Sreedatri Dhar, Week 3

Gendering Caste Through a Feminist Lens (Chapter 1 & 2)

Uma Chakraborty

Uma Chakraborty through her book, has tried to through light on the grave stratification present in the Indian society that has been prevalent through generations. The practice of the caste system has a very significant influence over the lives of all the male and female in India. Most of the old ancient Indian text has been written through a Brahmanical lens which describe the Brahmanical stratification, the Varna and the Jati, these terms are further used to describe the patriarchal caste system which is strongly embedded in the Indian society. The understanding of these terms leads us to the conclusion that is the dominance vested in the higher caste over the lower caste which is not only imposed on rituals but also over the social relations they share. Originally, there were four Varnas, however, there was a new addition to the caste, which is the fifth element, people who were the untouchables were considered to be fully outside of its scope. They are subjected to all forms of discrimination and do not even receive fair and just treatment before the law. The Dalit women, however, are considered the lowest of the lowest and face discrimination three times more than a dalit man because she is poor, a woman and a dalit. We also see how the women are treated as property even in a sacred and a positive ritual like marriage. They are gifts given to men to create Vansa. Thus, we see how the males in the society see women as, just to reproduce children to create vansas. These gifts are essentials to maintain the hierarchy and the caste system intact. Women are therefore exchanged as property between men and families during marriage, narrowing down the importance of women in the world that the sole function of the women is creation of children. Thus, Uma Chakraborty has challenged  the oldest practices followed in the Indian society, and by connecting and intersection gender and caste as an important issue in the Indian society has questioned the Indian mentality and the patriarchy that demands an age long mandatory change.