From System to Structure: The Pure and the Impure - Book Report/Review Example

A Response to From System to Structure: The Pure and the Impure In the text From System to Structure: The Pure and the Impure, Louis Dumont systematically and elaborately delves on the traditional social hierarchy in India through the institutions of Caste (Jati) and Varna. Even a cursory reading of the material compiled by Dumont testifies to the conclusion that the institution of Caste and Varna in the Indian society happen to be very complex and intricate and it gets quiet difficult to identify the reasons and premises that lead to such social stratification of the Indian society. The dilemmas get even more complex when one realizes the fact that the institutions of Caste and Varna are still prevalent in the Indian society, irrespective of ample exposure to the outside world, courtesy globalization and the infiltration of liberal Western values and norms. One thing that is particular about the Caste and Varna system in the Indian society is that it tends to endow a section of the Indian society with a saying in and control over politics and popular ethics, while at the same time it tends to marginalize and sideline large sections of the population. The irony is that both the Caste and Verna, right from the ancient times to the current times are elaborately and emphatically established and ossified in the Indian consciousness through a range of rituals, beliefs, practices and rules. It would not be wrong to say that the Indian landmass is in a way in itself a continent. Hence, it is no wonder that the Indian nation comprises of geographically disparate areas and practically speaking, considering the times in which the Caste and Varna system originated, it would have been quiet difficult if not impossible for the ideas to infiltrate across all the geographical chunks comprising the Indian subcontinent. Considering this fact it seems strange that almost the whole of India decided to organize itself around the institutions of Caste and Varna. When one tries to figure out that a society like India that is multicultural and linguistically and ethnically diverse, what made the notions of Caste and Varna so pervasive and appealing to the Indian people sans geographical locations, linguistic and ethnic differences, one is left confused and curious. The other thing that comes out of the reading is the fact that even the institution of caste happens to be highly stratified, like the multiple peals of an onion, involving within its ambit many of the quintessential social institutions like marriage and inheritance. Besides it is also amazing that if one takes into consideration the fact that the Indian society is intricately and at all levels divided and stratified around the institution of caste, than what is the single essential factor or belief that has kept this nation united since the times immemorial. In that sense it gets really bamboozling to understand that whether the Caste is a dividing factor or a unifying factor in the Indian society. Perhaps it is both. In that context, isn’t it strange that the notion of impurity that constitutes the basis of the Indian Caste system is so pliable in case of some sections of the Hindu society to the extent that they could get rid of the acquired impurity by performing specific rituals and rites, while it is so permanent and monolithic in the case of many other sections of the Indian society to the extent that the notion of impurity not only sticks to them throughout life, but, is also passed on to their successive generations. Perhaps the origin of Caste system in the Indian society was a way of debarring some sections of the society from the opportunities to have access to the avenues for growth and development, while on the other side; it conveniently appropriated the political, economic and social powers for the privileged few. Social institutions simply could not be created and propagated without embedding them in the minds of the people. Hence, considering this logic, perhaps the objective of the elaborate rituals and rites like bathing aimed at purifying the higher castes, and the taboos and constraints imposed on the marginalized sections were in a way a mechanism to create a state of mind that not only accepted and tolerated the superior status of a particular caste say Brahmans, while it made the other castes like Chandalas, obsequiously accept and agree to a subhuman status. This premise gets even more authentic if one takes into consideration that the caste based notions of purity where also very stringent on the other traditionally marginalized sections of the society like women, handicaps and hermaphrodites. The hierarchical nature of the Indian society becomes relatively graspable and understandable when one sees it in the light of other important Hindu institution that is Varna that allocates the varied spiritual, political and economic opportunities and possibilities existing in the Indian society in terms of four Varna that are Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras. Yet, very much like the Caste system, the Varna system also comes out as an institution that is pliable and flexible in case of the upper two orders that are Brahmans and Kshatriyas, conveniently allowing them to opt for an optimal social arrangement, based on a give and take of political and spiritual responsibilities, opportunities and powers, while getting successively stringent in case of the lower social rungs that are Vaishyas and Shudras, being totally inconsiderate of the unmentioned fourth order that is the untouchables. One also simply cannot help marveling the pragmatic acumen of the upper two Varna’s that are the Brahmans and the Kshatriyas, the first restraining the second by appropriating the right to perform sacrifices, while the other containing the first by staking hegemony over the political power. Going by the fact that the Caste system is an institution that is still being subscribed to by the contemporary Hindus, it will be really interesting to know that what is making this system so robust in the face of modern education and development. Read More