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URBAN LIFE IN A RURAL TOWN:
THE ROLE OF PROVINCIAL ELITES IN BENGALI SOCIETY

DISSERTATION FOR THE DEGREE OF PILD.
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY

LAUREN A. CORWIN, PILD.

1974

 

This is to certify that the

,. " thesis entitled

URBAN LIFE IN A RURAL TOWN:
THE ROLE OF PROVINCIAL ELITES IN BENGALI SOCIETY

presented by

Lauren A. Corwin

has been accepted towards fulfillment
of the requirements for

Ph. D. degree in AnthrOpology

 

 

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ABSTRACT

URBAN LIFE IN A RURAL TOWN:
THE ROLE OF PROVINCIAL ELITES IN BENGALI SOCIETY

By

Lauren A. Corwin

This thesis is a study of a small rural town in West Bengal,
India. The focus of the study is on the various kinds of elites
in the town, and their interaction with the peasant villages of
the surrounding rural microoregion and with the larger urban
centers of Bengal and India.

The town of Mahishadal constitutes what may be termed a
minimal urban center: it is the effective "city" for the peasants,
and as the smallest center in a hierarchy of urban centers, serves
as the place where city people make contact with villagers. As a
minimal urban center, the town serves vital functions in cultural
transmission and in maintenance of regional social structure and
civilization.

Mahishadal has served as a minimal urban center for several
centuries, as administrative headquarters for the Mahishadal Raj
Estate. As a cosmopolitan Rajas' Town, the community has always
contained a large number of outsiders, including permanent
residents from other cultural and linguistic regions as well as
transient administrative specialists from other parts of Bengal.
Its present development as a marketing center has increased the

amount of interaction between the town and larger cities. The

 

 

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('7 Lauren A. Corwin

large number of outsiders in the town and the high degree of social
stratification that has characterized the town population means
that, for some time, much social interaction has involved strangers
of unknown castes. Because of the continued need to interact with
strangers, townsmen assess the social status of an individual
according to a broad system of social classes, which provides the
frame of reference for behavior. Determination of an individual's
class status is based on his standing in several hierarchies,
including occupation and education, caste rank, and relative degree
of orientation to an upper-middle class urban life-style and the
values that support it. Because an individual's class status is a
composite, it is possible to assess the status of strangers even
when an important criterion (such as caste) is unknown. The system
of social classes found in Mahishadal is a local variant of a
regionally-recognized system. The regional nature of the class
categories makes it possible for people from very different
backgrounds to interact "properly" within the town. The

regionally-recognized system of social classes is a major factor

contributing to cultural uniformity in Upper and Upper-Middle Class
Bengali society.

The importance of the class system in facilitating social
interaction is reflected in the heterogeneous composition of the
Upper and Upper-Middle Classes of the town. Mahishadal elites are
drawn from both high and low ranking castes, from village, town,

and city backgrounds, and from diverse regions. Town elites are

 

 

 

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Lauren A. Corwin

involved in social networks within and beyond the town. Three
functionally-distinct categories of elites exist among the upper
and upper-middle class families of the town. Each category of
lelites plays a unique role in the process of cultural transmission
and social integration. The transient Regional Elites have social
ruatworks that include all the major urban centers in Bengal. The
Sumeegional Elites are established town families with social
ruetworks that are concentrated in southern West Bengal. The
hmicro-Regional Elites are newcomers to urban life, a bazar-oriented
cnatgrowth of the prosperous peasantry of the locality.

It is through the interaction of these different kinds of
(elites that the town mediates between the Great Tradition of
Ieran Bengal and the Little Tradition of the locality. The Great
TPradition is brought to the town by the Regional Elites, maintained
ir1 the town by the Sub-Regional Elites, and transmitted to the
vi llages by the Micro-Regional Elites, who also bring elements of
true Little Tradition to the town. The presence of all three kinds
cxf elites is necessary for the existence of the complex networks
of communication that ultimately link the villages, towns, and
cities of Bengal into a single society, and it is in the rural town,
the minimal urban center, that these elites come into contact. The
analysis of the role of provincial elites in Mahishadal Town
suggests that the rural town and functionally-distinct categories
(sf provincial elites may be a significant factor in the national

ithegration of peasant societies.

 

 

URBAN LIFE IN A RURAL TOWN:
THE ROLE OF PROVINCIAL ELITES IN BENGALI SOCIETY

By

Lauren A? Corwin

A DISSERTATION

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Department of Anthropology

1974

 

© COpyri ght by
LAUREN ANITA CORWIN

1974

 

TO THE PEOPLE OF MAHISHADAL

ii

 

 

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

If I were to attempt to personally thank each individual who in

some way contributed to my completion of this dissertation, the list
First I would like to give recognition to

woul d be very long indeed.
It was a combination of my

my p arents, John W. and Sophia Corwin.

father '5 interest in the history of civilization and my mother's
interest in art that first opened the door to other cultures. I

haVe inherited my wanderlust from them. Also, I would like to

thank the many South Asian friends of my early childhood in

W ~ . . .
ashlngton, D.C. I decided that I would see India as a child, but

di . .
d not discover the means -- anthropology -- until I was twenty.

The present study has been strongly influenced by my mentors
in
the Department of Anthropology and the Asian Studies Center at
Mi -
Chl gan State University. Dr. Bernard Gallin, Chairman of the

De
partment of Anthropology, and Dr. William T. Ross, Director of

t
he Center for Asian Studies, have provided intellectual guidance
and encouragement throughout my period of graduate training. I owe

my interest in Bengal to Dr. Ralph W. Nicholas, who was my guide
(hiring years of graduate courses and fieldwork in West Bengal.

Dr. Charles Morrison and Dr. Leonard Kasdan, who served on my

Graduate Committee, have contributed both time and insight. Marta

Weinstock Nicholas and Rita Schlesinger Gallin provided both the

iii

 

 

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insight of Asianists with field experience and emotional support.

Finally, I would like to thank the many people who helped me learn

th e Bengali l anguage .
In India I would like to express my thanks to Mr. Torun Mitra,

of the American Institute of Indian Studies in Calcutta, for his

helpful suggestions during my years in West Bengal, Mr. Naba
Kumar Banerjee, my research assistant in Mahishadal, and Prahlad
who managed to keep a household going during the fieldwork

Das ,

peri od. I particularly want to express my gratitude to three

Bengali families who provided both home and family to a stray

Ameri can -- the family of Hrishikesh Mukhopadhyay, the late N.N.

Banerj ee, and of Nirmalendu Roy. I miss them all.

Finally, I would like to express my appreciation to the people
at The. Cleveland State University who contributed to the completion

Of thi S dissertation. Ms. Eileen Cornez helped in typing earlier

a . . . . .
p 13ers which were incorporated into the the51s. Ms. Wilma Powell

t
Yped the final draft and provided editorial assistance. Ms. Chris
Ha

“ouSek Niederriter helped in putting the whole thing

to
gether, and to Mr. Thomas E. Makus for drawing the maps.

Cleveland, Ohio May 1974

iv

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
LIST OF TABLES viii
LIST OF FIGURES x
OLAFVITJEEII
I: - INTRODUCTION: THE STUDY OF A RURAL TOWN . 1
Choice of Community for Study . . . . . . . . 8
Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
II- THESETTING....................13
LOCAL HISTORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
The Mahishadal Raj Estate . . . . . . . . . . 23
THE PAST: MAHISHADAL AS RAJAS' TOWN . . . . . . . 25
THE RAJ ESTATE AND THE TOWN . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
The Cultivators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Non-Cultivating Castes . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Town Elite: Old Gentry . . . . . . 41
The Businessmen: Exploiting a Growing Bazar . 43
THE LEGACY 0F HISTORY IN THE CONTEMPORARY TOWN . . 47
I
II - BASIC SOCIAL ORGANIZATION . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
THE DEFINITION OF "URBAN" S4
The Census Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Population and Occupation: Census Figures . . 56
THE URBAN ARENA 0F MAHISHADAL . . . . . . . . . . 58
Market Town . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Administrative Center . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Educational Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Cultural Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
THE TOWN AND THE MICRO- REGION . . . . . . . . . . 76
FIVE HUNDRED TOWN HOUSEHOLDS . . . . . . . . . . . 77
CASTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
OCCUPATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
AGRICULTURE AND TOWN FAMILIES . . . . . . . . . . 86
FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD IN THE TOWN . . . . . . . . . 90
Household Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

 

 

 

 

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CHAPTER Page

IV. CASTE IN THE TOWN SETTING . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
CASTE IN DAILY LIFE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
The Local Caste Hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . 105
Caste and Occupation . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Caste Interdining . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
CASTE AND THE JAJMANI SYSTEM . . . . . . . . . . 114
Caste and Residential Segregation . . . . . . ll7
SUMMARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
V. SOCIAL CLASS IN MAHISHADAL . . . . . . . . . . . 119
CLASS STATUS AND ITS DETERMINATION . . . . . . . 119
Caste . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Caste as a Ranking Gradient . . . . . . . . . 121
The Occupational Ranking Gradient . . . . . . 123

The Occupational Hierarchy as a Ranking
Gradient . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
The Scoring System . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Methodology . . . 133
Occupational Hierarchy Scores and Caste Ranks 133
Life- -Style as a Ranking Gradient . . . . . . 138
Housing in Mahishadal . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Neighborhood or Residential Area . . . . . . 147

Class Status and the Multiple Ranking

Gradient Scores . . . . . . 151
The Class Structure of Mahishadal Town . . . 154
CLASS: THE SYSTEM IN ACTION . . . . . . . . . . 156
"Who Are You?” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Who You Are . . . . . . . . . 159
SOCIAL STATUS AND SOCIAL INTERACTION . . . . . . 179
Clubs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
‘\J I. URBAN LIFE IN A RURAL TOWN: THREE ELITE GROUPS . 193
THE TOWN ELITE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
BENGALI BHADRALOK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
The Transient Elite . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
The Bhadralok Old Gentry . . . . . . . . . . 204
The East Bengali Settlers . . . . . . . . . . 214
THE PASCIMA BRAHMANS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
The Raj Relatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
The Old Gentry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
THE MAHISHYAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
Mahishya Old Gentry . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Bazar Elite . . . . . . . . . . . . 247

CHANGING STRUCTURE OF THE ELITE . . . . . . . . . 259

vi

 

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CHAPTER

FUNCTIONAL CATEGORIES OF ELITES IN RURAL

‘VII.
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
Elites
SUMMARY .
VIII. CONCLUSIONS .

FOCKF1>J1CDUCES .

APPEN DIX A -Tab1es

APPENDIX B —Glossary

BIBL I O GRAPHY

ELITE INTERACTION AND CULTURAL TRANSMISSION

The Regional Elites .
The Sub-Regional Elites .
The Micro-Regional Elites .
CASTE, CLASS AND CULTURAL TRANSMISSION
The Cultural Tradition of a Rural Town
The Class System and the Interaction of

vii

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265
266
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271
274
274

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LIST OF TABLES

Page

Caste Distribution of 500 Mahishadal Households . . . 80
Caste Population of 500 Mahishadal Households . . . . 81
Family History for $00 Households of 32 Castes . . . 83
Primary Occupations of 500 Mahishadal Household
Heads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
A11 Occupations Providing Income for 500
Mahishadal Households . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Occupation and Family History . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Family Types for 500 Mahishadal Households . 91-92
Family Type and Mean Size for 500 Mahishadal

- Households . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Distribution of Family Size Among 500 Mahishadal
Households . . . . . . . . . . 94
Family Types for Twelve Largest Caste Groups in
Mahishadal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Family Types (COparcenary Units): Rural Midnapore
and Mahishadal Town . . . . . . . . . 100
Caste Population of Mahishadal Arranged According
to Local Ranking System . . 106
Caste Population of Mahishadal Arranged According
to Traditional Ranking System . . . 107-108
Caste Hierarchy Scores . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
The Occupational Hierarchy in Mahishadal . 127-128
Primary Occupations of 500 Household Heads 129

viii

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Table Page
17. Caste and Primary Occupation for 500 Mahishadal
Households . . . . . . . . .-. . . . . . . . . . 131-132
18. Occupational Hierarchy Scores for Fourteen
Large Castes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
19. Occupational Hierarchy Scores for Composite
Caste Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
20. Primary Occupations of 500 Household Heads
(Newcomers vs. Oldtimers, with Unknowns Divided
Equally) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
21. Occupational Hierarchy Scores: Oldtimers vs.
Newcomers to Town . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
22. Mahishya Occupational Hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . 137
23. Occupational Hierarchy Scores for Fourteen Large
Castes (All Workers and All Occupations Included). . 139
24. Housing Scores for Fourteen Large Castes . . . . . . 146
25. Housing Scores for Important Groups in Mahishadal . 146
26. Neighborhood Ranking Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
27. Neighborhood Ranking Gradient Scores for Fourteen
Castes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
28. Composite Class Scores for Important Caste Groups . 153
29. "Knowledgeable People" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
30. The Elite Men's Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
31. The Bazar Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
32. The Workers' Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
33. Functional Categories of Elites in Mahishadal Town . 275
Appendix A
1. Police Station Mahishadal: Population
Characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
2. Population Distribution by Age and Sex . . . . . . . 301
3. Occupations of Male Workers in Rural and Urban

Mahishadal Police Station . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
ix

 

 

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State of West

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10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
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18.

19.

LIST OF FIGURES

State of West Bengal and Bangladesh .

Mahishadal Town . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Tamluk Sub-Division, Midnapore District .

The Mahishadal Rajas

Genealogy of a Prosperous Peasant Kin-Aggregate .
Genealogy of a Poor Peasant Kin-Aggregate .
Supplemented Families in Mahishadal Town

The System of Caste Stratification in Mahishadal
Town and Radhanagar Village .

Composite Class Scores for Important Caste Groups .

The Government Officer

The Health Inspector . . . . . . . . . .
The Music Teache. . .

The Tutor's Family

The Retired Judge . . .

The Old Teacher . . . .

The Old Police In5pector . .

The Headmaster . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Accountant

The Hindusthani . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Page
14
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24
34
35

97

110
155
198
201
203
207
210
213
218
222
229

231

 

 

 

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20. Mahishadal Pascima Brahman Kinship and

Marriage Ties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
21. The Administrators: Main Families . . . . . . . . 236
22. The Raja's Doctor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
23. The Leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
24. The Bazar Doctor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
25. The Contractor Kin-Aggregate . . . . . . . . . . . 249
26. Dipu Das . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254

27. Nani Babu and His Kin-Aggregate . . . . - - - . - - 255

xi

 

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION: THE STUDY OF A RURAL TOWN

This thesis is a study of a small rural town in the state of
West Bengal, India. Although field research was conducted
exclusively within the territorial boundaries of the town, the focus
of the study is on the relations of the town with both the peasant
villages in the surrounding micro-region and with the larger urban
centers of Bengal and India.

Anthropologists have been studying South Asian peasant society
for some thirty years. However, the study of small rural towns has
been neglected until recently (see Fox 1969, Weibe 1969). Most of
the anthropological research done in South Asia has consisted of
either village studies (see Marriott 1955, Srinivas 1955), or studies
of segments of the populations of large cities (see Hazlehurst 1965,
Lynch 1967 and 1968, Singer 1958 and 1968, and the studies in
Fox 1970). The small rural town, the type of community that functions
as "city" for the peasants who form the bulk of the population of the
subcontinent, has been ignored. This thesis is in part an attempt to
fill a gap in knowledge about the different types of communities
found in South Asian society and the functions each type of community
performs. The small rural town, the community constituting the

minimal urban center, has long performed vital functions in the

 

 

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maintenance of South Asian society and civilization.

Most of the population of South Asia is located in its peasant
villages. However, village studies have shown that in South Asia, as
in other peasant societies, the village is not an isolated and
self-sufficient unit. Ties based on caste, kinship, economics, and
religion extend far beyond the boundaries of single villages, linking
them with each other as well as with urban centers of varying size
and function. Each village is part of a larger social and cultural
community. This peasant community, designated the "micro-region” in
this study, is described by Berreman.

It is the area within which all the castes and

occupational specialists necessary to the economy are

found. It is, therefore, the area over which artisans

move to perform their duties and collect their payments.

In it are also merchants who serve as important sources
of goods from the outside and as markets for local

goods . . . Within the area all the necessary religious
practitioners are to be found . . . It is the area within
which most . . . marriages take place, and therefore

within which consanguineal and affinal kin ties are
concentrated. As a result it is the largest area within
which visiting frequently occurs . . . In this area are
found not only the formal and informal councils for local
self-government and the judicial councils, but the local
representatives of the state and national governments
Into this area come the land records officers, tax
collectors, police, and others with whom villagers must
deal (Berreman 1962:294-5).

The small town of Mahishadal, subject of the present study, serves as
the urban center for one such rural micro-region in West Bengal.

Although few studies have dealt with rural towns and their social
and cultural functions, there have been various anthropological

attempts to deal with social units larger than single villages. One

approach has been to focus on the social networks linking the various

 

 

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kinds of centers found in South Asian society (see Cohn and

Marriott 1958, Srinivas and Béteille 1964). Mahishadal town is one
such center in which regional and local social networks converge.
Another approach to the anthropological study of multi—village social
units has been through the study of territorial units with defined
boundaries, such as small kingdoms (see Cohn 1962, MacLachlan and
Beals 1966). Mahishadal town served as the center for one such small
kingdom, the Mahishadal Raj Estate, functioning as.a Rajas'town for
three and a half centuries.

The ideas of Redfield have clearly influenced these various
anthropological attempts to place the peasant village in its proper
perspective in South Asian society and civilization. The networks
of social interaction that link peasant villages with the towns and
cities also function as the means through which the cultural variants
that Redfield designated as the "great" and ”little" traditions come
into contact. It is in the various kinds of centers, where such
social networks converge, that such contact occurs.

The entire "societal structure" of social networks

of a civilization may function as transmissive channels

for the communication of the different levels of tradition

among the different communities connected by the

networks (Singer 1964:92).

The present study focuses on such ”transmissive channels" and the
actors involved in them. It is through the interaction of rural

and urban elites that contact occurs between the great and little
tradition variants of Indian civilization, and such elite contact
occurs primarily in the rural town. The rural town serves a vital

function as a minimal urban center: it is the effective "city" for

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the peasants, and as the smallest center in a hierarchy of urban
centers, serve as the place in which city people make contact with
villagers. The town of Mahishadal is one such minimal urban center,
and the cultural transmission that occurs through the interaction of
elites in this town is typical of the process as it occurs in
thousands of rural towns throughout South Asia.

This thesis is divided into three parts. Chapters II and III
consist of a general description of the town of Mahishadal and of
the importance of the town to the surrounding rural micro-region.

In this section both the town of the past, a royal center, and the
town of the present, an administrative and marketing center, are
discussed.

Chapters IV and V consist of an analysis of the function of
the class and caste systems in daily town life. It is argued that
while the caste system exists and functions in Mahishadal, caste
identity alone does little to explain social interaction in town
life. Townsmen determine the status of an individual according to
a broader concept of social class, and it is the identification with
a social class category that provides the frame of reference for
behavior. Analysis of patterned behavior reveals that determination
of an individual's class status is based on others' assessment of
his standing in several different hierarchies, including occupation
and education, the caste hierarchy, and his relative degree of
orientation to an upper-middle class urban lifestyle and the values
that support it.

