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Through gendered lens, theatre of caste plays out

Veena Das, a well-known anthropologist, remarks, “Women are literally seen as point of entrance, as ‘gateways’ to the caste system.

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Reicha Tanwar

Veena Das, a well-known anthropologist, remarks, “Women are literally seen as point of entrance, as ‘gateways’ to the caste system. If men of virtually low status were to get sexual access to women of higher caste, then not only the purity of women but that of the entire group would be endangered. Since the main threat to the purity of the group came from female sexuality, it became vital to guard it. Most groups solved this problem by the custom of ‘prepuberty marriage’ (Das 1976).” Considering the resilience of the caste, class and gender hierarchy, despite the fact that the Indian Constitutions has formally ended it by proclaiming equality to all citizens of India regardless of caste, class and gender, the present study becomes even more relevant.

The Supreme Court of India held in 2018: “When two adults marry out of their own volition, they choose their path, they consummate their relationship, they feel that it is their goal and they have the right to do so. Any kind of torture or torment or ill-treatment in the name of honour that tantamount to atrophy of choice of an individual relating to love and marriage by any assembly, whatsoever nomenclature it assumes, is illegal and cannot be allowed a moment of existence. The consent of the family or the community or the clan is not necessary once the two adult individuals agree to enter into wedlock. When two adults consensually choose each other as life partners it is a manifestation of their choice which is recognized under Article 9 and 21 of the Constitution.”

Recently, during field work for a research project on marriage and dowry in North India respondents — the young and educated, men and women — were asked as to what was most important for consideration of marriage. Ninety per cent listed their own caste as the single most important factor from among educational qualifications, caste, monetary status, employment, love or affection.

Series editor Maithreyi Krishnaraj says there was need for an updated edition of Gendering Caste by Uma Chakravarti (2013) because of the persisting violence against women, particularly caste-based violence in various parts of the country. There are media reports of honour killings, sometimes due to the verdicts of the khap panchayats; Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan being notorious for such crimes.

The volume examines how caste, high or low, has shaped the lives of women of all castes, and the relationship between class and caste. From the point of view of this book, the complex formation of social status, economic production and social reproduction is contingent on what has been characterised as ‘Brahmanical patriarchy’ by recent feminist scholarship. To understand the significance of Brahamanical patriarchy, we need to recognise that it is not merely a routine variant within the framework of the subordination of women, but a structure unique to Hinduism and the caste order.

The book is divided into nine chapters wherein caste, class and gender have been studied from the prehistoric times. It also delves into the diversity of patriarchal preferences in the ages that follow — up to the pre-colonial and colonial period. Some case studies pertaining to gender-based violence and honour killings in contemporary India have also been analysed. In fact, the author appeals to young scholars to take up intensive region-based studies on the subject for a more rigorous analysis. The scholarship of Uma Chakravarti, a well-known historian, cannot be disputed and this book is another addition to her rich contribution to a feminist understanding of Indian society.

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