Articles
Junior science refresher
Buy and subsribe here Junior science refresher published this article page no 35 in other words each caste has its own place in the system which cannot be taken by any other caste. since caste is also linked with occupation the system functions as the social division of labour except that in principle it allows no mobility. not surprisingly our sources of knowledge about the past and specially the ancient past are inadequate. it is difficult to be very certain about what things were like at that time or the reasons why some institutions and practices came to be established. but even if we k...
Competition Success Review
Competition Success Review published this article page no 36 compared to the ancient past we know a lot more about caste in our recent history. if modern history is taken to begin with the nineteenth century then indian independence in 1947 offers a natural dividing line between the colonial period roughly 150 years from around 1800 to 1947 and the post-independence or post-colonial period the six decades from 1947 to the present day. the present form of caste as a social institution has been sh...
Competition Success Review
Competition Success Review published this article page no 37 scholars have agreed that all major social institutions and specially the institution of caste underwent major changes during the colonial period. in fact some scholars argue that what we know today as caste is more a product of colonialism than of ancient indian tradition. not all of the changes brought about were intended or deliberate. initially the british administrators began by trying to understand the complexities of caste in an...
Competition Success Review
Competition Success Review published this article page no 38 many british administrative officials were also amateur ethnologists and took great interest in pursuing such surveys and studies. but by far the most important official effort to collect information on caste was through the census. first begun in the 1860s the census became a regular ten-yearly exercise conducted by the british indian government from 1881 onwards. the 1901 census under the direction of herbert risley was particularly ...
Competition Success Review
Competition Success Review published this article page no 39 overall scholars feel that this kind of direct attempt to count caste and to officially record caste status changed the institution itself. before this kind of intervention caste identities had been much more fluid and less rigid once they began to be counted and recorded caste began to take on a new life. other interventions by the colonial state also had an impact on the institution. the land revenue settlements and related arr...