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Brazil (Harris 1971). The people of Harris' Brazilian town of
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or classes -- the "whites” or the "rich" and the ”black" or the
"poor." Harris' analysis reveals that the population of the town
actually comprises four classes. An individual's class rank is
determined by his relative position on several “ranking gradients.”
His class status in the town is determined by a composite score on
a scale of low to high (or bad to good) as these are defined in the
local value system. A low position in one area of evaluation can be
compensated for by high positions in other areas. In the Brazilian
town, racial distinctions are of primary importance in the initial
assessment of social status. However,
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major ranking principles, have to a certain extent the

power of defining race. It is due to this fact that

there are no socially important groups in Minas Velhas

which are determined by purely physical characteristics

(Harris 1971:126).
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replace the racial distinctions of Brazil. In Mahishadal, low caste
status does not affect social interaction when such low status is
compensated for by wealth, a high-ranking occupation, high
educational attainment, and an urban middle-class lifestyle.

Townsmen of Mahishadal make use of broadly defined social class
categories as a frame of reference for interaction, and while caste
identity is considered in assessing class standing, occupation (with
its reflection of educational attainment) is much more important.

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his composite status on several different ranking gradients, it is
possible for townsmen to make some assessment of class status even
when caste identity is unknown. It is argued here that the system
of class categories recognized and used by the townsmen of
Mahishadal is not unique: it is the local manifestation of a system
of class categories that is regionally recognized, and that is
associated with a region-wide value system which defines the ideals
on each of the ranking gradients or aspects of social status used to
determine an individual's place in the town stratification system.
It is the regional nature of the class system operating in
Mahishadal that makes it possible for strangers of different castes
but roughly equal class status to interact in the town, and that
enables the social networks of townsmen to function in cultural
transmission.

Chapters VI and VII of this thesis focus on the upper and
upper-middle classes of the town, the classes from which town elites
are drawn. The elites of Mahishadal include both Bengalis and
non-Bengalis, and members of high and low-ranking castes. The town
elites can be divided into three categories on the basis of origin
and history in the town: 1) the North Indian Brahmans (Pascima
Brahmans) who came to Bengal to serve the North Indian Rajas,

2) the high-caste, educated Bengali Bhadralok who have come to the
town in the course of employment and who have been a transient
population until recently, and 3) the Mahishya businessmen who have
come to the town from nearby villages, and whose primary orientation
is to the town bazar. The origin and history of the present elite '

households in the town affects their status in the town and the

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nature of their social networks outside the town.

The present elite population of Mahishadal, drawn from diverse
backgrounds, can be further subdivided into three categories based
on the nature of regional orientation, and consequently, of function
in the process of cultural transmission. The Regional Elites, still
largely a transient presence in the town, have social networks
linking them to all the major urban centers of Bengal. The
Sub-Regional Elites are established town families of high status,
whose social networks link them to important towns, cities, and
villages concentrated in the southern districts of West Bengal. The
Micro-Regional Elites are newcomers to urban life, businessmen drawn
from the prosperous peasantry of the locality, who are now the
dominant economic and political force in the town.

It is through the interaction of these different kinds of
elites that the town serves as a meeting place for the great
tradition of the cities, and the little tradition of the
agricultural villages in the micro-region. The Regional Elites
mediate between the town and the culture of the larger urban centers,
the Sub-Regional Elites are the permanent urban population of the
town, representing the great tradition in the town and locality, and
the Micro-Regional Elites mediate between the town and the
surrounding area. The presence of all three kinds of elites is
necessary for the creation of the complex social networks that
ultimately link large urban centers with small peasant villages: it
is primarily in the small rural town that the three kinds of elites

will be found.

 

 

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Choice gf_Community for Study

The present study of Mahishadal town in Midnapore District was
the outcome of a series of events that anthropologists dread. In
this particular case, the necessary changes in research probably
resulted in a more useful study than was originally proposed. I had
initially planned to study a village in the vicinity of the city of
Burdwan, in central West Bengal. Burdwan city was formerly the
administrative headquarters for the large and powerful Burdwan Raj
Estate. The proposed research was to focus on the relations of the
village studied with the outside world, especially with the marketing
network and the city of Burdwan. Field research was to be
supplemented by library research on the rule of the Maharajas of
Burdwan and the effect they had on the social structure of villages
within their domain. Unfortunately, I arrived in West Bengal at a
bad time to undertake any kind of anthropological research. By the
time I began looking for a village to study in the vicinity of
Burdwan, two potential threats to research had developed. One was
natural disaster -- extremely heavy rains had caused massive flooding
and eventually, the loss of the harvest in much of West Bengal.

Half of the villages within easy reach of Burdwan city according to
a map proved in fact to be inaccessible: they were located across
the Damodar River, and the bridges were washed away. The other
threat to research was the current political mood of West Bengal, in
part a response to rising prices caused by shortage of staple foods

due to the extremely heavy rain which not only destroyed crOps in

 

 

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the fields but caused spoilage of stored grain and disrupted
transportation of food into Bengal from other States. Midterm
elections were coming up in West Bengal and the Congress Party faced
the United Front Coalition which included several leftist parties.
In rural Burdwan the Congress Party anticipated a difficult campaign
and feared that violence might break out. Most of the villages I
visited were Congress Party villages. It soon became clear that
whatever the personal sympathies of my various village hosts, they
could not afford to take on the political liability of a resident
American anthropologist. They feared both for my safety and their
political futures, and both fears later proved justified. The area
in Burdwan that I had planned to study was later the scene of
considerable violence both during the political campaign and in the
general wave of unrest following the fall of the United Front
Government after it was elected. Even in the solid Congress and
Bangla Congress country around Mahishadal, attempts were made by
United Front parties to make my presence a political issue.

I began to work in Mahishadal after Spending seven months in
Bengal and North India. Mahishadal was suggested as an interesting
town to study by the father of a Michigan State student. This man,
a resident of Tamluk town, was familiar with both the problems of
anthropologists and the volatile political situation in West Bengal.
It was through friends of this family that arrangements were made
for me to live with a family in Mahishadal. For fifteen months I
resided with the Tutor's family, an established town gentry family
of Brahman caste. The same friends who arranged for my living

quarters made arrangements for the employment of my research

 

 

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assistant, a young Brahman male with a B.A. from the Mahishadal Raj
College with no previous eXperience with anthropology, but the will

to learn.

Methodology_

 

Because of the size of the town, the study of Mahishadal
required the use of formal surveys in addition to the time-honored
anthropological technique of participant-observation. The community
was so large and complex that large segments of the population never
came into direct contact. It soon became evident that few adult men
of the town knew all the unusual events that were occurring on any
given day, or knew all of the household heads. I decided to use a
household survey to make sure that all segments of the population
were included in the town study, even those unknown to my host
family or research assistant. As a member of a large and
well—known established town family, I was frequently able to
supplement data collected in the Household and Bazar Surveys with
information that was "common knowledge" in the town. The
inquisitive youngsters of my host family and my cook proved
invaluable in providing background information with which to put
data collected in formal surveys into proper perspective.

The survey of 500 town households grew out of my attempt to
collect basic census information from each and every household in
the town. Other than my host family's polite but firm ban on the
interviewing of prostitutes (see Chapter 111) no attempt was made to
interfere with my research. I tried to get at least basic census

data for every household in the built up area of the town, and in

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fact went from house to house on every path, street, and alley in
most of the territory included in the three villages that comprise
the main area of the town. I did not attempt to deal with the
fourth village that was located at a distance from the town center.
To the best of my knowledge perhaps ten to fifteen households were
omitted from the Household Survey (in addition to the households in
the prostituteS' quarter). After the study was completed irregular
residential facilities such as hostels and messes were deleted from
the Household Survey. Also deleted were a few households for which
it was impossible to get firsthand data.

The Bazar Surveys included every permanent business concern in
the town. They covered both the 01d and New Bazars and also included
business concerns that did not have fixed locations. Cobblers and
repairmen, for example, moved about the bazar in a daily search for
customers, and would do their work either in the bazar or at the
customer's residence. In addition to the Bazar Surveys, surveys
were made of sellers in the biweekly Peasant Market and in the
weekly Weaver's Market. The Bazar Surveys were undertaken because
initial questioning revealed that most businessmen were commuters
and might not be included in a household census. The Special
markets were studied in an attempt to define the marketing region

of the town.

The basic census information collected in the Household Survey
was supplemented with genealogical information whenever possible.
Genealogies were collected when a family had a history of residence
in urban centers in general, in Mahishadal town in particular, or

had a history of business or occupation in the town while

 

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12

maintaining a village residence. The genealogies were collected for
use in reconstructing the process of development the town had
undergone, and as a means of tracing the social networks linking
townsmen with the outside, including both agricultural villages of
the locality and distant urban centers of Bengal.

All of the interviews were conducted in Bengali. I visited
each household included in the Household Survey and was present at
most of the interviews that were conducted in the various surveys of

the Bazar.

 

 

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CHAPTER II
THE SETTING

The town of Mahishadal means many things to many people. The
town is known throughout most of West Bengal because of its history
as former headquarters for the Mahishadal Raj Estate, and because
of the large Rath festival held there annually. But few people visit
the town for these reasons. Most visitors to Mahishadal are merely
passing through on their way to a more important place: to them,
Mahishadal is a bazar where one can enjoy a cup of tea while waiting
to make bus connections.

Mahishadal is located in southeastern Midnapore District, some
75 miles southwest of Calcutta (Figure l). The town boundaries
enclose four revenue villages (mauza), with a combined population of
5210 according to the 1961 Census. Within the territory defined as
"town” both city and village exist.

The Old Bazar is the rapidly expanding urban center of the
town (Figure 2). This area is densely populated and built up.

Main Street, a half-paved thoroughfare, is lined with one and two
story brick and mud buildings. Many of the buildings are new, and
have been constructed to provide business space on the ground floor
with residential quarters above. During the main business hours of
the bazar, this part of Mahishadal gets very crowded. A cyclist can
usually manage to ride through the crowds of pedestrians passing up

and down Main Street, but a rickshaw must be walked through. The

13

 

    

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Figure 3
TAMLUK SUB-DIVISION
MIDNAPORE DISYRICT

 
    
   

  
 

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smaller streets in the central bazar area are so congested that
everyone must walk.

A quarter of a mile from Main Street, rural Mahishadal appears.
Away from the bazar area there is no traffic or crowd. Behind the
brick buildings lining Main Street are paddy fields and large tanks
used for bathing and fishing. An intricate system of irrigation
canals passes under Main Street at several points, part of a water
control system that stretches far into the distant fields of
outlying villages. As one moves away from the bazar more and more
mud buildings are seen. The outer fringes of the town look like
typical village neighborhoods (para). Household clusters are strung
out along narrow dirt paths which cut across the fields. The
network of irrigation canals is bridged with logs or bamboo poles.
Men work in the fields, knee-deep in water, tranSplanting rice
seedlings. Although this is officially "urban," it is typical
"village."

In terms of lifestyle, too, Mahishadal is both city and
village. A town resident can follow much the same lifestyle as he
would in middle-class Calcutta. He may teach history at the
College, live in a rented modern flat, and be totally reliant on the
cash economy for all his household needs. He can see all the latest
films in Mahishadal or the next town on the bus line, and he can
attend plays and concerts. He can become a member of the local
literary society and contribute articles to the local journal that
is published at irregular intervals. He can perform in one of the
dramas frequently produced in the town, or can join a social club

where members Spend their evenings playing chess or bridge. He can

 

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18

have his hair cut in a barber shop and purchase fashionable shirts
and shoes. He can refresh himself with a coke, or even scotch: both
are sold in the town bazar.

It is also possible to live a typical village life within the
boundaries of the town. A Mahishadal resident may live in a
two-storied mud and thatch house shared jointly with his brothers,
and earn his living cultivating land (his land, and the land of
others). He may produce most of the food consumed by his family in
his paddy fields and household garden, making trips to the bazar once
or twice a week to sell surplus fruits and vegetables and purchase
spices, kerosene, matches, and soap. Occasionally he may go to the
bazar to see a play or a film, or to attend a fair, but the
neighborhood is his village.

The nebulousness of the urban/rural distinction within
Mahishadal is similar to what Redfield found in a rural town in
Yucatan.

It lies on the frontier between the urban and rural

ways of life . . . In Dzitas two worlds meet and mingle

so that there is no line between them but rather a mixing

and a gradual transition: the world of the villages and

the little settlements out on the haciendas or situated

by themselves in the bush and represented in Dzitas by the

milperos, who are only milperos and live, chiefly, in the

small huts on the periphery of the town; and the world of

Merida, maintained, in some degree, by the more mobile,

educated, and economically advantaged families who live

chiefly in the center of town and maintain connections

with the other towns and with the city (Redfield 1941:43).

One can better understand the nature of the small rural town

as both city and village if one focuses on ”urban" as a way of

thinking and acting. In his description of a tiny rural town in

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Brazil, Harris notes that "whatever the opinion of social scientists
may be, the inhabitants of these towns feel themselves to be
profoundly different from their country neighbors who live in nearby
villages and farms" (Harris 197lz4). Most of the people of
Mahishadal, and many residents of villages nearby, think of
themselves as urbanites: these people form the urban arena of the
town. The rural arena consists of those people of the town and

nearby countryside who consider themselves villagers.
LOCAL HISTORY

Mahishadal town is headquarters of a Police Station (thagg) of
the same name, located in the southeast quadrant of Midnapore
District. The District has a long recorded history, although the
Mahishadal area was largely uncultivated jungle land until the
beginning of the 17th century. Part of Tamluk Subdivision,
Mahishadal P.S. is bordered on the east by the Rupnarayan and
Hooghly Rivers, and on the west by the Haldi River and its
tributaries, the Kalighai and Kasai (see Figure 3). Today this
area is very densely populated and is an extremely fertile
rice-producing region. In 1951 the fertile eastern and southern
tracts of Midnapore District produced a fifth of the paddy grown
in West Bengal (Mukherjee 1956:49).

The local history of the Mahishadal area is tied in to the long
history of eastern Midnapore as a sparsely populated frontier
region, never fully incorporated into any of the series of states
of which it was a part (Ray 1966,vol. 1:19-29).

Tamluk, Subdivisional Headquarters, was known as Tamrulipta

 

 

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in ancient times, and in the first centuries of the Christian era was
a thriving seaport and capital of an independent kingdom. Later it
was incorporated into the kingdom of Rarh, which covered most of
present-day West Bengal. Midnapore, as part of Rarh, was a frontier
region between the Kingdom of Bengal, with its center more to the
northeast, and the expanding kingdoms of Orissa to the south.
Contemporary Midnapore shows evidence of its long history as the
border district of two distinct culture areas: Orissan influence

is evident in architectural styles, and the local Bengali dialect.
and many castes in the Mahishadal locality are of Orissan origin.
For over four centuries Midnapore was included in Orissa, but it
proved as difficult to rule from the south as it had been from the
north. Its long coastline has always been subject to raids by the
sea, and Muslim invaders were pushing in through the hills in the
northwest of the District. When the Muslim Afghans succeeded in
taking over Midnapore in the 16th century, the prosperous trading
center of Tamrulipta had long since disappeared and Midnapore
District was a sparsely populated and largely uncultivated waste
land.

Under the succession of Muslim rulers centered in North India,
Midnapore remained a frontier region. Several battles were fought
in the center of the district before the Moghul rulers defeated the
Afghans in the beginning of the 17th century. The founder of the
Mahishadal Raj Estate came into the area in the wake of Moghul
conquest, about 1600 A.D. He was given a small grant of land
(a 13315) as a reward for loyal service in the Moghul army. The

original grant was for a small area of jungle at the confluence of

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the Rupnarayan and Hooghly~Rivers, and it was there that the founder
of the estate, Janardan Upadhyaya, established a market (today the
large village of Geonkhali). ‘

This initial tie between the Mahishadal Raj Estate and the
Moghul Empire had a strong effect on the subsequent development of
the locality, and the establishment and growth of the town of
Mahishadal. When Janardan Upadhyaya, a Kanouj Brahman from North
India, was given his small jagir, the Moghuls had reached the limit
of their effective control of Midnapore District. The problem
facing the Moghuls was the same one that earlier rulers had
faced -- that of effective control of a vast territory that was
largely sparsely populated jungle, with lowlands and salt marshes in
the eastern half of the distrist and hilly jungles in the west. The
profits to be gained from efficient and forceful rule necessary to
assure regular remittance of revenue were scarcely worth the
effort such rule would require. Local zamindars (landholders) under
the Moghuls continued to have considerable autonomy, for the Moghuls

soon slipped into the laissez-faire pattern that other rulers had

 

followed when dealing with Midnapore. As long as they continued to
remit a modest amount of revenue, they were relatively free from
central control.

Janardan Upadhyaya, the new North Indian jagirdar, thus found
himself in control of a small estate far from administrative centers

in concern. He was one of several zamindars in the Mahishadal

 

area, but he had unique weapons to use in expanding his estate.
These weapons were his official connection with the Moghul Empire,

and his North Indian origin. Together these gave him a network of

 

 

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22

social relations that stretched over large areas of Moghul territory
and included connections in the Imperial administration that other
zamindars of the locality lacked.

When the Moghuls took over Midnapore, they shifted the District
from the Province of Orissa back to the Province of Bengal, with its
headquarters in Dacca. This decision reflected a growing problem in
coastal Bengal -- raiding by Portuguese and Arakan pirates. The
reassignment of Midnapore to the Province of Bengal provided it with
more naval protection. Under Moghul rule and the protection of the
Dacca-based Moghul naval fleet, southeastern Midnapore began to
develop as an agricultural region. The trading center had shifted
from Tamluk town to the coastal port of Hijli, in present day
Contai Subdivision (Figure 3). Hijli developed into a
cosmopolitan seaport, where Portuguese, Dutch, and English traders
engaged in regular trade with the Indians. Cosmopolitan Hijli port,
however, had little effect on the Mahishadal locality to the north.

The Moghul Empire was already beginning to fragment as the
first Rajas of Mahishadal were enlarging their control of land in
southeastern Midnapore. The major problems facing the Moghul rulers
served to divert attention from local administration, and allowed

local zamindars to continue to rule with considerable autonomy. In

 

1757 the British defeated the Nawab of Bengal at Plassey. In 1760 the
British East India Company was granted revenue rights to the

Districts of Midnapore, Burdwan, and Chittagong. In 1765, the

Company took over the rule of Bengal. Between 1600 and 1765 the
Mahishadal Rajas had gained firm control of considerable territory

in southeastern Midnapore.

