Conclusiones y Recomendaciones

OF TOMORROW?

The question which I have been asked to answer is worded vaguely, but the vagueness is deliberate--it is designed to permit discussion on two questions: one, should castes exist in the India of tomorrow, and two, are they likely to exist? The first question belongs to the realm of ideals while the second, to the realm of facts. I will consider the former question first.

It must be clear to everyone that in this country only a small minority which is numerically insignificant but which may be-and probably is--powerful, really desires that the caste system ought to go. The vast majority of the population, especially Hindus, not only do not want caste to disappear, but they would probably find it impossible to envisage a social system without caste. To the bulk of the people living in the rural areas, caste is nothing more than a

collection of kin groups--agnates and affines--living in a few neighbouring villages. Joint family and caste provide for an individual in our society some of the benefits which a welfare state provides for him in the industrially advanced countries of the West. A man's earliest friends are frequently drawn from his caste, his kin belong to his caste, and his kin are often an important part of his kith. A caste also stands for a certain amount of cultural homogeneity if not autonomy.

The point which I wish to stress here is that only a small minority sees caste as a menace to our national life. I willingly concede that their number is increasing everyday, and that nowadays even in the rural areas one comes across urbanized young men who say that caste has begun to poison relations between people. But it is still true to say that the vast majority of people do not consider caste an evil. It is essential to remember this fact, for nothing effective can be done unless the people themselves are made to realize that caste necessarily means casteism, and that the benefits it offers are bought at a heavy price for the country as a whole. It is not at all an easy task to put across this point to the people, and so far neither the politicians nor the social workers have displayed any awareness of the existence of this difficult problem of communication. The first thing to realize here is that good intentions

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are not only not enough, but may even produce the exact opposite of what is intended.

I am not trying to be cynical but I cannot help wondering how many of those who have of late started publicly speaking in favour of a casteless and classless society really mean what they say. Now that this ideal is incorporated in our Constitution, and Pandit Nehru is a very powerful and universally respected man, Congressmen, legislators and other leaders find it more convenient to agree with him than to disagree. Most of us--not only our politicians but our intellectuals as well--are bamboozled into agreeing with something merely because we are afraid to be mistaken for being 'reactionary'. Even discussion of the subject is taboo. In the case of caste this disease has proceeded so far that there is great danger that our talk and policy will leave reality far behind. Secondly, coupled with the widespread fear of being dubbed a reactionary, there is also a shrewd if somewhat cynical appreciation of facts. I know that what I say may seem a contradiction but it really is not so. Agreeing to progressive resolutions satisfies our consciences and assures us of our worldly prospects, while at the same time our sense of facts tells us that nothing serious is going to be done by anyone, and that caste will continue to remain what it is. The best of both the worlds are secured by taking such a course.

In April 1954, I was in a village in Mandya District in Mysore State. A few days previous to my visit to this village a huge fight had occurred between Holeyas (Harijans) and Okkaligas

(Peasants) in a neighbouring village, and a few had been seriously injured in the fight. One Okkaliga leader complained to me, "These Holeyas, they are getting above themselves. They are now demanding that our girls be given in marriage to them." I tried to explain to him the aims and ideals of the Congress and the Republic, and added that by voting for the Congress he had tacitly agreed with its policy. He replied, "Then let them [the elected representatives]

invite Holeyas to their homes for dinner, and give them their daughters in marriage, and we will follow suit." With his peasant shrewdness he had hit the nail on the head. How many elected representatives are willing to eat food cooked by Harijans, and marry their daughters to Harijan youths? The answer is obvious. But the same representatives will all vote for a casteless and classless State when they meet in Delhi or Bangalore or Avadi.

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The principle of caste is so firmly entrenched in our political and social life that everyone including the leaders have accepted tacitly the principle that, in the provincial cabinets at any rate, each major caste should have a minister. (And this principle has travelled from our provincial capitals back to our village panchayats--nowadays the latter give representation on the panchayat to each caste including Harijans.) In the first popular cabinet in Mysore State, headed by Shri K. C. Reddy, not only were the ministers chosen on a caste basis, but each had a secretary from his own sub-sub-sub-caste. And today in Mysore State this principle is followed not only in every appointment, but also in the allotment of seats in schools and colleges. Mysore is no longer ruled by the mythical demon Mahishasura, but by the very real demon Varnasura. One Okkaliga in Rampura told me indignantly, "Shri Hanumanthayya [then chief Minister of Mysore] wants to rule strictly and impartially, but he must realize that the electors don't want it. They want him to confer favours on the people who have elected him.

