Social Institutions of a Hindu Village in
North India

This study made in India during the years 1925-1931, de-
scribes the important social institutions of Karimpur, located 27°
19' North and 79° 8' East in the political division known as
Tahsil Mainpuri, District Mainpuri, Division Agra, United Prov-
inces, India. Karimpur is located in the area known in ancient
Hindu history as Hindustan, the stronghold of Hinduism from
the time of the Aryan invasion. The area has through the
course of history been traversed by different kinds of racial
groups—Austric, Dravidian and Aryan; and by different kinds of
religious groups—Austric, Dravidian, Aryan, Jain, Buddhist,
Mohammedan and Christian.

*Physical environment:*—The country surrounding Karimpur presents the appearance of an extensive level plain broken only by rolling sand hills and undulations of the Kali and Isan rivers. Its soils are typical of those found elsewhere in the Indo-Gangetic plain. The area of the revenue village is 4,093 acres, of which 2,103 are culturable. This soil yields maize, sorghum, millets, pulses, wheat, barley, lentils, sugar cane, vegetables, tubers, melons, sesamum, castor, cotton, hemp, mustard, poppy, tobacco, and a large variety of trees. The different kinds of soils have given rise to the system of scattered holdings which is typical of the village. The average rainfall for a ten year period was 31.84 inches, 80.7% of which fell in the months of July, August and September. The agricultural practices of the village have been built around the three climatic seasons, the rainy season, the cold season and the hot season, and good crops depend upon a proper distribution of rainfall, meagre insolation, average temperature—the lowest temperature occurs in January when the mean is 48.7° F. the actual lowest temperature being 36.9° F. From then on there is a rapid rise to a mean maximum of 112.1° F in June, the actual highest temperature being 117.2° F.—average humidity and normal winds. Cultivating practices, the practice of lopping off branches of trees for fuel and fodder, and the rav-

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ages of domestic and wild grazing animals and of white ants, have prevented the area from developing its vegetation beyond that of the dry meadow stage.

*Housing and the Village plan:*—The hamlet of Karimpur is confined to an area of 16.17 acres, on which are located 126 partially roofed enclosures of houses, accommodating 161 families with a population of 754 and a Government Primary School. There are no temples or other community buildings. The ordinary enclosure described in the study is 40 by 57 feet, enclosing three rooms located along the east, south and west sides, and a courtyard about 19 by 28 feet in a corner of which is located the kitchen. This enclosure houses a man, his children, certain relatives, and his animals. The enclosures vary in size and complexity according to the needs and prestige of the families living there at present or in past generations. The various castes tend to be grouped together, the higher castes occupying the inner part of the village and the lower castes, the outer part of the village.

*Personnel of the Village:*—85 per cent of the residents of the village are Hindus and 30.11 per cent of the residents are Brahmans. 24 different castes are represented in the village. 53.7 per cent are males and 46.3 per cent females. The mean age for the village people, both male and female, is somewhere between twenty and twenty-five. 141 families out of 161 families in the village are engaged in part or entirely in agriculture. The average number of persons per family is 4.7. Only 0.6 per cent of the women are single between the ages of 15-45, whereas 23.6 per cent of the men of the same age are single. Of this latter number a large proportion are Brahmans. In Karimpur there are 563 persons per square mile of tilled land, an average of 0.98 acres of land per person. The most significant movement of population in the village is among the females. 58.5 per cent of the females were born outside of the village and only 7.7 per cent men. The study yields very little of value in the matter of birth and death rates but indicates that there is a lower birth rate and a higher death rate than the average for the Indo-Gangetic Plain, West.

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*The Caste System:*—The caste system represents a great hierarchy of ascending orders, in which every man has his God-appointed function and recognized obligations, and at the same time his rights and privileges. Each man is a member of some caste, and each caste is an essential organ of the whole, discharging a function at once peculiar to itself and necessary to the full life of the caste system. Only through his participation in this group life can the individual attain his own ends, and conversely, only with the aid of every individual and every group can the caste system afford the appropriate setting for the fullest life of its individual members. All men exist in and for each other, and are bound to each other by an intricate network of mutual obligations. The characteristics of the caste system as demonstrated in the study are (1) the segmental division of society, (2) the hierarchy of castes, (3) food taboos and pollution by touch, (4) civil and religious disabilities and privileges of the different sections, (5) lack of choice of occupation, (6) restrictions on marriage, and (7) religious sanctions in the beliefs in Karma and Dharma.

*The Individual Caste:*—Castes are similar (1) in their being an endogamus group or a collection of endogamous groups, (2) in that membership is hereditary, (3) in that membership arises from birth alone, (4) in that it is one among a number of similarly formed groups but differently graded within a caste system, (5) in that each caste has privileges, duties and restrictions, (6) in that it has a traditional occupation or a common origin or both, (7) in that it is regarded as a single homogeneous community. Castes are dissimilar (1) in their name, (2) in their standing within the caste system, (3) in their privileges, (4) in their duties, (5) in their restrictions, (6) in their traditional occupation and (7) in their origin.