 

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The Mahishadal Rangstate

The "official" printed history of the Mahishadal Raj Estate
traces the origin of the Estate back to the jggir given Janardan
Upadhyaya in 1600 (Aitch 1942). After founding a market in a
large village on the river, Janardan was able to add considerable
territory to his jagir by replacing a local zamindar of Mahishya
caste who was unable to meet the revenue demands of the Moghuls.
When he gained control of a large amount of potentially productive
agricultural land, Janardan decided to move his family to a small
inland village, site of the present town of Mahishadal. This
village already contained a tiny bazar, which began to expand as the
Raj Estate establishment grew. Janardan, first of the Mahishadal
"Rajas"1, maintained a policy of offering land at nominal rents to
all who would clear the jungle and bring the waste lands under
cultivation. Such a policy was clearly in his interest, since he was
expected to remit revenue at regular intervals and supported his
family on the difference between rents collected and revenue
remitted. Expansion of the area under cultivation continued to be
of extreme importance to the Mahishadal Rajas until the end of the
19th century, when the limits to possible expansion were reached.

Since Raja Janardan there have been sixteen generations of
Rajas, and the Estate expanded from the original port village to
encompass 396 square miles at its largest, when it was taken from
the Rajas after the Zamindari Abolition act in 1955. l

The genealogy of the Mahishadal Rajas is presented in Figure 4.

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Figure 4

The Mahishadal Rajas

 

 

  
 

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The Rajas and Ranis of the past have left their personal imprints on
the locality. Many villages bear the names of past Rajas, as do
important tanks, roads, and canals. Almost all major temples
constructed in the locality were established by the Raj family and
financed by land grants. Land grants were made in the name of the
deities (devottar grants) and to Brahman priests as payment for
performance of religious rituals (brammottar grants). Virtually all
important religious structures have some history linking them to

Rajas and Ranis of the past.

THE PAST: MAHISHADAL AS RAJAS' TOWN

The Palace compounds are across the canal from the noisy Bazar
center of the town. The compounds are surrounded by moats and high
walls and with armed guards at the gates. Only present residents of
the compounds, palace employees, and the Raja's expected visitors are
allowed to enter.

Within the Palace Compound there is silence except for the

sounds of birds and an occasional bit of radio music wafting in from
the Bazar across the canal. Outside the Palace Compounds man is
engaged in a constant struggle to keep nature in check. Inside the
Palace Compounds nature has run wild. Roads are overhung with dense
foliage, and few people dare to use the smaller paths for fear of

snakes. This jungle was once the social center of Mahishadal.

Here and there in the overgrowth of jungle are relics of a
more glorious past. Once the Rajas lived in isolated splendor,
secure behind their guarded walls and moats. The road to the Old

Palace passes through an archway in a gatehouse that once housed

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families of servants. Nearby is an outdoor theater with a raised
stage and tiers of seats, and a special parda_section reserved for
the royal ladies. The theater is still in use today, but the
programs held there are college and club productions.

The Old Palace itself is in disrepair, but its gracious arches
and entrance guarded by twin stone lions are evidence of its former
elegance. Recently it served as rented headquarters for a group of
Yugoslavian advisors to the Haldia Port Project. They went home,
taking with them their electric generators and refrigerators and
fans, but they are expected to return in the future. Meanwhile some
students use the main reception area as a dormitory and the other
rooms are kept locked. Because the Old Palace has been in use, some
care has been taken to maintain it. Other buildings have not fared
as well.

The formal gardens, the orchards, and the footpaths leading to
the many small shrines and temples within the enclosure have
reverted to jungle. Rats and snakes live in the abandoned stables
and elephant quarters, and roam freely through the crumbling
buildings that once housed a private zoo. Small buildings are
vitually disappearing under the vines. Here and there a bit of red
attracts the eye to a half-hidden broken statue bearing streaks of
vermilion and fresh flowers, evidence of recent worship.

The New Palace is the present home of the Raj family. This
building has been carefully maintained because it is still the
family residence, but it is surrounded by evidence of financial
distress. The gardens are gone, and the paved walks are

treacherous with broken stone and green slime. Stone benches have

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collapsed and birdbaths have toppled. The statue of a former Raja
gazes out over a front lawn now planted in paddy.

The Administration of the Mahishadal Raj Estate was highly
ordered. The territory of the Estate was divided into three
sectors, each with a local administrative center. The Chief
Manager was the head of a hierarchy of Assistant Managers,
Sub-Managers, and Assistant Sub-Managers. Managerial positions
carried with them a great deal of prestige, and today many town
families claim elite status because a long deceased ancestor was
once "manager" of the Raj Estate.

The Administration itself was divided into appropriate
departments with separate offices. The men who headed the various
departments within the Administration were addressed formally, by
title. "Engineer Babu" and ”Accountant Babu” were people of high
status in the town.

Because of constant involvement in legal battles over land
ownership, payment of rent, and responsibility for the upkeep of
roads and irrigation systems, the Raj Estate maintained permanent
offices in Calcutta (seat of the High Court), Midnapore (seat of the
District Court), and Contai and Tamluk Towns (where Sub-Divisional
Courts are located).

Before Zamindari Abolition, then, the Raj Estate employed
several hundred persons in Mahishadal and outside. These included
a large administrative staff, household servants, barbers,
washermen, cobblers, temple and household priests, religious singers,
secular musicians, guards, cowherds, elephant trainers and the like.

The Raj Estate provided much of the nonagricultural employment in

 

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28

Mahishadal. With Zamindari Abolition many jobs were lost, a fact

not unnoticed by the pe0ple of the locality, who think things were
better in the past. Most of the present town population owes its
presence, directly or indirectly, to the former existence of the Raj
Estate. Some families were brought by past Rajas to do specific
jobs. Others came to fill Openings in the Estate Administration of
the institutions founded by the Rajas. But most of the population of
the locality came to take advantage of newly opened jungle lands
which the Rajas offered at low rents to anyone willing to bring them

under cultivation.
THE RAJ ESTATE AND THE TOWN

A history of the Mahishadal micro-region should account for the
important differences in social structure visable in the contemporary
town when compared with nearby villages. The village population is
drawn mainly from the Mahishya caste, with a few families of
Brahman priests and Specialized artisan and service castes
comprising the rest of the rural population. Most village families
rely on agriculture for their livelihood. In the town, the Mahishya
caste is the largest caste represented in the population, but
accounts for only 32 percent of the households surveyed. The other
68 percent of the population is drawn from at least 31 distinct
castes, many of which have no respresentatives living in the
locality. The population of the town is drawn from all over Bengal,
not just the villages of the surrounding micro-region. The
cosmopolitan character of the town population is the result of its

long history as a royal center, as well as its history as an urban

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29

center serving the immediate micro-region. The town has.always
belonged to the Rajas, while village power has always been in
Mahishya hands.

The long history of southeastern Midnapore as an unpopulated
jungle borderland was one of the crucial factors that allowed the
North Indian Rajas to expand their control of territory. The
"low-rent" policies of the Rajas encouraged settlement of the land
and gradually the jungle wasteland was turned into fertile paddy
land. The presence of the Rajas and their administrative staff also
attracted pe0ple to the headquarters village, which grew in size and
complexity until it formed a tiny urban center in the middle of the
newly settled micro-region.

The development of the town and micro-region was fostered,
directly and indirectly, by the Rajas. In addition to the rulers
and their associated gentry, however, four distinct groups played a
part in shaping the history of the locality, and it was the
interaction of these four groups that created the present town. The
largest group involved in local history was also the most passively
involved. This group was the cultivator population, predominantly
Mahishya, who gradually turned jungle into agricultural land and
thus provided the economic base that supported the growing Raj
establishment. Also involved were families of noncultivating
castes, castes associated with traditional occupations necessary to
the Hindu way of life. The noncultivating castes, which included
religious specialists, artisan castes, and service castes, settled
in the agricultural villages and in the tiny headquarters

settlement, and interacted with the cultivators of the villages and

 

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30

with the growing p0pulation of townsmen. A third group that came to
play a very active role in shaping the deve10pment of the town
deve10ped out of the first two - the businessmen of the town bazar.
This group is composed almost entirely of people from the villages of
the locality. A fourth group has had a great impact on the
development of the town in the past, and is still visable in the
town today. Members of this group long formed the town elite. Most
of the elite were (and continue to be) mobile urbanites who came to
the town from outside the micro-region. Drawn by the Raj Estate,
they had minimal contact with the villages of the micro-region. A
small number of urban-elite households developed into the Old
Gentry, a landed aristocracy settled in the locality and associated
with the Raj Administration. Although these families came to
Mahishadal because of the Raj Estate, they established themselves

in their setting and came to view Mahishadal as home.

The Cultivators

 

Mahishadal town today is a trading and administrative center.
Few workers in the contemporary town are cultivators. But the
micro-region as a whole is in the midst of what is now the most
productive agricultural tract in Midnapore District. Most town
families still have some agricultural interests, and although most
town workers are not cultivators, agriculture continues to be
important in town life.

The cultivator families presently living within the boundaries
of the four "town-villages"2 live a life essentially the same as

that of cultivators in more isolated villages of the locality.

 

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31

Peasant families rarely keep written genealogies: family history
must be reconstructed from the pooled memories of elder family
members. Such histories generally go back four or five generations,
some 80 to 110 years, to a single man who came to Mahishadal from an
unremembered village further to the north or west. Most peasants
say this ancestor came to Mahishadal because land was available in
the locality. The composite picture presented by all the peasant
family histories collected indicates that cultivators were moving
into the region at a fairly steady rate until the end of the 19th
century. The population density up to that time appears to have
remained low.

Evidence collected from genealogies is supported by data
presented in the 1961 Census. Population density was recorded
every decade from 1872 to 1961. In 1872 the Mahishadal locality
had a population density of 578 persons/square mile, about
60 percent of that found in Tamluk, 11 miles north. By 1961 the
population density in Mahishadal had tripled, while that of
adjacent Tamluk Police Station had doubled, going from 1004 to
1946 persons/square mile (Ray 1966: vol. 1:42-43). The increase in
the population of rural Mahishadal was due to an influx of
cultivators from the more crowded areas to the north, as individuals
from poorer families drifted southward in search of land.
Agricultural land was available within the boundaries of the
Mahishadal Raj Estate at the beginning of the 20th century, but
since that time all surplus land has been claimed.

In most peasant genealogies, the first arrival came to the

Mahishadal area as a young man, sometimes with a wife from his

 

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32

original locality. New arrivals were generally able to gain rights
to land in excess of 10 acres (33 bighas). The original "large"
holding was subdivided repeatedly by succeeding generations. Today
few families of cultivators hold more than 10-12 bighas of land, and
most own considerably less.

Sons of the new settlers married daughters of Mahishadal
families, and continued to cultivate the land cleared by their
fathers. It is rarely before the third generation that
nonagricultural occupations begin to appear in family histories.
Prosperous peasant families often established one son in a business
in the town bazar, or attempted to find one son a position in the
Raj establishment. By the fourth and fifth generations, most large
peasant families had outgrown their land resources. Since by this
time there was no more surplus land to bring under cultivation, it
is at this point that subsidary nonagricultural occupations begin to
appear frequently in peasant genealogies. The present Mahishya
residents of the town are the fourth and fifth generations to live in
the locality. The wealthy Mahishyas who dominate the town bazar
come from families that either initially possessed unusually large
amounts of land, or produced so few sons that the patrimony was
passed from generation to generation with little fragmentation. Men
from such families are now becoming businessmen, clerks, teachers,
and doctors in the town. They form the Upper Middle Class of
Mahishadal. In contrast, men from unusually large families that
grew progressively poorer from generation to generation, as land was
subdivided repeatedly, are now seeking supplementary employment as

Share-croppers and agricultural laborers. They are part of the

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33

Lower Class of the town. The history of a prosperous peasant
kin-aggregate is presented in Figure 5, while that of a poor peasant

kin-aggregate is shown in Figure 6.
Non-Cultivating_Castes

The social structure of rural southeastern Midnapore is
characterized by the overwhelming numerical dominance of the
Mahishya cultivator caste, but most villages also contain some
families from other castes. Along these are Brahmans, who are
priests in the village temples and also perform household
ceremonies, artisan castes such as the Potters, Blacksmiths and
Goldsmiths, and service castes, including the Barbers and
Washermen. Also found in local villages are families from
untouchable castes such as the Sweepers, the Leatherworkers, and
the Basketmaker-Drummers. Some villages also contain Muslim
families.

The villages adjacent to the present town show unusual caste
diversity, with the Mahishya preportion of the p0pulation
decreasing as one moves toward the center of the town. The unusual
caste composition of the town vicinity reflects its history as a
royal center, home of many wealthy high-caste Hindus who required
the services of specialist castes and provided a market for artisan

castes .

Religious Specialists: Among the most important castes in this

 

group are the Madhya Sreni Brahmans, who perform religious ritual in
most of the temples founded by the Rajas, and the Vaisnava singers,

who perform devotional songs at the temples on a daily basis and at

Geneal

. i

O
0'

I

l

 

34

Figure 5

Genealogy of a Prosperous Peasant Kin-Aggregate

held about 18 acres of land

6 <5 PAWA lo

stayed in bari in
nearby village

5g A .
8% fl

A Cultivates joint holdings of 5 acres in village.

{5 cultivator who came to locality,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

B Doctor living in Mahishadal. He married the daughter
of a large landholder who provided land and a cash
dowry which enabled B to set up practice with a
post-graduate degree

C Now a student at a private high school near Calcutta

fififiu ho abhb:

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35

.Hoonom mvcouum HHHum .mH ow< H

.wafiaoonum on umofiam nufiB Houm>fiuH=o m mH. m

.Hoosom muoamfiou uoa vat nan wumumuwa ma mm wufim coauoauumaoo mmaafimu Una um

.oufim nowuusuumaoo hmaawmu onu um wo%0HmEo mH o HwHOAMH vaHmecs am mm vohoanaw mH

.uwuonma m muoum>HuH=o

kuauH=UHme pawn m ma omam M van muoum>fiuaso H «mm .somo wcma mo muum oao uaonm o>mm
who honH .nuwo whom am mo m\N usonm m>mm n

 

 

 

 

muoumfim mo mmmauumfi Houmm 1|
puma mo mouum wows» usonm paw: comm .muoum>fiuaao AHV
.

 

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uumwuuww<lufiu uammmom uoom m wo.mmoamouou

o muswfim

  

 

36

all important religious festivals. Many of the Madhya Sreni
Brahmans and Vaisnavas have a history linking them to the Raj Estate.
Families from both castes were brought to the locality from distant
villages, and were given grants of land in exchange for the

continued performance of their traditional caste occupations.

Artisan Castes: Representatives of many artisan castes are resident

 

in the town and adjacent villages. The Potter caste of Mahishadal
consists of eleven families living in a single small neighborhood
and supplying all the pottery used in the town. The Blacksmiths do
various kinds of metal work, including the manufacture of brass
utensils, an occupation which is also practiced by men of other
castes. Basketmakers live in a nearby village, and come to sell
their wares at the biweekly Peasant Market. They also appear for
all Hindu festivals, when they practice their other traditional
occupation, drumming, for a cash fee. In several outlying villages
there is a sizable pOpulation of Muslim weavers, who appear in the
Bazar to sell their wares and buy supplies early Saturday morning at
the special Weavers Market. One large village near the town has
specialized in mat-making, and another is famous for its conch shell
bangles (worn by all married Hindu women, and manufactured by a
special caste). Wood furniture is made in several workshops, but
few carpenters are of the Carpenter caste.

The Household Census included all of the artisan households in
the town. No artisan household claims to have been brought by the
Rajas, and no artisan household claims to hold land that was

acquired through a chakran, (service-related), grant. Most artisan

37

caste families continue to practice traditional occupations, although
today they do so for sale in a cash market. Like the peasant
families, they keep no written genealogies.

The two largest artisan caste groups in the town are the Potters
and the Blacksmiths. The Potter households are all located in a
single neighborhood. All of the men of this caste are full-time
potters. They make and fire their pottery in their neighborhood,
and formerly got their clay there too. They claim that the local
supply of suitable clay has been exhausted, and now import clay from
other areas.

Both Potter kin-aggregates have three-generation histories that

include ghar jamai marriages, where the son-in-law moves to his

 

wife's father's house. This reflects the fact that the demand for
pottery in the town has been great enough for at least two
generations to attract men from outside, even when it meant breaking
customary residence rules. (This disregard for customary marriage
residence rules is seen frequently among local artisan households
and reflects the effect of economic factors on traditional

preferred household patterns.)

It is likely that most of the sons of the present Potters will
continue their fathers occupation, and that new men of the Potter
caste many join the present Potter kin-aggregates through marriage.
The general expansion of the town bazar has meant a steady increase
in the market for pottery. Only four Potter men are not full-time
potters. Tea stalls and small restaurants make extensive use of
cheap unglazed pottery cups, which are discarded after use. The

local Potters also make the large vessels used to store water and

 

w“: ad crude images

?:::ers of Mahishadal,

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38

grain, and crude images of deities used in local festivals. The
Potters of Mahishadal, unlike the Blacksmiths, have maintained a
strict monopoly over their traditional occupation. No "outsiders"
are allowed to make pots, and few boys of the Potter caste take up
other occupations.

The pattern for the town population of Blacksmith caste
families is quite different. Blacksmith men are engaged in business,
in other crafts, and in salaried white-collar occupations. Some
Blacksmith men follow their traditional occupation, but most
Blacksmith men who work with metal now make brass. Brass utensils
are manufactured in a neighborhood not far from where the Potters
live and work. Most brassworkers are from the Blacksmith caste, but
their Mahishya and Washermen neighbors have joined them in this
occupation.

There are sixteen Blacksmith households presently residing
within the town, and there are about fifty families of this caste in
nearby villages. Like the Potters and cultivators, the Blacksmith
families keep no written genealogies. Most Blacksmith families
trace their local residence back three or four generations to an
ancestor who came from another place. Most histories indicate that
agriculture was the primary occupation and metal working was a
secondary occupation. Today the reverse is true. The increasing
market for brass utensils and the progressive fragmentation of land
has lead to an increased reliance on the traditional caste
occupation of metal working. Recent expansion of the market is also
indicated by the fact that about a third of the households engaged

in brass work are not of the Blacksmith caste. Another factor

 

39

indicating that brass work is a relatively new occupation is the
frequency of "abnormal" residence patterns among brass working
families. A certain minimal number of skilled male workers is
required for the manufacturing process, and men will recruit sister's
sons or daughter's husbands as household members to incorporate them
into the manufacturing group.

The Blacksmith population of Mahishadal, then, appears to have
come into the area seeking agricultural land and a market for the
products of their traditional caste occupation. With the deve10pment
of the town and the increased market for luxury goods, and the
overgrowth of land resources, metal working became more and more
important as an income source. Today metal working is the primary
occupation for most Blacksmith households, but agriculture
continues to be of greater importance to Blacksmith families than to
any other artisan caste.

Compared to the thriving pottery and brass industries of the
town, the traditional occupations of other artisan castes are of
little importance in the modern town. A few Carpenter families live
in the central bazar area, where they support themselves by doing
repair work, but their traditional occupation is no longer a
restricted one. Mahishyas dominate the carpenter trade. The
Leatherworkers of the town no longer tan animal hide, but are
cobblers and drum-makers in the Bazar. Basket-makers continue to
Inake and sell their products, appearing in the town on market days,
lnat the middle-class households of the town show a clear
jpreference for the inexpensive plastic containers now readily

available in the town bazar. Except for the busy men of the Potter

 

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40

caste and the Blacksmiths making brass, the artisan castes of the
locality are turning to nontraditional occupations as income sources.

