19 Caste Amongst Other Religious Communities in India

Apoorva Gautam

Caste as a hereditary system of stratification is rooted in Hinduism. The Varna vyavastha (four fold stratification of Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra), the hundreds of jaatis which operationalise the caste system in society, the out-castes or Dalits who are outside this vyavastha- all these categories of hierarchy emanate from Hindu religious texts and practices. Castes have traditional association with specific occupations, which also re-inforce hierarchy and are passed along the family line. Although this aspect might not be so rigid anymore for all castes, it nevertheless determined relations of patronage and tied up ideas of ritual hierarchy into economic relations. This material aspect of caste relations marked out what was known as the jajmani system- patron-client relationship between people from powerful/ ‘upper’ caste groups and those from ‘lower’ caste groups (Nazir; 1993). This ensured, for example, that in the harvest season, a particular land owner will have certain people and their families as his labour supply.

These occupational and ritual relations of purity and impurity, while finding their legitimation in Hindu religion, have made ways into other religions of the sub-continent as well even if in a less ritualistic form. Therefore, many have argued that practices of Islam, Sikhism and Christianity, in the Indian and in fact in the South Asian context, reveal aspects of the caste system even if the beliefs and practices of these religions goes against it (Tharamangalam; 1996, Bhatty; 1996, Nazir; 1993).

The following sections will discuss the presence and operation of caste or caste-like hierarchies in Islam, Sikhism and Christianity in India. These relations will be traced historically and will also be located in their socio-economic context. Caste itself has moorings in both ritual philosophy and ideology of Hinduism, and material relations. However, these other religions, at a basic level, espouse the notion of equality of all believers. Many of these religions have in fact been a route to emancipation for those oppressed in the traditional Hindu caste system: religious conversions have had a long history and have often been en masse. Many Dalits, following Ambedkar, have converted to Buddhism (Burra; 1996).

Given that people have converted into Islam, Sikhism or Christianity seeking a break from ascriptive and occupational hierarchies, among other things, the permeation of these hierarchies into these other religions demands deeper enquiry. Such an enquiry is important also, from an anthropological perspective, for developing an understanding of practices of religion which are different from ritualistic ideas. Everyday religious practices sometimes even contradict the textual, formal and ideological aspects of a religion. In that context, the socio-economic aspects of any society play as much a role in religious lives and practices as do the texts and beliefs.

In the following sections we will look at some works on Islam located in north India, Sikhism in Punjab and Christianity in south India to see the ways in which aspects of the Hindu caste system are practised and reproduced in these non-Hindu religious communities. In all these cases, some part of the understanding has to depend on the history of these religions in those particular parts of India and some of it on the local social, political and economic relations.

Section I: Islam

Islam is the second largest religion in India. Its adherents regard it as an egalitarian religion where birth, status, etc do not count: faith is the only criterion based on which the community of believers is formed. However, scholars have noted that Muslim society in India has had an elaborate system of stratification (Bhatty; 1996). The basic distinction is premised on genealogies of conversion: those who trace foreign descent, as in claim that their ancestors arrived from the Arab world which was already under the influence of Islam, exercise superiority over those who converted to Islam later (New Muslims)1. Categories of stratification among Muslims in India are complex and elaborate: Ashrafs are the high ranking nobility and their claims of descent are ‘from Arabs, Persians, Turks and Afghans and coverts from upper class Hindus’. Ajlafs are ‘lower castes’ comprise of ‘village artisans’ and Arzals comprise of those doing ‘leather works, (or those who) landless labourers’, etc. (Nazir; 1993:2898). Non- Ashrafs are claimed to be converts from indigenous populations and have various occupational castes. Ashrafs are further divided into Sayyads, Sheikhs, Mughals and Pathans (in that order of ranking) (Bhatty; 1996)2.

This elaborate system reflects the ‘division of labour’ that the Hindu caste system espouses. Operationalised through jajmani relations of service and patronage and status associated with occupations, the hierarchies among Muslims present a caste-like system, if not the caste system itself. The debate on whether this stratification system among can be called a caste system will be brought up later in this section.

Nazir (1993) is of the opinion that the way this system of stratification has to be analysed should come not from debating over categories but by trying to understand how Muslims understand and practise socio-economic hierarchies themselves. In an earlier study on Muslims in the Swat region of Pakistan, Barth (1969) argues that since there was ranking among groups based on notions of purity and impurity, what locals described as ‘quoms’ were in fact castes. Those dealing with human waste were ranked lowest and the rigidity among these quoms was high (1969).

