Caste, Class, and Power: Changing Patterns of Stratification in a Tanjore Village

Chapter I

Introduction

This study has grown out of field research conducted in a village. here called Sripuram, of Tanjore District in 50Ulh lndia. Although most of the primary data were collected in Sripuram, many of the observations made in the course of the study relate to a wider area. These observations, thus, have necessarily a tentative character, although the utility of intensive case studies for illuminating problems of a wider scope has now come to be generally recognised. The studies of the Coargs by Srinivas (1952), of an Orissa village by Bailey (1957), and of a Tamil subcaste by Dumont (l957a) olTer-cases in point. The relations between a single village and the wider social system of which it fonns a part are complex. and very little will be gained by discussing at the outset these relations in abstract and formal tenos. Suffice it to say that it is possible to study within the framework of a single village many Conns of social relations which are of general occurrence throughout the area. Such, for instance, arc the relations between Brahmins, Non-Brabmins, and Adi-Dravidas (Untouchables) and between landowners, tenants, and agricultural labourers. These relations arc governed by norms and values which have a certain generality. This can be verified by making even casual comparisons in adjacent villages, or villages in adjacent districts. No doubt the norms do not operate in identically the same . manner in each particular instance, but much can be learnt about

2

INTRODUCTION

the relationship between principle and practice by making detailed observations in a single village. Many of the rules governing the relations between different sections of people in the village apply to the state as a whole. Some of these rules carry legal sanctions. Such, for instance, are the rules governing the relations between landow ners and tenants. There are also organs and institutions cre::lted by state legislation whose principles of operation arc the same in every village. The statutory p(lnchayat provides an example of this. Intensive field study in a single village provides crucial evidence regarding the manner in which rules having general validity operate in concrete situations. The outside world enters into the life of the villager in a multitude of ways. What happens in the Slate capital and in other urban centres is often discussed with keen interest by the residents of Sripuram. The village, being situated in the delta of the Kaveri River, is particularly exposed to external forces. Thus, in studying the social life of the village it is extremely difficult to separate what is internal to it from what belongs to the milieu of which it is a part. The village, in fact, may be viewed as a point at which social, economic, and political forces operating over a much wider field meet and intersect. Social relations overflow the boundary of the village easily and extensively. Tics of kinship and affinity link members of every caste to people in other villages or towns. Many of the members of the older families and lineages bave become scattered. But they continue to retain some contact with those who have stayed behind in the village. Although kinship nnd affinal tics did cui across the boundary of the village even in traditional society, subcastes, lineages, and families have become much more dispersed today. What happens to the villager when he goes to live in a town or a city? We get to know something of this from the links which he continues to maintain with kinSmen in the village, and also on occasions when he revisits his ancestral home. Economic relations cUI across the boundary of the village in a variety of ways. Many landowners live outside the village. Agricultural surpluses are sold outside. Land has corne into the market. Several villagers are engaged in white-collar jobs in the neighbouring towns. The village is becoming progressively a part

INTRODUCTION

)

of a wider economy. We get some indication of the working of this economy by trying to analyse the ways in which it affects the lives of the villagers. The village is linked through the system of Panchayati Raj to other villages and larger organs of local government. Some villagers take part in the activities of political parties. Political networks of diverse kinds link the individual villager to people occupying a variety of social positions both within and outside the village. They interconnect village leaders, district leaders, party bosses, members of the Legislative Assembly, financiers, and government officials. This, then, is the broad field we seck to illuminate, although we focus attention on a single village. What is the central theme of the study here presented? Broadly speaking, our concern is with the phenomena of caste, class, and power (mainly in its political aspects) and with their changing relations. We deal first with each of the three phenomena separately, and then ellamine their interrelations in the contellt of change. After presenting an account of the physical structure of the village in chapter ii. we deal in turn with caste, class, and power in the three succeeding chapters. The concluding chapter seeks to analyse the changing relations between the three. In a sense the caste structure constituted the basis of traditional society. Tanjore District in particular has been known for the rigidity and complex.ity of its caste structure. In the village this struelUre not only divided the population into sections of uneq ual ritual status, but also dominated economic and political life. The fundamental importance of the caste slructure to the social life of the village can be seen in its settlement pattern (chap. ii ) . which clearly segregates the three primary segments-Brahmins, NonBrahmins, and Adi-Dravidas-from one another. Although many areas of social life are now becoming to some elllenl "caste-free," the settlement pattern of tbe village continues to reflect the basic cleavages of the traditional structure. Up to a point the caste system is relatively easy to represent. It can be viewed as a systcm of enduring groups whose mutual relations are governed by certain broad principles. Castes as enduring groups can be located with relative ease, since they are named and havc fairly well-defined boundaries. The principles