The service castes of Mahishadal comprise only a few
households. Their local history is similar to that of the artisan
castes. There are three households of Barbers, and a few families
of Washermen. Three Sweeper families live in the town. There is no
direct connection between any of the local service caste households
and the Rajas. An elderly man of the Barber caste claims that the
small amount of land that his son cultivates (one acre) was given to
his own grandfather as a chakran grant, and that formerly they
served as Barbers to the Raj family. But the son, who is regularly
employed as a medical assistant, does not agree. Local men of the
Barber caste work for cash in barber shOps in the bazar.

None of the Washermen families covered in the Household Census
earn any income from their traditional occupations. They are
brassworkers, cultivators or salaried employees. Several laundries
in the Bazar are operated by both Mahishyas and Washermen, and
serve a limited clientele. Most peOple in Mahishadal do their own
daily laundry, using the services of a Washerman for Special
occasions and when clothing is to be worn for the performance of
some religious act that requires that it be ritually cleansed.

Only the Sweepers continue their traditional occupation
unchallenged. The lowest of the local untouchable castes, they are
the only caste that is physically avoided by pe0ple of higher
castes. Sweeper men and women work for private households,
cleaning latrines for a monthly cash fee and an annual gift. A few

Sweeper men are employed by the railways or hospitals and work

.o-pl

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41

outside.

Town Elite: Old Gentry

 

 

The Mahishadal households who fall into this category
constitute the remnants of the landed aristocracy. This category is
quite small, consisting of perhaps 15 families. Old gentry families
claim elite status through long association with the Raj Estate. In
the past they occupied the highest positions in the Estate
Administration, and received substantial land grants from the Raj
family. In Mahishadal, most gentry families came from the outside.
Some were Hindusthani-speaking Brahmans of the Raja's caste, who
came to Bengal from North India. Most of the gentry were high-caste
Bengalis from other districts. A few local Mahishya families
acquired gentry status through affiliation with the Raj Estate.

The present members of the town old gentry share a history of
association with the local rulers. Today, however, considerable
variation in economic status is visible within this group. Some
members are extremely wealthy, while others have become poor.
Whatever their present financial state, the families with a history

as "Raja's Men" share universally recognized prestige in the town.

Transient Urban Elite: The families in this category in

 

Mahishadal reflect the administrative and educational functions of
the present town. An urbane and educated elite, they come to the

town to serve as government officials today, as they came to serve
the Raj Administration in the past. They come as teachers, college

professors, and medical men. Most are high caste Bengalis from

 

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42

other urban centers, who spend a period of time in Mahishadal3 and
then leave again, maintaining permanent homes elsewhere.

If the characteristic of this segment of the population is its
fluidity, can it be said to have a "history?" The presence of this
group in Mahishadal has shaped the development of the town as an
urban center. While the individual families do not themselves have
a 'history' of relationship to the town, the transient elite class
as a whole has a history that reflects the deve10pment of
urban-oriented Bengali society. The picture presented by this class
in Mahishadal is a microcosm of the scene in larger urban centers.
The nature of this class is changing: traditionally dominated by
the three highest castes in Bengal (Brahman, Baidya, and Kayastha),
this segment of the urban population is showing more and more
diversity in caste background. In Mahishadal, more and more.
Mahishyas are entering the transient urban elite class and leaving
the locality for employment outside. In addition, the
relationship of the urban elite to geographical field of service has
drastically changed for a segment of the population. Many of the
transient urban elite were drawn from the high castes of East Bengal
and were cut off from ancestral homes and lands by the creation of
Pakistan in 1947. For these displaced East Bengali urbanites, what
began as a temporary position in a backward rural town has turned
into a permanent position in a new community. The transients are

settling down, and this is changing the nature of the town.

 

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43

WGrowing Ba zar

 

The history of the businessmen is really the continued history
of the cultivating class. Virtually all the businessmen in the Bazar
come from cultivator families living in villages within a five-mile
radius of the town. Sixty percent of the town businessmen commute
from village homes on a daily basis. Although at the time of study
incidence of town residence among the business population was
increasing rapidly, control of the bazar was still dispersed among a
large number of village-based families. Most of the businessmen
moving to the town are young heads of urban nuclear household which
are sub-units of coparcenary joint families based in nearby villages.
Prosperous peasant families attempt to broaden their economic base by
setting some sons up in town businesses, while other sons remain
cultivators. For most town businessmen, the shift from rural to
urban life is slow, although there may be little distance involved.
(For some, the old village home is visable from the roof of their
new town apartment building.) Businessmen spend much time in their
village homes, even after they move their families into the town.

The village is most important at harvest and festival time, but is
also of daily concern even after it ceases to be the regular place
of residence. Very few town businessmen have come to the

Mahishadal bazar from other urban centers.

Growth of the Bazar: Businessmen, like the specialist castes, have

 

been drawn to Mahishadal because of the unique opportunities it

offered in the past and the possibilities it offers in the present

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44

and future. When the first palaces were built there, a biweekly
market convened in the village adjacent to the Palace Compound. With
the expansion of the Raj Estate and the influx of high-caste and

high status administrative elites, the small itinerant market
developed into a permanent bazar. In the last few decades the bazar
has shown marked increase in its rate of expansion. Today it is the
bazar, not the Raj Estate, that draws people to the town.

Mahishadal has become an important retail marketing center.

The Rajas of the past encouraged the formation of bazars with
the same enthusiasm shown when they founded villages, excavated
large tanks and canals, and established temples. The reason was
much the same: villages brought in rent for agricultural land,
tanks provided revenue from sale of fishing rights, temples
provided religious merit, and bazars meant money. Geonkhali, the
river trading center founded by Janardan Upadhyaya in 1600, is now
the wholesale distribution center for most of southeastern
Midnapore. It is located at the junction of two major rivers and a
large navigable canal, and a steamer ferry links the bus lines that
operate on either side of the river. Goods sold in the markets of
southeastern Midnapore arrive in Geonkhali by boat or come via
Tamluk town. By the end of the Raj Estate's expansion, both Tamluk
and Geonkhali were within its boundaries and yielded revenue to the
Rajas. The steamer ferry now in operation is run by the
Government, but previously the ferry revenue was part of the fund
that supported the large temples in the Palace Compound.

From Geonkhali and Tamluk, imported goods are distributed

to the small market towns of southeastern Midnapore (see Figure 3).

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Most of these were previously within the boundaries of the Raj Estate
and were sources of revenue for the Rajas. Teropekhya Hat and
Radhagunj Hat are two important markets located along the Haldi
River. A small permanent market and biweekly hat is located in
Nandakumar, halfway between Mahishadal and Tamluk, and small
permanent markets are also sound in Sutahata and Nandigram towns.

The Tamluk Bazar and Radhamani Hat north of Tamluk town came under
the Mahishadal Raj Estate after the Tamluk Estate was purchased early
this century. These large markets as well as dozens of itinerant
markets yielded considerable income to the Rajas of the past. The
present Raja still profits from bazar property he holds in various
places. In addition, he rents out space in buildings he owns in the
central bazar. He also owns the open land where the biweekly market
of Mahishadal convenes, and collects a fee from each seller who
attends the Peasant Market. The Raja owns the market sites in
several other towns and large villages, and receives income from
biweekly markets in those locations as well. An ”informed source"
gave the following estimate of revenue the Raja receives annually
from the various markets where he owns the land used for biweekly

(peasant) markets :

Mahishadal Town - Rs. 2,000 (7.5 Rupees = $1.00)
Geonkhali 2,500
Teropekhya Hat 3,000
Nandakumar 800
Gopalgunj 500
Radhagunj 400
Lakshya 400
Namalakshya 400
Gumgarh (Nandigram) 500

 

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46

Other markets such as Babu Hat and Bybortta Hat appear to be "owned"
by private individuals, and are probably income grants made by past
Rajas to important men serving the Raj Estate. In the past, the
entire Mahishadal bazar, including roadside land, was controlled by
the Rajas. Land within the town is now privately owned, and the men
who now own this land are replacing the Raja as the major power in

the town.

Businessmen, Large and Small: Town businessmen may be placed on a
continuum that measures the degree of economic commitment to the
bazar. At one extreme are the small businessmen (owners of
permanent business concerns occupying fixed quarters), and at the
other extreme are wealthy urban property owners and investors. The
Mahishya caste dominates both extremes.

One moderately successful small businessman runs a stationary
shop in one of the brick buildings in the central bazar. He came to
the town from a nearby village ten years ago. His shop is located
in rented quarters, and up until two years ago, he lived in a rented
flat with his wife and children. Two years ago he was able to
purchase a small plot of land on Main Street, on which he built a
two story brick building. His family lives on the second floor, and
the first floor is rented out to two shopkeepers. Most of the town
businessmen have similar histories: they are ex-peasants, and
Mahishadal is their first urban experience. They are first
generation townsmen. .

At the other extreme of the economic continuum are the few

extremely wealthy families who virtually control the bazar. These

 

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47

men have annual incomes that compare favorably with those of upper
middle-class Calcutta families. The big men of the Mahishadal bazar
are predominantly Mahishyas from nearby villages, but their families
have been involved in the bazar for several generations. Most
controlled large amounts of land under the Raj Estate, and some come
from the local Mahishya aristocracy that was first displaced and then
incorporated into the administrative structure of the Mahishadal Raj

Estate.

THE LEGACY OF HISTORY IN THE CONTEMPORARY TOWN

The town of Mahishadal owes its existence to its history as a
royal center. However, if the Rajas are responsible for creating
the town, the Mahishyas are now running it. The casual vistor might
in fact pass through the town without being aware of it having a
royal history. The architecture associated with the town of the
past lies secluded behind walls and moats, across the canal from the
new center of activity, the bazar.

Once a year, the social structure of the past is partially
resurrected during the annual Rath festival, when the Raja emerges
from seclusion to lead devotees in pulling the Lord Jagannath in an
elaborate wooden chariot four stories high. In the past, Rath was
attended by tens of thousands of people, who came to observe or to
participate in a court procession on elephant and horseback, in
which the status of royalty and associated Gentry family was
ritually manifest to the masses of society. The gentry, especially,
lived for such occasions. Mainly outsiders, from other parts of

Bengal or even other linguistic regions, their only tie to the town

 

 

 

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4,23

and locality was in their association with the Rajas. Their public
appearance in the Rath procession and their participation in other
rituals with the royal family gave them legitimacy in an alien
region.

Mahishadal of the present is very different. It is an expanding
marketing, administrative and cultural center in which most
urban-oriented people are of equivalent class status, if of
different caste rank, and in which prestige can be achieved in a
variety of ways. One of the new ways in which prestige can be
acquired is by investment in the urban development of the town,
through construction of buildings and financing of business
ventures. To understand the complexities of town social structure,
both old and new values must be considered. The urban system of
values is changing as the traditional hierarchical system associated
with royalty and aristocracy gives way. The royal hierarchical
social order has yet to be replaced by a new and consistent set of
values. These are still in the process of emerging, and appear to
be much more along the lines of achieved rather than ascribed status.

The difference between the old rigid structure and the more
flexible system beginning to develop is evident in the annual Rath
festival. In the past the festival was highly organized, with the
directive force based in the Palace. Elderly people of Old Gentry
families wistfully describe the "good" Raths they saw as young

adults:

 

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49

This Rath (1969) is not a good one. Before it was

really good. Then the Raja Spent a lot of money. §g_(the

late husband of the widow speaking) used to get new clothing

as a gift from the Raja. Then all the men of the Raja's
family would come with fancy clothing. All the important
people here would lead the procession, riding on elephants

and horses in front of the Rath pullers. The Raja's

servants were dressed in fancy uniforms in bright color and

even the elephants were decorated with painted designs.

And then there used to be jatra (drama) - and he (her

husband) would go to the Palace several times dfiring the

festival period to see the entertainment. People used

to come from Calcutta and far away to see our Rath. Now

it is no good. The Raja no longer has any money. Nobody

else cares.

The Rath festival of 1969 was quite different. The procession
was not the orderly parade of the past, but a confused surging mass,
restrained by the police and the volunteer parade marshalls provided
by the Ashram. The Raja came to lead the procession, dressed in his
usual clothing of white cotton pajamas. He was conveyed in a
palanquin carried by khaki-uniformed Palace guards. Small children
and young males ran along side the royal palanquin, pushing and
jostling the small retinue that accompanied it, a group of men
carrying red pennants, some drummers, and the men who carried the
distinctive red and gold fan and parasol signifying royal status.
After the Raja came the pullers of the Rath chariot, thousands of
devotees from town and village, hauling the thick ropes that
pulled the wooden chariot forward foot by foot. The procession was
directed by the police, sitting on the second story tier of the
Rath chariot, and shouting directions through a megaphone. They
managed to control the devotees by using rifle shots to start and

stop the chariot. Drummers Spurred the pullers on, walking up and

down between the rcpes, beating their drums in time to the chanting

 

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50

of the devotees. The Ashram volunteers patrolled the ropes to

make sure that the ropes were pulled evenly so that the chariot's
path would be straight. (A few years earlier the Rath had turned
slightly during the pulling, and a little girl had been crushed
under its wheels.) The crowd, chanting the name of God, dragged the
Rath the mile length of the Rath Tala in twenty minutes. Most left
when the Rath had been pulled to its destination, leaving before the
Raja performed the ritual signifying the formal end of the
procession.

The ten days of the festival, during which the Rath chariot
remained at the end of the Rath Tala, were previously filled with
entertainment of various kinds. Most of this had been financed by
the Rajas. In 1969 there was no officially organized entertainment,
but the town was transformed by a fair lasting for the full ten
days of the festival period. People wandered through the fair for
the first few nights "to see the lights.” The bigger enterprises in
the fair were equipped with portable generators and were brightly
lit. A private firm set up an exhibit of moving mannequins
representing various deities (a small admission fee was charged).

A few families dutifully made the trek down to the end of the Rath
Tala where the deities were in residence for the festival period.
They worshipped the deities there, gave a small donation to the
Palace priests who were on duty, received some of the prasad (food
offerings made to the deities) and were sprinkled with Ganges water
(supplied by the Rajas). For most town families, the disruption of
daily routine lasted two days, and then normal work was resumed,

although the presence of the fair made the bazar more congested

 

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51

during this period. After ten days the Rath was pulled back to

its normal location at the bazar end of the Rath Tala. The Raja
led the procession of devotees pulling the chariot, and the general
sequence of events seen in the pulling occurred again as the Rath
was brought back.

The Rath festival was a ritual in which a royal hierarchical
structure was manifest. It began and ended with a ritual showing
the difference in status between royalty and gentry and the peasant
masses. The official ritual began the day before the Rath was
pulled, when the deities were carried in a procession from the
Palace Temple to the Rath chariot, lifted up to their place at the
top level of the chariot, and formally worshipped by the Raja who
came from the Palace for this purpose. The festival was closed
with Full Moon Rath, a miniature version of the town procession, in
which the children of the royal family led other children in
pulling a tiny chariot down a wide path inside the Palace Compound.
Participation was restricted to children under 12 years of age, and
only the children of gentry families participated.

In 1969 the Raja came out to bless the Rath on the eve of the
festival, and participated in the procession pulling and returning
the Rath. But his granddaughter was in Calcutta on the day of the
children's Rath procession, and the Full Moon Rath in 1969 was
pulled by adults, led by the tutor of the absent grandchild. The

procession was a small one, composed of local people of upper and

middle class, who were allowed to roam the Palace Compound that day.

After the Full Moon Rath, the Palace Compound was once again closed

to all but invited guests.

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52

Except for those features which required the presence of a
member of the royal family, the 1969 festival was extremely
disorganized. During the festival period there were rumors that
j§££a_might be performed after all; then that it would not. First
it was said that the Raja would pay for it, then that a wealthy
Mahishya leader in the town was Sponsoring it, then that
collections would be made. According to the Raja, the festival was
formally organized by a Rath Committee which had its headquarters in
the main Palace Temple. However, few people in the town knew of the
existence of the committee that had officially replaced the Raja as
the organizer.

The festival made one point clear. If the Raja had abdicated
his position as sponsor of the Rath festival, no one had replaced
him. Inquiries about why some of the wealthy merchants didn't
provide for i§££2_at Rath as they did for other occasions were
answered with the reply that "it was not their job.” Rath was
clearly a royal festival, and when the Raja lost his economic and
political power, he also ceased to function as cultural leader.

The Mahishya coalition of Big Men who have replaced the Raja
are very active on all religious occasions except the Rath festival.
The traditional annual festivals are celebrated with 13213,
children's contests and games, and competition between various
clubs for prizes for the most beautifully decorated image of
whatever deity is being honored. Sometimes local amateur
productions are staged by townsmen, sometimes local ia££a_groups are
hired, and sometimes "name" talent is brought from Calcutta. The

new power group of the town has taken on the obligations of

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53

leadership with vigor, but does not act in place of the Raja in
those festivals clearly associated with the former royalty. They
see themselves as leaders of the people, not as replacements for

the Rajas.

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CHAPTER III

BASIC SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

THE DEFINITION OF "URBAN”

The Census Definition

 

Mahishadal was officially declared a town in 1961, when it met
the requirements as determined by the Census of India. Prior to
that time, the Census had listed the town under its constituent
villages.

The official requirements for a "town” designation include a
population greater than 5000, a population density of more than
1000 persons per square mile, and three-quarters of the working
population employed in nonagricultural occupations. Also required
is evidence of some urban function such as the presence of a
market, government offices, or educational institutions (Ray 1966,
vol. 1:47). According to these requirements, Mahishadal has
functioned as a town for several decades.

The required population density was present in the four
constituent villages of the town by 1951 at the latest. The
population density in the largest constituent village was 3227
persons/square mile in 1951, and jumped to 5072 persons/square mile
ten years later. In contrast are the figures for the outlying
village included within the town boundaries: in this village there

was alnmst no change in population density between 1951 and 1961.

54

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55

With regard to occupation, the Census requirements have long been
met. Less than 20 percent of the 500 Household Heads surveyed in
this study gave cultivation as their primary occupation, although
income from agricultural land continues to be important to the town
economy.

Mahishadal has met the Census requirements regarding the
presence of urban amenities since the late 19th century. Despite
the fact that in early 1970 it lacked electricity and a water-supply
system, it has been an educational center since the Rajas founded a
high school in the 1880's. Today the town has two high schools and
two colleges.

Mahishadal has been a marketing center since the Rajas
established their headquarters there. In recent decades the bazar
has undergone extremely rapid expansion, but it has been an
important retail distribution center for some time.