1  In fact, Bhatty reiterates the argument of other scholar of Islam that even in Arabia, during the early ages

of Islamic era, genealogies based on when a certain group converted to Islam was practised as a system of

stratification (1996).

2  These are different from the various denominations of Islam like Sunni, Shia, Ahmadiyya, etc which are not

specific to India. To reiterate, these categories of stratification are unique to the Indian subcontinent.

Similarly, in Bhatty’s fieldwork in Uttar Pradesh, she observed notions of purity and impurity and ranking based on these among Muslims. Among the non-Ashrafs, those handling impure things on a regular basis, like night soil, dead animals, etc., were deemed ‘impure’ as a group and touching an individual from such a group was considered ‘polluting’, requiring a bath for ‘purifying’ oneself (and practised by both Ashrafs and non-Ashrafs of higher ranking). As such, this purification by bath was prescribed even for handling polluting things such as any human secretion. Women, during their menstrual cycle, were not supposed to offer namaaz or practise ritual fasting. Although the rituals for purification after coming in contact with a ‘polluting’ substance or person were not as elaborate as among Hindus, the notion of ritual purity is very much a part of the caste system and ideology. Further, the practise of caste endogamy and disapproval for marriages across groups was persistent. Also, like among Hindus, communal eating had boundaries: Ashrafs and non Ashrafs did not eat with each other.

The terms used by people to describe social groups are ‘zat’ or ‘biradari’- patrilineal descent groups. Biradaris are kin groups which define boundaries of a community and in Bhatty’s field, even has biradari ‘panchayats’ which took up more political and moral role. Changes in socio-political conditions meant changes in these biradaris as well. In the case of Punjab, the divisions among biradaris or zats were hinged on notions of power and prestige which have been reconstituted since the advent of capitalism in agriculture in Punjab. In UP too, even as higher ranking biradaris have attempted to capture political clout and direct state’s resources towards themselves, the non- Ashrafs have had material growth and many have also left the village, leaving the biradari hierarchy altogether.

More recently, the presence of caste and caste based discrimination has been highlighted by the mobilisation of Pasmanda Muslims. Pasmanda, which means marginalised, is a common terms for lower caste Muslims who have been challenging the notion of a unified Muslim community and have poked fissures into the idea of religiously ordained egalitarianism in Islam. Starting in Bihar, the mobilisation began in response to the demands of reservation and claims of socio-economic backwardness by leaders of the various religious bodies like the Jamiat Ulema e Hind, All India Muslim Personal Law Board, etc. Following the divisions among Muslims as listed above, the Pasmanda Mahaz (an umbrella organisation) argues that a large part of Muslims in India are in fact Pasmanda while a few groups like Ashrafs are privileged and powerful. The groups under the Pasmanda umbrella are the occupationally lower ranked butchers, weavers, cleaners, washermen, etc. It is claimed that their conditions are similar if not worse that Dalits in terms of social indicators like education, health, employment, etc. in fact they are increasingly being called Dalit Muslims (Alam; 2009). Their marginalisation, though not ordained by Islam, is more a matter of everyday practise and politics. From calling of pejorative names to separate housing clusters to exclusion from all offices of power, the marginalisation of these groups is clearly highlighted by the control of Ashrafs over all positions of power within the community. It has been argued that this an institutionalised form discrimination (Alam; 2009). Questions of livelihood and reservations have dominated the demands of Pasmanda Muslims, as has their critique of the dominant class of Ashraf Muslims which seeks to speak in the name of all Muslims.

This more recent phenomenon takes us back to the question of whether the stratification of Muslim society in India is in fact a caste based one. According to Bhatty, the approaches to understanding caste have been of two kinds- cultural and structural. The cultural conception of caste, as done by Louis Dumont (1970) and others “emphasizes the uniqueness of the caste system which is peculiar to Hindu society. The concepts of ritual purity and impurity are viewed as central to the caste system, and they are found lacking or too weak in comparable societies” (1996: 244). In the structural conception, caste is understood as a ‘mechanism for social stratification and determines social structure in terms of status groups’ (1996: 245). This approach extends the understanding of caste-based groups to other religions as well.

In this regard, as argued by Nazir (1993), the recognition of the self and the community as Pasmanda or Dalit Muslims further asks us to question if the distinction between caste-system and caste-like system is important. Perhaps, the question here is also about what is the purpose of an enquiry. If the question is about the nature of access to power and resources which is grounded in ideology of ranks, status, endogamy, inheritance, genealogy, etc. there are echoes of the caste system among Muslims in India. However, the practise of this stratification and religious sanction around it is not the same between Islam and Hinduism.

