisions that bodies were formed either by race, afterwards split up by function, or by community of function overriding race differences and often determined by locality. The relations between these bodies, therefore, are more than usually indefinite, and owing to the absence of a landholding aristocracy of the military order and the comparative weakness of the Brāhman immigrants, changes or claims to change of rank are more frequent here than in any other part of India.
c47.s1.13.4
Amongst the lower classes these pretensions are usually based, as in the Tamil country, upon tradition, often not without foundation, of a former position far above that now assigned to them. For generations they have been deposed, but the prosperity they enjoy in modern times induces them to revive their dormant claim. Still more immature in its development is the caste system, if so it may be called, which prevails in the Assam valley. Setting on one side modern immigrants from Bengal and the Brāhman, there is but one community of even nominal Āryan origin. It is now held to represent the early Āryan immigrants, who reached the seclusion of the Brahmaputra valley before the caste system had been developed in Bengal or wherever these colonists originated. In their case the development was apparently retarded, first, by pressure of Mongoloid tribes around them, conducing to a united front; and, later, to the hold which Buddhism obtained for some time over this tract. The above caste, or racial community, included all the ordinary professions but they were not formed into castes, and even now that process is by no means complete. Even the higher classes are lax, too, as to intermarriage, and visit the mésalliance of a girl upon her individually, not upon her relations, as would be done in other parts of India. The Brāhman, too, falls into line with the rest, and disregards the stricter rules of his order as to marriage.
c47.s1.13.5
Special arrangements exist for the incorporation into castes of the indigenous population; and the facilities they afford for a subsequent rise in rank on increased observance of conventional purity are unwontedly liberal. The same spirit is manifested in the relations between orthodox Brāhmanism and the Kōl and Dravidian tribes of the Central Belt. The tribes of Chutiā Nāgpur tend to get merged into the Bengal system, and those of the Sātpura and Vindhya, where conversion seems to lead to more complete breach with the older régime, gradually mix with the lower castes of cultivators in the plains. Between the Jamnā and the Ghogrā or even the Kōsī, the caste system seems to have developed upon what may be termed more normal lines than in any other part of India, as is, perhaps to be expected from the proximity to its birth-place. The process of evolution was seriously interrupted, however, by the Muslim occupation, which scattered the leaders of society and swept away many old landmarks. In course of time, the old order was reestablished in full force, though the traces of the cataclysm have never been quite effaced, especially amongst the functional castes. It is worth noting that in the upper Jamnā tract and well into the eastern Panjāb caste remains entirely unaffected by conversion to Islām. It is held by some, indeed, that by the elimination of the Rājput, or fighting man, the Muslim left the way more open to the Brāhman, whom they disdainfully ignored.
c47.s1.13.6
At all events, the present social conditions of the region longest and most absolutely held by the Moghal régime appear to confirm conclusively the evidence afforded by the relations between Brāhmanism and the pre-Āryan worship of the south and centre, to the effect that the hold of caste upon the popular mind is altogether detachable from religious doctrine, and rests, as indicated above, upon its social restrictions. In the western Panjāb caste is weaker than in any other tract, and this seems to be attributable to the combination of two influences. First, there is the tribal sentiment, derived from the vicinity of the Paṭhān and Balūch, referred to earlier in this work. It found a ready acceptance amongst the Rājput and Jāṭ races of the plains, who were themselves organised upon a tribal basis, with a lightly worn veil of caste thrown over the arrangement. Then, again, the struggle for life in a comparatively infertile country conduced to the mobility of occupation to an extent seldom necessary in the richer tracts to the eastwards. The adoption of a lower class of calling under pressure of need leads, of course, to the loss of social position, but not, as it would on the Jamnā, to excommunication. Caste is also weak in the lower Himālaya, but for a totally different reason. These valleys are the only tracts to which the Muslim never penetrated, and, under the auspices of refugee Rājputs, society is there constituted upon a system untouched by foreign influence.
c47.s1.13.7
The Chief is emphatically the fountain of honour, and can uplift or degrade a caste or even a family as he pleases. In the Panjāb Hills, therefore, caste is remarkably fluid. Every community above the menial aspires to rise by some means or other to the rank of that above it, whilst it takes wives from and eats with, that immediately below it.