The Effect Of British Imperialism On Caste System In South Asia

In modern day India, one can see a range of different normalities. For some, everyday life may include sorting garbage from Noida’s ever present landfills, while those who are more fortunate spend their day in an air-conditioned office, speaking perfect English while developing the latest in technology. Children move around in packed traffic, begging for food, water, or money, while others study furiously, hoping to get into the best colleges. A strict divide in the caste system has ruled the lives of many people in India for centuries, only exaggerated by the arrival of the British Raj, the section of the British Empire set to govern the Indian subcontinent from 1858 to 1947. The British Empire in itself was extremely goal driven and had already conquered a number of regions by the time they reached India, such as parts of the Americas, Jamaica, Hong Kong, and parts of West Africa. Before their arrival, all trading with the region had been conducted by the British East India Company. Their main goal was to gain valuable resources from the Indian subcontinent that were rare unavailable elsewhere, such as spices, salt, and tea.

They used these nations to broaden their areas of trading and their variety of goods. They also justified seizing these lands due to the common belief at that time that the Aryan race was superior, and therefore the indigenous people in these areas had less claim to the land than they did. Thus, when they reached India and learned of the caste system, they assumed that those of Aryan descent would be at the top of the ladder. The Indian caste system consists of five classes: Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra, and Dalit. The god who is known to the Hindus as the creator of the universe is believed to have created different people from different parts of his body. The Brahmins, the priests and teachers, were believed to have come from his head, and the warrior class Kshatriyas came from his arm. The Vaishyas (merchants) and Shudras (labourers) came from his thigh and foot respectively. Dalits did not come from anywhere on Brahma’s body, they were outcasts also known as ‘untouchables’ who performed society’s unsavoury tasks that others would not do - such as cleaning toilets. As with most stratification of people, those higher up in the hierarchy looked down upon and repressed those poorer or of lower class than them. As the name suggests, ‘untouchables’ were frowned upon and shunned by even the Shudras, which were the lowest class, while Brahmins and Kshatriyas boasted about their caste and used it's weight to their advantages. Unfortunately, this system still lives on in the Indian society today and depending on who you ask, there has been either tremendous progress made in demolishing the system or barely any.

Most upper class Indians avoid the subject of caste so as not to seem discriminatory, but the bias is subconsciously ingrained from a young age and can be acute depending on the social and family beliefs of the individual’s upbringing. According to the Indian writer and politician, Shashi Tharoor, “We had castes, we did not have the caste system. The British were the ones who had actually codified, entrenched, and classified our country and our people in the way that we have since then started self-defining ourselves in ways that the British did for us.” The British took a system that had been working decently for a thousand years, manipulated it to their own benefit, and divided the people more than they already were. When the British first started ruling parts of India in 1858, they were enthralled by the caste system and tried to make sense of it by comparing it to their idea of classes. According to Professor T.C. Hodson in 1937, class was a generalization of the more detailed caste system, which the British failed to grasp. They saw an Indian’s caste as defining what job he or she could occupy, what their social standing was, and the magnitude of their intellect. The common assumption about caste made at that time was that it was based on race, and the higher caste meant the more superior race.

When the Raj asked Indians to identify themselves by race and caste, they never got a straight answer because there were hundreds of sub-castes and classes and those classifications could vary from day to day based on the situation.9 Some Indians also identified themselves on the census with their surname, place of birth, or occupation. Surname and occupation were subject to change, as were other variables encountered in the survey, causing the British to have a lot of information about the country’s people that could change any moment and upset the data and numbers. The most noticeable classes, the Untouchables and Brahmins, were very caste-conscious. As a result, the British did not notice that the middle classes did not put so much stress on which caste they were of. Most Hindus were more invested in making sure that they reincarnated into a better life or class through good karma (actions). While they still tended to marry within castes and looked down upon mixing of castes, they were mostly unconcerned with the system.

