Caste Pride: Battles for Equality in Hindu India

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CLEAR-SIGHTED, METICULOUSLY RESEARCHED, MEASURED AND NUANCED, THIS IS A HIGHLY ACCOMPLISHED HISTORY OF CASTE. In this masterful work, Manoj Mitta examines the endurance and violence of the Hindu caste system through the lens of the law. Linking two centuries of legal reform with social movements, he unearths the characters, speeches, confusions and decisions that have shaped the war on caste, mitigating how this ancient institution discriminated between Hindus across the board. Where they could live, how they could dress, whether they could go to a shop, a stream, walk a street or mingle, enter a temple, whom and how they could marry, which scriptures applied to whom, whether their actions, innocent or criminal, would attract punishment or impunity. Describing brilliantly the passage of Hinduism into its modern avatar, the book celebrates women and men across the caste spectrum—pioneers Savitribai Phule, M.C. Rajah, R. Veerian, B.R. Ambedkar, Vithalbhai Patel and others—and outside of the caste system, such as non-Hindu legislators and administrators, including Maneckji Dadabhoy, William Bentinck and Lord Willingdon. It re-examines the positions of leading lights such as Motilal Nehru, Thomas Munro, Mahatma Gandhi and C. Rajagopalachari, and shows why caste prejudice cleaves to names like Madan Mohan Malviya and Surendra Nath Banerjea. Through these histories of reform, Mitta establishes that untouchability is merely the best-known aspect of of varna, an elusive purity-based hierarchy that affects the freedoms of all. With ground-breaking discoveries and incisive insight, Caste Pride is at once moving, enlightening and transformative. Manoj Mitta is a Delhi-based journalist focusing on law, human rights and social justice. A law graduate from Hyderabad, he has worked with the Times of India, the Indian Express and India Today. STYLE NOTE LEGAL MILESTONES IN THE BATTLES AGAINST CASTE PREFACE I. EARLY CODES 1. THE PUNISHMENT RESERVED FOR LOWER CASTES 2. THE PREROGATIVE TO COVER BREASTS 3. THE FIGHT TO BURN WOMEN ALIVE 4. THE EPIPHANY BEHIND THE FIRST LAW AGAINST CASTE II. IMPURE MAJORITY 5. THREE SHADES OF TWICE-BORN 6. A WEDDING WITHOUT A BRAHMIN 7. BREAKING THE SILENCE ON UNTOUCHABILITY 8. THE OUTRAGE OF MARRYING UP III. ACCESS BARRIERS 9. THE EXCLUSIVITY OF PUBLIC PLACES 10. THE DRAMA OF ABOLITION 11. CRIMINALISING A PIOUS CUSTOM 12. THE POSTHUMOUS VINDICATION OF AMBEDKAR IV. TEMPLE ENTRY 13. AMBEDKAR’S FORGOTTEN BILL 14. GANDHI’S BALANCING ACT 15. CONGRESS EXPERIMENTS UNDER COLONIAL RULE 16. THE CONSTITUTION’S TELL-TALE CLAUSE V. IMPUNITY FOR VIOLENCE 17. WHEN JUDGES LET OFF MASS KILLERS 18. THE DENIAL OF THE CASTE ANGLE EPILOGUE NOTES ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS