T
HEstudyofcaste in
India has attracted
much interest over the
yearsfor anumberof reas-
ons.Its capacity to renew
itselfin newandmyriad
formsandidentities now
preoccupies sociologists,
historians and feminists,
includingmembersofthe
politicalclass.Newcaste
identities haveemergedin
thesocial,economic and,
more importantly, polit-
icalarena.Thetraditional
forms of caste divisions
stillexist.Buttheemer-
gence of numerically
strong caste groups be-
longingmostlyto the back-
wardclassesis creatinga
completelynewdiscourse
in social, economic and
politicalterms.
In GenderingCaste,
thefeministhistorianand
academic UmaChakrav-
arti,whohashadaclose
associationwiththewo-
men’smovementin India,
examinestheneedto look
at castebeyond thecon-
ventional dichotomy of
purityandpollution.The
bookis part of aseries
titled“TheorisingFemin-
ism” published by Sage
andedited by Maithreyi
Krishnaraj.It looks spe-
cificallyathow casteand
genderworkin extricable
ways to reinforce patri-
archyandperpetuatein-
equalities through the
institutionalisation of
colleges where young
people from the north
pouredin for higherstud-
ies, wasthe epicentreof the
anti-Mandal protests.
UmaChakravartibe-
ginswithanarrationof the
protests.Shehadmetgirl
students,presumablyfrom
upper-castebackgrounds,
amongtheprotesterswho
held placards that read
“We don’t want unem-
ployedhusbands”.Thisap-
peared to her as a
self-regulatory code that
wasaconsequence of in-
ternalisingtheideology of
mandatory endogamous
marriages.Thatmarriages
shouldtakeplacewithin
the casteandeventhe sub-
caste is afundamentalideologicalconstruct of the
castesystem.
Thewritersays ancient
Brahmanical texts, which
validateinequality in the
nameoftradition,continue
to be heldas sacred,appar-
entlyevenby castes at the
lowerendof the spectrum.
It is testimonyto the social,
economic andpolitical
power thatthe uppercastes
continuetowield. The
policyofreservation, if
anything,hasbeenadroprolesdesignedfor women,
manifested in modern
forms.Among thethemes
it dealswithare theques-
tions of how theIndian
castesystemviewswomen
andhowwomenviewthe
systemof socialstratifica-
tion in contemporary
India.
In the early1990s,
whenit becameclearthat
reservationfor backward
classeswasgoingtobea
reality,theuproaragainst
it by the“forwardcastes”,
especiallyin northIndia,
wasasociologicaleventin
itself.Thesouthern States,
which had awell-en-
trenchedsystemof affirm-
ativeactionfor backward
classesandalonghistory
of social reform move-
ments, did not have a
problemwithreservation.
Delhi,withits vastnet-
work of undergraduateWomen and caste
“GenderingCaste” examinestheroleof womenin theperpetuationof
casteandtheneedto gobeyondtheconventionaldichotomyof purity
andpollution.BYT.K.RAJALAKSHMI
GenderingCaste
Througha
FeministLens
By UmaChakravarti
SagePublications,
2018,NewDelhi
Pages: 224
Price:Rs.495BOOKSin review
AJATdemonstration
demandingreservationfor
the communityin New Delhi
in May2015. R.V.MOORTHY