Section II: Christianity

This section will look at the operation of caste hierarchies in among Christians. The focus of this section will be southern India, although believers of Christianity are spread across India. In trying to understand the presence of caste in other religions, Tharamangalam argues, it is not enough to look for specific characteristics like hereditary occupation, endogamy, etc. Several practices and ideological constructs associated with caste have reshaped and reconstituted themselves. In this section too, we would see the self-conception of caste among Christians in south India.

Christians make up 2.6% of India’s population. The earliest community of Christians in India was that of Syrian Christians in Kerala. They are supposedly descendants of upper caste Brahmins who converted to Catholicism (Tharamangalam; 1996). The Syrian Christians in the southern part of Kerala, especially, consider themselves to be superior and practise endogamy. From early on, there were elements in the church which spoke against casteist practices and many groups of missionaries brought ‘lower’ castes into the fold of Christianity. Particularly from the 19th century onwards, protestant churches began to bring in groups of ‘lower castes’ and there were movements of mass conversion coming from the ‘restlessness’ among these groups (1996: 268).

In Kerala, there was entirely new caste of ‘Neo Christians’ who were Dalits. Round the same time, there were conversion in adivasi regions and the North East hill regions. Tharamangalam claims that ‘Christians in India are concentrated in certain pockets in the country and drawn predominantly from Dalit and tribal backgrounds (1996: 269). As among Muslims, a large portion of opportunities of upward mobility among Christians were taken over by upper caste Christians (converts who were upper castes). Dalit Christians have not experienced much change in their status. Although there some overlaps between caste and sects they converted to, but broadly the two are different, like in Muslims. The overlaps, wherever they are, have happened due to mass conversion movements. Many Christians retain their pre-conversion identities and function as endogamous groups. Christians in Kerala are broadly divided into three groups based on descent: the Syrians, the Latin Catholics and Neo-Christians. While Syrians claims high ranks, Latin Catholics are accorded positions lower than Syrians. Neo Christians, as mentioned earlier, are converts from Dalit castes and had jajmani relations with many of the Syrians (who claim to have previously been Brahmins). Integration of Dalit Christians into churches dominated by Syrians has been difficult and has also given rise to many exclusive Dalit churches. In Goa and Tamil Nadu as well, there are differences between Christians were Dalits and Christians who converted from other castes (Tharamangalam; 1996).

In terms of pollution, many practices are understood and explained as emanating from a concern for hygiene. Dietary practices are also not rigid among Syrians. However interaction, which was highly restricted in the past, has eased up now due to socio-economic factors also. Much of the interaction between Syrians and Dalits is enabled by the demands that modern day living makes such as working together in an office, attending school, etc. In terms of endogamous practices, the distance between Dalit and non-Dalit castes remains, even if it is not too rigid within groups. Differences of residence and dining were maintained among Christians, based on segregations that were practised before conversion. Although these have weakened over the years but instances of commensality across castes is still not a common practise.

Although missionary policies have stressed on opposing caste based practices, segregation is maintained by Syrians within the church and affiliated bodies and positions of authority like priests, bishops, and even hospitals and colleges (1996: 275). Even within same denomination, segregation of Dalit Christians is enforced through separate churches or assigned places of sitting for them within the same church. These segregation practices also keep Dalit Christians away from acquiring important positions within the church and make access to rituals difficult. Church politics in fact has become a ground for assertions by upper caste Christians and resistance by Dalit Christians, especially as much of the management has passed on from European priests to locals. Cases of position of power within the church being circulated among those who come from groups of high status are common and have in fact led to many Dalit Christian groups setting up their own churches, a sort of secession where they have set up churches with new ‘Dalit ideologies’. This disillusionment also comes from the sparse opportunities of mobility (from conversion) that have come their way and the denial of advantages of being Scheduled Castes which are not available to them because of having changed their religion. There have even been instances of reconversion.

Interestingly, many of these resistances have now started talking about a Dalit theology, inspired by liberation theology, which ‘sees Christianity itself as a movement of Dalits and the Christian message as essentially a movement for the liberation of Dalits’. Many missionaries have anyway attacked caste system as being ‘inconsistent with Christianity’ (1996: 282-3).

Christianity, to some extent, might have eroded the notions of purity and pollution, but the collusion of caste with socio-economic power has stagnated opportunities of mobility while at the same time reconstituted the practices of caste. At any rate, Christianity took root in system which was deeply feudal and that elements of it have certainly extended the practise of caste to Christianity as well. The Dalit Liberation Theology Movement has been trying to assert demands of social justice, decentralised church authority, more Dalit Christians as priests, livelihood opportunities for poor Dalit Christians, etc. taking the existence of caste practices into a political arena (Louis; 2007).

