Public discourse in 2006 has centred on the issue of caste-based reservations in educational institutions. It has been asserted by the champions of such policies that the only salient and basic feature of the social structure is the ‘caste system’. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi has just addressed a letter to all CMs stating, “Casteism is in-built in religion itself. Therefore, continuing reservation will not perpetuate casteism, as reservation has been in force only for the last 50 years.” This imagined definition of India must be subjected to proper scrutiny.

First, the reference to ‘religion’ in the letter relates to the prevalence of casteism as a foundational principle of Hinduism. But the centrality of Hindu religion lies in its plurality; a multiplicity of little traditions constitutes the Hindu religion. Folk religion and folk deities, tribal cults and traditions are found in different regions and sub-regions of India. Ethnographer and anthropologist, the late K. Suresh Singh, in his first volume, The People of India, writes about ‘biradaris’ in India which interact with other biradaris. The do’s and don’ts are biradari defined and the caste label does not come into the picture of biradari panchayats and marriage customs within the gotra or outside it. The need for drawing a map of India on the basis of an imagined monolithic religion and religiously sanctioned caste system has been felt only by the country’s rulers.

British colonisers periodised Indian history into the Hindu, Muslim and British periods. Such an interpretation put the official imprimatur over the concept of Hindu India, Muslim India, and ‘socially reformist’ British India. This does not mean that society was culturally integrated to begin with. The argument is that to maintain their power, colonial rulers framed an interpretation of history that would accentuate social fragmentation.

... contd.