We want returns for what we have done." I am afraid the Okkaliga was right--voting is on a caste basis and voters do not understand that it is not right to demand that the elected minister help his caste-folk and village-folk. It is at the same time a tribute to Shri

Hanumanthayya that he does not think on caste lines. But his party does, and the people do, and this fact cannot be forgotten. Incidentally, no explanation of provincial politics in any part of India is possible without reference to caste.

Mere resolutions and laws are worse than useless as they lead us to believe that we are really doing something. And I must tell you bluntly that if you are thinking that you can get rid of caste easily you are seriously mistaken. Caste is an institution of prodigious strength and it will take a lot of beating before it will die. The first lesson to be learnt here is not to

underestimate the strength of your 'enemy'. It is so powerful and pervasive, and its appeals are so strong that the first step in the struggle is to have a precise measure of its strength.

I must mention here, however, that the Anti-Untouchability Law is having some effect chiefly because some educated and better-off Harijans are trying to get the law enforced. But this is not an easy matter for them. Naturally their efforts have led to an increase in the tension existing between Caste Hindus and Harijans, but without such an increase and probably the occurrence of fighting and shed-

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ding of blood, the rights which the Constitution gives to Harijans will not be translated into reality. I will not be surprised if such fights increase in the near future, especially in the villages. As Harijans get more and more educated, and as their economic condition improves, they are bound to resent increasingly the disabilities which the fiat of brute Hindu majority imposes on them. The latter are not likely to yield gracefully to the former's demands and the general public will only awaken to the issues when fighting and bloodshed occur. It is only then that issues which are being currently discussed by sociologists and social workers will be discussed everywhere, in streets, tea shops and verandahs.

The giving of the vote to the Harijan is also a crucial measure. In the legislative assemblies, Caste Hindus will be increasingly on the defensive, as they will not have the courage to come out openly against measures to improve the conditions of Harijans. Overt agreement and covert sabotage will probably be the path they will choose. And in this they will probably have the bulk of their coreligionists with them.

I will now deal with the second question. "Are castes likely to disappear in the India of tomorrow?" In trying to answer this question a reference to what has happened in the recent past is unavoidable.

What may very loosely be called a 'feudal' type of society prevailed when the British overran India. Only a tiny section of the people lived in the few cities scattered over the sub-continent while the vast majority lived in villages. Those cities were, however, different from the modern industrialized ones. Living in them did not require a radical departure from the traditional way of life. In the village a subsistence economy prevailed. Relationships between individuals and groups were governed not by contract but by status. i.e., birth in a particular family and caste largely determined one's rights and duties. Relationships were also 'multiplex'--the same people were involved with each other in several kinds of relationships. Barter was widespread and important while money played a minimal part. The political system consisted of local chieftains who were feudatory either to a distant king, or to the viceroy of an even more distant emperor. Relations between chieftains, and between them and the king or viceroy were always unstable, and frequently characterized by warfare. The political system erected nearly impassable barriers between one chiefdom and another. This had many important

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effects one of which was that it prevented the horizontal spread of caste solidarity beyond the chiefdom, and forced the many castes of a region to be interdependent.

At the village level castes were not only interdependent but acutely aware of the fact, and the annual grain-payments made to the Smith, Potter, Barber, Washerman and Priest dramatized the interdependence. While each caste had its own solidarity, it was also aware of its solidarity with other castes--each Smith, for instance, competed with all other Smiths for the custom of the landowners. Besides this competition, other kinds of ties such as those between master and servant, landlord and tenant, creditor and debtor, and patron and client cut across the divisions of caste. Again, loyalty to one's village was universal, and this was common to all the castes from the Brahmin to the Harijan. It is necessary to point out here that the Harijan occasionally exercised authority over members of the upper castes and this was specially true of south India. Historical evidence going back to a few centuries testifies to his taking an active part in the deliberations of the village assembly. Even as recently as fifty years ago the Holeya cheluvadi (hereditary servant of the assembly of village elders) of Kere village beat a rich Smith from Mysore because the latter had the audacity to wear red slippers (chadavu), a privilege expressly forbidden to them in that area. The Smith was a powerful man and he had lent money to the tune of several thousand rupees to the village.

