Caste And Kinship In Kangra

by Parry,Jonathan P.

• ISBN13: 9780415330497
• ISBN10: 0415330491
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-06-23
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

This study is a major addition to understanding the problems of social inequality and the nature of caste and kinship. A full account is given of the social structure of the region, emphasizing the continuity of principles, which govern relations between castes and relationships within castes. The ethnographic data bear in particular on: the nature of untouchability; models of caste ranking; the way in which 'traditional' family structures adapt to a diversification of the economy and the debate about the 'instability' of regimes of generalized exchange. Originally published in 1979.

Table of Contents

Preface	xiii
Part one Inter-caste relations
Introduction: the axiom and idiom of inequality	3	(5)
The setting	8	(27)
Geographical sketch	8	(3)
Historical sketch	11	(2)
Administrative sub-divisions	13	(5)
The settlement pattern	18	(4)
Land tenure: a historical note	22	(4)
`Village' officials	26	(2)
`Mauza' Chadhiar	28	(7)
The economy	35	(49)
The remittance economy	35	(10)
Landlords, labourers and tenants	45	(10)
The dominant caste and the control of resources	55	(3)
Caste and the division of labour	58	(24)
Conclusion	82	(2)
The hierarchical aspects of caste	84	(47)
Introduction	84	(1)
`Jat' as genus	85	(2)
The hierarchy in terms of attributes	87	(5)
Interactional relations	92	(17)
Degrees of untouchability	109	(6)
The politics of social mobility: the Koli case	115	(16)
Part two The internal structure of the caste
Clans and their segments	131	(19)
Introduction	131	(1)
Clans and `gotras'	132	(4)
Sub-clans and lineages	136	(8)
Clan-segments, deities and shrines	144	(2)
Deference within the sub-clan	146	(4)
Households and their partition	150	(45)
The decay of the joint family system	150	(5)
The problem of definition	155	(4)
The ideal of joint living	159	(5)
The rules of inheritance	164	(7)
Household composition	171	(2)
Partition as the outcome of personal conflict	173	(5)
Partition: the constraints on choice	178	(15)
The causes of partition	193	(2)
Rajput hypergamy in an historical perspective	195	(52)
Preliminary considerations	195	(5)
The holistic `biradari' formula	200	(5)
The attributes and interactions of `biradaris'	205	(6)
The relative wealth of `biradaris'	211	(2)
The consequences of hypergamy for the Mians	213	(8)
The rules of exogamy	221	(6)
The consequences of hypergamy for the Rathis	227	(4)
Rajputs and Rathis	231	(3)
Legitimacy and the validity of marriage	234	(3)
Bride-price and dowry	237	(10)
The `biradari' reform movement	247	(23)
Introduction	247	(1)
The Rajput evidence	248	(3)
The return to hierarchy	251	(5)
The Nurpur variant	256	(2)
The Brahmans and Temple priests	258	(2)
Comparative evidence	260	(2)
The predisposing causes	262	(3)
Instability or oscillating equilibrium?	265	(5)
Marriage strategies	270	(27)
Status and standing	270	(1)
The spouse's credentials	271	(3)
The manipulation of `als'	274	(8)
The status of the wife-givers	282	(4)
The repetition of marriage	286	(11)
Affines and consanguines	297	(17)
The kinship terminology	297	(3)
Inter-personal relations between `ristedar'	300	(3)
The `ristedar' of the `ristedar'	303	(9)
Comparative implications	312	(2)
Conclusion: The limits of hierarchy	314	(4)
Glossary	318	(4)
Notes	322	(12)
Bibliography	334	(13)
Index	347