The Indian Census of 1871-72 attempted to not only count the population, it also attempted to define and explain the different castes. The British Raj had assigned this census to determine which groups of the population were perceived to be smarter, stronger, or just had more favourable characteristics. This ranked and assigned or took away status from many people who had gotten used to a particular way of life. For example, after the census was completed, Muslims in Bengal were categorized as “low class converted Hindus.” Being considered low class took away some rights and jobs that were available to this group. This, very understandably, angered the Muslim community and in 1895 a book written by Fazl-i-Rabb targeted the census for its insult to the Muslims of Bengal. An opposite example of this ranking was the Mahtons, who were ranked the same higher status as the Rajputs because they followed the same customs and had a similar history. This gave them the same opportunities as the Rajputs, whereas before they would have had less.

While Muslims in Bengal were offended by being classified as “low class converted Hindus”, when given the opportunity some Shudras and Dalits converted to Christianity to avoid being low class and without a decent job. Since the British categorized Christianity as a high-class religion, those who converted essentially got a free pass out from the stigma surrounding the lower castes. Nowadays, some of these converted Christians do live in poverty, but at the time, it appeared to be a good idea to convert to look better on the census. With more and more people noticing the limitations on the types of jobs one could occupy based on what they had classified themselves as, the indigenous tribes started paying more attention to the caste system as well, whereas before, they had never cared too much about it. This new development caused locals to be very class conscious and families started placing more emphasis on marrying within classes, so as not to lose money or status as a whole. They also started learning how to write answers on the census that benefitted them - even if they weren't true.

The British Raj assigned census takers, usually Brahmins and Kshatriyas, to record information on different communities of people, and the census takers usually didn't consult a person from that group. This led to them filling out the data self-servingly and acted to suit their caste or community’s agenda. This was especially prominent in the Brahmin caste, who filled out data based on what would make most sense to the Raj in order to gain power. Because of this, they were trusted more by the British and reached higher jobs with much more prestige and responsibility. The British had assumed that the most learned and religious people would be the leaders, when in reality, the Kshatriyas (warriors) were generally the kings or rulers of the land. This upset caused by the census saw more noble families being Brahmin rather than Kshatriya.

Another thing the Raj assumed about caste had to do with physical characteristics. Phrenology, the study of skulls, was introduced in 1796 by Austrian physician Franz Joseph Gall15 and played a big part in this. It was assumed that the shape of one’s skull could predict their intelligence level, and those who had different bone structure than the Europeans had a smaller brain capacity than those who had the same structure. This so-called scientific knowledge was used to classify Africans and the Aborigines of Australia as “of lower intelligence” because of their features were different to those of European descent. H. Beverley, who was the census commissioner for Bengal at the time, described Bengalis as “hinduised Aborigines.” It was believed that Europeans of the Aryan race were superior to others, those not. While people from the north of India were generally fairer and considered to be of the Aryan race, people from the south of India were darker and considered to be of the Dravidian race. This in turn led the British to believe that those from North India were of a higher class than those from South India. Nowadays, we know that the Aryan race did not come from India, but conquered it. However, the British Raj did not know this and assumed that since they were Aryan, their ruling of another Aryan region was “the natural order”. The British also classified people based on body structure and appearance. While describing the Kasyaths, census commissioner Edward Dalton said, “From their appearance we might say that the first selection was made of people with weak bodies and strong intellect, of small courage, but great cunning, and that physical beauty was of less consequence than sharpness of wit.” He concluded that they were best built to do secretarial jobs, while those such as the Rajputs were better made to serve in the army, a job that paid more than filing papers. Because of classifications like this, groups of people irrationally rose and fell in economic class because of the limited array of jobs they were offered.

While some benefited from the strict census of the British Raj, as a whole it changed India’s outlook and view of the caste system and its ethics. Most people would agree that the rule had more of a negative impact on the caste system due to the extreme separation of the upper and lower castes and the increased consciousness of the system in people’s everyday lives.

Sources

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