The functions of castes may be briefly enumerated. They enable individuals (1) to fulfill their Karma most effectively, (2) to preserve the purity of family blood, and (3) to assure stability of social, economic, political and spiritual status. Each

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caste is engaged in fulfilling its responsibility in maintaining "status quo". In order to do this, every caste has some authority charged with the duty of compelling obedience to customary laws.

*The Caste-Family:*—The characteristics of the caste-family are (1) organismic relation to the caste system, (2) organismic relation to the unborn and deceased, (3) necessity of marriage and of having sons, (4) necessity of endogamy, (5) necessity of performing ceremonies in relation to the deceased members of the family, (6) the ranking of the elders higher than the young and the men higher than the women, (7) the absolute authority of the husband, (8) the self-abnegation of the wife and mother, (9) the preferential treatment shown to the sons as compared to the daughters, (10) the distinctive status of the widow, (11) the joint-family household organization, (12) the intimate family terms of relationship applied to members of the joint-family, (13) girls married before the age of puberty, (14) the seclusion of women, (15) the dowry and various types of marriage ceremony, (16) desertion as a means of permanent separation of husband and wife and (17) equal distribution of property among the sons.

*The Caste-Village:*—The characteristics of Karimpur are: (1) the village has an economic solidarity in which each household has a share; (2) the village land furnishes a means of subsistence to all the villagers; (3) the villagers have a guaranteed use of the land surrounding the village, although they do not have actual ownership; (4) the villages have guaranteed rights in the use of waste land; (5) the trade and commerce of the village which is small in amount is conducted chiefly at fairs and markets; (6) the village has a potential form of government through its council of elders which enables it to be a primary political unit of rural life; (7) Hinduism is the prevailing religion. The religious life of the village which originally centered around local deities with a local priesthood still persists; (8) the education of the young is no longer provided only by the home, since a Government Primary School now functions in the village; (9) isolation or ostracism is still the absolute method of village social control; (10) the village provides social recognition adequate for

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the individual; (11) the village has resources for credit adequate for the villager; (12) as a result of contact with Western medicine, the villagers no longer find their medical facilities adequate; (13) the local recreational activities are still satisfactory for the villagers; and (14) the relation to external Government agents has tended to disrupt the former independence of the village community. Finally we are led to conclude that Karimpur seems still to retain the important characteristics of a village community in respect to residence, land and elementary sufficiencies.

*Conclusion:*—In assessing the social institutions of Karimpur we apply this test, ‘‘Do the castes, caste-families and caste-community contribute to complementary development of individual and society’’? Recognizing that the Hindu philosopher, who views the span of his life as a minute fraction of all time, considers that they do, we support the opposite view in reference to the caste system because (1) its segmental division of society is fixed by birth and does not take account of individuals of different abilities born into the different castes; (2) its hierarchy fixes the Brahman at the apex and the untouchable at the base, irrespective of individual I.Q's; (3) its food taboos and pollution by touch prevent interdining and a free intercourse of human beings who may be intellectual equals as in the case of a low caste man with a Brahman of equal intelligence; (4) its civil and religious disabilities prevent men of all castes from mixing freely in the use of public services; (5) its lack of choice of occupation takes no cognizance of potential skills of various kinds in a given caste, but arbitrarily fixes the occupational status of each according to birth; (6) its marriage restrictions prevent intermarriage on the basis of intellectual equality; and (7) its religious sanctions offer nothing for those born in lower castes in *this* life.

We further conclude that the caste system now existing in Karimpur can be eliminated in such a manner that the evolutionary change will be gradual rather than disruptive. Six things are essential to the realization of such an end; (1) the government of the village must be left largely in the control of the village leaders; (2) the rights in land holdings must be kept fairly stable;

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(3) the rights of certain occupations must be kept fairly stable;
(4) religious freedom must be granted to all; (5) families must be
granted freedom of individual development and (6) educational,
recreational, political and medical facilities must be open to all
without respect of birth. When the central government will ad-
just its administrative and legislative machinery so that it will
help the village in self-realization, the influence of the caste system
for conformation with 'status-quo' will be superseded by a system
which looks to the creative development of every individual and
social institution in the village community.

an exchange
Cornell Univ. Library

MAR 26 1934

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*Conclusion:*—In assessing the social institutions of Karimpur we apply this test, "Do the castes, caste-families and caste-community contribute to complementary development of individual and society"? Recognizing that the Hindu philosopher, who views the span of his life as a minute fraction of all time, considers that they do, we support the opposite view in reference to the caste system because (1) its segmental division of society is fixed by birth and does not take account of individuals of different abilities born into the different castes; (2) its hierarchy fixes the Brahman at the apex and the untouchable at the base, irrespective of individual I.Q's; (3) its food taboos and pollution by touch prevent interdining and a free intercourse of human beings who may be intellectual equals as in the case of a low caste man with a Brahman of equal intelligence; (4) its civil and religious disabilities prevent men of all castes from mixing freely in the use of public services; (5) its lack of choice of occupation takes no cognizance of potential skills of various kinds in a given caste, but arbitrarily fixes the occupational status of each according to birth; (6) its marriage restrictions prevent intermarriage on the basis of intellectual equality; and (7) its religious sanctions offer nothing for those born in lower castes in this life.

