In this part of the thesis, caste and class is discussed in the same section because in this case, caste shows as an adequate model of social class in the original
Indian framework. The Ipe family as The Touchables and the the Anglophiles are the owner of production means. They are also the people who occupy the cultural
capital and therefore become the people in the top of the stratification. Below is the elaboration of the social stratification based on the Untouchability Law and the
notion of Anglophilia.
1. The Touchability and Untouchability in the Indian Caste System
In writing the story, Arundhati Roy divides the story into two major caste groups: the Untouchables and the Touchables. This style is an irony used to point out
the racial discrimination practiced in the context. She refers to Ambedkar’s Annihilation of Caste for the use to the term. She argues
For a writer to have to use terms like ‘Untouchable’, ‘Scheduled Yaste’ SC, ‘Backward Class’ BC and ‘Other Backward
Classes OBC to describe fellow human beings is like living in a hamber of horrors. Since Ambedkar used the word
‘Untouchable’ with a cold rage, and without flinching, so must I Roy “The Doctor” 20.
In the novel, the main crisis occurs after Ammu, a Touchable woman, makes love with Velutha, an Untouchable man. Restrictions regarding untouchability in the
caste system has been one the most prominent features of Indian culture. Roy portrayed the application of these strictures in the following passage:
Mammachi told Estha and Rahel that she could remember a time, in her girl hood, when Paravans were expected to crawl backwards with
a broom, sweeping away their footprints so that Brahmins or Syrian Christians would not defile themselves by accidentally stepping into a
Paravan’s footprint. In Mammachi’s time, Paravans, like other Untouchables, were not allowed to walk on public roads, not allowed
to cover their upper bodies, not allowed to carry umbrellas. They had to put their hands over their mouths when they spoke, to divert their
polluted breath away from those whom they addressed p. 35. Arundhati Roy mentioned this kind of taboo in the book as the Crawling
Backwards Days, when certain outcasts have to sweep their own footprints while they walk so that people from higher caste will not step into it and therefore be polluted p.
36. Although dramatized in the fictional story, the system is real and has become the way of life of Indian people for centuries.
The system can be traced back to ancient times, even before the occupation of Aryans in the Indus river. J.H. Hutton tried to define caste system in the way it
controls how the members of the society share space, food, drink, marital and familial status, based on the taboos that preserve their obsessions for purity. Hutton defines
caste as follows:
...a collection of families or groups of families bearing a common name; claiming a common descent from a mythical ancestor, human
or divine; professing to follow the same hereditary calling; and regarded by those who are competent to give an opinion as forming a
single homogeneous community s47. Furthermore, Hutton noted two main characteristics of a caste as follows: a
Membership is confined to those who are born of members, and includes all persons so born; b The members are forbidden by an inexorable social law to marry outside
the group 48. According to Hutton, there are approximately 3000 castes in India. This
number consists of castes that are derived from occupational, territorial, religious, and racial or tribal elements 2. In India, caste is known as jati. The word ‘jati’ almost
literary means ‘common ancestry’. Jati refers to the categories in the stratification system which is regionally specific, culturally distinct, and is usually associated with
traditional occupation Barreman 289. The word caste, however, comes from the Portuguese word casta, which is used to signify breed, race, or kind. The first use of
the word in the restricted sense of what we now understand by caste can be traced back to 1563, when Garcia de Orta wrote that ‘...no one changes from his father’s
trade and all those of the same caste of shoemakers are the same.’ This passage was then quoted by Yule and Burnell in 1567 at the Sacred Council of Goa when they
described the Gentoos Hindus as follows: “...dividing themselves into distinct races
or castes of greater or less dignity, holding the Christians as of lower degree, and keep them so superstitiously that no one of a higher caste can eat or drink with those
of a lower Hutton 47.” Caste is sometimes confused with varna. The caste system that controls the
jati groups has been applied in the Indian subcontinent even before the Aryans invasion Rig Vedic era. Meanwhile, the concept of varna is applied by Rig Vedic
society that ideally represents a fourfold division of society into classes: Brahman priests, KshatriyaRajanya rulers, nobles, fighters, Vaishya people generally,
ordinary householders, and Sudra the servile classes. Brahmans, Kshatriya, and Vaishya are the group of varna that are spoken as the twice born dvija. Being twice
born means to be ceremonially reborn and assume the sacred thread Hutton 65. Sudras, at the other hand, are not allowed to do this ceremony. Bhagwan Das, in his
essay, “Scheduled Castes and Nation Building”, noted that the myth containing the emergence of these varnas is The Purusha Sukta in the Rig Veda Das in Kananaikil
12. As there is abundance of castes in India, consequently they are generally
divided into two categories: the Untouchables and the Touchables. The Untouchables are the lowest castes or the outcasts that are believed to carry pollution in their
lifetime and interaction with them can defile the purity of the members of higher castes. The Touchables are those from the top of caste stratification, for example the
Brahmans who are in charge for rituals and therefore must be stay pure. However, Hutton noted that even a change of religion does not destroy the caste system Hutton
2. Jews, Christians, and Muslims in India often form caste or bodies analogous to castes. Generally speaking, Muslims and Christians are regarded as inferior to
Brahmans and Nayars in Malabar, but less polluting than the lower castes. However, Syrian Christians in Cochin and Travancore seem to have ranked as
equal, if not superior to Nayars Hutton 83. Perhaps, it is because the Syrian Christians today claim themselves to be the descendants of the Brahmans that were
converted by St. Thomas the Apostle during his mission in 1 century AD. Caste system works in descendant lines, therefore although they are no longer Hindu, they
are still considered high caste because their ancestors were placed at the top of the stratification system. Meanwhile, the contemporary Jewish society is the descendant
of ancient Jewish refugees that claimed to have been in south India at least since the Roman destruction of Jerusalem Hutton 14, which means they are not the
descendant of native Indians and therefore have no jati. Ancestry and blood ties are a key point to caste system. It is very rarely that a
person managed to mobile within the stratification to a higher level. As familial relation is significant in maintaining the privileges as high caste, marriage is
controlled in tight strictures. As it is clear that members of a caste cannot marry members of other caste, endogamy is a common practice. Otherwise, very often a
man or woman marrying into a caste which is definitely recognized as inferior in status will be received into the caste of her spouse Hutton 64.
