CASTE – IT’S REDUNDANCY IN URBAN AREAS

Robert H Elliot,(1837-1914), British Planter who had spent 38 years of his life in Mysore, Karnataka, says that Caste laws cannot be enforced in towns and thus the benefits of Caste are not felt there. People in towns mostly have a anonymous existence, compared to the villages, and community laws and customs are followed readily and willingly in a rural setting , necessitated  due

Robert H.Elliot

to the constant and proximate interaction amongst community members and also due to limited privacy.

Mr. Elliot considers towns and cities as hubs of ‘progress and intellectual advancement’, and in this context he asserts that adherence to caste laws and customs  ‘is fraught with a multitude of painful and vexatious evils’. He had come to this conclusion, after  making due  allowance,  considering the  ‘evils of large cities’. He believes that those  townsfolk who had ‘maintained a fair state of morality’ without being ‘materially affected ‘ by the ‘bad habits and customs of the white races’, will

retain such moral principles whatever the circumstances may be,  but regarding those whose moral scruples are not shaped by caste laws or other factors  and had ‘never led a steady life’, one need not consider ‘with whom they mixed’. From the above one can infer that, as per Mr Elliot, good and bad had already been segregated in the cities and good will remain so even if surrounded by evil, and therefore the role of Caste acting as a moral restraint becomes redundant in towns and cities.

Mr Elliot further quotes the remarks made by Mr.Dadabhai Naoroji, from a report published in the journal of the East India Association. In the words of Mr

Naoroji himself, two incidents regarding the baneful effects of Caste in the city of Bombay  are presented. And it is strange as well as surprising to note that as per Mr.Naoroji, ‘the present system of caste interferes with progress among the HIGHER CLASSES’.

But in his final conclusions concerning caste and morality, after one-to-one comparison of  the factors relating to morality of people in Indian and British countryside, Mr Elliot reposes infinite faith in the ‘value of caste in keeping up feelings of superiority and self-respect’. Without any doubt, he  ‘establishes’ that ‘there are no drawbacks, and many striking advantages, connected with caste as far as the country populations are concerned’.   

EXCERPTS :- “Having thus glanced at some of the effects of caste institutions as they affect the rural population, we will now consider caste as it affects the people of the towns. Following, then, the same order, and directing our attention to the same points selected for consideration when treating of the rural classes, let us ask how far caste has operated with the townspeople as regards the connection of the sexes and the use of alcohol. And here we shall find that the subject may be dismissed in almost a single sentence; for caste laws, as regards these points, can never act as a moral restraint, because the possibility of enforcing them cannot and does not exist. Nor need I waste time in proving that people in towns, whether in India, or any other part of the world, may readily do things which could never escape the prying eyes of a country society.

Then, as regards the segregation from foreigners, it is evident that we need

employ little time, for such of the town populations as have maintained a fair state of morality amid the evils of large cities, are not likely to be materially affected by the bad habits and customs of the white races; and as for those who have never led a steady life, it would not much matter with whom they mixed. But caste not only brings with it no good as far as the town population is concerned, but its continuance is fraught with a multitude of painful and vexatious evils, which meet us at every turn, for it hampers the actions, and clogs those efforts at progress which are the natural result of intellectual advancement. And here I cannot do better than quote the words of a Parsee gentleman, whose unceasing efforts to aid the progress of India entitle him to be placed in the very highest rank of those who spend much time and labour to produce effects which they can never live to see the fruits of. These remarks of his, which I am now about to quote, were made at the close of a paper on caste, which I read at a meeting of the East India Association, and are quoted from the report published in the journal of the Association. After fully granting that, in the condition of society existing at the time the system of caste was established, it may have done a great deal of

good, Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji proceeded to remark on the way the present system of caste interferes with progress among the higher classes, and then gave several instances to illustrate his observation. "The great struggle," he said, "which is now going on in Bombay about the widow-marriage question is an apt illustration of this; and, also, the fear of excommunication prevents a large body of natives from coming to this country, and profiting by their visit. It is often said, 'educated Hindoos ought not to care for this excommunication;' but those who say that, little think what excommunication means. A man who is excommunicated may not care for it for his own sake, but he has his family to consider. What is to be done with daughters? They cannot marry if their father is excommunicated, and the result is, therefore, most serious to them. I knew of one instance of a native gentleman who, being excommunicated from his caste for having visited England, had, on the death of his child, been put to the very painful necessity of having the body carried by his servant, without anyone accompanying him."

It would be impossible, I think, to furnish two better instances of the evils of

caste to people desirous of shaking off in any way the habits of their forefathers; and a more melancholy picture than that of this unfortunate man setting out with his dead child without a single friend to accompany him it would indeed be difficult to find. Many other illustrations might, of course, be given; but enough has been said already, and we may safely consider it as a settled question that, as far as the people of the towns are concerned, the sooner caste is abolished the better.

I may here be permitted to remind the reader that we have considered the effects of caste, as regards the country population, in two very important particulars: first of all, as to the morality of the sexes, which is controlled to such a large extent by caste law; and secondly, we have looted at the effects of caste as controlling the use of alcohol, and consequently limiting the crimes and evils that can in most countries be traced to drinking. On both of these points we have compared an Indian county with any county in Great Britain, and saw reason to think that morality, as regards the points under consideration, is

better in Manjarabad than in any British county. And, by facts which may be brought from many quarters of the globe, we have seen that it is a universal law that inferior races have a tendency to adopt the vices rather than the virtues of superior races, and that, therefore, caste laws which enjoin social separation are of the highest value. We have seen, too, the value of caste in keeping up feelings of superiority and self-respect. We have also seen that these caste laws can exist without  retarding the progress of the people, or their desire for education. And, finally, taking all these points into consideration, we concluded that there were no drawbacks, and many striking advantages, connected with caste as far as the country populations are concerned.

In the next place, we looked at the circumstances of the people of the towns, inquired as to how caste has affected them for good or evil, and came to the conclusion that not only does no good arise from caste, but that it is plainly and

unmistakably an unmitigated evil.

Keeping these conclusions firmly in mind, let us now advance to the

consideration of a third question, which naturally arises out of those facts which I assume to have been established.” (pages 389-398  of 798)

More positive contributions of CASTE  to Indian Society can be read at 

http://msradha.blogspot.in/2013/08/caste-widow-re-marriage.html

http://msradha.blogspot.in/2013/08/india-vis-vis-great-britain-state-of.html

http://msradha.blogspot.in/2013/08/caste-system-vis-vis-alcoholism-indian.html

http://msradha.blogspot.in/2013/08/caste-and-womens-safety.html

http://msradha.blogspot.in/2013/08/caste-contributed-positively-to-indian.html

EXCERPT FROM

Robert H. Elliot. “Gold, Sport, and Coffee Planting in Mysore.” iBooks. 

This material may be protected by copyright (From Chapter VIII ,CASTE)

This resource is freely available on the net. It is very important for our imagination of our past.