Caste system in India
During British rule (1857 to 1947)
### During British rule (1857 to 1947\)

Although the *varnas* and *jatis* have pre\-modern origins, the caste system as it exists today is the result of developments during the post\-Mughal period and the [British colonial period](/wiki/British_Raj "British Raj"), which made caste organisation a central mechanism of administration.

#### Basis

*Jati* were the basis of caste ethnology during the British colonial era. In the 1881 census and thereafter, colonial ethnographers used caste (*jati*) headings, to count and classify people in what was then [British India](/wiki/Presidencies_and_provinces_of_British_India "Presidencies and provinces of British India") (now India, [Pakistan](/wiki/Pakistan "Pakistan"), [Bangladesh](/wiki/Bangladesh "Bangladesh") and [Myanmar](/wiki/Myanmar "Myanmar")). The 1891 census included 60 sub\-groups each subdivided into six occupational and racial categories, and the number increased in subsequent censuses. The colonial era census caste tables, states Susan Bayly, "ranked, standardised and cross\-referenced jati listings for Indians on principles similar to zoology and botanical classifications, aiming to establish who was superior to whom by virtue of their supposed purity, occupational origins and collective moral worth". While bureaucratic colonial officials completed reports on their zoological classification of Indian people, some British officials criticised these exercises as being little more than a caricature of the reality of caste system in India. The colonial officials used the census\-determined jatis to decide which group of people were qualified for which jobs in the colonial government, and people of which jatis were to be excluded as unreliable. These census caste classifications, states Gloria Raheja, a professor of anthropology, were also used by colonial officials over the late 19th century and early 20th century, to formulate land tax rates, as well as to frequently target some social groups as "criminal" castes and castes prone to "rebellion".

The population then comprised about 200 million people, across five major religions, and over 500,000 agrarian villages, each with a population between 100 and 1,000 people of various age groups, which were variously divided into numerous castes. This ideological scheme was theoretically composed of around 3,000 castes, which in turn was claimed to be composed of 90,000 local endogamous sub\-groups.

The strict [British class system](/wiki/Social_class_in_the_United_Kingdom "Social class in the United Kingdom") may have influenced the British preoccupation with the Indian caste system as well as the British perception of pre\-colonial Indian castes. British society's own similarly rigid class system provided the British with a template for understanding Indian society and castes. The British, coming from a society rigidly divided by class, attempted to equate India's castes with British [social classes](/wiki/Social_class "Social class"). According to [David Cannadine](/wiki/David_Cannadine "David Cannadine"), Indian castes merged with the traditional British class system during the British Raj.
#### Sanskritisation

Sanskritisation is often aimed to claim the *Varna* status of Brahmin or Kshatriyas, the two prestigious Varna of the Vedic\-age Varna system. One of the main example of it is various non\-elite pastoral communities like [Ahir](/wiki/Ahir "Ahir"), [Gopa](/wiki/Gopa_%28caste%29 "Gopa (caste)"), [Ahar](/wiki/Ahar_caste "Ahar caste"), Goala etc. who adopted the [Yadav](/wiki/Yadav "Yadav") word as part of Sanskritisation effort to gain upward mobility in society during late 19th century to early 20th century. Quote: "The movement, which had a wide interregional spread, attempted to submerge regional names such as Goala, Ahir, Ahar, Gopa, etc., in favour of the generic term Yadava (Rao 1979\). Hence a number of pastoralist castes were subsumed under Yadava, in accordance with decisions taken by the regional and national level caste sabhas. The Yadavas became the first among the shudras to gain the right to wear the janeu, a case of successful sanskritisation which continues till date. As a prominent agriculturist caste in the region, despite belonging to the shudra varna, the Yadavas claimed Kshatriya status tracing descent from the Yadu dynasty. The caste's efforts matched those of census officials, for whom standardisation of overlapping names was a matter of policy. The success of the Yadava movement also lies in the fact that, among the jaati sabhas, the Yadava sabha was probably the strongest, its journal, *Ahir Samachar*, having an all\-India spread. These factors strengthened local efforts, such as in Bhojpur, where the Yadavas, locally known as Ahirs, refused to do *[begar](/wiki/Begar "Begar")*, or forced labour, for the landlords and simultaneously prohibited liquor consumption, child marriages, and so on." Quote: "In his typology of low caste movements, (M. S. A.) Rao distinguishes five categories. The first is characterised by 'withdrawal and self\-organisation'. ... The second one, illustrated by the Yadavs, is based on the claim of 'higher *varna* status' and fits with Sanskritisation pattern. ..." Quote: "The Ahir and allied cowherd castes (whether actually pastoralists or cultivators, as in the Punjab) have recently organized a pan\-Indian caste association with political as well as social reformist goals using the epic designation of Yadava (or Jadava) Vanshi Kshatriya, ie the warrior caste descending from the Yadava lineage of the Mahabharata fame." Similar attempts were made by communities who were historically classed as non\-elite tillers like [Kurmi](/wiki/Kurmi "Kurmi") and various communities like [Koeri](/wiki/Koeri "Koeri"), Murao,Nai etc. from the late 19th century onwards through their caste organisations by claiming higher social status.The spread of Sanskritisation under British rule saw a significant boost. The attempts at Sanskritisation by the lower\-castes before British rule were resisted by the upper\-castes.