However, despite this tight stricture, marriage is still considered one way to achieve a better life standard. Women from lower castes look forward for hypergamy
marrying a person of a higher caste, as their relation to husbands influence their social status. Consequently, one result of hypergamy is the distinct dowry system, in
which the bride pays the price for the bridegroom instead of the other way around Hutton 54.
This strict marriage system, according to Hutton, is the effect of the food and drink taboo instead of the cause of it 71. It is important for a man to be able to eat
the food cooked by his own household. Who cooks the food is one of other significant elements in defining the cleanliness of the food. Cooking process is
controlled in rigid strictures. Even a stranger’s shadow, or even a mere glance of a man of a low caste falling on the cooking pot may necessitate throwing away the
contents 72. Drinking water is also bound by taboo strictures. A person of high caste cannot receive water from the hands of those lower than him. Therefore to make
sure that the drinking water distributed in public is not polluted, the water distributors at railway stations are always Brahmans so that anyone can accept water poured out
by them 75. Brahman, being at the top of stratification, is the clean caste. Thus, one test of clean caste is whether or not a Brahman can accept drinking water at the
person’s hand 71. A caste recognized as clean by Brahman will be similarly recognized as such by other castes 72.
Hutton summarizes the system as follows: Members of the caste cannot marry outside it; there are similar but
less rigid restrictions on eating and drinking with a member of another
caste; there are fixed occupations for many castes; there is some hierarchical gradation of castes, the best recognized position being
that of the Brahman at the top; birth determines a man’s caste for life unless he be expelled for violation of its rules; otherwise transition
from one caste to another is not possible; the whole system turns on the prestige of the Brahman 49.
The caste system is on the notion of purity. Their concept of purity is bounded to both spiritual and bodily cleanliness. Therefore, those whose occupation is
considered “dirty”, for example the sweepers and funeral officials, are bound to certain restrictions in making interaction with those of other castes. As many castes
are defined by occupation and kinship, it is common that the children do the same occupation as their parents’ and thus stay Untouchable as they do the same “dirty”
professions. The pollution carried by the Untouchables can be transferred through bodily
contact, food and drink, shared smoking pipe, body liquid, breath, and even existence within certain distance. The distance pollution can be significantly obscure that even
a mere glance, cast of shadow, and footprints of an Untouchable can defile the purity of a high caste. Events such as childbirth, monthly period, and death are also sources
of taboo. Hutton noted some examples as follows: Ande Koragas of Mangalore District must carry round their necks a
small spitton since they must not expectorate on the public road for
fear of polluting a passerby who might all knowing tread where they had spat... Vedan pollutes the road while he is upon it. Pulayan
pollutes the road by which he has gone 81. Hutton also mentioned some examples of breath, shadow, and menstrual
taboo as follows: Low cast man at a temple must wear a bandage over mouth and nose
lest his breath pollute the idol... A Kudumi woman in her menstrual period must keep 7 feet away from anyone, cover her mouth and
nostrils with her hand and take care that her shadow falls on no one 83.
That a mere puff of breath, cast of shadow, and existence can defile others, it is clear that touching is one of the most common transfer of pollution. Bodily contact
is sometimes inevitable and the members of higher caste will have to do rituals in order to clean themselves. The ritual can involve thorough body washing, disposal of
clothing that one wears when one was touched, and praying. However, Hutton note that sometimes the consequence can affect the lifetime of a person, for example if a
Nayar woman is touched by a Pulayan, she will be outcast for life and “...think only of leaving her home for fear of polluting her family 78.”
