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ORIGIN OF CASTES IN HINDU SOCIETY

Caste system is almost as old as Hindu religion. Its very edifice is based on caste-structure. During the last couple of centuries “subtle minds” and “able pens” have endeavoured to unravel the mysteries of caste. But in spite of their undoubted scholarship the overall perception about the origin of caste structure, as we find it today, is a puzzling muddle.

In English language, the omnibus world “caste” is used to represent Gotra, Varna, Jati, Biradari (a bunch of several jatis), Kula, or Vansh – and much else – in respect of the stratification in Hindu society. This has caused considerable confusion in explaining caste-related issues. Since most of the scholarly discourse is carried out in English language, the Indian intellectuals, who have a tendency to expound their own thesis also in the backdrop of earlier theories by western researchers, tend to use the same idiom. Perplexed by the confounding views of the great, they often fail to recognise things simple and untwined, which should be easier for them to spot.

Chaturvarnya Society

From ancient times Hindu society had four classes called Varnas: Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra. In Bhagwadgita, Lord Krishna himself explains to Arjuna the dharma (duties) of each varna. As a Kshatriya, fighting to win was Arjuna’s dharma. After the prevalence of Buddhism and Jainism, Hindus probably needed a written code for their guidance. Manu codified the “traditional” laws of Hinduism in his Manusmriti (c. 200 BCE to 200 CE). Among other guidelines, the Smriti confirms the division of society into “four varnas divinely ordained” and asserts “there is no fifth varna”. The duties of each varna have been re-stated – as also the advisability of marrying within one’s own varna. Thus a Brahmana could choose a spouse from the whole of his (Brahmana) varna, “who is neither a spinda on the mother’s side, nor belongs to the same family on father’s side (same gotra).” There was no mention of any sub-divisions to restrict one’s choice of marriage to a small fraternity (which is the case at present).

This division of society into four classes i.e. varnas continued throughout the first millennium of the Common Era. It is confirmed by other Indian sources, such as Kautilya’s Arthashastra (fourth century CE). In the beginning (page 10) of his compendium, Kautilya enumerates the duties of each varna as “determined” in the Vedas. Example: Vaishya’s duties – study, performance of sacrifices, charity, agriculture, cattle breeding and trade. Perceptive foreign travellers visiting India did not fail to notice this caste-hierarchy. Huen Tsang, an eminent Chinese traveller who came to India during the first half of the seventh century, has thus described the castes in India during that time. “There are four orders of the heredity caste distinctions. The first is that of the Brahmanas or “purely living”; they keep their principles and live continently, strictly observing their ceremonial purity. The second order is that of the Kshatriyas, the race of kings … The third order is that of the Vaishyas or class of traders ... The fourth order is that of Shudras … These four castes form classes of various degrees of ceremonial purity. The members of a caste marry within the caste …”.

Ibn Khurdaba who came to India during the ninth century counts the castes as seven – like Magesthenese, a Greek envoy to the court of Chandergupta Maurya (fourth century BCE). Khurdaba includes the outcast tribes like Chandala and Wandering Tribes in his list. But most significant and knowledgeable is the record left by Abu Rehan, commonly known as Al Beruni. He came to India during the times of Mahmud Ghaznavi (early eleventh century) and wrote his book Kitab-ul-Hind about the sciences and customs of Hindus. He states: “The Hindus call their castes varnas or colours and from the genealogical point of view they call them Jatah (Jati). They are four from the beginning. The highest are the Brahmanas, next come Kshatriyas. Then follow the Viashyas and the Shudras. Between the two latter classes there is not very much distance …” It is significant that Bhimadeva Shahi and Jayapala of the ruling dynasties of that period were identified, by a knowledgeable scholar like Al Beruni, simply as Brahmanas – i.e. by their varna only and not any caste.

From this it should be clear that up to the time when Islam first intruded in north-west India (early eleventh century) the traditional Chaturvarnya, or the four-fold classification of Hindu society, was still in vogue.

