Caste and Race in India c5.12

Language: English

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(j) breaches of the customs of the trade peculiar to the caste; (k) encroaching on another's clientèle, and raising or lowering prices; (l) killing a cow or any other forbidden animal; (m) insulting a Brahmin; (n) defying the customs of the caste regarding feasts, etc., during marriage and other ceremonies.¹ It will be seen from this list that some of the offences tried by the governing bodies of castes were such as are usually dealt with by the State in its judicial capacity. Thus, a caste was a group with a separate arrangement for meting out justice to its members apart from that of the community as a whole, within which the caste was included as only one of the groups. Hence the members of a caste ceased to be members of the community as a whole, as far as that part of their morals which is regulated by law was concerned.² This quasi-sovereignty of the caste is particularly brought to notice by the fact that the caste council was prepared to re-try criminal offences decided by the courts of law.³ This means that in this caste-bound society the amount of community-feeling must have been restricted, and that the citizens owed moral allegiance to their castes first, rather than to the community as a whole. By segmental division we wish to connote this aspect of the system. The punishments that these councils awarded were: (1) Out-casting, either temporary or permanent; (2) fines; (3) feasts to be given to the castemen;

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(4) corporal punishment, and (5) sometimes religious expiation. The proceeds of the fines were generally spent on a common feast. Sometimes the perquisites of the Panchayat were bought out of them and sometimes again they were devoted to charitable purposes.⁴ This description of the activities of a caste-council will enable us to appreciate the remark, "The caste is its own ruler."⁵ The diversity in the administration of law necessarily led to differences in moral standards of the various castes. There was thus created a cultural gulf between the castes. We may note some of the items of cultural differences among the castes to bring out clearly the implications of this segmentation. Many of the castes have their special deities. Among such castes from Southern India* the following may be noted: Komati, Kamsala, Gamalla, Idiga, Mala, and Madiga¹; from the Central Provinces, Ahir²; and from the United Provinces, Aheriya, Bahaliya, Kharwar, Korwa, Chero, Bhuiyar, Dom, Musahar, and Nai.³ About the differences in religious outlook of the Madras castes it has been said: "Amongst the Brahmin community this one fact stands off clear and distinct, that they do not indulge in the worship of Grāma Devatā, the village gods, to which the aboriginal population almost exclusively bows down."⁴ The customs about marriage and death vary widely among the different castes. Brahmins did not permit widow-marriage nor tolerate concubinage as a caste-practice.

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This could not be said of many lower castes. Not only were there such differences in cultural matters among the different castes, but in theory also different standards of conduct were upheld. Thus the Brahmin Government of Poona, while passing some legislation prohibiting the manufacture and sale of liquors, excluded the Bhandaris, Kolis and similar other castes from the operation thereof, but strictly forbade the use of drink to Brahmins, Shenvis, Prabhus and Government officers.⁵ This variety of morals and customs was so manifest that the early British Courts in India not merely asked the opinion of their pundits, but took the evidence of the heads of the castes concerned as to their actual usages. The collection of laws and customs of Hindu castes, made by Steele under the orders of Government, was intended to help the courts to ascertain the diverse customs.⁶ The Hindus have no standing arrangements for the disposal of their dead. When any person dies it is the caste-fellows who are to be invited to carry the corpse to the cremation-ground and to dispose of it. At the time of marriage a feast has, by common consent, to be given to all the members of one's own caste resident in the village or the town. At the preparation of these feasts as well as in connection with other items of the marriage ceremony it is again the caste-people who run to one's help. These and similar affairs of everyday life require the co-operation of one's caste-people.

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Hence castes are small and complete social worlds in themselves, marked off definitely from one another, though subsisting within the larger society.