Section III: Sikhism

Sikhism in India was founded in the late 15th century in the region of Punjab. It was established by Guru Nanak, who was followed by nine other teachers or Gurus. After the Gurus, the Guru Granth Sahib- the holy book came to be worshipped. It has been argued that Sikhism was a tradition within Hindu tradition. Guru Nanak was born into a Hindu family and chose the path of Sants of his time. He, like other others of the Sants who were part of the Bhakti tradition, believed in unorthodox devotion and preached the existence of God in all creations- a formless, ‘nirgun’ God (Mc Leod; 2015). In many ways, these early traditions were a move away from orthodox Hinduism and went into the making Sikhism as an egalitarian religion. With the tenth Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, the Khalsa order was established and Sikhism slowly got established.

Sikhism, like Islam and Christianity preaches the ‘equality as a part of their creed’. But the Indian state recognises caste in Sikhism and provides for reservation of the Dalit castes. Judge also argues that the caste system, as it operates among Sikhs, is not the same as it is among Hindus. He argues for an understanding in which ‘empirical positioning’ of castes is how hierarchy is understood and not through the mapping of varna vyavastha onto social life (Jugde; u.d.: 2-3). The Sikh population of Punjab is composed of castes which have an organisational hierarchy different from that of Hindus. Land ownership is the primary indicator of power which is mostly in control of Jat Sikhs; although some other caste groups, including OBCs, are also land owning and they together form the peasant castes3. They form the top of this hierarchy, which is different from the idea of dominant caste emerging from within the varna vyavastha. In fact this order of caste hierarchy itself represents power and privilege. This is followed by Brahmins, traders (Baniya) and some artisanal castes like Ramgarhias, who were traditionally carpenter and masons. Next in hierarchy are various service and artisanal castes like ironsmiths (lohar), goldsmith (sunar), etc. At the bottom of this hierarchy are Dalit castes like Balmikis, Mazhabis, Meghs, etc.

Judge argues that within each group in this hierarchy is vertically aligned and some maintain exclusivity as well. Shift to urban areas has brought changes to traditional occupations, which has meant some loss of domination for the peasant castes and some opportunities of mobility and freedom from subordination for the Dalits. What is also interesting is that at the top of the caste hierarchy are groups which are engaged in physical labour (agriculture), while otherwise its non-physical labour which accorded high status (u.d.; 3). Apart from agriculture, the colonial policy of inducting Jat Sikhs in the army, classifying them as a martial race, contributed to the social domination that they exercise. Green revolution in agriculture in the 1970s, which was basically the introduction of capitalist agriculture contributed to the socio-economic strength of Jats even as it brought in wage labour, followed by migration of ‘lower’ castes from agricultural labour and large scale in migration of labourers from UP and Bihar who could be sustained at low wages. The fact that Jat Sikhs occupy positions of power in the Gurudwara management and other bodies of authority contributes to their domination and also resentment among other castes.

Jodhka (2002) observes a decline in overt practices of caste discrimination against Dalits. Except for the task scavenging, many of the ‘unclean’ occupations have been opened up to the market where, for example, contractors help dispose off dead animals. In terms of provision of services and access to economic resources he did not notice any blatant

3  The caste hierarchy in Punjab is also different in terms of the status accorded to occupations. While those at the bottom of hierarchy face discrimination and exploitation, discrimination. In the matter of access to religious places, where some amount of discrimination was experienced by Dalit, especially on the subject of langar or communal eating, there wer groups that moved put and built their own Gurudwaras. The Jat Sikhs would not visit these Gurudwaras but there were exceptions. Schooling is another avenue where discrimination has been contained. Access to modern facilities also has a role to play, for example instead of getting water from a well, which would often be a ground for prejudice, most people have tap water or motor-run pumps in their houses.

There are two major communities of Dalits in Punjab- the Chamars and Churahas. The Chamars underwent the Ad Dharam movement in the 1920s, following which they identified themselves as Ravidasis (followers of Guru Ravidas of the Sikh tradition who was also a Chamar) and moved away from Hinduism. They were enumerated and some continue to get themselves counted among Scheduled Caste Hindus, but have moved closer to Sikhism. Similarly, the Chuhras (called Mazhabis) also moved closer to Sikhism. Despite being a minority, the Hindu religious practices in the state continue to discriminate against Ravidasis, Mazhabis/ Balmiki and other Dalit groups. In the Gurudwara hierarchy, they have experienced some mobility which is limited but certainly meaningful as compared to the situation within the Hindu fold (2002: 1817).