In India the law of matrimony centres round the principal of exogamy. Marriage within one’s own patriarchal clan (sagotra) is a strict taboo for the Hindus which custom is not violated even today. But how to keep a tag on consanguineous relationships over a period of centuries, and even millennia? Indo-Aryans have left a unique system to preserve the memory of descent, not to be witnessed anywhere else in the world. In Vedic times, a person was identified by his pravara, gotra, Veda and Veda-shakha (stotra) suffixed to his name. Pravara Rishi was the original progenitor from whom the family was descended. Gotra Rishi was the pravara himself, or a prominent descendant could start a new sub-branch (gotra) with his own name. With the passage of time, there could be several gotras (all consanguineous) under the pravara patriarch. Further, since Vedas were learned only by recital, each Brahmana family had been assigned a specific shakha of a particular Veda for study. These four attributes were associated with the name of each individual of that family, just as caste is suffixed in the present times. At every Vedic ceremony, the Yajman or sacrificer had to recite his gotra and pravara at the beginning of the ceremony and in this way the memory of the Vedic ancestors from whom the reciter was descended was kept alive from day to day and generation to generation. In this way, a person knew which families formed his own patriarchal stock, to be eschewed for selection of a spouse (exogamy).

In the marriage ceremony of Hindus, which is still performed according to Vedic rites (Vivah Padhiti), there is a section called gotrachar: stating the gotra. Here the groom is required to identify himself by declaring that he is so and so (the groom’s name), of this pravara/gotra, great grandson of so and so, grandson of so and so, son of so and so … Likewise the bride. The original text requires it to be repeated thrice However, in the simplified rituals of the modern times the groom declares his identity, with gotra, only once but it is never skipped. This is how families still remember their gotra.

Varnashankara Castes

As stated above, marital relations had to be outside one’s gotra (exogamy) but within one’s varna (endogamy). Varnashankara (cross-varna) marriages were discouraged by degrading the profession of such progeny. Sons begotten by the first three varnas on wives of the next lower varnas were tolerated and could aspire for the profession of their respective fathers. But in any other permutation, the off-springs of a mixed marriage were nominated a new caste with specially assigned (menial) duties. Examples: The son of a Brahmana from a Vaishya mother became Ambashtha: he was to devote himself to the art of healing. The son of a Brahmana from a Shudra mother was Nishad, whose occupation would be killing fresh fish. Son of a Kshatriya from a Brahmana mother would be Suta, who would attend to the management of horses and chariots. The son of a Vaishya from a Kshatriya woman would be Vaidehaka, assigned to the service of women. Then there were the cross-breeds of the Varnashankaras. For example the son of Nishad upon Vaidehaka woman would be Karvara … and so on. This created many castes different from the original four varnas.

Modern researchers postulated that thousands of castes in the Hindu society today are the result of proliferation of these mind-boggling permutations of mating with, and by, these varnashankaras. This theory held the field for quite some time but it stands completely discredited and we need not go into it. Suffice to say that a varnashankara stood expelled from the varna of his father, as also of his mother. On the other hand, each of the thousands of castes today definitely belongs to some varna. And as we shall explain later, castes of the same varna bunched together to form inter-marriage endogamous fraternities (biradaris): no biradari has, say, Brahmana as also Kshatriya castes in it.

There has been lamentable muddle in all scholarly discussion on the subject for signal failure to notice various important developments that “evolved” in the Indian social order during certain stages over the millennia. For example, the Hindu society introduced new ramifications in Brahmanism (or Hinduism, as it may be called today) when it felt threatened by the preponderance of Buddhism. Similarly it recalibrated its varna vayavastha when it felt threatened by large scale forced conversions by Islam – without ever changing the basic structure of its divinely ordained chatur varnaya, which is the anchor of Hinduism. Because of the context, we shall here highlight only the latter.