According to Jaffrelot, the formation of Caste associations was a by\-product of enumeration of caste in censuses undertaken by the British regime. [Herbert Hope Risley](/wiki/Herbert_Hope_Risley "Herbert Hope Risley") , a colonial administrator who served as the census commissioner, decided to categorise castes in their local context and rank them accordingly into a Varna. This led to the creation of advocacy groups that sought upward mobility of their social and Varna status through sanskritisation. The Castes such as [Kurmis](/wiki/Kurmis "Kurmis"), [Gadariyas](/wiki/Gadariya "Gadariya"), [Kachi](/wiki/Kachhi_%28caste%29 "Kachhi (caste)"),[Jatavs](/wiki/Jatav "Jatav"),[Lodhs](/wiki/Lodh "Lodh") and [Ahirs](/wiki/Ahirs "Ahirs") underwent sanskritisation in order to claim Kshatriya status. [Kalwar](/wiki/Kalwar_%28caste%29 "Kalwar (caste)") caste is traditionally involved into distillation and selling of liquor, but around the start of the 20th century, various organisations related to the caste sought to redefine the image of their community through this process.

#### Race science

Colonial administrator [Herbert Hope Risley](/wiki/Herbert_Hope_Risley "Herbert Hope Risley"), an exponent of [race science](/wiki/Scientific_racism "Scientific racism"), used the ratio of the width of a [nose](/wiki/Nose "Nose") to its height to divide Indians into Aryan and Dravidian races, as well as seven castes.

#### Enforcement

[thumb\|From the 1850s, photography was used in Indian subcontinent by the British for anthropological purposes, helping classify the different castes, tribes and native trades. Included in this collection were Hindu, Muslim and Buddhist ([Sinhalese](/wiki/Sinhalese_people "Sinhalese people")) people classified by castes. Above is an 1860s photograph of [Rajputs](/wiki/Rajput "Rajput"), classified as a high Hindu caste.](/wiki/File:Charles_Shepherd_and_Arthur_Robertson01.jpg "Charles Shepherd and Arthur Robertson01.jpg")

##### Jobs for forward castes

The role of the British Raj on the caste system in India is controversial. The caste system became legally rigid during the Raj, when the British started to enumerate castes during their [ten\-year census](/wiki/Census_of_India_prior_to_independence "Census of India prior to independence") and meticulously codified the system. Between 1860 and 1920, the British incorporated the caste system into their system of governance, granting administrative jobs and senior appointments only to the upper castes.

##### Targeting criminal castes and their isolation

Starting with the 19th century, the British colonial government passed a series of laws that applied to Indians based on their religion and caste identification. These colonial era laws and their provisions used the term "Tribes", which included castes within their scope. This terminology was preferred for various reasons, including Muslim sensitivities that considered castes by definition Hindu, and preferred *Tribes*, a more generic term that included Muslims.