4

INTRODUCTION

which govern their mutual relations, however, are complex in nature; these are discussed in some detail in chapter iii. In contrast to castes, which are communities (or approximate to them), classes are categories rather than groups. By class we mean a category of persons occupying a specific position in the system of production (see chap. iv). In the context of the agrarian economy of Sripuram the class system comprises landowners, tenants, agricultural labourers, and their relations. Relations between landowners, tenants, tlnd agricultural labourers havc a standardised character and are, to some extent, enduring in nature. Further, they are defined in legal or quasi-legal terms. Social and economic relations between persons depend a good deal upon their mutual positions in the class system. In Sripuram the class system overlaps to a considerable extent with the caste structure, but also cuts aeross it at a number of points. It is far more difficult to define power in fonnal terms, or to relate it to end uring groups and categories eomparlhmin houses creates conditions for the ag,aharam'~' being a community. so also the physical separalion from the rest of the village makes it possible for this community to be a more or less exclusive one. Here again one has to see lhe physical separation between thc agraharam and the rest of the village as both a C:lUSC :lnd a consequence of the social separat ion of the Brahmi ns from the rest of the population. No Non-Brahmin has ever livcd in the agraharam at Sripuram. In certain villages nOl very far away a few Non-Brahmins h:l\'C purchased houses in the agralwraln and have even started living there. This is an enlirely new phenomenon, at leas! in Tanjore District , and it is a cause of consternation among the Brahmins. In one or two villages it has led the Brahmin residents to move out. Sripuram has so far managed to maintain the exclusivcness of its agraharaln. although Ihis 100 has been assailed once or Iwice. Brahmi n.~ object to Non-Brahmins' staying in the agrallaram on a number of grounds. The reason which they most frequently give to outsiders is that Non-Brahmins eat meat, fish, and oth~r unclean things. If th~s~ were cooked in the agrai1aram, the odours emitted would create intolerable conditions for the Brahmins. Besid~s, bones and scales in the form of refuse would be strewn all about. The Brahmins have an overweening consciousness of their own cleanliness, which they contrast with the dirty habits of other people. At the level of the viUage this is partly justified. since the typical Non-Brahmin-who is, as often as no!, a peasant-;, usually less cle~m in his personal habits than the typical Brahmin mirasdar.

But the objection to Non-Brahmins on the ground tha t they eat unclean things is hardly the only or the most significant one. There are Shaivite Non-Bwhmins whose entry into the agra· Jraram as resid~nts has b~~n oppos~d a llhough Ihey arc vegetarians just like the Brahmins. TIle resistan
tea is less expensive.

v We have seen that differentiation in styles of living has been developed 10 a very high degree within the caste system. Not only are there differences separating Brahmins from Non-Brahmins. but differences among Brahmins separate Shri Vaisbnavas from Smarthas and, among Shri Vaishnavas, Vadagalai from Theogalai. The entire social world of Sripuram is thus divided and subdivided so as to constitute a segmentary structure in which each segment is differentiated from the other in terms of a number of criteria, major and minor. Further, in this structure the segments are not all equally separated from each other, but some are closer together and others further apart. For instance, the distance between Vadagalai and Thengalai Iyengar is smaller than the distance between either of them and any Non-Brahmin segment.

CASTE STRUCTURE

61

It is beyond the scope of the present study to give an cxlwustive account of a ll the ways in which the different castes differ from each other, or to consider in any detail all the different segments which constitute the social systcm of Sripuram. We have attempted to give, therefore, only a broad survey of !,!cncral ditferenees in styles of living, and to pursue the acco unt in some detail only wi th regard to one group of castes, the Brahmins. Differentiation among Non-Brahmins and Adi-Dra\'idas follows a similar pattern which it would be tcdious and repetitious to work OUt in their case also. In the agrarian economy of Sripurnm the th ree categoriesBrahmin, Non-Brahmin, and Adi-Dravida- have occup ied rather different positions traditionally and are continuing to do so, by and large, evcn now. Vcry broadly speaking, one can characterise the Brnhmi ns as landowners, the Non-Bmhmins as cultivating tenants, and the Adi-Dravidas as agricultu ral labourers. This characterisation highlights on ly thc typical positions. It holds true particularly with regard to Brahmins and AdiDravidas. Among the Non-Brahmins it :ldmits of numerous exceptions since there are both landownc rs :lnd agricultural l:lbouTers amo ng them, and also there arc Non-Brahmins of artisan and servicing castes who do not directly engage in agricultu re. NOI all Brahmins arc landowners, nor arc all landowners Brahmins. T he typical Brahmin in Sripuram is, nonetheless, a mira.sd ar, and it is he who sets the p(lltern for others to follow. Jn addition to la ndownership. Brahmins tr3dilion:lHy hav(: engaged in various priestly functions. either as domestic priests or as temple priests. In Sripuram, however, the majority of Br:lhmi ns have been mira.sdars devoted to the pursuit of Jc:lTning and have not eng:lged in priesthood as a profession or a means of livelihood. TIler