E-Study | Kashmir

Mysore Narasimhachar Srinivas (1916-1999) was an eminent Indian sociologist who is known for his work on Caste and Caste Systems, Social Stratification, Sanskritisation and Westernisation in southern India and the concept of 'Dominant Caste'. As part of his methodological practice, Srinivas strongly advocated ethnographic research based on fieldwork, but his concept of fieldwork was tied to the notion of locally bounded sites. Thus some of his best papers, such as the paper on dominant caste and on a joint family dispute, were largely inspired from his direct participation (and as a participant observer) in rural life in south India.
MN Srinivas in his paper entitled Dominant Caste in Rampura highlighted the process of social change in India based on the concept of dominant caste. According to him, a caste to be labelled as a dominant caste must have extensive cultivable land, should have considerable numerical strength and should occupy a high place in the local caste hierarchy. The Green Revolution led to the increase in production and consequently increase in the prices of agricultural land. This coupled with political clout and contact with those in political power were important factors to get into the league of dominant caste. So some castes which were dominant earlier are no longer so. Others have taken their place by virtue of their being able to acquire money, muscle and political power. The model of sanskritization for lower caste is not always the Brahmin. The model is the dominant caste with money, huge following and political power or connection with those in political power.
The dominant caste may assume self importance, distance itself from others and consider itself as the protector of the community. Influential members of the dominant caste settle disputes not only in their community but also intra-caste disputes. A dominant caste in order to maintain harmony among the different economic strata within its caste structure may form caste based associations. Caste members are exhorted to take measures to maintain the purity of the caste and improve their caste status.

Marriage is a universal social institution establishing legitimacy of children born in wedlock. The norm in hypergamy is that a man should marry his daughter in a family of higher status than his own status. In a hypergamous marriage a woman preferably marries a superior or marries an equal; a man should not marry a woman of higher status than himself. Though hypergamy is prevalent in India, it is not universal. In Hindu ideology the bride is considered as a gift or dan. Ideally, the bride is a virgin offered as kanyadan. In addition, gifts in terms of dowry and materials are also given. The hierarchical relationship between the wife-giver and wife-receiver maybe expressed in commensal activities. Hypergamous marriage may lead to improved status and rank of the families involved. Hypergamous marriages when repeated by wife-giver and wife-receivers may lead to consolidation of affinal relationship.
The norm in the hypogamous system is that a man should marry a woman of higher status than his own. In such a case wife-giver has a higher status than the wife-receiver. Leach and Levi-Strauss have discussed the relationship between matrilateral cross-cousin marriage between persons of different social status and class structure. According to Levi-Strauss, hypogamy represents the maternal aspect of anisogamy since it lends privilege to the female line and hypergamy privileges the male line.

Jajmani System as a term was introduced into Indian social anthropology and sociology by William Wiser. In his contribution based on his study in a village in Uttar Pradesh, he described how different castes interacted with one another in the production and exchange of goods and services. With variations this system existed throughout the country.
According to the Jajmani System, there is exchange of goods and services between land owning higher castes and landless service castes. The service castes are traditionally weavers, leather workers, blacksmiths, goldsmiths, barbers, washermen and so far constituting a group of artisans serving the community. The landed higher castes jajman or the patron and the service castes are jajman. The jajmani system is based on agricultural system of production and distribution of goods and services. It is the link between the land owning high caste groups and occupational castes.
Oscar Lewis mentions that each caste groups within a village is traditionally bound to give certain standardized services to the families of other castes. While the land owning high caste families receive services from lower castes and in return members of the low castes receive grains. Traditionally the arrangement is approved and interdependence between communities is based on mutual trust.

The term totem refers to natural object or item either inanimate or animate with which a group of individuals identify themselves. The system of mystical attachment of groups of people with totems is called totemism. The group that observes totemism is called a totemic group. A totem may be a plant, or an animal or even an object like a rock. The members of a totemic group distinguish themselves from other groups by wearing totemic emblems as charms and by painting or tattooing the figure of the totem on the walls of their houses, canoes, weapons and even their body. A prominent exhibit is the construction and erection of a totem pole representing the figure of the totem which is generally carved or painted in the locality where the specific group members reside.
Totemism is widely prevalent in tribal India. The Santhals have hundreds of totemic groups named after plants, animals or objects. The Gonds have a goat clan whose members regard the goat as their totem because a goat which had been stolen by their ancestors for sacrifice turned into a pig when the theft was discovered and thus saved the thieves from punishment.
The Kamar tribe have totemic groups named as Netam (tortoise), Sori (a jungle creeper), Wagh Sori (tiger), Nag Sori (snake), Kunjam (goat) and so on. The Netam were saved by a tortoise at the time of the deluge. Among the Toda, the buffaloes are the revered totems. Most of the rituals have to do with buffaloes and the treatment of their milk. The Oraons erect wooden totem posts and make occasional offering to them. Totemism is thus an integral part of the tribal India.