Caste Proliferation

By the time the Afghan armies seriously threatened Delhi, towards the end of the twelfth century, the Indians had inter-acted with the new religion of Islam for about five centuries (700-1200 CE). Indians had performed the feat (rare for those times) of blocking Muslim arms which were pushing towards India by way of southern Afghanistan – after having completely subjugated Iran. The Arabs had been ruling over Sindh during this long period and the Ghaznavids in Punjab for two centuries, without being allowed to break through the cordon of Indian states around them. So when overwhelmed towards the end of the twelfth century, the Hindus set up “defensive ramparts in order to present a solid front to an aggressive and alien culture and religion.” This is when the traditional four varnas imploded into numerous castes.

“The complete disintegration of the nation into numerous and distinct profession-castes was subsequent to the Moslem conquest of India and the national death of the Hindus: Romesh Chunder Dutt. “Distinct profession-castes arose after the Muslim conquest. All the law books speak of four castes: A. Kumar Mazumdar.” C. V. Vaidya has also confirmed the same position by extensive study of the land grant documents. Several other historians too confirm this position. It is only “by the end of the period under survey (1030-1194 AD) we find that all the Brahmanas do not belong to one unit”: B. P. Mazumdar.”

At that stage (end of twelfth century) (i) the varnas disintegrated into numerous jatis or castes – each having a distinct gotra; groups of these castes (all of the same varna) bunched together to form caste fraternities (biradaris) for marriage within their own (limited) group (endogamy) but outside their own caste/gotra (exogamy); and (iii) each person started identifying himself by suffixing his caste to his name.

This knowledge about implosion of varnas into numerous castes did not have a wide circulation among historians. Scholars continued to be (mis)led by the earlier theories of ‘Indo-Europeanists’. B. R. Abedkar came nearest to the fact but failed to pin point its timing. After analysing the theories of Senart, Nesfield, Risely and Dr. Kelkar, he gave his own opinion: “For the people of India the law of exogamy is a positive injunction even today… The various Gotras of India are and have been exogamous … none dare infringe it … in the final analysis creation of Castes, so far India is concerned, means the superposition of endogamy on exogamy.” His observations were very perceptive but he just missed when the endogamous biradaris were “superposed” on exogamous gotra: this happened after the Muslim conquest of India. Another significant observation by him needs to be mentioned. “There are occupational, religious etc., castes it is true, but by no means it is an explanation of the origin of Caste.”

''The foregoing narration is based on observation of historical literature. We now advance in our enquiry: how this tradition of exogamous castes and endogamous marriage fraternities came to be adopted in the entire Hindu society when political sovereignty in the country was passing to hostile rulers and religio-cultural institutions were also being upset?''

Universal Adoption

In the cultural, religious and political milieu of the twelfth century, no one had the authority to issue any edict for adoption of the revised jati (caste)/biradari system for identity and matrimony. As always this change was also initiated and adopted by the Brahmanas first. Each patriarchal kula earlier identified by its four-symbol (pravra-gotra-ved-shakha) insignia was now a distinct caste and each member of the caste was required to display his identity by suffixing caste to his name. But how was the caste-name selected?

Caste-name: There was no standard method for deducing caste-name from its earlier four traditional attributes. Each jati (now caste) had to adopt a new name for it. It is presumed that it would be easy to adopt its occupation (Agnihotri, Dikshit) as its caste name if traditionally it was exclusively with it. Others may have chosen the name of a prominent member of their clan, or place of residence if it was the main habitat of their group. It appears that the main requirement was exclusivity: no other caste should have the same name.

