Social Institutions: Continuity and Change

2.1 Core concepts

• Three social institutions central to Indian society — caste, tribe and family — sustain and regulate communities, transmit values across generations, and structure access to land, work and marriage (NCERT §intro, p. 36).
• The English word "caste" comes from the Portuguese casta meaning "pure breed"; in Indian languages two distinct terms exist — varna (literally "colour") naming the four-fold division of brahmana, kshatriya, vaishya, shudra (excluding the "outcastes" / panchamas), and jati, a generic term for species/kinds used most commonly for caste (NCERT §3.1 Caste in the Past, p. 36).
• The most common scholarly view treats varna as a broad all-India aggregative classification and jati as a regional/local sub-classification of hundreds or thousands of castes and sub-castes (NCERT §3.1, pp. 36–37). The same jati may map onto different varnas in different regions, and the jati hierarchy of a Tamil village is unintelligible to a Bengali villager.
• The four-varna classification is roughly 3,000 years old; in the late Vedic period (c. 900–500 BC) the system had only four divisions, which were not elaborate, not rigid, and not determined by birth — movement across categories was possible and common; rigidity emerged only in the post-Vedic period as land and ritual specialisation crystallised (NCERT §3.1, p. 37).
• Six defining features of caste: (1) determined by birth; (2) endogamous (marriage within group); (3) rules on food and food-sharing (kachcha/pakka rules, who may receive water from whom); (4) hierarchical ranking of many castes; (5) sub-divisions / segmental organisation (sub-castes within castes); (6) hereditary occupations exclusively pursued by the associated caste (NCERT §3.1, p. 37).
• Theoretically caste combines two principles — difference/separation and wholism/hierarchy; the hierarchy is based on the purity–pollution distinction (Louis Dumont's Homo Hierarchicus, implied), and material/economic power tends to align with ritual status; historians believe defeated peoples were often assigned low caste status by the victors (NCERT §3.1, p. 38).
• Colonialism reshaped caste through ethnographic surveys and the census; the decennial census began regularly from 1881; the 1901 Census under Herbert Risley sought to record the social hierarchy of caste, prompting hundreds of petitions for higher rank — caste identities, earlier fluid, became more rigid once counted, listed and printed in gazetteers (NCERT §3.1 Colonialism and Caste, p. 39).
• The Government of India Act, 1935 gave legal recognition to "schedules" of castes and tribes — origin of the terms "Scheduled Castes" and "Scheduled Tribes"; "untouchable" castes were included among SCs (NCERT §3.1, p. 40).
• Reformers and movements cited: Jotirao Phule founded Satyashodhak Samaj (1873); Ayyankali (1863–1914) in Kerala won Dalits' right to walk public roads and access schools; Savitri Bai Phule (1831–1897) was the first headmistress of the country's first school for girls in Pune; Periyar E.V. Ramasami Naickar (1879–1973) led the Self-Respect Movement in South India; Sri Narayana Guru (1856–1928) in Kerala gave the slogan "One Caste, One Religion, One God for all men"; B.R. Ambedkar led the Dalit movement and chaired the Constitution Drafting Committee (NCERT §3.1, pp. 38–41).
• Post-Independence, the state abolished untouchability constitutionally (Art. 17) and operated "caste-blind" (apart from SC/ST/OBC reservations); urbanisation, industry and education weakened some practices, but endogamy, recruitment networks and electoral mobilisation kept caste resilient. Caste also entered modern domains via caste associations and political parties (NCERT §3.1 Caste in the Present, pp. 40–41).
• M.N. Srinivas (1916–1999) coined two CUET-favourite terms: "Sanskritisation" — a (usually middle/lower) caste raising its status by adopting ritual, domestic and social practices of a higher caste (vegetarianism, teetotalism, twice-born thread) — and "Dominant caste" — castes with large numbers + land rights granted by partial post-Independence land reforms (zamindari abolition), e.g., Yadavs (Bihar/UP), Vokkaligas (Karnataka), Reddys and Khammas (AP), Marathas (Maharashtra), Jats (Punjab/Haryana/W. UP), Patidars (Gujarat) (NCERT §3.1, p. 42).
• Paradoxically, caste has become "invisible" for upper-caste urban middle/upper classes (whose privilege was consolidated through education + state employment + property), while it has become highly visible for SCs, STs and backward castes — for whom caste is one of the few collective assets and a lifeline through reservation (NCERT §3.1, pp. 42–43). This asymmetry of visibility is itself a key feature of contemporary caste.
• "Tribe" is a modern term for very old communities defined negatively — communities that did not practice a religion with a written text, did not have a state or political form of the centralised kind, did not have sharp class divisions, and (above all) did not have caste itself (NCERT §3.2, p. 43).
• Tribes are classified by permanent traits (region, language, physical characteristics, ecological habitat) and acquired traits (mode of livelihood; extent of incorporation into Hindu society) (NCERT §3.2, pp. 43–44).
• Tribal demography: ~85% of tribals live in "middle India" (Gujarat/Rajasthan in the west to West Bengal/Odisha in the east; MP, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, parts of Maharashtra and AP at its heart); >11% in North-East; only ~3% in the rest of India. North-Eastern states (except Assam) have >30% tribal share, with Arunachal, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland between 60–95%. Linguistically tribes fall into Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Austric and Tibeto-Burman groups (the last two are primarily tribal). Total tribal population: ~8.2% (84 million) in 2001 Census, ~8.6% (~104 million) per the 2011 Census (NCERT §3.2 Permanent Traits, p. 44).
• Biggest tribes (≥1 million): Gonds, Bhils, Santhals, Oraons, Minas, Bodos, Mundas (NCERT §3.2, p. 44).
• The 1960s tribe-caste debate: continuum view (tribes = less stratified caste-peasant society) vs distinct-community view (tribes lack purity–pollution); by the 1970s these distinctions were shown to be faulty on size, isolation, religion and livelihood criteria — many "tribes" were larger than many "castes" (NCERT §3.2 Tribe — The Career of a Concept, p. 45).
• Some scholars argue tribes are not "pristine" but "secondary" phenomena arising from colonialist/state contact; "tribalism" itself emerges as an ideology of self-distinction (NCERT §3.2, p. 46).
• Nehruvian-era national development (dams, factories, mines) dispossessed tribals of land and forests; in-migration of non-tribals has diluted tribal share — Tripura's tribal share was halved in a single decade, and similar pressure exists in Arunachal Pradesh; the displacement-rehabilitation deficit fuelled later movements like the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NCERT §3.2 National Development versus Tribal Development, pp. 46–47).
• Today tribal identity is shaped by interaction with the mainstream (not primordial traits); statehood for Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh (2000) was a positive outcome; a new educated tribal middle class is emerging, driven by reservation and modern education (NCERT §3.2 Tribal Identity Today + Box 3.1 Virginius Xaxa, pp. 47–48).
• The family can be nuclear (one set of parents and their children) or extended/"joint" (more than one couple, often multiple generations); the joint family is not the dominant Indian form and the term itself, as I.P. Desai (1964) noted, is a translation of the English phrase rather than a native Indian category (NCERT §3.3 Nuclear and Extended Family, p. 49).
• Family forms vary by rules of residence (matrilocal vs patrilocal), inheritance (matrilineal vs patrilineal) and authority (patriarchy vs matriarchy). Matriarchy — societies where women exercise dominance — has no historical or anthropological evidence; it is a theoretical, not empirical, concept. Matriliny does exist (e.g., Khasis of Meghalaya, Nairs of Kerala): women inherit property from their mothers but do not control it or take public decisions — male kin (brothers, uncles) typically manage household affairs (NCERT §3.3 Diverse Forms of the Family, p. 50).
• Changes in family (e.g., women-headed households due to male migration from Himalayan villages; grandparents as caregivers for software-industry parents) reflect links between the private sphere and the political/economic/cultural public sphere (NCERT §3.3, p. 49).

