DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR

CASTES IN INDIA.                                                
                                       Many of us, I dare say, have witnessed local, national or international
expositions of material objects that make up the sum total of human
civilization. But few can entertain the idea of there being such a thing as
an exposition of human institutions. Exhibition of human institutions is a
strange idea ; some might call it the wildest of ideas. But as students of
Ethnology I hope you will not be hard on this innovation, for it is not so,
and to you at least it should not be strange.                    
You all have visited, I believe, some historic place like the ruins of Pompeii,
and listened with curiosity to the history of the remains as it flowed from the
glib tongue of the guide. In my opinion a student of Ethnology, in one sense
at least, is much like the guide. Like his prototype, he holds up (perhaps
with more seriousness and desire of self-instruction) the social institutions
to view, with all the objectiveness humanly possible, and inquires into their
origin and function.
         Most of our fellow students in this Seminar, which concerns itself with
primitive versus modern society, have ably acquitted themselves along
these lines by giving lucid expositions of the various institutions, modern
or primitive, in which they are interested. It is my turn now, this evening,
to entertain you, as best I can, with a paper on “Castes in India : Their
mechanism, genesis and development”
I need hardly remind you of the complexity of the subject I intend to
handle. Subtler minds and abler pens than mine have been brought to the
task of unravelling the mysteries of Caste ; but unfortunately it still remains
in the domain of the “unexplained”, not to say of the “un-understood” I am
quite alive to.      Vv. Vv.    the complex intricacies of a hoary institution like Caste, but I
am not so pessimistic as to relegate it to the region of the unknowable, for
I believe it can be known. The caste problem is a vast one, both theoretically
and practically. Practically, it is an institution that portends tremendous
consequences. It is a local problem, but one capable of much wider mischief,                     12                     DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
Important as he is to the group, endogamy is still more important, and
the solution must assure both these ends. Under these circumstances he
may be forced or I should say induced, after the manner of the widow, to
remain a widower for the rest of his life. This solution is not altogether
difficult, for without any compulsion some are so disposed as to enjoy self-
imposed celibacy, or even to take a further step of their own accord and
renounce the.          world and its joys. But, given human nature as it is, this
solution can hardly be expected to be realized. On the other hand, as is
very likely to be the case, if the surplus man remains in the group as an
active participator in group activities, he is a danger to the morals of the
group. Looked at from a different point of view celibacy, though easy in
cases where it succeeds, is not so advantageous even then to the material
prospects of the Caste. If he observes genuine celibacy and renounces the
world, he would not be a menace to the preservation of Caste endogamy or
Caste morals as he undoubtedly would be if he remained a secular person.
But as an ascetic celibate he is as good as burned, so far as the material
well-being of his Caste is concerned. A Caste, in order that it may be large
enough to afford a vigorous communal life, must be maintained at a certain
numerical strength. But to hope for this and to proclaim celibacy is the same
as trying to cure atrophy by bleeding.
Imposing.                                 celibacy on the surplus man in the group, therefore, fails both
theoretically and practically. It is in the interest of the Caste to keep him
as a Grahastha (one who raises a family), to use a Sanskrit technical term.
But the problem is to provide him with a wife from within the Caste. At
the outset this is not possible, for the ruling ratio in a caste has to be one
man to one woman and none can have two chances of marriage, for in a
Caste thoroughly self-enclosed there are always just enough marriageable
women to go round for the marriageable men. Under these circumstances
the surplus man can be provided with a wife only by recruiting a bride
from the ranks of those not yet marriageable in order to tie him down to
the group. This is certainly the best of the possible solutions in the case
of the surplus man. By this, he is kept within the Caste. By this means
numerical depletion through constant outflow is guarded against, and by
this endogamy morals are preserved.
It will now be seen that the four means by which numerical disparity
between the two sexes is conveniently maintained are : (1) burning the widow
with her deceased husband ; (2) compulsory widowhood—a milder form of
burning ; (3) imposing celibacy on the widower and (4) wedding him to a girl
not yet marriageable. Though, as I said above, burning the widow and imposing
celibacy on the widower are of doubtful service to the group in its endeavour
to preserve its endogamy, all of them operate as means. But means, as forces,
when liberated or set in motion create an end. What then is the end that
these means create ? They create and perpetuate endogamy, while caste and.                        CASTES IN INDIA 13
endogamy, according to our analysis of the various definitions of caste, are
one and the same thing. Thus the existence of these means is identical with
caste and caste involves these means.
This, in my opinion, is the general mechanism of a caste in a system of
castes. Let us now turn from these high generalities to the castes in Hindu
Society and inquire into their mechanism. I need hardly premise that there
are a great many pitfalls in the path of those who try to unfold the past,
and caste in India to be sure is a very ancient institution. This is especially
true where there exist no authentic or written records or where the people,
like the Hindus, are so constituted that to them writing history is a folly,
for the world is an illusion. But institutions do live, though for a long time
they may remain unrecorded and as often as not customs and morals are
like fossils that tell their own history. If this is true, our task will be amply
rewarded if we scrutinize the solution the Hindus arrived at to meet the
problems of the surplus man and surplus woman.
Complex though it be in its general working the Hindu Society, even to
a superficial observer, presents three singular uxorial customs, namely :
 (i) Sati or the burning of the widow on the funeral pyre of her deceased
husband.
 (ii) Enforced widowhood by which a widow is not allowed to remarry.
 (iii) Girl marriage.
In addition, one also notes a great hankering after Sannyasa (renunciation)
on the part of the widower, but this may in some cases be due purely to
psychic disposition.
So far as I know, no scientific explanation of the origin of these customs
is forthcoming even today. We have plenty of philosophy to tell us why these
customs were honoured, but nothing to tell us the causes of their origin and
existence. Sati has been honoured (Cf. A. K. Coomaraswamy, Sati: A Defence
of the Eastern Woman in the British Sociological Review, Vol. VI, 1913)
         because it is a “proof of the perfect unity of body and soul” between husband
and wife and of “devotion beyond the grave”, because it embodied the ideal
of wifehood, which is well expressed by Uma when she said, “Devotion to her
Lord is w.              oman’s honour, it is her eternal heaven : and O Maheshvara”, she
adds with a most touching human cry, “I desire not paradise itself if thou
are not satisfied with me !” Why compulsory widowhood is honoured I know
not, nor have I yet met with any one who sang in praise of it, though there
are a great many who adhere to it. The eulogy in honour of girl marriage is
reported by Dr. Ketkar to be as follows : “A r.         eally faithful man or woman
ought not to feel affection for a woman or a man other than the one with
whom he or she is united. Such purity is compulsory not only after marriage,
but even before marriage, for that is the only correct ideal of chastity. No
maiden could be considered pure if she feels love for a man other than the one