Biradari (Caste Fraternity): How was a biradari or a bunch of castes (jatis) constituted? The cardinal need of the unsettled times was to have a group of known castes from which to select a spouse. Geographical proximity, similarity of occupations, previous marital linkages and similar other pragmatic criteria must have dictated the choice of the castes to be included in the newly formed biradari. Other castes left out of this endogamous inter-marriage fraternity had no alternative but to form their own separate biradaris. Obviously the aim at that stage was to keep out any person (of an unacceptable, or unknown, lineage) from becoming a member of their family. It was a societal imposition, in difficult times, to safeguard the religious injunctions of the Dharashastras viz. (i) exogamy of gotra and (ii) endogamy of varna for selecting a spouse. While parcelling the large varna into smaller biradaris care was taken that all castes bunching together were from the same varna.

Adoption by imitation. Due to disconcerting situation of religious institutions after a massive foreign attack, affecting the whole of north India, no new Dharashastras were being written. Then, how this new tradition, first introduced and adopted by the Brahmanas became a universal practice in Hindu society? India had a tradition of cultural unity, with or without political unity and the Brahmanas were the leading class. This jati and biradari system was also whole heartedly imitated by all non-Brahmana varnas as also by others. “The propensity to imitate is a deep seated one in human mind and need not be deemed an inadequate explanation for the universal adoption of the new tradition”. Imitation flows from the higher to the lower. Over the centuries this tradition became embedded in the Hindu mind and hangs there till this day – without a commandment from Dharashastras.

A Case Study: The Mohyals

These fully substantiated facts about the implosion of the varnas into castes, and the tradition of suffixing castes to names as marker of one’s identity, are still not widely known even to the pandits and the historians. We are therefore carrying out a case study about one community – the Mohyals – to illustrate these facts from their history.

The Mohyals are a branch of Sarasvata Brahmanas of north-west India. They are what the historians term Brahma-Kshatras – Brahmanas who had taken up the profession of Kshatriyas. At present they are an inter-marriage fraternity (biradari) of seven castes: Bali, Bhimwal, Chhibber, Datt, Lau, Mohan and Vaid. They claim “direct” descent from their Pravara Rishis: Prashar, Koshala, Bhrigu, Bhardwaj, Vasishtha and Kashyapa, who were their pravara as also gotra Rishis. They belong to Yajur Veda and its Madhyandini Shakha. Mohyals are very conscious about their history and heredity. Till recent times, their castes had bards (bhats) singing kavits and eulogising the valorous deeds of their ancestors. This oral and recorded corpus of their history helps in studying their foot prints in history before and after the advent of Islam in India.

Chhibbers. The dynasty of Chach and Dahar that ruled in Sindh (c. 632-712 CE) were the ancestors of the present day Mohyals of the Chhibber caste. In Chachnama this dynasty is specifically identified as the Brahmanas – without any caste suffixed to their names because the tradition of suffixing caste was not then in vogue. On the other hand, in the Medieval/Muslim history members of this lineage are mentioned as Chhibber Brahmanas in various records. Prag Das (later Baba Praga), a Chhibber of village Karyala (Tehsil Chakwal, now in Pakistan) was a devotee of Guru Nank Dev (1469-1539). He was also associated with the next five gurus after the demise of Nanak. Several scions of Praga’s family served as dewans and commanders of the subsequent Sikh gurus. Chaupat Rai son of Pera Chhibber (a brother of Praga) and Gaval Das son of Chhote Mal Chhibber (brother of Chaupat Rai) had accompanied Guru Tegh Bahadur, the ninth guru, when he travelled in East India (1656-64) (Bhat Vahi Dakhni). In July 1675, when this Guru was taken into custody, Dewan Sati Das and Mati Das, sons of Hira Nand Chhibber, were also arrested along with him (Bhat Vahi Multani Sindhi). They were martyred most brutally at Delhi under the orders of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, for remaining loyal to the creed of their guru and refusing to accept Islam. In recognition of their sacrifices, Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth guru, sent for the “Chhibber Bipr (Brahmanas)” of Karyala and appointed Saheb Chand and Dharam Chand of that family as his dewans. Mukand Rai, the son of martyred Sati Das, and Kirpa Ram, a Mohyal Brahmana of Datt caste of Mattan, Kashmir, laid down their lives during the battle at Chamkor (1705), where two sons of Guru Gobind Singh were also killed …