At a higher level, several neighbouring villages were bound together by ties of kinship, economy and ritual. The warring chieftains prevented the extension of ties beyond the region though here and there we find that the Brahmins were considered superior to these political cleavages because of their position as priests. The 'bottling up' of caste ties within the region, and the derivative emphasis on interdependence of all the castes living therein, was an important feature of the pre-British system. With, however, the establishment of Pax

Brittanica over the entire sub-continent, and the rapid improvement in communications which both strategic and administrative considerations required, castes found it possible to range over wide areas.

The horizontal solidarity of a caste gained at the expense of the vertical solidarity of the castes of a region. The coming in of printing, of a regular postal service, of vernacular newspapers and books, of the telegraph, railway and bus, enabled the representatives of a

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caste living in different areas to meet and discuss their common problems and interests.

Western education gave new political values such as liberty and equality. The educated leaders started caste journals and held caste conferences. Funds were collected to organize the caste, and to help the poorer members. Caste hostels, hospitals, co-operative societies etc., became a common feature of urban social life. In general, it may be confidently said that the last hundred years have seen a great increase in caste solidarity, and the concomitant decrease of a sense of interdependence between different castes living in a region.

Certain additional factors have helped to increase horizontal solidarity as well as the tensions existing between different castes. The virtual monopoly which the upper castes, if not the Brahmins, exercised over the new jobs induced the British to start favouring the low castes. In the South this resulted in the gradual forging of an anti-Brahmin policy by the different states.

The barrier which already existed between Caste Hindus and Harijans was carried over to the political sphere as well. Educated members from different castes competed for the jobs in the government, and there were more men than jobs. The tensions generated between individuals in the struggle for jobs spread to their respective castes as it was the elite of each caste which was competing.

One of the short-term effects of universal adult franchise is to strengthen caste. It is easily understandable that the villager, other things being equal, prefers to vote for his casteman.

This is so widely accepted that during the recent elections in Andhra State even the Communists were at pains to select candidates who had a 'social base', which, when

translated into simple English, means that they came from the locally dominant castes. I learn there was only one exception to this, and he, an all-India leader, was duly elected.

The things I have said so far may appear to be extremely pessimistic. I will now therefore point out the existence of certain other and opposing tendencies. As education spreads among the Harijans, it will be increasingly difficult for the Caste Hindus to keep them in the condition in which they are today. There are also signs that the Harijans are organizing themselves to assert the rights which the Constitution gives them. As I said before, this will probably mean the occurrence of fighting between them and Caste Hindus, and an immediate increase of tension, but the latter are bound to give way in the end. Let no one expect however,

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that the process will be smooth, quick and non-violent. It would be against the nature of things to expect Untouchability to disappear overnight.

Industrialization and an expanding economy will mean jobs to educated people and this should minimise the bitter inter-caste hatred which is now poisoning relations between individuals and groups. This is especially true of the South where, in the towns especially, one hears of nothing except caste. I believe that the establishment of a single factory will do more to ease intercaste relations in that locality than an equivalent sum of money spent on propaganda in favour of intercaste dining or marriage. The mechanization of labour and the provision of underground drainage everywhere will make unnecessary the personal handling of material which is considered not only very dirty but defiling. A new type of education in which the fingers are used for other things besides driving a quill should inculcate not only a respect for, but a love of, manual labour. Widespread industrialization--and not the crazy concentration of industries in and around Bombay, Calcutta and a few other cities as at present--will usher in towns in every part of India, and the heterogeneity and habits of urban life should help

somewhat in reducing inter-caste tensions. Co-education is bound to make inter-caste

marriages more frequent in the future, but I would urge reformers to go slow on this. Marriage is a 'hard point' and too much propaganda at this stage about the desirability of inter-caste marriages may frighten the upper castes into taking a stand against all reforms.

In short, on a short-term basis the country is likely to have more trouble with caste, while on a long-term basis, adult franchise, the industrial revolution which our Five-Year Plans are helping to bring about, the spread of literacy and higher education among the lower castes, the legal rights given to Harijans, the privileges given to backward castes, and the greater Sanskritization of the way of life of the latter, should gradually remove the more obnoxious features of the caste system. In the meanwhile, reformers would do well to study caste more, and realize that quiet hard work, patience and a sense of humour are indispensable in fighting an institution as powerful as caste.

There is one question which, though extremely important, I have refused to consider, and that is, "What will happen to Hinduism when caste disappears?" It raises such far-reaching issues that I cannot hope to deal with it satisfactorily here.

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5. THE INDUSTRIALIZATION AND