The British colonial government, for instance, enacted the [Criminal Tribes Act](/wiki/Criminal_Tribes_Act "Criminal Tribes Act") of 1871\. This law declared that all those who belonged to certain castes were born with criminal tendencies. Ramnarayan Rawat, a professor of History and specialising in social exclusion in the Indian subcontinent, states that the criminal\-by\-birth castes under this Act included initially [Ahirs](/wiki/Ahir "Ahir"), [Gurjars](/wiki/Gurjar "Gurjar") and [Jats](/wiki/Jat_people "Jat people"), but its enforcement expanded by the late 19th century to include most Shudras and untouchables, such as [Chamars](/wiki/Chamar "Chamar"), as well as [Sannyasis](/wiki/Sannyasa "Sannyasa") and hill tribes. Castes suspected of rebelling against colonial laws and seeking self\-rule for India, such as the previously ruling families [Kallars](/wiki/Kallar_%28caste%29 "Kallar (caste)") and the [Maravars](/wiki/Mukkulathor "Mukkulathor") in south India and non\-loyal castes in north India such as Ahirs, Gurjars and Jats, were called "predatory and barbarian" and added to the criminal castes list. Some caste groups were targeted using the Criminal Tribes Act even when there were no reports of any violence or criminal activity, but where their forefathers were known to have rebelled against Mughal or British authorities, or these castes were demanding labour rights and disrupting colonial tax collecting authorities.

The colonial government prepared a list of criminal castes, and all members registered in these castes by caste\-census were restricted in terms of regions they could visit, move about in or people with whom they could socialise. In certain regions of colonial India, entire caste groups were presumed guilty by birth, arrested, children separated from their parents, and held in penal colonies or quarantined without conviction or due process. This practice became controversial, did not enjoy the support of all British colonial officials, and in a few cases this decades\-long practice was reversed at the start of the 20th century with the proclamation that people "could not be incarcerated indefinitely on the presumption of \[inherited] bad character". The criminal\-by\-birth laws against targeted castes was enforced until the mid\-20th century, with an expansion of criminal castes list in west and south India through the 1900s to 1930s. Hundreds of Hindu communities were brought under the Criminal Tribes Act. By 1931, the colonial government included 237 criminal castes and tribes under the act in the [Madras Presidency](/wiki/Madras_Presidency "Madras Presidency") alone.

While the notion of hereditary criminals conformed to orientalist stereotypes and the prevailing [racial theories](/wiki/Scientific_racism "Scientific racism") during the colonial era, the social impact of its enforcement was profiling, division and isolation of many communities of Hindus as criminals\-by\-birth.

##### Religion and caste segregated human rights

Eleanor Nesbitt, a professor of History and Religions in India, states that the colonial government hardened the caste\-driven divisions in India not only through its caste census, but with a series of laws in the early 20th century. Colonial officials, for instance, enacted laws such as the [Land Alienation Act](/wiki/Punjab_Land_Alienation_Act%2C_1900 "Punjab Land Alienation Act, 1900") in 1900 and Punjab Pre\-Emption Act in 1913, listing castes that could legally own land and denying equivalent property rights to other census\-determined castes. These acts prohibited the inter\-generational and intra\-generational transfer of land from land\-owning castes to any non\-agricultural castes, thereby preventing economic mobility of property and creating consequent caste barriers in India.

[Khushwant Singh](/wiki/Khushwant_Singh "Khushwant Singh"), a Sikh historian, and [Tony Ballantyne](/wiki/Tony_Ballantyne_%28historian%29 "Tony Ballantyne (historian)"), a professor of history, state that these colonial\-era laws helped create and erect barriers within land\-owning and landless castes in northwest India. Caste\-based discrimination and denial of human rights by the colonial state had similar impact elsewhere in India.