It appears that in terms of the Census definition of "urban,"
Mahishadal has been a town in all but actual population for some
time. In 1961 a way was found around this problem, when the
decision was made about where to draw the town boundaries. One of
the four villages that is officially included in the town is in
fact located far from the business center and is a predominantly
agricultural community. Few men from this particular village have
town jobs or businesses. Because of its location on the main road
leading to the Haldia Port construction site, where a new seaport
city to serve Calcutta is being built, Mahishadal as a community is
undergoing rapid change. Most of the expansion is concentrated in

the central parts of the bazar. Although in 1961 the bazar area was

 

 

 

 

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beginning to take on a distinctively urban appearance and had been
functioning as an urban center for some time, the built up area did
not have the required population of 5000. Due consideration appears
to have been made regarding the future of Mahishadal as an expanding
and urbanizing community. As an officially designated urban center,
the town would be eligible for consideration as a site for
construction of government facilities, such as a greatly enlarged
hospital, and would be placed on the high priority list for
financial aid in its development as an urban center. The
geographical boundaries of the town were drawn up to include four
villages and provide the 5000 "residents" required for recognition
as an urban center.

The problem of determining geographical boundaries for a
community is a common one in Bengal, where the units designated as
villages for revenue purposes (magza) may bear little relation to
socially defined and functioning neighborhoods (pgggg and
villages (gram). In rural Bengal the community may actually be a
micro-region of many villages. For a town to exist in a social
sense it is necessary that people carry out urban behavior in a
central place. There does not seem to be any logical need for them
to reside there. A town can function perfectly with no resident

population.
Population and Occupation: Census Figures

In 1968, when my fieldwork was initiated in Mahishadal, the
estimated population was about 7000. The population characteristics

recorded in the 1961 Census of India indicate that the population of

 

 

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the town differed markedly from the population of the
surrounding rural area (See Appendix A - Table 1, Table 2, Figure l,
and Table 3).

The distinct characteristics of the town population in 1961
were still present when my survey of 500 households was conducted in
1969. Both sources of information emphasize the bias of the town
population in favor of the young and males. In the villages of the
locality roughly 56 percent of the population is between ten and
fifty years of age, but 65 percent of the town population falls into
this age bracket. In the villages 53 percent of those between ten
and fifty years of age are male, while 60 percent are males in the
town.

The age and sex distribution of the town population reflects
the urban nature of the community. The town draws young and
middle-aged males because of the employment it offers as an
educational, administrative, and marketing center. Many young males
initially come to the town as single men, leaving wives and children
behind in their village homes, but an increasing number of young
families are now moving into the town from nearby villages. In
addition, many young families of government officials are moving into
the town, and an increasing number of those who come to the town in
the course of Government employment are settling permanently in
Mahishadal.4

The occupational pattern of Mahishadal town differs sharply
fronlthat characteristic of the surrounding rural region. The 1961
Census figures show that in the villages of Mahishadal Police

Station over 73 percent of the male workers derive their income from

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cultivation. In the town, slightly over 12 percent of the male
working population has cultivation as primary income source. Using
the categories of the Census of India, most of the occupations of
male workers are clearly urban. (The Census figures for rural
Mahishadal Police Station and Mahishadal Town are presented in

Appendix A - Table 3.)
THE URBAN ARENA OF MAHISHADAL

In January 1970, Mahishadal was alive with anticipation of
great changes. Electricity was creeping closer and closer to the
town. The single track rail line had been completed and a railway
station was being constructed, although regular rail service was not
expected immediately. Roads had been widened, and the traffic of
trucks going to Haldia steadily increased. In anticipation of the
future growth of the town, townsmen were building, establishing
businesses, and manuvering for control of valuable plots of land in
the central region that was to blossom into a city. Along with
anticipation came an increase in tension between townsmen who saw
each other, perhaps for the first time, as competitors. Court cases
involving small plots of land increased as property values went up.
Rumors flew through the town. The number of quarrels between
neighbors and even between brothers was increasing as more and more
townsmen tried to plan strategy for economic success in the town that
was to be.

Most of the change was yet to come when my fieldwork was
completed. In 1970, Mahishadal was still a small sprawling town

which.required half a day to reach from Calcutta via train and

 

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59

several buses, or steamer and bus. The journey from Calcutta often
took as much as five hours, and no one in the town commuted on a
daihrbasis. The last stage of the trip to Mahishadal was a bumpy
ride through flat country, mainly paddy fields. Clumps of trees
in the distance indicated habitation sites. One or two villages
were located along the road, but otherwise the scenery consisted of
unbroken fields abruptly changing to civilization as the bus passed
a huge meeting hall and pulled up at the Old Bus Stand (see Figure 2).
From here, at the foot of Main Street, you walked or took a rickshaw
to the central bazar.

Main Street is a fairly wide thoroughfare. It was the bus
road before the Haldia Road was constructed to route the heavy Port
Project traffic around the town. It is generally dusty, as it is
unpaved except for a few bricks that have survived since the road
was last improved in the distant past. Main Street marks the
beginning of the Old Bazar. From the Old Bus Stand going toward the
town center, both sides of Main Street are lined with buildings.
The first section consists entirely of mud buildings, then brick
buildings appear between mud structures, and soon both sides of the
street are bordered by two-storied brick structures. Main Street is
always crowded: rickshaws, bicycles, occasional taxis, coolies,
pedestrians, running children, dogs, goats, cows, and sometimes a
pig or chicken compete for space. On the sidelines shopkeepers and
leisurely customers watch the street scene and exchange small-talk
with acquaintances passing by. The tea stall benches are usually
occupied. Transistor radios blaring Hindi and Bengali film songs

provide background music, and somewhere in the distance a rickshaw

 

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equipped with an automobile battery and loudspeaker advertises the I
next film to be shown at the local cinema hall.

A sudden break in the buildings lining the street indicates the
junction of Main Street and the Rath Tala, a wide mud thoroughfare

a mile long, used for the annual Rath festival in which thousands of

devotees pull the Lord Jagganath in a huge wooden chariot. The foot

of tlie Rath Tala is the site of the central rickshaw stand, a small
Satya.Narayan shrine, several temporary tea and snack stalls, and
the Martyrs' Monument, erected by civic-minded citizens to honor the
Bengali heroes who died in the long struggle for Freedom. .Across
fnamlthe Martyrs' Monument several smaller streets branch off from
Main Street, which continues through the town. The narrow side
Staceets are also lined with brick buildings, many of them
tw<>-storied. Along these streets, in the triangle between Main
Stareet and the Haldia Road, running through open land outside the
intilt up area, are most of the 400 businesses of the Old Bazar. A
I“'ch Market is located in an open square within the maze of streets,
aIMd a periodic market convenes there Tuesdays and Saturdays.
Continuing along Main Street is an almost unbroken line of
b“llildings, from the Rath Tala up to the Old Bridge, built by the
Raj as of the last century to span the Hijli Tidal Canal. From the
high point in the middle of the Old Bridge it is possible to get a
Panoramic view of the entire town. On one side of the canal lies
the congested bazar area, and on the other are several large
bl-liildings surrounded by trees and empty space. The Raj College and
BOYS' High School are directly across the Old Bridge from the bazar,

and beyond them, on the other side of the continuation of Main

 

 

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Street which turns to run parallel to the Canal, are the moats
surrounding the Palace Compounds of the Mahishadal Raj Estate. If
one looks northeast toward the Haldia Road, the New Bridge is just
visible in the distance. Beyond this, there is a bend in the Canal.
Out of sight, toward the northeast, is the New Bazar, located at a

crossroads where two bus lines converge.

Market Town

 

The present town of Mahishadal has its center in the bazar,
across the canal from the old Raj Estate Headquarters. There are
three permanent bazars in the town Open on a daily basis. In
addition, a Periodic Market convenes there twice a week, and once a
week a special Weavers' Market convenes there at dawn. A large fair,
drawing sellers from all over Midnapore and nearby Districts, is

held at the annual Rath festival in July.

The Old Bazar is the largest bazar, located in the built-up
triangle bordered by Main Street, the Haldia Bus Road, and the
Canal (See Figure 2). Located in the Old Bazar are over 400 business
concerns, most occupying permanent rented quarters in brick
buildings. The New Bazar, with about 80 business concerns and the
Cinema Hall, has gown up recently at the crossroads where several
bus lines converge. The New Bazar consists mainly of temporary mud
and bamboo structures owned by the businessmen, and is primarily
oriented to the special needs of transit customers. The Food
Market is located in an open square within the Old Bazar, and
contains neat rows of permanent stalls as well as a large amount of

open space, where the various special markets convene. The Food

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Market area is owned by the Raja, who collects monthly rent from the
occupants of permanent stalls, and a tax from the sellers who come to
the periodic market. The Food Market in Mahishadal draws about
1000 buyers a day, and probably twice that on the E (periodic

market) days, when peasants from nearby villages pour into the area

to buy and sell.

The Old Bazar: The Old Bazar of Mahishadal is not spatially
organized with regard to the sale of particular kinds of products,
other than produce. Businesses of all kinds are opened wherever
space is available, with "central location" the main spatial concern
of the businessman. The bazar is diversified, with no special
orientation in terms of products sold or types of commodities
available. All of the business concerns are retail. Wholesalers
are located in Tamluk, 11 miles north. Some businessmen in
Mahishadal receive their supplies fromthe Tamluk wholesalers, but
others make weekly trips to Calcutta to replenish supplies. Most
shops are specialized, but sometimes strange combinations of goods
are sold in one shop, usually when a family member is attempting to
initiate a new business but was not yet ready to invest in separate

Shop quarters .

The businesses of the Old Bazar fall into the following

categories:
Foodstuff and cooking supplies 18.0%
Refreshments 23.0%
--tea, prepared foods, pan)
biris, sweets, soft drinks
Houeshold Supplies 21.0%
Ornaments and Clothing 13.5%
Miscellaneous and Nonbusiness Concerns 9.5%
Services ‘ 15.0%

--barbershops, bicycle repair,etc.

 

 

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In terms of business practices the Mahishadal 01d Bazar compares
quite favorably with bazars of larger towns and cities. A great
variety of merchandise is regularly in stock. One may buy local

handloom cotton saris, traditional Benarasi silk wedding saris, or

 

mod-printed nylon gagi§;made in Bombay. Drygoods stores carry a
variety of commerically-prepared chutneys and pickles, jams and
jellies, fancy cookie assortments made in Bangalore, powdered baby
formula and pablum, as well as coconut hair oil in sixteen different
varieties, and the red alta_which Bengali ladies use to decorate
their feet for festive occasions. Unusual things are also available.
Forks are stocked, although only a handful of town households make
use of them, and a ladies bicycle can be procured on one day's
notice. Antibiotics of all kinds are available in the drug stores,
where various traditional patent medicines of herbs are also sold.
National brands of shoes and sandals are available in local shoe
stores, and one cobbler makes shoes on special order. Local printers
are able to print forms in Bengali, English and Sanskrit, local
photographers take family portraits against a backdrop of the Taj
Mahal, and local bakeries make western-style bread, cake, and
cookies. Typing services are available, radios can be repaired,
horoscopes can be cast and a §i£a3_restrung. Merchants are willing
to extend credit to regular customers, and the more cosmopolitan
shopkeepers will accept checks drawn against banks in Calcutta or
Tamluk. There is no bank in the town.

The ethos that seems to permeate the Old Bazar is "flexibility,"
the ability to move with the times. Merchants are preparing in

advance for the changes expected with the continued development of

 

 

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64

the Haldia Port Project. Electrification of the town locality is
not expected for at least a year, but some merchants are already
stocking for electrical fixtures, light bulbs, and small electrical
appliances. Although most Mahishadal men make use of the services
of a barber, town sh0ps sell safety razors and blades to an
increasing number of young men. Most town households use
traditional brass plates but shops carry the new plastic dishes
fashionable in Calcutta.

The Old Bazar is dominated by the local Mahishya cultivator
caste. They account for over 60 percent of the business owners,
with the other 40 percent drawn from 26 different castes. The
Mahishyas are dominant in all business categories except Service.
Within this category there is some Specialization along caste
lines -- barbers tend to be Barber caste, laundries tend to be run
by Washermen. But even in the Service category Mahishyas account
for over 30 percent of the businessmen.

The Old Bazar is the service bazar for the micro-region.
Virtually all the building owners, businessmen and customers come
from villages located within a five mile radius of the Bazar. Over

80 percent of the shopkeepers live within 2-1/2 miles of the bazar.

The New Bazar: The New Bazar contains about 80 businesses, and is

 

of a different character than the Old Bazar. It is still in the
process of formation and has developed to meet the needs of transit
customers, who must spend time at the crossroads waiting to make
bus connections. It also draws some customers from villages to the

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65

In some ways the New Bazar appears to be following the
developmental pattern of the Old Bazar three generations ago. It
does not offer the diversity and range of products and services to be
found in the Old Bazar. There are no shOps selling clothing or
ornaments. The only substantial structure located in the New Bazar
houses the town cinema, which shows Hindi and Bengali films with
electrical power from a generator located in an adjacent mud hut.
The other buildings are temporary structures of mud, bamboo, and
reeds. About 75 percent of the New Bazar shops sell food, and
two-thirds of these deal with refreshments. Most of the other
businesses fall into the Service category. The New Bazar, like the
Old Bazar, is dominated by members of the Mahishya caste, but

sixteen different castes are represented among the shopkeepers.

The Food Marketi The Food Market is located in an open square deep

 

inside the Old Bazar. The market area, owned by the Raja, is
subdivided into sections reserved for special use. The rows of
roofed stalls in the center of the Food Market are permanently
rented to 34 vegetable sellers, four fruit sellers, and two men who
sell betel leaf used in making pan: Ten fish dealers occupy a
special aisle designed for them. It is equipped with a drainage
ditch to handle the water used in keeping the fish alive, thus
ensuring freshness in the absence of refrigeration. No meat of any
kind is sold in the Food Market itself, although goat meat is
available from Muslim butcher shops at the edge of the bazar.
Chicken, chicken eggs, and beef are not consumed by most of the

local Hindu population and are not sold in the town. Muslims can

66

purchase beef in a large Muslim village nearby, and chicken can be'
purchased in the same village.

All of the Food Market sellers come from villages within five
miles of the town, and most reside outside town boundaries but within
a mile of the Food Market.

Only the central stalls of the Food Market are used on a daily
basis. Other roofed platforms are used once or twice a week. On
Tuesdays and Saturdays a row of stalls to the left of the central
Market square is occupied by cloth sellers, dealing in locally-woven
goods. Sellers of weavers' supplies also set up shop here two days
a week. (The weavers come from several Muslim villages located a
distance from the town.) A special section to the right of the

vegetable sellers is used only on Saturday mornings, when a

wholesale Weavers' Market convenes in Mahishadal.

The Periodic Market: Tuesdays and Saturdays are the busiest days
for the bazar, because the peasant biweekly market (hat) convenes
then. In addition, on ha£_days, sellers of special products appear
in the Mahishadal Bazar. Several large villages near the town also
hold biweekly markets, and the market schedule is staggered so that
a salesman may follow a weekly cycle of attendance at the important
markets in the region.

On h§£_days it is virtually impossible to even walk a bicycle
through the central bazar. The congestion is increased by the
hawkers who appear twice a week. Some set up shop on the steps of
houses in the bazars, and others rent sections of verandahs. Some

move through the bazar, carrying their wares on display boards and

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doing their own advertising by shouting as loudly as possible. The
peasants, who throng into the town on hat days, contribute to the
congestion as they cluster about sellers of popular items and engage
in long discussions over prices, which are somewhat more flexible on
Tuesdays and Saturdays.

Although in theory all sellers in the periodic market pay a tax
to the Raja's market agent, who also collects monthly rents from
occupants of permanent Food Market stalls, many of the sellers escape
paying this tax. A favored means of avoiding the tax collector is
to set up shop in the streets of the Old Bazar, rather than in the
open area of the Food Market meant to house the biweekly market
sellers. A few candid sellers admit that the harassed tax collector,
hampered by the crowds, barely makes it through the main selling
area. Before he can reach the last third of the sellers, they are
packing to leave.

Bazar surveys are almost impossible on ha£_days, when even a
veteran of the New York subway rush hour finds the Mahishadal bazar
unnerving. A physical struggle is required to get through the crowd
of people who always seem to be going the wrong direction. Such a
struggle may get you through an impossibly congested street, to find
at its end an open area. There, sitting placidly on a torn blanket,
a wrinkled, old man sits totally absorbed in fashioning hookah pipes
out of coconuts, oblivious to the comments of the group of young
boys watching him. Nearby another man straightens the spokes of a
faded and badly broken umbrella, and prepares to patch the holes.
His patient customer sits nearby.

The crowd is heaviest as the Food Market is approached. On ha£_

 

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68

days food prices are lower and the selection is better. Also, some
products are not available at other times.

Within the square of the Food Market the potters of the town
sell their wares; they occupy the same stalls every ha£_day. Nearby
are two sellers of ayurvedic patent medicine: they sell powders to
cure headaches and reduce nervous tension, oils to treat rheumatism,
and tonics to improve general health. On the other side of the
square the spice sellers sit behind mounds of brightly colored
powders and piles of chillies. They always do a brisk business
because town housewives believe that their Spices are the best
available in the town. Basket-makers regularly set up shop on the
steps of a house owned by the Raja. They spend the other days of
the week making their wares in a nearby village.

H§£_days bring out all marginal businessmen who earn a living
in another way. From a shaded doorway, a widow sells paper
ornaments for weddings and household shrines. In the next doorway
are two young boys selling religious pamphlets. A blind singer and
his daughter wander through the crowd singing songs of Krishna,
interspersed with popular film songs. All the town beggars are out
in force. .

Only one regular seller in the h§£_can be sure of having
plenty of ground space around him -- the snake-oil man. He
regularly sets up his business at a particular corner of the bazar,
near the canal which provides some breeze. He is usually found
sitting in the middle of a large white cloth, encircled by flattened
dried snakes, each neatly coiled in striking position. The bottles

of snake oil liniment he sells are reputed to cure arthritis and

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69

rheumatism. (Although he always attracted a crowd, I never saw snake
oil purchased .)

Eggs are morning affairs. As the sun grows stronger and hotter,
umbrellas are opened. Movement becomes even more difficult —- mango
skins and pits, mashed banana, and mud make walking treacherous,
umbrella spokes and coolie baskets endanger vision, and the volatile
Bengali temper begins to emerge. Most peOple take a break sometime
during the market session, pausing for green coconut milk, a sweet
drink, a coke, or tea. Occasionally a man appears with popsicles
transported from Tamluk in a portable cooler. He always sells out
his stock quickly.

People try to finish their bazar business by mid-morning, so
that they can return home for their midday meal before the greatest
heat of the day. By noon the bazar is virtually deserted, and even
the large shops shut down for the afternoon. Peasants return to
their villages, and townsmen retire for a leisurely lunch. In the
late afternoon the bazar will reopen to serve town customers in

their regular needs.
Administrative Center

Police Station Headquarters: The town of Mahishadal is headquarters
of a Police Station (Shana) comprising about 125 square miles, and
including a population of almost 180,000 persons living in 171
villages including the four villages that make up the town.

As Police Station headquarters, Mahishadal is one of many
local level administrative centers, the lowest level of centers to

which civil service employees are posted. The town population

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70

includes a number of government officials present on a transient
basis.