Datts. Samantadeva, Kamalvarman and Bhimadeva, the sovereign rulers of Eastern Afghanistan (Kabul) during the ninth and tenth centuries, are identified as Brahmanas without any mention of their caste. The dynasty is known as the Brahmana Hindu Shahis in history. They were the forefathers of the present day Datt caste of Mohyal Brahmanas. In 1527 CE, during the rule of Babur, Rai Pun Dewan of Datt caste, killed Rai Meen (a Rajput Chieftain) and took control of the Pathankot area. He built a strong fort at Paniad (near Gurdaspur) as his capital. He earned the enmity of the Mughal governor at Lahore for sheltering a girl of Marwaha caste, whom the governor wanted as his wife. The forces sent by the governor could not conquer the strong fort of Datts at Paniad for quite some time. However, through the treachery of their cook, Datts were ambushed while celebrating in a cotton field and the whole clan was slaughtered, except two children named Shah and Dholan who were on a visit to their maternal grandparents.

Mohans. Jang Nama Mohanan is a bardic poem about the history of the Mohan caste of Mohyal Brahmanas. They were masters of a large tract of land around Mamdot (near Ferozepur) during the reign of the Mughal Emperor Mohammad Shah (1719-1748 CE). Mohammad Shah entrusted one Sadhu Ram Mohan, a grandee in his court, with some military assignment in Punjab, which he carried out successfully (Mughal aur Pathan jeete karan aaye salaam). During his absence, Jai Ram Mohan, a very handsome grandson of Sadhu Ram was seized, forcibly converted to Islam and married to a royal princess. Mohyals, the Brahmana warriors, are known for their uprightness and loyalty. Professional loyalty was a matter of pride for them and there is no mention of any treachery on their part, whether in the service of the Muslims, the Sikhs or the British. Professional loyalty was a matter of pride for them. But personal faith (their religion) was a matter of honour and self-esteem. There was a redline (Laxman Rekha) between the two. After successfully completing his assignment in Punjab, Sadhu Ram came to Mamdot and related the development to his people. The Mohan clan of Mamdot challenged their sovereign to reclaim their ‘son’, refused any negotiations on the issue and the whole claim was almost annihilated on the battlefield, in this unequal fight. According to Seegadh Pothi, the original history book on which this account of the Jang Nama is based, 2088 veteran Mohan men and women perished in this carnage. The Pothi gives names of 72 men of distinction who died fighting in this horrific war. From the foregoing account it will be observed that while ancestors of Mohyals were identified by their (Brahmana) Varna during the first millennium, their castes (Chhibber, Datt, Mohan,) are prominently mentioned with their names in historical accounts during the Muslim rule in India.

Summary

From ancient times the Vedic Dharma had four main divisions, called Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra. Their duties, or professions, had been defined. This social order remained intact despite foreign aggressions and internal religious upheavals – till the appearance of Islam on the world scene. For more than five hundred years (c. 643 to 1192 CE) Hindus held back the Islamic arms from reaching the heart land of India. Finally when overwhelmed during the end of the twelfth century, they made several adjustments in their traditional social order. At this stage: (a) each varna disintegrated into numerous castes, or jatis; (b) groups of castes, of the same varna, bunched together to form inter-marriage fraternities or biradaris; (c) the castes included in a certain biradari had distinctly different gotras; (d) a person had to marry outside his own caste (gotra) according to the ancient tradition, but limit his choice to one of the other castes within his newly formed fraternity (biradari) and (e) a new tradition developed – each person was proclaiming his identity prominently by suffixing caste to his name. These adjustments in the social order did not violate any of the scriptural injunctions and continue till the present times.

[This is a modified version of an article published in ITIHAS DARPAN, Vol. XIX (1), a research magazine of Akhil Bharatiya Itihas Sankalan Yojna, New Delhi.]