There is one solution to the immense damage caused to the varna/ caste system what we see today. The british were responsible as brought out by the research article by Kevin Hobson:
The Indian Caste System and The British - Ethnographic Mapping and the Construction of the British Census in India By Kevin Hobson.
I have given a few selections from the paper to understand the content and tone of the article with my comments in brackets.
What is the solution? Remove all references to caste from the constitution, statutes, and do away with caste based reservation. This is not abolition of caste, but removal of caste based 'demands' and 'fruits' in public life, and allowing people to practice what they want.
Excerpts:
1. The freebooters of the 18th century were giving way to the bureaucrats of the 19th century. Ironically, it is highly debatable which of the two, freebooters or bureaucrats were the most dangerous to the people of India. Treasure can be replaced. Cultures, once tampered with, are nearly impossible to reclaim.
(freebooters – east india company)
2. Interestingly, as with the Irish, the government had no qualms about including religious questions on the Indian census.
(religion was not included in the 1871 census survey in England.)
3. The point is that the British came to believe that they ruled over a far greater population than was in
fact the case. To make matters worse, these early estimates were perpetuated by their use in later estimates and consequent compounding of the original errors. In any case, the British administrators were, understandably overwhelmed by these figures and felt obliged to find a way to compartmentalize chunks of population into manageable groups. The most obvious way to do so was through the use of India's unique caste system.
. . . but during the 19th century caste was not what the British believed it to be. It did not constitute a rigid description of the occupation and social level of a given group and it did not bear any real resemblance to the class system.
(british thought that the caste system was similar to the british class system)
4. At present, the main concern is that the British saw caste as a way to deal with a huge population by breaking it down into discrete chunks with specific characteristics. Moreover, as will be seen later in this paper, it appears that the caste system extant in the late 19th and early 20th century has been altered as a result of British actions so that it increasingly took on the characteristics that were ascribed to by the British.
(that is the caste system evolved as the british thought it was or it ought to be)
5. One of the main tools used in the British attempt to understand the Indian population was the census. Attempts were made as early as the beginning of the 19th century to estimate populations in various regions of the country but these, as earlier noted, were methodologically flawed and led to grossly erroneous conclusions. It was not until 1872 that a planned comprehensive census was attempted.
(devil in action)
contd . . .
The Indian Caste System and The British - Ethnographic Mapping and the Construction of the British Census in India By Kevin Hobson.
I have given a few selections from the paper to understand the content and tone of the article with my comments in brackets.
What is the solution? Remove all references to caste from the constitution, statutes, and do away with caste based reservation. This is not abolition of caste, but removal of caste based 'demands' and 'fruits' in public life, and allowing people to practice what they want.
Excerpts:
1. The freebooters of the 18th century were giving way to the bureaucrats of the 19th century. Ironically, it is highly debatable which of the two, freebooters or bureaucrats were the most dangerous to the people of India. Treasure can be replaced. Cultures, once tampered with, are nearly impossible to reclaim.
(freebooters – east india company)
2. Interestingly, as with the Irish, the government had no qualms about including religious questions on the Indian census.
(religion was not included in the 1871 census survey in England.)
3. The point is that the British came to believe that they ruled over a far greater population than was in
fact the case. To make matters worse, these early estimates were perpetuated by their use in later estimates and consequent compounding of the original errors. In any case, the British administrators were, understandably overwhelmed by these figures and felt obliged to find a way to compartmentalize chunks of population into manageable groups. The most obvious way to do so was through the use of India's unique caste system.
. . . but during the 19th century caste was not what the British believed it to be. It did not constitute a rigid description of the occupation and social level of a given group and it did not bear any real resemblance to the class system.
(british thought that the caste system was similar to the british class system)
4. At present, the main concern is that the British saw caste as a way to deal with a huge population by breaking it down into discrete chunks with specific characteristics. Moreover, as will be seen later in this paper, it appears that the caste system extant in the late 19th and early 20th century has been altered as a result of British actions so that it increasingly took on the characteristics that were ascribed to by the British.
(that is the caste system evolved as the british thought it was or it ought to be)
5. One of the main tools used in the British attempt to understand the Indian population was the census. Attempts were made as early as the beginning of the 19th century to estimate populations in various regions of the country but these, as earlier noted, were methodologically flawed and led to grossly erroneous conclusions. It was not until 1872 that a planned comprehensive census was attempted.
(devil in action)
contd . . .