The Police officials responsible for Police Station (P.S.)
Mahishadal live in the town, and the town is the center from which
police activity for the entire thana_is coordinated. Police
officials posted to Mahishadal include the Officer-in-Charge (D.C.),
an Inspector, two Sub-Inspectors, and four Assistant Sub-Inspectors.
Under them is a force of 16 constables. This force is responsible
for maintenance of order throughout the entire Police Station and is
assisted by village officials. The Police Station is divided into
19 Anchals (unions), each containing about ten villages. Under the
jurisdiction of these Anchals, which are governed by panchayats
(councils) representing the locality, are some 218 chaukidars

(village watchmen and constables) supervised by 17 dafadars.

Administrative Center: Mahishadal, as thana headquarters, is at the

 

lowest level in the tier of communities through which State and
National Governments function. It contains officials representing
the District of Midnapore (and indirectly the State of West Bengal),
and serves as the center within which the average rural citizen
interacts with representatives of the Government.

According to the 1961 Census Midnapore District had an area of
5,238 square miles and a population of about 4,342,000. Midnapore
Town (District Headquarters) is located in the center of the
District, which is divided into several Sub-Divisions for
administrative purposes. Mahishadal Police Station is part of

Tamluk Sub-Division which has its headquarters lJl Tamluk town

 

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(population about 35,000). Mahishadal is about 11 miles from
Tamluk and 65 miles from Midnapore Town. Most important Government
business that cannot be handled in Mahishadal can be dealt with in
Tamluk town, and only rarely does a Mahishadal resident have to
journey to Midnapore.

Most official matters are handled in Mahishadal town. Local
government offices occupy rented space and are scattered throughout
the town bazar area. Routine matters of property transfers, land
revenue, excise taxes, business licenses, radio permits, and ration
cards are handled in Mahishadal. The officials who handle these
matters are Civil Service employees in transferable service. The
lower ranking office personnel are recruited from the local
population.

The town of Mahishadal has yet to develop a formal government.
The most effective town committees are those that represent the
businessmen of the Old and New Bazars. For matters of administration,
the town still retains the administrative system associated with the
four mauzas included within its geographical boundaries. The three
villages in the main area of the town are divided into five sections,
each under the jurisdiction of a village panchayat (council). These
elected councils are responsible for village government, and are in
turn associated with two different multi-village councils, the

anchal panchayats. These councils include heads of the constituent

 

villages, and serve as intermediary bodies between member villages
and the personnel of the Community Development Block. The two
anchals that the town is affiliated with are part of the same

Community Development Block, which has its headquarters in

 

 

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72

Mahishadal. The elected heads of the multi-village anchal
panchayats are very important men in the town.

The membership of the various town panchayats is drawn from
many castes. The councils are convened to settle disputes between
neighbors and to make decisions regarding community action. The
townSmen of Mahishadal's urban sphere view the panchayats as one of
several systems that may be used if a diSpute arises. They will
readily bypass the panchayats to take a matter to the Police or the
civil courts by day and local panchayats in the evening when involved

in an extremely complicated and multi-faceted dispute.

Community Development Headquarters: In addition to its functions as
a police and administrative center, Mahishadal is the headquarters
for a Community Development Block. According to the 1961 Census

the 34 Police Stations of Midnapore District contained 52 Deve10pment
Blocks. Each Block is under the jurisdiction of a Block Development
Officer (B.D.0.), an official who is under the direction of the
District Panchayat Office in Midnapore Town. A Development Block is
the operative unit between the village and the State of West Bengal.
Each Block maintains a permanent staff of government officials who
are experts in various special jobs related to rural development.
Block officials include agricultural specialists and people trained
in agricultural engineering, animal husbandry, rural engineering,
education, sanitation and health, etc. Block programs exist for
adult education in general, for education of women, development of
rural cooperatives, fostering of local industries, and for providing

advice to village panchayats.

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73

The Government extension officers present in Mahishadal are
referred to by title (the B.D.O., the A.E.O. or Agricultural
Engineering Officer). These officials and the Gram Sevaks (Village
Level Workers) work from rented quarters in the brick building that
once was the Rajas' hospital, and a large clerical staff is also
employed there. Most of the Extension officers, professionals, and
white-collar staff are people from other towns. It is significant
that the Block Deve10pment Officer is the only local man and only
representative of the Mahishya caste among the Government officials
in the town.

Mahishadal also contains a Government Hospital and a Maternity
Center is located in a nearby village. The Health Inspector's
Office in the town carries out programs of innoculation and
preventative medicine. On certain occasions, such as the Rath
festival drawing tens of thousands of participants, there are

massive vaccination programs against smallpox and cholera.
Educational Center

Mahishadal has been an educational center since the
mid—nineteenth century, when the Raja established the Boys High
School. Today there are three primary schools, two high schools,
and two colleges (affiliated with Calcutta University) in the town.
The high schools and the colleges provide boarding facilities. The
teaching staff is drawn mainly from outside, with few teachers or
college professors from the Mahishadal locality.

The town serves as the Government educational center for

Mahishadal Police Station, which contains 13 junior high schools and

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12 high Sohools located in villages. The School Inspector has his
office in the town. The town serves annually as designated
Examination Center, when local candidates for the School Examination
(following grade X) and Higher Secondary Examination (after class XI)
come to the town to take standardized exams.

There are also several informal educational institutions in the
town as well. Two business schools teach typing in English and

Bengali, as well as basic shorthand and secretarial skills.
Cultural Center

Mahishadal has served as micro-regional cultural center for as
long as the Raj Estate headquarters has been there. The presence of
the Rajas meant that famous religious leaders, poets and other
literary figures, classical musicians, and dancers have been coming
to the town for over a century. Today, however, town cultural life
is functioning independently of the former rulers. It is now
directed by the new business elite, along with a few high caste
outsiders who have decided to settle permanently in the town.

The most prominent building in the bazar area is the
Public Hall, built by the followers of a famed religious leader.
Located near the Old Bus Stand, it is rented out for special
functions. Seating over 1200, it is one of the largest such
facilities in Midnapore District. The organization that constructed
the hall (with financial aid from the State government) is drawn
largely from the locally dominant Mahishya cultivator caste. The
membership list reads like a Who's Who of Mahishadal regional

politics. The overt function of the organization is the education,

 

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75

moral and religious, of local youth. Members of the organization4
have access to a library which houses a varied collection of books
in English, Sanskrit, and Bengali. This library is the largest of
several found in the town.

Another formal institution, the Ashram (affiliated with
Ramakrishna Mission in Calcutta), maintains a program of lectures,
cultural performances, and formal observances of annual Hindu
festivals. The Ashram has an active youth program and most
townsmen of upper and upper-middle class participate in formal
activities sponsored by the Ashram.

Numerous voluntary associations serve the varied recreational
needs of the heterogeneous town population. These clubs exist
mainly for the recreation of members, but occasionally sponsor public
performances of dramas or sponsor athletic events. The schools and
colleges also sponsor such events.

Individuals in the town can also participate in the arts of the
Great Tradition. Several people in the town (including the Raja)
teach North Indian classical music, vocal and instrumental (sitar,
53213, and flute). The Bengali Great Tradition is more popular in
Mahishadal, however, and the teachers of Tagore songs and
Indian—style guitar are kept busy. A few graduates of Tagore's
Santiniketan University teach the fine arts in the manner of that
school. Many upper and upper-middle class women enjoy art as a
hobby, painting, drawing, doing batik, and fabric painting. They
employ "traditional" designs to decorate their clothing and homes,
but find their folk designs in books published by Santiniketan

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The urbanites of contemporary Mahishadal actively and
consciously participate in the High Culture of contemporary Bengal.
Various organizations in the town bring well-known artists and
groups to perform in the town. In contrast to the pattern of the
past, where foremost artists performed in the privacy of the Palace
for the enjoyment of the Royal family and invited guests, the
important cultural events of contemporary Mahishadal are publically

organized for public enjoyment.
THE TOWN AND THE MICRO-REGION

Mahishadal is the urban center for all the villages within a
five mile radius of the bazar. The peasants in this area send
produce to the biweekly ha£§_of the town, and come to the town on
ha£_days to buy the many small necessities that are not usually
available in village shops. Coconut hair oil, spices, soap,
and plastic bangles are all slightly cheaper in the town bazar than
in rural shops. It is worth the effort required to attend a hg£_to
sell produce and buy these small necessities. For many villagers,
the trip to Mahishadal is difficult. There are few paved roads in
the area. Most people must walk at least a mile across the paddy
fields to reach a bus road. Many make the entire journey on foot.

But the visit to Mahishadal appears to be worth the trouble,
since peasants come on a regular basis. Trips to Calcutta are made
for special purposes, such as the purchase of a wedding sari or
dowry items. Many women never see Calcutta, since most shopping is
done by men. But most village women can expect to visit Mahishadal

at least once each year, usually to attend the fair during the Rath

 

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festival in July. Village men come more frequently, to buy and sell
in the bazar, and to visit the town cinema hall. Most village men
will also visit Tamluk with some frequency. The Tamluk Bazar carries
a greater variety of items than the Mahishadal Bazar. Tamluk is also
the location of the Sub-Divisional Courts, a large government
hospital, several restaurants, the only dentist in the locality, and
a large "air-conditioned" movie theater.

The peasants of the town micro-region see Mahishadal as their_
urban center, the normal place to go when a city is needed. The
town is where they would want to live if they leave the village.
Since they see Mahishadal as "city," they would be surprised to find
that some Mahishadal residents endure a week in the town, waiting for
the weekend when they can flee Mahishadal "village" for Calcutta. It
is also true that some Calcutta residents endure a week in the
metropolis waiting for Saturday, when they can return to Mahishadal,

their "village" and home.
FIVE HUNDRED TOWN HOUSEHOLDS

The fieldwork on which this study is based included a survey of
500 households that were family units. A number of residential units
of other kinds exist in Mahishadal -- student hostels, private
boarding houses, hotels, and the like. Such special residential
units were excluded from the survey. An attempt was made to visit
every household in the central town area.5 The survey included
roughly 70 percent of the geographical territory of the town, and
within this area an attempt was made to visit each and every family

known to be residing in the locality. A few households, not more

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78

than ten, were omitted from the survey because, despite repeated
visits, it was not possible to interview household members. It
should be noted that in no case did a household refuse to be included
in the survey: those households omitted were those in which there was
rarely anyone home. These households came from the extremes of the
social scale -- the very rich and the very poor. In several
poverty-striken families both husband and wife were employed, often
in several different part-time jobs. We attempted to contact adult
members of such households three times and then gave up. At the
other extreme were a few wealthy families of high status who
maintained residences in Mahishadal but regularly lived elsewhere.

Of four such families, two visited Mahishadal during the fieldwork
period and were included in the survey. Two other families, known

to hold considerable property in the bazar area, did not appear in
Mahishadal during the period of fieldwork. Attempts to contact them
in Calcutta proved unsuccessful.

One segment of the Mahishadal population was omitted from the
Household Survey because they: a) did not really constitute family
units, and b) public opinion was strongly against their inclusion in
the survey. These were the ten to fifteen houses that formed the
prostitute quarter in Mahishadal. My host family and my research
assistant, both Brahman, stated that it would not reflect well on
thgm_if "their anthropologist," who was like a daughter to the
family and elder sister to the assistant, came into contact with the
"evil" women of the prostitute quarter. My insistence that all
households that were families should be visited, even those

households that contained irregular and illegitimate families, was

 

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79

met with obstinence: they were worried about their image in the
town, not my safety.

Except for the ban on interviewing prostitutes, my host family
and research assistant made no restriction on the castes, classes,
and religious groups I had contact with in the course of the
Household Survey. The survey included the highest ranking families
in the town (The Raja and his relatives) as well as the lowest
ranking families, the Sweepers who cleaned latrines for a living.
Both Muslims and Hindus were included, and the five hundred
households visited represented almost every caste known to exist in
the area, and included representatives from every social class in

the town .
CASTE

Mahishadal households surveyed came from 32 different castes,
and OVSI 40 different castes exist in the vicinity of the town.

The cas te distribution of Mahishadal households is given in Table l.
The Population distribution by caste is given in Table 2.

The population dynamics of Mahishadal are those of a rapidly
expanding urban center: one-third of the household heads interviewed
were born elsewhere (163 households). A slightly larger group
(186 households) represented the fourth generation of their families

to be living in Mahishadal. Some 40 families were second generation
town residents, 45 were third generation, and 52 had been in the
town for five or more generations. Fourteen households could
provide no family history, although most thought their families had

1ived in the locality for some time.

80

Table l

Caste Distribution of 500 Mahishadal Households

 

Sfigste Traditional Occupation Number of Households
1. Mahishya Cultivator 160
2 . Muslim (Religious Sect) 73
53. Kagrawtha Writer 27
4 . Rarhi Sreni Brahman Priest 20
S . Bai snab (Vaisnava) Religious Sect recruited 20
from other cases
6. Hari-Keora Scavenger 20
7. Teli Oil-Presser 19
8. Utkal Brahman Priest 18
9. Paslcima Brahman Priest 18
10. Karmaker Blacksmith 16
ll. Mal skar Garland-Maker 15
12. Tarltubai Weaver 14
13. Madhya Sreni Brahman Priest ll
14. Kurnor Potter 11
15. Muchi Leatherworker 9
16. Kshatriya-Brahman Rajpur ? 6
(landowners/cultivators)

l7. Namasudra Cultivator 6
18. DhoPa Washerman 5
19. Barendra Brahman Priest 4
20. Karrzn1 Oriya Writer 3
21- Napit Barber 3
22. Chutahar Carpenter 3
23. Mathor Scavenger 3
24- Baidya Doctor-Writer 3
25. Bagdi Field Laborer 2
26. Ti].j_ Oilpresser-Grocer 2
27. Behe and Swarnakar Goldsmith 2
28. Nepali (Nationality) 2
29. 33113 Distiller 2
30. Tameuli Trader 1
31. Jugi "Weaver Brahman" 1
32. pfindra-Kshatriya Basketmaker-Drummer l

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81

Table 2

Caste Population of 500 Mahishadal Households

 

Number of Percent Number of Percent
Caste Households Households Persons Population
1 . Mahishya 160 32.00 1044 33.80
2. Muslim 73 14.60 387 12.50
3. Kayastha 27 5.40 150 4.86
4. Rarhi Sreni 20 4.00 121 3.92
[Slrahman
S. Vaisnava 20 4.00 127 4.11
6. Keora-Hari 20 4.00 87 2.82
7. Teli 19 3.80 139 4.50
8. Utkal Brahman 18 3.60 117 3.79
9. Pas cima Brahman 18 3.60 125 4.05
10. Karmakar 16 3.20 122 3.95
11. Mal akar 15 3.00 98 3.17
12. Tantubai 14 2.80 84 2.72
13. Madhya Sreni 11 2.20 75 2.43
IBIrahman
l4. Kurnor 11 2.20 73 2.36
15. Muchi 9 1.80 46 1.49
16. kshlatriya 6 1.20 36 1.17
lBrfahman
17. Namasudra 6 1.20 37 1.20
18. DhoPa 5 1.00 18 0.58
19. Barendra Brahman 4 0.80 24 0.78
20. Karan 3 0.60 13 0.42
21. Napit 3 0.60 23 0.74
22. Chutahar 3 0.60 11 0.36
23. Baidya 3 0.60 31 1.00
24. Methor 3 0.60 17 0.55
25. Bagdi 2 0.40 14 0.45
26. T1121 2 0.40 6 0.19
27. Bene/Swarnakar 2 0.40 18 0.58
28. Nepali 2 0.40 15 0.49
29. Saha 2 0.40 10 0.32
30.'TBMMbuli l 0.20 8 0.26
31. Jugi 1 0.20 6 0.19
32. Pandra-Kshatriya 1 0.20 7 0.23

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82

The rural orientation of Mahishadal as a town is reflected in
its population. About 60 percent of the households had been in the
town for two or more generations. These Oldtimers come from
23 different castes, and most come from southeastern Midnapore.
Their long residence in the locality has allowed them to develop
networks of kinship and marriage that link them with villages and
towns in the surrounding region. Of the newer arrivals, about
60 percent have come to the town from nearby villages and have strong
ties to the micro-region surrounding the town. Table 3 gives family
history by caste.

The strong orientation of the town to its surrounding rural
area is further reinforced when one looks at the participation of
nonresi dents of the town in its urban life. About 60 percent of the
shopkeepers in the town bazar, mainly of Mahishya caste, commute

from vi llage homes on a daily basis.
OCCUPATION

The occupations practiced-by Mahishadal people included in the
household survey support the findings of the 1961 Census.
Occupations of townspeople are definitely "urban" rather than
"rural" (Table 4). People in the town are much more likely to be
college professors, high school teachers, clerks, or accountants

than they are to be cultivators, potters, or fishermen. This

pattern holds both for the Primary Occupations of household heads,

and for all occupations bringing income into a household (Table 5) .
But if one looks at family history and present occupation of

household head, a different picture emerges. The urban arena of the

 

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83

Table 3

Family History for 500 Households of 32 Castes

Number of Generations in Mahishadal

 

 

 

Slgste O l 2 3 4 5 U.K. Total
Rarhi Brahman 17 2 l -- -- -- -- 20
*Madhya Sreni 6 -- —- 4 l -- -- ll
I31rahman
Pascima Brahman -- 5 7 4 l 1 -- 18
[thal IBrahman 8 7 l l l —- -- 18
Barendra Brahman 4 -- -- -- —- -- -- 4
*Vaisnava 3 3 2 10 -- -- 2 20
Kayastha 24 —- -- -- -- l 27
Baidya 3 -- -- -- -- -— -- 3
Kshatriya Brahman l 1 3 l -- -- —- 6
*Mahishya 62 9 7 61 8 7 6 160
*Malakar 2 -- -- ll 2 -- -- 15
*Karmaker l l 2 10 2 -- -- l6
*Kumor -- -- 6 2 2 -- 1 ll
Swarnakar/Bene l -- -- l -- -- -- 2
*Karan -- -- -- 2 1 _- -- 3
*Teli 2 1 4 10 2 -- -- 19
Tili 2 -- -- _- -_ -_ _- 2
Tambule 1 _- -- -- -- -- -- 1
*Napit -- -- -- 1 2 -- -- 3
*Chutahar -- -— —- 3 —- -- -_ 3
*Tantabai -- -- l 9 4 -- -- l4
Jugi 1 -- -- -- -- -- _- 1
*DhOPa -- -— -- 3 -- -— 2 5
*Namasudra —_ -- 6 __ _- -- __ 6
Bagdi -- 1 1 -- —- -- —- 2
Nepali 2 -- -- -- -- -- -- 2
Saha 2 -- -_ —- -- -- -- 2
*Keora-Eiari 4 -- -- 7 9 -- -- 20
*Muci 1 -- 1 4 3 -- —- 9
*Pandra~l(shatriya l -- -- -- -- -- -- l
(Dom)

*Mmthor -- -- -- -_ -- 3 -- 3
*Muslim 15 8 3 42 l 2 2 73
163 40 45 186 39 13 14 500

A

«Castes commonly found in the rural population of Police Station
Mahishadal.

