200 Part III: South Asia
In part, purity and pollution are based on the hereditary occupations (and
thus contribution to society) of the castes. Brahmans are most pure because
their hereditary work is speaking the sacred words of the Vedas and performing
the rituals; their activity assists all of society, invoking the gods’ beneficence on
behalf of everyone. At the other end of the hierarchy, the untouchable castes
also perform a benefit to society, by dealing with the filth of the streets, as
sweepers do, or carrying away the dead and burning their polluting bodies in
the cremation ground, as Doms do. The contributions of these social actors
enable Brahmans to do their work for society. In the middle, there may be con-
tests about which caste outranks which in the local hierarchy, but few doubt the
validity of the basic concept.
These preoccupations with purity and pollution keep the castes separate by
limiting and defining their interactions; exchanges between persons of different
castes are risky. Pollution can be transferred through water as electricity flows
through metal. Therefore, in villages, there are wells designated for Brahmans,
different wells in untouchable hamlets, and others for intermediate castes. Peo-
ple of unequal castes do not eat together because of the danger of passing pollu-
tion through food. At weddings and funerals of the dominant castes, the whole
village with all its castes will be fed, but care is taken to separate unequal castes
by seating them in different places or serving them at different times. Servants
of high caste families cannot come from too low in the hierarchy; low Vaishya
or high Shudra castes make the best servants. Brahmans often will employ only
another, poorer Brahman to cook or serve. Restaurants in towns frequently
employ Brahman cooks, because anyone can accept food from a Brahman, but
high caste persons will not accept food from a low caste person. Some foods
are more risky than others; raw fruits and vegetables can be accepted but taken
home to wash and cook. Food that is fried in ghee is safer and is the usual food
at weddings that include multiple castes (this is called pakka, “good” or safe
ceremonial food), while boiled rice is riskiest of all (kachcha food), which can
only be safely eaten with equals, mainly people of the same family or caste.
Thus, throughout most of village India, the local hierarchy is partly deter-
mined (or at least made visible) by who can take food and water from whom. At
the very top, the highest Brahmans can give food and water to anyone but will
accept the same from no other group. Those at the very bottom can accept from
anyone above them, but no one will accept from them. In intermediate levels,
people may take from all their superiors and give downward. These days this
formula is increasingly contested, with more touchiness about such traditional
interactions and people in lower categories often refusing to play the game at all.Life In and Out of Society: Having It Both Ways
An iconic sight in India is a nearly naked man wearing a loincloth or ochre
robes, unwashed, his hair in long matted locks or piled atop his head, his body
possibly smeared all over with ash, or with a streak of it across his forehead.
Perhaps he is carrying a trident as a staff and wearing a chain of rudraksha