Man has been defined as a complex of certain biological and socio-psychological drives. An individual human being is not in a position to satisfy all the needs himself. He must cooperate with other fellow human beings and engage in organized behavior. A solitary isolated human being will probably lose his existence or failing that happening immediately will lose his humanity. So the need for forming associations which is the coming together of groups of human beings to engage in organized behavior for a designated goal and in conformity with a designated set of rules and norms must have come naturally to man as that for satisfying hunger and allied needs the two set of needs being inter dependent. An association is to be differentiated from a community in so far the former is deliberately formed and depends upon human initiative and action for its emergence whereas the latter emerges spontaneously out of physical proximity and a consciousness of kind.
Age, sex, occupation, rank and status are various universally true bases for the formation of associations. There are two other principles the voluntary and the political principles of integration. The latter brings together the tribe as a cultural and political unit but such a consciousness of kind may not be present as it to be found in modern societies. However, voluntary associations are as common in primitive as in modern societies and these are of immense cultural, socio economic and even political significance. Schurtz have pointed to the existence of voluntary associations in primitive society. He stated that those who form associations because of like mindedness, of the same sex and age. However, no association is completely voluntary as degrees of compulsion always operate. This compulsion often results from the interrelatedness of the various principles of integration in their role as bases of associations. Lowie says that a distinction should be made not between voluntary and compulsive associations but between those based on kinship and residence and other factors. This latter type he calls the sodality. Various types of sodalities have been found to exist in different primitive socieities, secret societies, exclusive clubs, age classes and so on.

Communitas is defined by Victor Turner for an unstructured realm of society where often the normal ranking of individuals is reversed or the symbols of rank inverted. This sense of community characterizes rites of passage.
Culture Circle is a cluster of related culture traits or the geographical area where these are found. This idea was fundamental to German-Austrian diffusionists.
Crow terminology is a type of kinship terminology in which the father's sister's daugher is called by the same term as the father's sister or more generally one in which ego calls several members of his or her father's matrilineal kin group by the same term.
Discourse in Anthropology often means not just a way of talking or writing but one that implies special knowledge or relations of power.
Four fields approach in Anthropology as having four branches - social or cultural anthropology, anthropological linguistics, prehistoric archaeology and biological or physical anthropology.
Emic is related to a culture specific system of thought based on indigenous definitions. Etic relates to categories held to be universal or based on an outsider observer's objective understanding.
Generalised exchange is Claude Levi-Strauss's term for a type of martial exchange between kingroups where exchanges of women are in one direction only for example where a son may marry into the same kin group as his father but a daughter may not. It is a logical consequence of men marrying mother's brother's daughters.

Kinship is one of the universals in human society. The organization of kinship is based on the recognition and implementation of relationship derived from descent and marriage. These relationships are constructed and cemented between relatives or kins in an orderly manner. Every individual in every society is a kin and has a kin. Kinship is both involuntary and voluntary. It plays an important role in the socio-cultural life of people of defining kin through its nomenclature or terminology and by regulating interrelationships or behavior.
Primary kin is a person who belongs to the same nuclear family as ego. There are eight primary kin including father, mother, brother, sister in the family of orientation and husband, wife, son, daughter in the family of procreation.
A secondary kin is the primary kin of ego's primary kin. There are potentially 33 kinds of secondary kin: Father's father, father's mother, father's brother, father's sister, father's wife or step mother, father's son or half brother, father's daughter, mother's father, mother's mother, mother's brother, mother's sister, mother's husband, monther's son, mother's daughter, brother's wife, brother's son, brother's daughter, sister's husband, sister's son, sister's daughter, wife's brother, wife's father, wife's mother, wife's sister, wife's son, wife's daughter, son's wife, son's son, son's daughter, daughter's husband, daughter's son and daughter's daughter.
A tertiary kin is the primary kin of a secondary kin. There are 151 possible tertiary kins including eight great grandparents, eight first cousins, the spouses of all uncles, aunts, nephews and nieces and others.
Consanguineal kin is a person who is related through blood ties such as father, mother, brother, sister, son and daughter.
Affinal kin is a person who is related through marriage such as spouse, spouse's parents and spouse's siblings.
A Lineal kin is a person who is related by a direct line of descent such as father, father's father, son and son's son.
A Collateral kin is a person who is related indirectly through the mediation of another relative such as father's brother, mother's sister, father's sister, mother's brother, father's brother's children, mother's sister's children and so on.