84

Table 4

Primary Occupations of 500 Mahishadal Household Heads

 

Recupation Number of Households
Government Official l7
Profes sional 60
— —Doctor
--College Professor
— —Teacher
- —Engineer
- -etC.
White-<:ollar Salaried Employee 54
Menial. Salaried Employee 19
Other Salaried Employee 36
Busine s s 49
"Homework" 20

--management of family affairs
from home office

 

Cultivation, including Sharecropping 84
Unski 1 1 ed Labor 103
Artisan 1 40
Other2 13
Unemployed 5

1All arts and crafts including those associated with particular
castes.

2A mixed category including traditional occupations such as priest,
serVice occupations such as barber and washerman, and other
occupations such as musician, actor, and artist.

 

85

Table 5

All Occupations Providing Income for 500 Mahishadal Households

 

gcupation Number of Cases

Government Official 23

Profes sional 97
-—Doctor

--—College Professor
- —Teacher

-—-Engineer

-—etc.
White -Collar Salaried Employee 100
Menial Salaried Employee 25
Other Salaried Employee 65
Business 92
"Homework"* 62

--management of family affairs
from home office

 

Cultivation, including sharecropping lll
Unskilled Labor 158
Artisan 59
Manufacturing (owner of factory) 5
other 17
Unemployed _5_

h 819

/A

1"This number includes a few cases of unemployed young males from
families capable of supporting nonworking adult members seeking
"suitable" employment.

 

___ «J

86

town is dominated by people who are newcomers to the town. They
account for virtually all Government officials and professionals,
and dominate in other urban occupational categories, while most of
the cultivators, artisans, and people practicing traditional caste
service occupations are from families that have been in the town
:fbr‘tfixee generations (Table 6). If all occupations providing income
'to a licsusehold are taken into account, there is little change in
overal 1 pattern. The urban occupations are clearly dominated by
'newconaeers to Mahishadal, although a comparison of Tables 4 and 5
indicate that an increasing number of young men from Oldtimer
famili.ees are entering the professions, government employment, and
white-<:ollar salaried employment. Most of these men are not yet
houselicald heads. Business is the only urban occupation that is
dominated by Oldtimers, and their dominance is small. What is not
reflec:1:ed in the business category figures is that the newcomers

who aasee engaged in this occupation are Newcomers to the town as
I‘eSidents but not in terms of employment. Most of them come from
nearbyr villages, and have maintained a business in the town prior to
their: earrival as residents. They are thus Newcomers as residents

but, in many cases, Oldtimers as urbanites on a commuter basis.
AGRICULTURE AND TOWN FAMILIES

One of the bases on which Mahishadal was designated "urban”
was its occupational pattern: less than 25 percent of the working
population engaged in cultivation as a primary occupation. The
survey of five hundred household heads included only 84 cultivators.

However, although only 84 of five hundred men are cultivators

87

Table 6

Occupation and Family History

Primary Occupations of 500 Mahishadal Household Heads

Percent of Households in Occupational Category

 

 

Occupational Newcomers Oldtimers
Cate gory (0,1 gen) (2+ 33“)
Government Official 94.11 5 .89
Profes sional 89.17 10.83
White—Collar Salaried 58.33 41.67
Menial Salaried 42.11 57.89
Other Salaried 62.50 37.50
Business 57.14 42.86
Homework 60 .00 40 .00
Cultivation 17.26 82.74
Lmski].1ed Labor 21.36 78.64
Artisan 25.00 75.00
Other 30.55 69.45

ManUfacturing ----- -----

88

(including sharecropping and permanent employment as paid
agricultural laborer), the number of town households deriving some
income from agriculture is considerably greater. Some 55 percent of
the five hundred households claim that they held no land at all. Of
the 45 percent who would admit to owning land, only 50 households
claimed to own more than 10 bighas of land (about 3.3 acres). The
nmmber of landless families is high because it includes the transient
elite of the town's urban sphere, most of whom formerly held land in
East Bengal and lost their property when Pakistan was created in
1947. Among the 45 percent town of the households who claimed to own
some agricultural land, the pattern of landholding appears to be
similar to that characteristic of the rural locality, where a sample
of cultivating households revealed that about 73 percent had holdings
of less than 7.5 bighas (2.5 acres) and almost 92 percent of the
cultivating households held less than 15 bighas (5 acres) of land
(Ray 1966, Vol.2:238). The town pattern appears to include a much
larger landless group, totally involved in the urban Sphere, as well
as a number of families holding land in amounts above the average

for the Police Station as a whole. Most of the latter have
nonagricultural occupations and their land is cultivated by
sharecroppers.

Eighty percent of the Mahishadal households relying on
cultivation as primary occupation have been resident in the locality
for two or more generations. Half of the town cultivators are of
Mahishya caste, with Muslims and Oil-Pressers (Telis) accounting for
another 25 percent. The other cultivators are drawn from a variety

of medium and low-ranking artisan and service castes. Only two high

89

caste families surveyed reported cultivation as primary occupation.

Cultivator families live in the rural outskirts of the town, in
pa£g§_(neighborhoods) typically "village" in appearance. They live
in the mud and thatch homes characteristic of rural dwellings in the
locality.

One-third of the town cultivator households own no land. They
work the land of others, either as sharecroppers or as permanent paid
agricultural laborers. It is difficult to make a sharp distinction
between the categories of "owner," "sharecropper," and "agricultural
laborer." Some men own land and also are sharecroppers on the land
of others. Some men own fragments of land, earn most of their
support as sharecroppers for others, and supplement this income by
working as agricultural laborers during the transplanting and
harvesting seasons. Their are also cases where men cultivate the

land owned by others and are not sharecroppers, but have arranged a

land exchange on an informal basis, for their mutual convenience.6
Only a few Mahishadal households can be called zamindars—-

landholders who live exclusively on the income from agricultural

land which is cultivated by others. There are 27 families that

are zamindars in this sense: they include seven Brahman families,

including the Raja and his relatives, one Kayastha family, and

12 wealthy Mahishya families. With the exception of the few

Pascima Brahman households that are accorded a special legal status,

most zamindar families insist that they adhere to the land-ceiling
laws of West Bengal, which allow a household a maximum of 25 acres
(75 bighas) of land.7

For 30 of the 50 Mahishadal households who claimed to own more

90

than 10 bighas (3.3 acres) of land, cultivation provided income but
was not an occupation. Most of these families gave business,
white-collar salaried employment, or professional employment as the

primary occupation of the household head.

FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD IN THE TOWN

Households in the town are predominantly nuclear-base families.
Over 75 percent of the households surveyed were residential units of
this type. About 21 percent of the five hundred households were
residentially-joint units of various kinds, and the remaining
4 percent of the households were irregular family units, including
single-person households. The distribution of family types for
five hundred households is presented in Table 7. The mean size of
families of different types is presented in Table 8, mean family size
in Table 9, and the pattern of family types among the twelve largest
caste groups (10 or more resident households) is presented in
Table 10.

As is shown in Table 10, there is considerable variation in
household size among families of different castes. The variation is
not to be explained on the basis of economic status alone. The
smallest families are found among the Hari-Keora caste, a poor group
who support themselves almost entirely through unskilled labor in
the town and short term agricultural labor. The caste that has the
largest average family size, the Karmakars (Blacksmiths) ,are not the
wealthiest: their family size reflects the nature of their
occupation. In Mahishadal, men of the Blacksmith caste make brass

utensils in family-based home workshops and it is advantageous to

91

Table 7

*
Family Types for 500 Mahishadal Households

 

 

 

Number of
Definitions** Households Symbol
1. Nuclear family: a couple with or 257 N
without unmarried children.
2. Supplemented nuclear family: a nuclear 86 N+
family plus one or more unmarried,
separated, or widowed relatives of the
parents, other than their unmarried
children.
3. Subnuclear family: 'a fragment of a former 20 —N

 

nuclear family. Typical examples are the
widow with unmarried children, or the
widower with unmarried children, or
siblings--whether unmarried, or widowed,
separated, or divorced--living together.

 

4. Single-person household. 16 SP
5. Supplemented subnuclear: a group of 10 -N+

 

relatives, members of a former complete
nuclear family, plus some other unmarried,
divorced, or widowed relative who was not

a member of the nuclear family. For
example, a widow and her unmarried children
plus her widowed mother-in-law.

6. Collateral Joint family: two or more 11 CJ
married couples between whom there is a
sibling bond--usually a brother-brother
relationship--plus unmarried children.

 

7. Supplemented collateral joint family: 18 CJ+
a collateral joint family plus unmarried,
divorced, or widowed relatives, Typically,
such supplemental relatives are the
widowed mother of the married brothers, or
the widower father, or an unmarried sibling.

 

8. Lineal joint family: two couples between 46 LJ
whom there is a lineal link, usually
between parents and married son,
sometimes between parents and married
daughter.

 

92

Table 7 (cont'd)

9. Supplemented lineal joint family: 8 LJ+
a lineal joint family plus unmarried,
divorced, or widowed relatives who do
not belong to either of the lineally
linked nuclear families; for example,
the father's widower brother or the
son's wife's unmarried brother.

 

10. Lineal-collateral joint family: three 17 LCJ
or more couples linked lineally and
collaterally. Typically, parents and
their two or more married sons, plus
the unmarried children of the three or
more couples.

 

ll. Supplemented lineal-collateral joint 5 LCJ+
family: a lineal-collateral joint family
plus unmarried, widowed, separated
relatives who belong to none of the nuclear
families lineally and collaterally linked;
for example, the father's widowed sister
or brother, or an unmarried nephew.

 

12. Other. 6 0t

 

* . . . .
Nonrelatives are excluded from classrfication.

**Definitions from Kolenda 1968:346-347.

93

Table 8

Family Type and Mean Size for 500 Mahishadal Households

 

Number of Mean Percent of Total Percent

Fandly'Type Families Size Households Persons Population
Nuclear 257 5.14 51.40 1322 42.80
N+ 86 6.88 17.20 592 19.16
-N 20 4.05 4.00 81 2.62
-N+ 10 3.20 2.00 32 1.03
Lineal Jt 46 8.41 9.20 387 12.53
Lineal Jt+ 8 9.13 1.60 73 2.36
Collateral Jt 11 10.64 2.20 117 3.79
Collateral Jt+ 18 9.67 3.60 174 5.63
Lineal-Collateral 17 12.06 3.40 205 6.64

Jt
Lineal-Collateral 5 12.40 1.00 62 2.01

Jt+
Single Person 16 1.00 3.20 16 0.52
Other 6 4.83 1.20 29 0.94

 

500 100.00 3089 100.03

 

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94

Table 9

Distribution of Family Size Among 500 Mahishadal Households

 

Number of Number of Percent of Total Number Percent of

Persons Households Households of Persons Population
1 18 3.60 18 0.58
2 37 7.40 74 2.40
3 41 8.20 123 3.98
4 72 14.40 288 9.32
5 60 12.00 300 9.71
6 67 13.40 402 13.01
7 55 11.00 385 12.46
8 51 10.20 408 13.21
9 33 6.60 297 9.61
10 22 4.40 220 7.12
11 18 3.60 198 6.41
12 8 1.60 96 3.11
13 5 1.00 65 2.10
14 3 0.60 42 1.36
15 3 0.60 45 1.46
16 2 0.40 32 1.04
17 - ---- -- ----
18 1 0.20 18 0.58
19 2 0.40 38 1.23
20 2 0.40 40 1.29
500 100.00 3089 99.98

 

95

Table 10

Family Types for Twelve Largest Caste Groups in Mahishadal

Predominance of Nuclear-base Families

 

Caste Average

 

Percent N, N+, Percent of Caste Family Size
Caste -N,fi-N+ Families Population (All types)
Mahishya 72.51 60.99 6.51
Muslim 80.62 68.74 5.30
Kayastha 70.37 72.66 5.56
Rarhi Br. 65.00 51.24 6.05
Vaisnava 55.00 51.19 6.35
Keora 90.00 93.10 4.20
Teli 63.16 48.20 7.32
Pascima Br. 66.65 55.20 6.94
Utkal Br. 61.10 70.09 6.50
Karmakar 50.00 47.54 7.63
Malakar 73.32 63.26 7.00
Tantubai 20.85 89.26 6.00

Composite
72.85 62.75

 

have large family units working together for production purposes.

Of all the castes having the largest resident populations, the
incidence of nuclear-based family units is lowest among the
Blacksmiths (50 percent nuclear-base households). The common idea
that the large joint family is breaking down in the urban setting
clearly does not explain a preference for joint families among the

artisan castes of Mahishadal town.

Household Structure

 

Kolenda's system of categorization of households allows the

presentation of data in a very concise manner. Unfortunately, it

does not (at least for Mahishadal households) allow assessment of

96

the structure of a household. In the normal developmental cycle of
the Bengali family a "supplemented nuclear family" would consist of
a nuclear family plus an unmarried relative of the male household
head, since residence is normally patrilocal. A common deviant form
of the village supplemented nuclear family is the gh§3_i§m§i_family,
where the son-in-law joins the household of his wife's father. In
Mahishadal, however, other patterns of supplementation were found,
patterns that reflected particular economic groups within the town
(such as the brassworking population already mentioned) and also the
urban nature of the town. It seems likely that there is more
flexibility in residence pattern in urban centers. Figure 7
illustrates various household units that fall into Kolenda's
category of "supplemented nuclear family.” Families A and B exhibit
the most common form of supplementation, and family C illustrates
the most common deviant form seen in rural Bengal. But families
D, B, F, G, and H do not fit into the usual range of variation as
defined by previous studies of Bengali villages.

Mahishadal households show a very strong preference for the
traditional rule of patrilocal residence, although a large number of
households are residing neolocally. In the village setting one
rarely finds affinal relatives residing in the same households except
during short visits. In Mahishadal kinship ties are viewed
bilaterally when such a view is necessary or useful.

Affinally supplemented households in the town reflect the demands of
employment or the desire for education. Young people, present in
Mahishadal to attend school or college, account for most of the

cases of affinal supplementation (families D, E, and G are examples).

97

Figure 7

Supplemented Families in Mahishadal Town

Normal Patterns

18. B. C. har lgggi
Ili;-Eig%£%::’ ‘4Eiééégér

Abnormal Patterns

 

  
  

213

teacher

    
 

student

skilled
.worker

1111113

     
 

 

)3 :10

students

 

23L

skilled
worker

 
 
 

N. \1

. »

 
 

 

98

But other cases reflect Bengali views of morality (family F). An
increasing number of girls from the upper and upper-middle class
from urban centers are beginning to attend colleges and universities
and enter into employment before marriage. Bengali views of
morality require that employed unmarried girls live in a proper
chaparoned setting, a family, whenever this is possible.

Family H illustrates a case where outside relatives .have been
recruited because of the need for skilled labor. It also is one of
the large family units that has contributed to the mean family size
of 7.63 among the town Blacksmith population. All the adult males
in this family are skilled brassworkers, and the local household
constitutes a manufacturing unit. The male who has joined the
household of his sister's husband and the man who is living in the
house of his mother's brother are both skilled and valued members of
a production unit. Both consider their residence in the household
to be permanent, and the younger man expects to bring a wife into
the family.

Most of the supplemented families in the five hundred
households were normal in light of Bengali residence rules. However,
there appear to be enough examples of "abnormal" supplementation
to suggeSt that a second level residence rule comes into operation
when necessary, and that urban residence makes it necessary with
more frequency. This back-up rule appears to be that residence with
w relfiltive is better than residence with strangers. Men will
reside with their wife's brothers, or will join their sister's
husband's household, or will reside with maternal relatives rather

than Paternal relatives if residence with the former is more

99

convenient for employment or education.
Family H in particular points out one of the problems inherent

in using Kolenda's descriptive categories. In many cases Kolenda's

categories do not convey actual structure of a residential unit but

simply enumerate household constitution. Some problems in

classification of families in Mahishadal are due to insufficient

information. There are several instances where a familyappears as

"nuclear" in Mahishadal and had recently moved to the town from a

nearby village. It is sometimes difficult to determine the degree

to which these residentially nuclear units are part of coparcenary

j oint units based in the village. Since the nature of the

relationship between new town arrivals and their village relatives
are impossible to pinpoint with any degree of consistency, these
new arrivals have been classified in the category appropriate to

their life in the town. (Notation of ownership of village land

was made where it was possible to get such information.)

Another problem with using Kolenda's descriptive categories is
that in some case they actually distort existant family structure.
Inheritance rules in Bengal follow the Dayabhag system, in which

all Property is held by the father until formal division or his

death, When it becomes the property of his sons. In several cases

families were classified as nuclear-based residential units, when
they were actually lineal joint coparcenary units. If corrections
were made for those cases of supplementation involving widowers

(Whose Status as head of a coparcenary family is not changed by the

death Of a wife), then thirteen supplemented nuclear families

actually turn out to be joint coparcenary units -- collateral

100

joint (1), lineal joint (10), and lineal collateral joint (2).
Two families that are classified residentially as supplemented
collateral joint are as coparcenary units, lineal collateral joint.

If a comparison is made of coparcenary families in the village
and in the town, the high degree of nuclear-based families is
striking. This reflects the fact that a large number of town
families, some 55 percent, own no land -- the property that is the
primary basis for coparcenary joint families in the villages. Two
villages studied by Nicholas (1961) showed some 58 percent of the
property-holding units to be nuclear-based units, while these
households comprise 72 percent of the economic units of the town.
The breakdown of families by coparcenary structure in two
Midnapore villages and in Mahishadal town is shown in Table 11.

Table 11
Family Types (Coparcenary Units):

Rural Midnapore and Mahishadal Town

 

 

Two Villages Mahishadal Town
(Nicholas 1961:1057)

Family Type Percent of Total Percent of Total
(Coparcenary) Families Families
Irregular 13.7 4.2
Nuclear-based 58.0 72.2
Joint among Father and Sons 18.0 18.0
JON": among Brothers 10.3 5.6

It Should be noted that in the town setting, where most of the
P0P91ation is landless, the category "joint family" make take on a

different meaning than in the village. In the village, Nicholas

101

says that ,

To maintain a joint family is a "good" thing, it is
something of which a man can boast. Beyond this, however,
a joint family is frequently an economically rational form
of organization, both with regard to production and

expenditure. . . A family which can plant and harvest its
rice with a minimum of hired labour. . . makes the greatest
profit.

Similarly, it is more efficient to maintain a common
hearth. (Nicholas 1961:1059-60).

These explanations explain why families with sufficient
agricultural land are less likely to divide before the death of
the father and are more likely to remain joint between brothers
after the father's death. In Mahishadal most of the families that
own any land own very little and are likely to be nuclear—based
coparcenary families. The few families who own large amounts of
land have a tendency to be joint families of one kind or another.
But a number of the joint families of Mahishadal are joint
coparcenary units because such units are rational and efficient in
the town setting: they serve to ensure the presence of the
required number of skilled workers among artisan families. They
also are common among families who are involved with the town
bazar: maintenance of a joint family in such cases may allow one
brother to devote his energy to the joint agricultural interests
while another brother opens a jointly-owned business in the bazar.
Thus joint families are often found among business families who do
not at present have enough agricultural land to support the
divided families by cultivation alone. In the past the economic

base 0f the family was expanded to encompass the bazar as well as

102

agriculture, and the family has been able to follow the ideals
by remaining undivided because it is both rational and efficient

economically given their residence in a rural town.