##### Social identity

[Nicholas Dirks](/wiki/Nicholas_Dirks "Nicholas Dirks") has argued that Indian caste as we know it today is a "modern phenomenon," as caste was "fundamentally transformed by British colonial rule." According to Dirks, before colonial rule caste affiliation was quite loose and fluid, but colonial rule enforced caste affiliation rigorously, and constructed a much more strict hierarchy than existed previously, with some castes being criminalised and others being given preferential treatment.

De Zwart notes that the caste system used to be thought of as an ancient fact of Hindu life and that contemporary scholars argue instead that the system was constructed by the colonial authorities. He says that "jobs and education opportunities were allotted based on caste, and people rallied and adopted a caste system that maximized their opportunity". De Zwart also notes that post\-colonial affirmative action only reinforced the "British colonial project that ex hypothesi constructed the caste system".

Sweetman notes that the European conception of caste dismissed former political configurations and insisted upon an "essentially religious character" of India. During the colonial period, caste was defined as a religious system and was divorced from political powers. This made it possible for the colonial rulers to portray India as a society characterised by spiritual harmony in contrast to the former Indian states which they criticised as "despotic and epiphenomenal", with the colonial powers providing the necessary "benevolent, paternalistic rule by a more 'advanced' nation".

#### Further development

Assumptions about the caste system in Indian society, along with its nature, evolved during colonial rule. Corbridge concludes that British policies towards India's numerous [princely sovereign states](/wiki/Princely_states "Princely states"), as well as enumeration of the population into rigid categories during the 10\-year census, particularly with the 1901 and 1911 census, contributed towards the hardening of caste identities.

Social unrest during 1920s led to a change in this policy. From then on, the colonial administration began a policy of [positive discrimination](/wiki/Positive_discrimination "Positive discrimination") by reserving a certain percentage of government jobs for the lower castes.The Economist (29 June 2013\), [Affirmative Action](https://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2013/06/affirmative-action), India Reservations

In the round table conference held in [August 1932](/wiki/Round_Table_Conferences_%28India%29%23Second_Round_Table_Conference_%28September%E2%80%93December_1931%29 "Round Table Conferences (India)#Second Round Table Conference (September–December 1931)"), upon the request of Ambedkar, the then [Prime Minister of Britain](/wiki/Prime_Minister_of_the_United_Kingdom "Prime Minister of the United Kingdom"), [Ramsay MacDonald](/wiki/Ramsay_MacDonald "Ramsay MacDonald") made a [Communal Award](/wiki/Communal_Award "Communal Award") which awarded a provision for separate representation for the Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, [Anglo\-Indians](/wiki/Anglo-Indians "Anglo-Indians"), Europeans and Dalits. These depressed classes were assigned a number of seats to be filled by election from special constituencies in which voters belonging to the depressed classes only could vote. Gandhi went on a hunger strike against this provision claiming that such an arrangement would split the Hindu community into two groups. Years later, Ambedkar wrote that Gandhi's fast was a form of coercion. This agreement, which saw Gandhi end his fast and Ambedkar drop his demand for a separate electorate, was called the [Poona Pact](/wiki/Poona_Pact "Poona Pact").

After India achieved independence, the policy of caste\-based reservation of jobs was formalised with lists of [Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes](/wiki/Scheduled_Castes_and_Scheduled_Tribes "Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes").

#### Other theories and observations

Smelser and Lipset propose in their review of Hutton's study of caste system in colonial India the theory that individual mobility across caste lines may have been minimal in India because it was ritualistic. They state that this may be because the colonial social stratification worked with the pre\-existing ritual caste system.

The emergence of a caste system in the modern form, during the early period of British colonial rule in the 18th and 19th century, was not uniform in South Asia. Claude Markovits, a French historian of colonial India, writes that Hindu society in north and west India (Sindh), in late 18th century and much of 19th century, lacked a proper caste system, their religious identities were fluid (a combination of Saivism, Vaisnavism, Sikhism), and the Brahmins were not the widespread priestly group (but the *Bawas* were). Markovits writes, "if religion was not a structuring factor, neither was caste" among the Hindu merchants group of northwest India.


How can social stratification influence individual mobility across caste lines?