Note 83 — Introductory Essay on Caste

It has been seen also that occupation is the real basis of the division and social precedence of castes in India, as in all communities which have made any substantial progress in civilisation and social development. Distinctions of race, religion and family gradually disappear, and are merged in the gradation according to wealth or profession. The enormous majority of castes are occupational and their social position depends on their caste calling. Thus in the case of an important industry like weaving, there are separate castes who weave the finer kinds of cloth, as the Tāntis and Koshtis, while one subcaste of Koshtis, the Sālewārs, are distinguished as silk-weavers, and a separate caste of Patwas embroider silk and braid on cloth; other castes, as the Mahārs, Gāndas and Koris, weave coarse cloth, and a distinct caste of Katias existed for the spinning of thread, and the Muhammadan caste of Bahnas for cleaning cotton. The workers in each kind of metal have formed a separate caste, as the Lohārs or blacksmiths, the Kasārs or brass-workers, the Tameras or coppersmiths, and the Sunārs or gold- and silversmiths, while the Audhia subcaste of Sunārs83 and the Bharewas, an inferior branch of the Kasārs, work in bell-metal. Each of these castes makes ornaments of its own metal, while the Kachera caste84 make glass bangles, and the Lakheras make bangles from lac and clay. In the case of agriculture, as has been seen, there is usually a functional cultivating caste for each main tract of country, as the Jāts in the Punjab, the Kurmis in Hindustān, the Kunbis in the Deccan, the Chasas in Orissa, the Kāpus in the Telugu country and the Vellālas in the Tamil country. Except the Jāts, who were perhaps originally a racial caste, the above castes appear to include a number of heterogeneous groups which have been welded into a single body through the acquisition of land and the status which it confers. Various other cultivating castes also exist, whose origin can be traced to different sources; on obtaining possession of the land they have acquired the cultivating status, but retained their separate caste organisation and name. Other agricultural castes have been formed for the growing of special products. Thus the Mālis are gardeners, and within the caste there exist such separate groups as the Phūlmālis who grow flowers, the Jire Mālis cumin and the Halde Mālis turmeric.85 Hindus generally object to cultivate sān-hemp,86 and some special castes have been formed from those who grew it and thus underwent some loss of status; such are the Lorhas and Kumrawats and Pathinas, and the Santora subcaste of Kurmis. The āl87 or Indian madder-dye is another plant to which objection is felt, and the Alia subcastes of Kāchhis and Banias consist of those who grow and sell it. The Dāngris and Kāchhis are growers of melons and other vegetables on the sandy stretches in the beds of rivers and the alluvial land on their borders which is submerged in the monsoon floods. The Barais are the growers and sellers of the betel-vine.