the 'new' colonialism

Ulhas Joglekar uvj at vsnl.com
Thu Nov 21 16:00:08 PST 2002


Bill Bartlett wrote:
> Caste may have some roots in tribal clan structure but I was objecting to
>your statement that "Prohibition on intermarriages between members
belonging
>to different castes in a tribal society has been taken as the essential
>nature of caste system." Perhaps I may be misinterpreting what you mean by
>"tribal society" though? I understand it to refer to societies basically
>undifferentiated by caste or clan
>
> No doubt the tribal origins of modern Indian culture(s) are largely
>outside the field of history, so it is odd to conclude that "castes seem to
>have originated in Ancient times". If you mean by "ancient times",
>pre-historic tribal societies as I inferred.

The standard works on the ancient Indian history (whether called history or pre-history) usually discuss: a) Indus valley civilisation, roughly 3000-2000 BC, b) arrival of aryans over centuries in Indo-Gangetic plains and their migrations towards peninsular India (Rig veda, the earliest exstant Sanskrit document, 1500-1200 BC), Aryans being pastoral nomads, c) Buddha, and spread and decline of Buddhism in India (beginning in Fifth century BC , d) Discovery of iron, transition to agriculture from pastoral life, emergence of states and empires, particularly rise of Magadh, Mauryan Empire (Third Century BC) etc., transition to feudalism This should clarify what I meant by "ancient times". (Indian history is thus broadly divided into the following epoches: Ancient, Feudal and Modern. Modern period is further subdivided into colonial and post-colonial periods.)

The caste system is said have emerged over centuries during the Vedic period, beginning roughly in 1500 BC. I mean by caste well known division of Indian society into four categories: Priests (brahmins), Warriors (kshatriyas), Traders and farmers (vaisyas) outside and sudras, the lowest sub-caste. In this sense, the caste was a endogamous unit, with prohibition on marriages outside the caste. On the other hand, gotras or clans (or septs) were exogamous units prohibiting marriages within gotras. Both, the clan and the caste existed in the period called the ancient period.

Ulhas



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