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.
A RADICALLY NEW HISTORY OF CASTE BASED ON PREVIOUSLY UNSEEN LEGISLATIVE AND JUDICIAL RECORDS
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, Periyar, 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 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.
About the Author
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. Mitta has written two critically acclaimed books on impunity for mass violence: When a Tree Shook Delhi: The 1984 Carnage and Its Aftermath, co-authored with H.S. Phoolka (2007), and The Fiction of Fact-finding: Modi and Godhra (2014). His article on caste was published in 2007 in Writing a Nation: An Anthology of Indian Journalism, edited by Nirmala Lakshman.
About the Author
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. Mitta has written two critically acclaimed books on impunity for mass violence: When a Tree Shook Delhi: The 1984 Carnage and Its Aftermath, co-authored with H.S. Phoolka (2007), and The Fiction of Fact-finding: Modi and Godhra (2014). His article on caste was published in 2007 in Writing a Nation: An Anthology of Indian Journalism, edited by Nirmala Lakshman. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
‘Manoj Mitta has written a superb and unsparing account of how the inherent violence of caste has been both perpetuated in new forms and challenged over the last two centuries. Drawing extensively on archival sources, Mitta weaves into one compelling narrative many crucial events during this period, highlighting not only well-known events but also relatively unknown aspects of these events, as well as many that are as yet unstudied or understudied even by scholars—the use of stocks for disprivileged castes, the Caste Disabilities Removal Act of 1850, the passing of the first-ever law against untouchability in 1926 at the initiative of R. Veerian, Ambedkar’s crucial but little-known role in a 1929 bill that sought to throw temples open to Dalits, the dilution of the 1955 Untouchability Offences Act despite Ambedkar’s and Raman Velayudhan’s warnings. In the process, he also rescues from obscurity many pivotal but now forgotten moments and actors. What makes Mitta’s book all the more topical is that he often traces the unfolding of these events into our present. And while the book is addressed to a general audience, scholars too will find it an extraordinarily generative read, one that opens up new avenues for further exploration. As a narrative of the events that have made caste what it is today, this book is indispensable; there is simply no equivalent to it.’ — AJAY SKARIA, Professor of History, University of Minnesota
‘The existing literature on caste scarcely presents the dynamics of caste reforms since early colonial times, and misses out on the contributions of many pioneers to the cause of the depressed classes. Manoj Mitta has focused on this unexplored and grossly understudied material, exploding many myths, restoring credit to some forgotten heroes and pointing out errors of facts and errors of judgement that crept into some hallowed studies on caste. With painstaking research into the debates that took place in courts, legislatures and governments over two centuries, he lucidly presents his observations, making them consumable by the ordinary reader as well as the sophisticated researcher. The book undoubtedly is an invaluable contribution to understanding the evolution of the Indian society along its defining dimension of caste.’ — ANAND TELTUMBDE, Scholar, Writer and Civil Rights Activist
‘Studies of India’s legal history have generally ignored the central aspect of it—caste. Manoj Mitta’s book sheds light on the uneasy relationship between caste and law, i.e., how caste was strengthened by law; how constitutional law attempted to dilute the shackles of caste; how the force of caste tends to challenge and overcome legal mechanisms; and how there is a continuous contestation between caste and the constitutional conception of law. The book is also a key reflection on the British colonial administration’s dual policy on caste: how it benefited from already entrenched laws of caste and supported the dominance of the oppressor castes, while also indirectly promoting an anti-caste assertion. Mitta also documents stories of several unsung individuals who invoked law to challenge the manifestations of caste, while exposing the adverse attitude of nationalist leaders towards solving the caste problem. He has unmasked how caste has been infiltrating supposedly neutral legal processes and institutions. This book adds to the literature on how India’s oppressed castes have used the vocabulary and mechanisms of constitutional State structures in their struggles to annihilate caste.’ — ANURAG BHASKAR, Constitutional Scholar and Commentator
‘This truly remarkable book analyses in a very nuanced manner how caste has—and has not—been reformed in India since the British Raj. The ambivalence of the British and of most of the governments which followed till today has resulted in the—reluctant—making of laws which are unevenly enforced, so much so that inter-caste marriages and access to temple remain purely theoretical for many groups, for instance. Even more importantly, Manoj Mitta shows that Dalits are still victims of caste violence and atrocities in spite of very progressive laws. This book, based on the meticulous study of dozens of pieces of legislation and an even larger number of case studies, bears testimony to the gap between the official principles of “the world’s largest democracy” and their very limited implementation; a must read!’ — CHRISTOPHE JAFFRELOT Author of Dr Ambedkar and Untouchability: Analysing and Fighting Caste
‘Manoj Mitta has written a fascinating and path-breaking book on caste in India. I urge every Indian to pick this up and read it. In this brilliant treatise, he holds a mirror to history, and we are shamed and shocked in turn at the horrifying violence of this oppressive system and the desperate steps made to maintain the structural status quo. The annihilation of caste is a conversation that all of us should be having, please throw this book at anyone who is not convinced. It is heavy enough to inflict injury, solid enough to precipitate a change of heart.’ — MEENA KANDASAMY, Poet and Novelist
‘With telling detail and incisive argument, Manoj Mitta’s Caste Pride offers a fresh and penetrating addition to the literature on India’s caste system and on India’s remarkable effort to regulate and transform it.’ — MARC GALANTER, Author of Competing Equalities: Law and the Backward Classes in India
‘Manoj Mitta’s painstakingly put together compendium of legal cases involving caste is an invaluable treasure trove of unknown and little-known facts. The cumulative impact of two centuries’ worth of documentation on the legal life of caste is stunning. Though utterly accessible and fascinating, this is not light reading—it is an unexpectedly moving account that is both profoundly depressing and deeply inspiring. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the social history of caste, the legal system, or the state in India. Scholars working in these areas owe Mr Mitta their heartfelt gratitude for the time and effort he has invested in putting it together.’ — SATISH DESHPANDE, Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Delhi
‘This book is breathtaking: in scope, in research and in passion, in telling the story of the battles over thinking about equality and citizenship in a deeply iniquitous society where Manu occupies the streets, the home, the kitchen and the birth of children, and the Constitution is regarded as a document to be combated by the patriarchs of a caste-based Hindu society even today. It tells the story of the unsung men and women who had the courage to stand up to the monstrosity of caste by leading struggles over entry to streets, to temples, to the right to use water, to refuse the strictures on clothing based on caste, and the right to marry above or below the endogamous circles defined by tradition. The battles come alive as does the heartbreak of failed legislative attempts to reform Hindu society and the refusal to give up on the battles for reform. It is a story more than relevant today and is sure to be read and used widely, perhaps even by those who have battled against reform. The book is an archive as much as it is an analysis of the story of social reform and the heartbreak it entailed then as it does now for those who challenge the past. It is an archive that documents the birth pangs of a new order.’ — UMA CHAKRAVARTI, Feminist Historian and Democratic Rights Activist --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
