The New Cambridge History of India, Volume 4, Part 3: Caste, Society and Politics in India from the Eighteenth Century to the Modern Age

New Cambridge History of India #4.3

by Susan Bayly

The phenomenon of caste has probably aroused more controversy than any other aspect of Indian life. This volume explores the emergence of ideas and practices that gave rise to the so-called "caste-society." Using a historical and anthropological approach, the author frames her analysis in the context of India's economic and social order, interpreting caste as a contingent and variable response to changes in India's political landscape through the colonial conquest. The book's wide-ranging analysis offers one of the most powerful statements ever written on caste in South Asia.

Genres: History, India, Nonfiction, Anthropology, Cultural Studies

444 pages, Hardcover

First published July 15, 1999

Reviews

[Wendelle]

This book tracks the concept of caste and its influence on Indian Society and the national discourse from the 18th century onward. It is relevant because caste must be addressed as a significant factor in socioeconomic status, and because the British empire’s characterizations of caste helped shape Indian conceptions of caste, and of themselves, in the generations after colonial rule. When the British encountered the concept of caste, they brought upon it their currently all-encompassing paradigm of the naturalness of rank, or a natural evolutionary hierarchy that ordered the world. This paradigm or mindset had three results. First, the British initiated the All-India Census, which introduced the innovation of rigidification of hundreds of ranks and castes, compiled and standardised to resemble Western tables of classification on zoology and botany. Second, the British hunted for collaborators through the lens of caste, immediately designating castes like Brahmins and other agreeable classes, like merchants, as enlightened literates who could be relied upon to collaborate and ease the burdens of colonial administration on the empire. This had the effect of converting caste status into effective socioeconomic status, effectively parceling out the choicest jobs in the colony according to caste. Lastly, the British paradigm of rank drew upon popular racial theories of the day to effortlessly construct a natural ‘hierarchy’ of states. Here, the British were at the apex of civilization, while societies like the Aryan Indians and the Japanese were moving along on the spectrum, as currently uncivilised but potentially more dynamic states. This is important because the British transmitted this hierarchy to the Indian intelligentsia, such as the 1909 National Social Conference. Influenced by this concept of civilizational hierarchy, they debated the practices of caste, amplified demands for philanthropic reforms, and reduced demands for shares in self-governance, due to aspirations to make India ‘civilized’ as the British were. This book is also important for later chapter discussions of the day-to-day bearings of caste on the lives of people situated in the colonial state.

[John Jose · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you can forgive the academic language, you will learn much reading this book. Especially the last three chapters are worth your time.

[Akhil Kang · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the absolute best books to have been written on histories of caste. I go back to this book often - to re-acquaint myself with Bayle's brilliance and to keep making sense of contemporary formations of caste power/supremacy