[5]

An Abstract of a Thesis

PRESENTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT
OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

BY

WILLIAM HENRICKS WISER,

Ithaca, New York

June, 1933

THE
HINDU JAJMANI SYSTEM

BY
W. H. WISER.

This book breaks new ground in regard to
the study of the Indian village community. The
studies that have thus far appeared concerning
that community had related to the blood-relationship
or land-tenure rights of the village folk or
to their castes or economic conditions. The social
inter-relationship of the community had remained
unexplored by the scholars although some
reference to it is sometimes come across in their
works. Dr. Wiser has been the first to study
this aspect of the life of the village community.
While engaged in Christian rural social service,
he remained in contact with the Hindu village
of Karimpur in the United Provinces for five
camping seasons during the period 1925—1931.
There he heard for the first time the terms
Jajman and Jajmani Haqq which he later discovered
referred to an established service relationship
system which he has termed the Hindu Jajmani System.
With the help of two youngmen of the village he studied the System and the
results of the study he presents to us in the
present book.

2

The study is an excellent study indeed. It appeals not only because it is the first of its kind but also because it is thorough and unbiased. Dr. Wiser views the Jajmani System from practically every point of view. He describes its structure, its functioning, the compensations and rights it involves, the factors that are leading to its disintegration and its advantages and disadvantages. Having done this he attempts an evaluation of the system as a service relationship in a rural community of to-day.

Dr. Wiser defines the Hindu Jajmani System 'as the system of interrelatedness in service within the Hindu community'. The community is composed of a number of castes. Each caste has a form of service to perform for the others. In this way all the castes in the village are interrelated in service capacity. Those who receive the service are known as the "Jajmans" of those who render the service; and those who render the service are called the "Kam-wale" or "Kam-karne-wale (workers) of those whom they serve if they belong to the sudra or lower castes and by their caste title if they are of the upper castes. The whole clientele of the workers is termed their "Jajmani" or brit."

The services rendered are paid for "in cash and in kind" daily, monthly, bi-yearly, per piece of work, and on special occasions, depending on the type of service rendered and in part on the goodwill of the Jajman, as well as in various "concessions granted to the various occupational groups."

This is what the Hindu Jajmani System is and how the services rendered under it are compensated. The system has its sanction in the Hindu religious laws and has been further strengthened by being recognized by the English law-courts in India. But factors are at work that are bringing about its disruption. It will unnecessarily lengthen this review if we note these and what the author says about the advantages and disadvantages of the system as well as about its value to the village community of to-day.

3

His views on all these topics are analytic and very valuable. Those who care to know them should go through the pages of the book.

The book it must be clear has a limited scope. It is the study of the Jajmani System as seen in one village only. Similar studies need to be undertaken with regard to other parts of the country for the system the author believes and we believe too prevails practically throughout the length and breadth of the country in one form or another. Then it will become possible to have a comprehensive and real view of the System in all its bearings. Dr. Wiser's book affords an excellent model for the conduct of such studies by others. He deserves to be congratulated on his painstaking, clear and scientific analysis of the System as found in the village of Karimpur.—*Indian Journal of Economics*.

G. D. K.

Price: — Rs. 2-8-0.

Order From—

The Lucknow Publishing House,
LUCKNOW.

1938.

Pages 192.

Lucknow Publishing House, Lucknow—740—11-'38.

THE
HINDU JAJMANI SYSTEM

BY
W. H. WISER.

This book breaks new ground in regard to
the study of the Indian village community. The
studies that have thus far appeared concerning
that community had related to the blood-relation-
ship or land-tenure rights of the village folk or
to their castes or economic conditions. The social
inter-relationship of the community had remain-
ed unexplored by the scholars although some
reference to it is sometimes come across in their
works. Dr. Wiser has been the first to study
this aspect of the life of the village community.
While engaged in Christian rural social service,
he remained in contact with the Hindu village
of Karimpur in the United Provinces for five
camping seasons during the period 1925—1931.
There he heard for the first time the terms
Jajman and Jajmani Haqq which he later dis-
covered referred to an established service rela-
tionship system which he has termed the Hindu
Jajmani System. With the help of two young-
men of the village he studied the System and the
results of the study he presents to us in the
present book.

2

3

G. D. K.

Price: — Rs. 2-8-0.

Order From—

1938.

Pages 192.

THE
HINDU JAJMANI SYSTEM

BY
W. H. WISER.

2

3

G. D. K.

Price: — Rs. 2-8-0.

Order From—

1938.

Pages 192.

THE
HINDU JAJMANI SYSTEM

A SOCIO-ECONOMIC SYSTEM INTERRELATING
MEMBERS OF A HINDU VILLAGE
COMMUNITY IN SERVICES

BY

WILLIAM HENRICKS WISER, M. A., Ph. D.

(Co-author "Behind Mud Walls in India")

LUCKNOW PUBLISHING HOUSE

Lucknow, U. P., India

1936.