Anusha Sinha Week 3

In her book Gendering Caste Through a Feminist Lens, Uma Chakravarti's gives us a descriptive analysis of caste and class. She starts by explaining the deep roots of caste in our social structure, and explains how ancient Hindu shastras have codified the oppressive hierarchies of caste. It is incorrect to simply dismiss it as social inequality of any other kind, and to substantiate that she goes on to lay out a detailed analysis of the intersections. She says that caste has intertwined with class, and through constant economic deprivation, most people of the lower castes are also poor.  She talks about how the lines between formal equality of opportunity has not really helped their cause, since during the early formations of Hindu society, the lower castes were always pushed into those jobs that were at the cost of their dignity and exploitation of the brahmana. Most jobs they were given were menial, with low pay and often in the dehumanizing service of the 'upper caste.' Therefore, the oppressive hierarchies solidified over time, and the 'brahmin-kshatriya duo' created monopolies over violence and knowledge, relegating the lower castes to the bottom of society.
The intersectional understanding of the individual within the feminist movement focuses on analysing the different aspects of personal identity that intersect, play an overlapping role in their positioning in society. In this chapter, Uma Chakravarti analyses the intersectional role of gender and caste and about how endogamy within the caste system (jati) is a means to regulate women's bodies. This regulation/subordination of women happens through two systems: endogamy and exogamy, namely, social groups that can marry exclusively and social groups that cannot. The ideas of purity associated with Vansas and the gifting of women as kanyadan reflect the codification of this kind of social subjugation. The institutionalised domination of individual relations reflects the pervasive nature of caste and its relation to gender.