Agricultural labour, however, continues to be a terrain where inequalities faced by Dalits are grave. Punjab has the highest population of Scheduled Castes in proportion to other caste groups which is something like 28-30% when the average in the rest of India is closer to 16% (2002: 1814). Among them, agricultural wage labour had been a common occupation as ownership of land by these groups is ‘among the lowest in the country’ (2002: 1815). As mentioned before, the shift to non-agricultural activities has been a fillip to Dalit groups moving out agricultural wage labour, but these attempts towards mobility have also created new assertions and divisions.

The politics of Kanshi Ram, which focussed although on Ravidasis and Balmikis, brought the assertion of identity by Dalit groups into the public sphere4. This has been a part of a long history of movements against caste, in which the advent of Sikhism itself could perhaps be included. In the contemporary period, state’s backing of positive discrimination and changes

4  These two Dalit groups are numerically and politically strong as compared to other Dalit groups.

in material condition, specifically the decining role of agricultural labour in maintaining caste differences, has opened up avenues for a new kind of politics.

The establishment of Deras by various Gurus has been one of the direct challenges to Gurudwara hierarchy and more orthodox Sikhism which continues to be dominated by Jat Sikhs. Control of positions of power and management of Gurudwaras remains a sensitive issue. Panchayat elections are another field where contestations between Jat Sikhs and Ravidasis or Balmikis are high, even leading to violent confrontations. However, these two groups, because of their political strength over the years, have been a base where dominant parties wish to form allies. Such permutations, though unstable, have enforced a certain kind of mobility and power to these two Dalit groups, leaving out the rest: “the consequence of the politics of difference is exclusiveness of each Dalit caste paving the way for the political domination of the traditional political parties, namely, the SAD and the Congress party, and both are controlled by the Jat Sikhs… we have ruptured social hierarchy with the perpetuation of pattern of political dominance the consequence of which is the reinforcement of caste identities and formation of exclusive caste communities” (Judge; u.d.: 27).

Conclusion

Looking at the presence and operation of caste hierarchies in three major religions in India offers some important insights. First of all, the question of whether caste exists in these religions or not is to be seen in terms of how the question is framed. As pointed out by Nazir (1993) and Bhatty (1996), if we are understand caste in a structural way, where we are looking at material relations and ideologies that sustain discrimination, then caste exists in various forms in all major religions of India, even if these religions themselves preach egalitarianism. But if we try map the structure of ritual hierarchy, legitimised by texts, as it exists in Hinduism, then the answers are different. As we have seen, while some measure of ‘purity-pollution’ notions might exist among Muslims in UP that Bhatty studies, in Punjab this issue has weakened with the Sikh fold towards which many Dalit groups have turned (Jodhka; 2002, Judge; u.d.). Rules of endogamy, commensality, access to public spaces- all have different trajectories in these religious groups, quite often with inter-regional differences.

However, the politics within these religions over control of religious authority positions and offices presents yet another living example of contestations arising out of history of exclusion and discrimination as effected by the caste system. Specifically on the question of conversions, we saw in all three religious contexts, that those converting from ‘lower’ caste positions are not able to leave that status and categorisation easily. The relations between Ashrafs and non- Ashrafs, particularly Pasmanda Muslims; the contestations between Syrian Christians and Dalit Christians; and the politics played out between Jat Sikhs and Ravidasis and/ or Balmikis, all signify the way in which leaving Hinduism itself does not rid individuals or communities from caste based inequalities (Bhatty; 1996, Alam; 2009, Tharamangalam; 1996, Judge; u.d.).

However, the presence of caste based discrimination is not simply a factor of hangovers from Hindu pasts. The systems of stratification in these religious communities are also different and do not simply borrow the varna vyavastha of Hinduism (Judge; u.d.). The status of Jat Sikhs as upper castes in Punjab is an example of this. Even as these religions preach egalitarianism and many of their teachings, in the Indian context, they have forged stratifications which are both material and ideological even as they differ in practices. The assertions for different places of worship and struggles to be a part of religious authority also re-iterate the power struggles that mark the contemporary moment of all these religious groups. It would be useful to conclude with the remarks of Tharamangalam, who argues that, in the case of Christianity, its history in other parts of the world has been rife with inequalities (against women, slaves, different races, etc). And on the other hand, Hinduism has had many movements against inegalitarian ideologies (Tharamangalam; 1996). Perhaps, an interesting perspective on the question of caste could come from rooting it in local history and socio-political and economic contexts instead of looking for theological similarities.

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