Caste and Race in India c5.109

Language: English

c5.109.1

Of the features of a caste society dealt with so far three pertain to the caste as a whole; for the status in the hierarchy of any sub-caste depends upon the status of the caste, from which follow the various civil and religious rights and disabilities, and the traditional occupation is determined by the nature of the caste. The other three features, which are very material in the consideration of a group from the point of view of an effective social life, viz. those that regulate communal life and prescribe rules as regards feeding, social intercourse and endogamy, belong to the sub-caste. In the matter of the Panchayat or the caste-council, which is the tribunal for enforcing the moral and economic rules of the group, the sub-caste generally possesses its own council. In the Punjab this is the case in all castes, except the artisans and menials. "Where the sub-divisions are not very clearly defined, or where the numerical strength of the whole caste is small, there is one governing body for the whole caste."¹ The following description of the sub-caste in Bengal clearly brings out the function we have mentioned as peculiar to it. "Almost every caste is divided into a number of smaller groups which will only marry amongst themselves. Usually these groups will not eat together and often they will not even take water from each other or smoke from the same 'hukka' . . . These endogamous groups are generally known as sub-castes.

c5.109.2

Each sub-caste manages its own affairs quite independently of the others, and in the case of the lower castes each has its own separate Panchayat or standing committee, by which all social questions are decided."² In the United Provinces it is the sub-caste that forms the unit of social organization, and as such has its own council to look after its affairs quite independently of the similar councils of the other sub-castes.³ Further, inter-dining and inter-drinking are restricted to the group which is endogamous.¹ About the Central Provinces Russell observes ²: "The real unit of the system and the basis of the fabric of Indian society is this endogamous group or sub-caste." Though this group is usually little known outside the man's own caste, yet it is the members of the sub-caste that attend "the communal feasts held on the occasions of marriages, funerals and meetings of the caste [sub-caste] Panchayat". The remark of the Census Operator for Madras that it is the small endogamous sub-divisions "which are for all social purposes the real castes" ³ is corroborated by F. J. Richards in the case of Salem District when he observes: "The Unit of Hindu society is the endogamous group or sub-caste." ⁴ The description of the sub-caste of a Hindustani caste given by Sherring will illustrate this.

c5.109.3

He observes about the Barhai or carpenter caste of Hindustan that its seven sub-castes "are so distinct from one another that they hold no direct social intercourse with each other, either by marriages, or by eating or smoking together". ⁵ Further, some of the sub-castes have such a distinctness about their cultural items, as for example among the Vellalas, that it is not possible to give a general account of the marriage and other customs applicable to all the sub-divisions. While some of them recognize freedom of divorce and re-marriage and even polyandry, others follow strictly the Brahmanic rules.⁶ The remark of Gait that "as a rule the prohibition of intermarriage between members of the different sub-castes is far less rigid than it is between members of different castes, and when the rule is broken, the penalty is usually not expulsion, but merely some form of atonement, after which the member of the higher of the two sub-castes concerned, and possibly his or her parents, take rank in the lower " ⁷ may be urged as a potent reason why sub-castes should be treated as strictly subordinate to a caste.

c5.109.4

Here it must be pointed out that in the United Provinces at least "the penalty for breaches of sub-caste endogamy appears to be as severe as the penalty for similar breaches of caste-endogamy", and that, though the penalty for the transgression of rules about sub-caste commensality varies in different castes, it seems that generally caste and sub-caste commensality are much on a par in this respect.¹ Hence it is but proper to treat endogamy within each of the groups constituting caste-society as one of its principal features.