Even, according to Hutton, there are Unseeable castes, whose mere existence in the sight of a high caste can cause impurity. For example, members of Purada
Vannan caste, whose profession is to wash the clothes of Untouchable castes and
therefore doubly polluting, have to work between midnight and daybreak and are not allowed to come out during the daytime because the very sight of them was polluting
81. However, strictures regarding the caste stratification are not only to control
the pollution distribution. Clothing, housing, and language use are more to the privilege of the Touchables. The twice born castes are more flexible in choosing
garments, ornaments, and articles to show luxury in public. Even the wearing of clothes above the waist was formerly a privilege of the twice born caste. On the other
hand, the Untouchables are prohibited to wear gold or silver ornaments, umbrellas, and even shoes. Hutton also mention the restrictions of language in Malabar coast as
follows: ...when speaking of their bodily members such as an eye, or an ear, to
a superior, they prefix it by the epithet old, such as “old eye”, “old ear”. They are obliged to call their children “calves”, their silver
“copper”, and their paddy “chaff”. ..The Pulayan dare not say “I”, but “adiyan”, “your slave”; he dare not call his rice “choru” but
“karikadi” –dirty gruel. He asks leave not to take food, but “to drink water”. His house is called “madam”, a hut, and his children he speaks
of as “monkeys”, or “calves”; and when speaking he must place the hand over the mouth, lest the breath should go forth and pollute the
person whom he is addressing 86-87.
Untouchables are also restricted in building luxurious houses. Not only that it is not allowed by the Touchables, but also the other Untouchables will soon pull it
down 87. Sanctions can be fierce to the Untouchables that are failed to observe the
prohibitions and strictures. Often, it results in violence. For example, a punishment for Sudra who mentions the name and class of the twice born without honors is to be
thrusted with a ten fingers long red hot iron nail. For a Sudra who “...teaches Brahmans their duty,” hot oil will be poured into his mouth and into his ears 93.
However, there is no reciprocal punishment for cantankerous Brahmans. The Code of Manu even says that a king shall never execute a Brahman though
“...convicted of all possible crimes.” However, a Brahman may be banished by a king “...with all his property secure and his body unhurt 93.” The society believes that
there is no greater crime known on earth than slaying a Brahman. A Brahman, be he ignorant or learned, is a great divinity.
Brahmans are to be honored in every possible way, because the society believes that each of them is a very great deity. A Brahman is believed to be a deity
on earth by divine status and the intelligent one by his innate comprehension. A Brahman in by right the chief of this whole creation; whatever exists in the universe
is the wealth of a Brahman, who is entailed to it all by his innate comprehension. They normally act as religious authority and are in a privileged position as interpreter
and arbiter of holy writ 92-93.
The social status of Brahmans and Sudras is separated by a contrast gap. A Sudra’s killing by a Brahman is equivalent merely to the killing of a cat, a mongoose,
a blue jay, a frog, a dog, a lizard, an owl or a crow. Brahmans are allowed to take the property of a Sudra for the purpose of sacrifice, for a Sudra has no business with
sacrifices. On the other hand, to serve a Brahman learned in the Vedas is the highest duty of a Sudra. Moreover, if he is being obedient, humble, pure, and true in service,
he may in another incarnation attain the highest class 92-93. Indeed, promotion to a higher class may be a precious prize, while exclusion from a caste can be a severe
punishment. This also includes the potential of class mobility in the life after incarnation.
From the above elaboration it is clear that the social gap between the Touchables and the Untouchables are significantly wide. Jose Kananaikil noted that
although race discrimination based on castes in India was abolished in the Constitution of India, it is still practiced in the country especially in the rural areas
7. In order to mobile from the bottom of the stratification, India has faced the conversion movement among the Untouchables. The dominant Hindu Community in
India has become exercised over the large number of Untouchables to Islam and Christianity. In The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy mentioned it in the notion of
the Rice Christians. These Christians are Untouchables that convert from Hindu to Christianity in order to get routine ransom of rice from the church, as well as to seek
refuge within Jesus’ promise for salvation.
When the British came to Malabar, a number of Paravans, Pelayas and Pulayas among them Velutha’s grandfather, Kelan converted to
Christianity and joined the Anglican Church to escape the scourge of Untouchability. As added incentive they were given a little food and
money. They were known as the Rice Christians p. 35-36. However the Untouchables barely met their hope for redemption. They were
still faced by the reality that they are no higher in the social stratification because the system continuously adapt to the new reality. Roy mentioned it in the following
quotation: They were made to have separate churches, with separate services,
and separate priests. As a special favor they were even given their own separate Pariah Bishop. After Independence they found they were
not entitled to any government benefits like job reservations or bank loans at low interest rates, because officially, on paper, they were
Christians, and therefore casteless. It was a little like having to sweep away your footprints without a broom. Or worse, not being allowed to
leave footprints at all p. 36.
More about the social gap based on religion will be discussed in the subchapter regarding Christianity and Syrian Christianity in India.
B. Anglophilia in Post-Independence India
