(The following is the Chapter – IV of the First Part of the Mandal Commission Report, submitted to the Union Government in 1980. The Report was tabled in Parliament and accepted unanimously. The reservation for OBCs was brought first in Central Services employment in 1990 and in admission at Central Educational Institutions in 2006. Both the beneficiaries of such measures at present and prospective must be aware of the history of social backwardness of the subjects of this land – Editor)
….continues from the previous issue
The above account will show as to how every important facet of a Shudra’s personal, social and economic activity was severely influenced by his low caste status. Mythology and scriptures were also pressed into service to establish the inherent superiority of the Brahmin and the low social ranking of the Shudras. For instance, Tulsidas states in his Ramayana, that means
Venerate a Brahmin even if he is devoid of all virtue, but not a Shudra even if he is packed with virtue and knowledge.
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Quoting from Apasthamba, Ghurye says, “Between a hundred year old Kshatriya and a 10 year old Brahmin, the latter is said to be like the father”.
Balmiki’s Ramayana tells the famous history of Shambuk, a Shudra, who hung himself by his feet from a tree in the forests of Uttarkhand and went into deep meditation for 12 years. At the death of a Brahmin boy whose father was still living, some of his kinsfolk complained to Rama that this outrage had occurred because Shambuk had committed the sacrilegious act of meditation despite being a Shudra. Rama went to Uttarkhand forests and after verifying the truth of this allegation, beheaded Shambuk for his temerity.
Mahabharata narrates the story of Eklabya, a tribal boy, who went to Guru Dronacharaya for learning Dhanur Vidya (archery). The Guru refused to take him as a pupil, as this vidya could be imparted to Kshatriyas only. One day Dronacharaya went to a forest with his students, Kauravas and Pandavas, to practise archery. A dog accompanying the party was hit by an arrow in the mouth, when it happened to bark. Obviously, the archer, hidden from the view, had hit the dog by just aiming in the direction of its bark. Dronacharaya knew that only Arjuna was capable of such a feat. He called for the marksman and Eklabya emerged from the forest and confessed having killed the dog by his arrow. On being asked about the identity of his Guru, he replied that he was Dronacharya’s pupil. In explanation he recalled the earlier episode and stated that he had learnt Dhanur Vidya from the statue of Dronacharya which he had erected in the forest. Dronacharya asked for the right hand thumb of Eklabya as Guru Dakshina. Eklabya readily complied with the wishes of his Guru, though he could never again handle a bow with this disabled hand.
If religion was ever used an opinion of the masses, it was done in India, where a small priest-class, by a subtle process of conditioning the thinking of the vast majority of the people, hypnotised them for ages into accepting a role of servility with humility. As labourers, cultivators, craftsmen, etc., shudras were the main producers of social surplus. Their social labour was the life-blood of India’s great civilisation. Yet socially, they were treated as out-castes; they had no right in private property; they carried the main burden of taxes, and the heaviest punishments were awarded to them for minor infringements of the social code. As their low caste status was tied to their birth, they toiled and suffered without any hope.
It may be argued that when Lord Krishna said, “The four-fold Order was created by Me on the basis of quality and action”, he linked an individual caste to his Karma instead of the accidence of birth. Here Bhagwat Gita, no doubt, marks an important change in attitude at the philosophical level. But in actual practice this philosophy of caste takes the sting off the institution (of caste) and skilfully stereotypes it…. The difference between the Sutra theory of caste and this theory is significant. The Brahmin authors of the Sutras promised salvation to the Shudra only through the intermediacy of birth in higher castes. In plain words, it was tantamount to asking him to wait till doomsday…. The Gita, on the other hand, disarms opposition on more counts than one. First, it tries to provide a rationale for the original division-into four Varnas. Secondly, it unequivocally asserts the virtual equality of these divisions as far as the value of their distinct work and their inherent capacity for working out the individual salvation are concerned”.
Gandhiji developed this theme much further in his crusade against untouchability. But what was the net impact of the Gita’s view of caste or Gandhiji’s crusade on a common man’s perception of the caste system? When dealing with the living social reality, what counts is not the fine metaphysical concepts embodied in great religious works of a people, but the home-spun ideas that have percolated into the consciousness of the masses and become a part of their world-view. In this sense the caste system has meant division of Hindu society into numerous isolated castes and jatis who marry among themselves, dine among themselves and, broadly, pursue traditional occupations. Further, birth determines their caste and every caste has a fixed rank in the ritual hierarchy.
The above scheme of social organisation, transfixed for over 3,000 years, had far-reaching effects on the growth and development of various castes and communities. For instance, as exclusive custodians of higher knowledge, the Brahmins developed into a highly cultivated community with special flair for intellectual pursuits. On the other hand, the Shudras, being continuously subjected to all sorts of social, educational, cultural and economic deprivation, acquired all the unattractive traits of an unlettered rustic. The following passage from Rajni Kothari’s ‘Caste in Indian Politics’ will show as to how the low castes fared in competition with the higher castes even when several of their crippling handicaps had been removed:-
As Brahmins entered the institutions of higher learning, the professions and the services, everywhere they formed cliques from which non-Brahmins were excluded.
Between 1892 and 1904, out of 16 successful candidates for the I.C.S. 15 were Brahmins; in 1914, 93 out of 128 permanent district munsifs were Brahmins; in 1944, 452 out of 650 registered graduates of the University were Brahmins.
In case the above example appears too remote in time, and one is led to expect that after nearly three decades of special concessions and encouragement, the lower castes are fast coming into their own, the following example may prove an eye-opener. Over the period of ten years from 1969 to 1978, only ten candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes and Tribes got into I.A.S. on the basis of merit. As late as 1976 and 1977 not a single S.C. or S.T. candidate could make the grade in open competition. Similarly, only six S.C. and S.T. candidates got into I.P.S. on the basis of merit during these 10 years (Appendix 6).
This small but telling example gives some idea of the cultural lag that the depressed classes have still to make up before they are able to overcome their historical handicaps.
As caste conditioned and controlled every aspect of an individual’s life, it led to the creation of a society in which there was no ‘rank disequilibrium”. In other words, the lower castes were backward not only socially, but also educationally, politically and economically. On the other hand, the higher castes were advanced in all these spheres. The basic cause of this phenomenon was the higher or lower rank of a particular caste in the ritual hierarchy.
In fact the role of caste status was so pervasive in society that the idea and administration of justice were completely coloured by it. Used as we are today to the concept of the ‘Rule of law’, it will be interesting to compare this view with the perception of law in the earlier Hindu society where a man’s worth was directly related to his status to the caste hierarchy.
“For Englishmen, the law, if it is to be universal, impersonal and impartial, ought to be blind, an idea graphically illustrated by the representation of justice as a classically clad, blindfolded women holding balanced scales. For Hindu law, the reverse was true; the differences among men in society were central to their legal identity, rights and obligations”.
The fact that despite having lived under the rule of law during the British regime and made it the corner-stone of our Constitution, in actual practice our law still makes a lot of allowance for a person’s status, is an interesting example of the historical hang-over from the earlier times.
In view of the foregoing will it be too much to say that in the traditional Indian society social backwardness was a direct consequence of caste status and, further, that various other types of backwardness flowed directly from the crippling handicap?