2.2 Definitions to memorise

2.3 Diagrams / processes to remember

• Ranks of varna and the excluded "panchama" category — p. 36.
• Six defining features of caste (birth, endogamy, food rules, hierarchy, sub-divisions, hereditary occupations) — p. 37.
• Portrait notes on reformers: Ayyankali (p. 37), Jotirao Phule + Satyashodhak Samaj 1873 (p. 38), Savitri Bai Phule (p. 39), Periyar (p. 40), Sri Narayana Guru (p. 41), M.N. Srinivas (p. 42).
• Geographical mental-map: 85% tribals in "middle India" (Gujarat/Rajasthan to West Bengal/Odisha) — p. 44.
• Image: "A tribal village fair" — p. 45.
• Image: "Tribal empowerment" (Source: trifed.tribal.gov.in) — p. 47.
• Box 3.1: Virginius Xaxa quotation on the tribal middle class and the assertion of identity — p. 48.
• Family classification grid: residence (matri/patrilocal) × inheritance (matri/patrilineal) × authority (matri/patriarchy).

2.4 Common confusions / NTA trap points

• Varna vs jati. Varna = pan-Indian four-fold; jati = regional, hundreds/thousands of sub-groups. NTA will swap them.
• Matriliny vs matriarchy. Matriliny exists (inheritance through women); matriarchy does NOT have historical/anthropological evidence. NTA frequently asks this distinction.
• Sanskritisation vs dominant caste. Both are M.N. Srinivas's, but different — sanskritisation is upward ritual emulation; dominant caste is about land + numbers + electoral power.
• 1901 Census and Risley. The first regular decennial census was 1881; the caste-hierarchy exercise was in 1901 under Herbert Risley — examiners mix these dates.
• Tribal share of population. 2001 Census = 8.2% / ~84 million; 2011 Census = 8.6% / ~104 million. Don't confuse the two.
• "Joint family" not a native term. I.P. Desai (1964) observed it is a translation of the English phrase, not the translation of any Indian word.
• Government of India Act 1935 (not 1919 or 1947) gave legal recognition to SC/ST schedules.
• "Caste" is Portuguese, "varna" is Sanskrit — both are sometimes wrongly traced to the same root.
• Periyar's full name — E.V. Ramasami Naickar; he led the Self-Respect Movement, not a religious reform sect.
• Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh got statehood in 2000, not 1947 or 2014 — a tribal-empowerment landmark.
• Tripura's tribal share halved in a single decade — sharpest demographic dilution among NE states.
• Reformers vs Acts — Phule founded the Samaj in 1873; the GoI Act came in 1935; distractors may swap dates.

2.5 Thinkers / Theories