CHAPTER IV
CASTE IN THE TOWN SETTING
CASTE IN DAILY LIFE

One of the most striking differences between the pOpulation of
Mahishadal and the population characteristic of the region is the
extreme diversity of castes to be found in the town. Members of
over forty distinct castes reside in and around the town. The
large number of castes clearly reflects the town's history as a
royal center. Many of the specialist castes were brought into the
area by the Rajas to provide the royalty and associated gentry
families with necessary goods and services. Others were attracted
to the town because of the small but expanding market there. Some
castes came into the locality and settled there because they
possessed particular skills that enabled them to serve in the
Raja's administrative service, or to serve in the schools and
clinics set up by the Rajas. The caste distribution of the
500 Household Survey was presented in Table l.

Concern with caste identity is conspicuous in its absence:
everyday life within the town functions smoothly with little
reference to caste. Although informants concede that castes
existed, they also insist that caste "doesn't matter." And for
most activities, caste is of little importance. Although most
people marry within their caste and state that this is proper and
eXpected, there are numerous examples of improper marriages,

103

104

intercaste "love marriages," found in the household survey.8 When
confronted with evidence that even in Mahishadal the people do not
follow the rules, informants do not seem to be disturbed: the

usual reaction is a shrug, and (from older respondents) some
statement about how things are degenerating in this modern day and
age. Mixed caste married couples do not face any overt hostility in
their search for housing, or in their participation in town
activities. Generally young, without children, they have the moral
support of the large number of educated younger people who, in

their overt support of such couples, attempt to assert their
nmdernity and freedom from outmoded custom. Several older couples
have also had made intercaste marriages, and despite this
impropriety, are full participants in town social life. The matter
of a "wrong" marriage comes up only when the hostility has developed
around some other basis -- then the marriage can be used as a weapon
in argument. For the most part, how the couple is accepted depends
Lmon individual family outlook. One high caste father disowned his
mn1who had married a girl of lower caste, while another man whose
fixihad married the lower caste daughter of a neighbor openly
mhfitted the marriage and did not seem disturbed by it (the
rmighboring families continued to be on good terms). While the
older generation generally states disapproval of intercaste marriage
and is ‘reluctant to recognize such marriages, the younger generation
cmenly discusses the problems that such marriages entail. Best
friends often are involved in the intrigues of arranging rendezvous
fbr secret lovers, and in several cases, accompany the couple to

Calcutta for a civil marriage ceremony. The caste status of

105

children of an intercaste marriage is, for the younger generation, a

matter for hot debate. After one long argument about what caste the

child of a Brahman father and Mahishya mother would be, the general

consensus was that it really doesn't matter: if the parents could

disregard caste, by the time the child was an adult, caste would not
matter at all.

The relative unimportance of caste in daily life was revealed
during the bazar census and the collection of information about

membership in various clubs, committees, and panchayats. It became

 

apparent, through cross-references, that "mistakes" are being made
in caste identification of third parties: at various times Karans,
Garland-makers, Barbers, Weavers, Blacksmiths, Namasudras, and
Keoras are identified as "Mahishya" by friends, neighbors, or
associates who should have known better. The "mistakes" are not
consistent -- the same informants subsequently, in reference to a
different question, correctly identify the castes of the same
individuals. The inconsistency appears to indicate not ignorance,
but a pattern of contexts in which precise caste identity is neither
necessary nor functional. The clubs, committees, and official bodies
zfll recruit members from several castes: caste is not an important

basis for interaction in the urban Sphere of Mahishadal.

The Local Caste Hierarchy

 

When specific information about caste ranking was sought, it
was found that when people said they know little about caste, they
are telling the truth. When fifty-six informants attempted to rank

36 castes, there was no caste which all agreed belonged in a

106

particular rank.9 The castes of Mahishadal, arranged according to
the local ranking system, are shown in Table 12. For comparative
purposes, the same castes, arranged according to their positions in

the "traditional" ranking system, are presented in Table 13.

 

Table 12
Caste Population of Mahishadal Arranged

According to Local Ranking System

Castes in Order of Rank Percent of Population

1 Rarhi Sreni Brahman 14.20
2. Madhya Sreni Brahman

3. Pas chima Brahman

4 Utkal Brahman

5 Barendra Brahman

6. Baisnab (Vaisnava) 4.00
7. Ka)rzistha 39.20
8. 88.1 dya

9. Kshatriya Brahman (Rajput?)

10. Mahishya

11. Mal akar 27.40
12. Kannakar

13.1Qun()r

14- SWarnakar
15 . Karan

l6. Teli
l7. Tili
18. Talnbuli
19. Napit

20. ChUtahar

21- Tantubai

22. JUgi

23- Saba (Suri)

25° Niiunasudra

26. Bagdi

27. Napali

23- HELri-Keora

30- pa~hdra-Kshatriya

31 - Methor 0 .60
32. Muslim 14.60

107

Table 13
Caste Population of Mahishadal Arranged

According to Traditional Ranking System

 

 

 

 

 

 

Castes Number of Households
I. Brahmans
l. Barendra 4
2. Rarhi Sreni 20
3. Madhya Sreni ll
4. Paschima 18
5. Utkal 18
71'
11. Hi gh Castes (Castes ranking above clean sudras)
6. Baidya '__———' 3
7. Kayastha 27
8. Karan 3
9. Kshatriya Brahman (Rajput?) _Ji
9
III.C1ean Sudras
10- Karmakar 16
11- Rumor ll
12. Nalakar 15
13- Napit 4
14. 'I‘antubai 14
15. 'Teli 18
16. 'Tili 2
l7. Tambuli __1_
81
IV- Clean Sudras with Degraded Brahmans
13- Idahishya 160
V- Mean Sudras
19~ Jugi l
20-» £Saha 2
21- Swarnakar 2
22. Chutahar ‘3
8
VI' wastes Abstaining from Beef, PorL and Fowl
23- Bagdi 2
24- Dhopa 5
5-> Namasudra 6
13
VII'E22L_§astes Who Are Unclean Feeders

 

26. Muchi
27. Pandra Kshatriya

._a
OI—‘D

108

Table 13 (cont'd)

VIII. Scavenger Castes

28. Hari-Keora 20
29. Methor 3
3
IX. Non-Hindu
30. Muslim 73
X. Other
31. Vaisnava Religious Devotees 20
32. Nepali _ii
22

 

The most striking characteristic of the Mahishadal collective

caste hierarchy is its lumping of 36 castes into five broad groups--

groups cutting dramatically across the categories of the
traditional caste hierarchy. The great difference in rank accorded
certain castes in the two systems, especially in the case of the
Mahishyas, Kayasthas, and Baidyas, is especially striking. Although
the Mahishyas are, in the traditional system, clean sudras with
degraded Brahmans, in the local region they are the dominant caste
and very important in town life. The Kayasthas and Baidyas are
traditionally ranked next to the Brahmans, but in Mahishadal they
are outsiders who came to the town as office incumbents. The
Vaisnavas, sometimes called a religious sect rather than a caste, are
given a higher place in the local caste hierarchy because they are
religious specialists in Mahishadal, traditionally associated with
the various temples founded by the local royalty, and have as their
caste occupation the singing of devotional songs.

The lumping of castes into a few broad categories might be

viewed as an indication of the diminishing importance of caste in

109

the urban arena of Mahishadal. However, if one compares the pattern
of caste ranking characteristic of villages in southeastern
Midnapore, there is a striking similarity between the rural system of
stratification found in this locality and that seen in the urban

arena of the town.

Rural social structure in southeastern Midnapore is characterized
by its relative lack of stratification, when compared to other parts
of South Asia. Villages in the Mahishadal locality typically contain
a small number of castes, with Mahishya cultivators forming the bulk
of the population (Nicholas 1963). The caste hierarchy of a typical
village in the vicinity and the consensus caste hierarchy created
by fifty-six informants in Mahishadal town are presented in
Figure 8. The overall pattern is the same, except that in the town
case many more castes have been lumped into the few broad

categories.

The town of Mahishadal is at once urban and rural: most of the
town population has its rural roots in southeastern Midnapore,
particularly in the southern part of Tamluk Sub-Division. But
because of its history as an administrative center for a
non-Bengali royalty, outsiders of "unknown" castes have been settling
in the town since its origin. The interaction between foreigners
(both Bengali and non-Bengali) has always tended to be on the basis

of attributed "class" status, rather than on precise caste status.

Caste and Occupation

 

The association of particular castes with traditional occupation

has undergone change. Today, the occupations of the people in the

110

Figure 8
The System of Caste Stratification in

Mahishadal Town and Radhanagar Village

MAHISHADAL TOWN RADHANAGAR VILLAGE

Rank Per Cent Rank Per Cent
Caste Group Population Caste Group Populatigg.

 

 

All Brahmans A 14.2 Mahishya Brahman A 1.5

 

 

 

 

 

Vaisnava
Kayastha
Baidya B 43.2
Kshatriya Brahman
Mahishya

 

 

 

 

Malakar
Karmakar
Kumor
Swarnakar
Karan
Teli Vaisnava and
Tili Mahishya B 85.8
Tambuli -
Napit
Chutahar C 27.4
Tantubai
Saha

Jugi

Dhopa
Namasudra
Bagdi
Nepali
Hari-Keora
Muchi
Pandra-Kshatriya Kaibartta
' Fisherman C 1.5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Methor .
Muslim D E 15.2 Washermen ID 9.7

Muslim Weaver IE I 1.5

100.0% “100.0%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*(from Nicholas 1968:251, Table 1.)

111

500 households surveyed tend to be "urban" rather than "rural" and
nontraditional rather than traditional. Many caste groups were
brought to Mahishadal by the Rajas to provide necessary services.
Brahmans were brought to do puia_in the temples founded by the Rajas
and Ranis of the past. Other Brahmans were brought as advisors on
the intricacies of Hindu doctrine. Vaisnavas were brought to sing
devotional songs at the temples. Specialized craftsmen were brought
to tend to particular details in the temples and palaces. Barbers,
Washermen, Sweepers, Basketmakers, Blacksmiths, Garland-makers,
Oil-pressers, Potters, and other castes lack a history linking their
existence directly to the Raj establishment: it is most likely that
they were encouraged to come into the newly developing area by the
expanding market for their goods and services. In the past members
of these castes practiced their traditional occupations.

Today, the pattern has changed. While a small fraction of the
town population -- mainly Brahmans, Potters, Vaisnava singers, and
Leatherworkers -- continue the exclusive practice of their
traditional occupations on at least a part-time basis, most formerly
exclusive occupations are now practiced by outsiders as well. Most
members of the Blacksmith caste are either goldsmiths or
brassworkers by occupation, but Washermen and Mahishyas also make
brass ware. The only full-time weaver encountered was a Brahman and
the men of the Weaver caste are agricultural laborers and
sharecroppers, as well as cowherds for the Raj Estate dairy business.

The traditional pattern is also disappearing in the bazar. The
census of businesses in the 01d Bazar and New Bazar, and the census

in the Saturday Weavers Market indicated that while there is a

a u I ' .'
. .n—s P‘
:L.h:._..4‘. LAO:

 

Hung 1‘
4 VJ" n' !

112

tendency for certain businesses to be dominated by members of
particular castes, in no case does a caste group have exclusive
control of a business associated with its traditional caste
occupation. Most shoemakers are Leatherworkers, but one is a Muslim
(brand-name shoe shops were Mahishya owned). Most barbers are Barber
by caste. Most laundries, but not all, are owned by Washermen.
Goldsmiths, Vaisnavas, Karmakars, and Mahishyas all make and sell
jewelry. Caste does not appear to be the determining factor in
terms of business opportunities in the Mahishadal Bazar. The past
history of particular caste groups may, however, have limited their
economic resources and so indirectly affected their orientation to

business opportunities in the Bazar today.

Caste Interdining

 

Commensal restrictions between castes have all but disappeared
in Mahishadal. Most informants deny that there was any caste
(except the Methors, or scavengers) from whom they would not take
food. Even the Muslims, they claim, are not regarded as
"unclean" -- but only somehow "different." If the subject is
pursued, informants concede that technically Hindus cannot take food
from Muslims, but that the rule does not matter. Younger members of
the community are unable to give any Opinions regarding the old
rules regulating interdining. Older members attempt to give the
"ideal" rules, although only two informants actually claim to follow
the rules -- an elderly Pascima Brahman and a Rarhi Brahman widow.
The Pascima Brahman claims that he accepts kagga_food (rice) from

known members of his own caste: in the Mahishadal setting, he

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113

claims, he takes rice only from members of his own.family. Pakka_
food (fried bread or 1221) he accepts from any of the Brahman castes.
Water is acceptable only from "clean sudras" and those of higher
status. (His definition of clean sudras is arbitrary.) The Brahman
widow gives her version of the ideal system as she remembered it:
since her widowhood she prepares her own food and eats only once a
day. Previously she had accepted rice from any Brahman and lugi.
from Kayasthas and Baidyas as well. Water is acceptable from clean
suggag, including Mahishyas (although the traditional caste ranking
system would place them outside the clean category for acceptance of
water). The other members of her household claim that they accept
food from persons of any caste, and did. The widow herself claims
that she would accept lug; cooked by the anthropologist, and the
other members of the family sampled American cooking several times.

The general pattern revealed by the handful of informants who
were able to give a version of the "old" or ideal rules regarding
commensal restrictions is that one can accept rice from members of
the same caste, castes of equal rank, and castes of higher rank.
Lug; can be accepted from some castes of lower rank, and water is
accepted from all clean castes. However, the versions of the caste
hierarchy are different in each case.

In daily life little attention is paid to caste with regard to
commensal restrictions. It is only when food is being used in the
performance of a religious ritual that the commensal rules are

strictly followed.

 

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114

CASTE AND THE JAJMANI SYSTEM

As was noted previously, the number of persons still engaged in
full or part-time practice of a traditional caste-associated
occupation accounts for only a small fraction of the households in
the 500 household census. In all cases, interaction between
artisan, service, and specialist castes with each other and with
other castes is on a cash basis. Only one case was observed that
involved direct exchange. This involved a transient Muslim who
specialized in making gur_(molasses) from dates. He was given the
right to set up his manufacturing process adjacent to a large tank
bordered by date palms. The manager of household affairs for the
widowed owner of the tank had worked out a yearly agreement with the
gurfmaker: for each date-palm tree owned by the household, the
Muslim was to provide one pot of molasses. The amount manufactured
beyond that belonged to the Muslim, to sell. The Muslim appeared
from his village in the south during the early part of fieldwork in
Mahishadal. He erected some temporary shelters and manufactured gu£_
according to the agreement. However, toward the end of his stay he
became involved in an argument with the household manager. The
argument centered on the matter of a broken pot. The gurfmaker
claimed that the pots were to be returned after the gur_had been
used, and that a broken pot had to be replaced. The household
manager, who had broken the pot accidentally, claimed that the pot
was defective and that the gu£:maker had deliberately given out gur.

in defective pots which were likely to break during long periods of

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115

use. The argument escalated quickly to the stage of exchange of
blows, when neighbors separated the two men. The gEr-maker packed
up his equipment and left shortly thereafter. He did not return the
next season. Some other agreement was made with a local Muslim
gar-maker who had a small manufacturing enterprise in another
neighborhood.

Jajmani relationships have a different character in Bengal than
in the North Indian areas where an ideal system was first described
by the Wisers (1936). Mukhopadhyay suggests that in Bengal, ”jajmani
is specifically religious and ritual," and it differs clearly from
other kinds of dyadic patron-client relationships included in jajmani
as described in other parts of South Asia. According to MukhOpadhyay,
jajmani cuts across two categories of relationships, "fixed" and
"casual," both of which are distinct from the impersonal market
system.

Cases where one family maintains long term realtionships
with the families of certain functional artisan and other
servicing castes, and some portion are annually offered in
kind, are placed by villagers in the first category, i.e., dhara
or "fixed." It was previously customary for a landlord to
support those servicing castes with rent free land in exchange
for their ”fixed" yearly services. For maintaining these
relationships the families honor the ties and obligations
established generations ago.

But in cases where the recipient family is free to obtain
services from the members of different castes exclusively on
cash payment, the relationship is considered to be nagat or
"casual." Here the parties are not closely identified with
each other and no long term or wide ranging obligations are
entertained (Mukhopadhyay 1969:141).

The situation in Mahishadal appears to be changing from dhara

to nagat. Although the Raj family previously was traditionally

 

associated with numero

 

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mal services. Toda
sen'ices through the r
are tine, cash basis:

scrt of dhara arrangne

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116

associated with numerous families of service, artisan and priestly
castes, who were given grants of land (chakran) in return for their
annual services. Today most of the people get their goods and
services through the market or hire necessary service caste men on
a one time, cash basis. The few families who have maintained some
sort of dhar§_arrangment appear to be shifting more towards a paga£_
arrangement. The Barber and family priests serving the household
of a prominent Brahman family, for example, are members of the same
families serving that household for two generations. However, they
are now paid in cash, although customary gifts are made at life
crisis ceremonies. The relationship is now one of preference -- the
traditional relationship will be the prefered one, but if it is not
possible for the traditional barber or priest to make his services
available at the necessary time, the family will hire another
specialist to do the necessary jobs, paying cash for the services.
The traditional families are not under any obligation to provide
substitutes if they are unavailable when needed.

In the North Indian town of Tezibazar, jajmani relationships
were arranged on a geographic basis. A family moving from one house
to another in a different part of the town could not keep the same
service caste people in his new location (Fox 1969:99). There does
not seem to be any development of this kind in the town of
Mahishadal. With regard to the required services of caste
specialists, especially at ceremonial times, most families must rely
on a cash-based arrangement with no permanency. The few families
who have lived in the town for several generations have jajmani

relationships that are more permanent, but as the population

 

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117

continues to grow and more people give up traditional occupations to
enter new fields in the bazar and service spheres, the pattern for
the town as a whole is becoming more of a nagat or casual system of

relationships.
Caste and Residential Segregation

Because of the rapid expansion of population and the turnover
of families coming for service reasons, most neighborhoods within
the town are of mixed caste compositon. There is a tendency for
Muslim neighborhoods to be distinct, although the separation of
Muslims and Hindus in terms of space is not great. In each Muslim
neighborhood a Hindu household is found, generally of newcomers.
There is a tendency for Muslims, when moving about within the town, to
seek out housing in Muslim paras.

The Keoras have a distinct neighborhood separated off from the
main populated area nearby. The Keora neighborhood cuts across
village boundaries, including part of a village not included within
the town. (This is also true in the case of one of the Muslim
neighborhoods. As has been noted elsewhere, in Bengal boundaries
of mauzas designate administrative and revenue units, not social
boundaries.) There are only three Methor households in the town.
The three households are close together on a small path off one of
the main roads. The nearby houses are rented to high caste Hindus

and Mahishyas with high ranking occupations.

 

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118

SUMMARY

Although caste is recognized in Mahishadal, it is not of great
importance in everyday life. Within the town pe0ple disregard minor
caste differences, noting only general broad ranked categories.
Housing facilities seem to be available on an open basis, to those
who can afford them. Services of caste specialists required for
ritual reasons are secured on a casual cash basis with the
individuals of various castes being hired on the recommendation of
long-term residents who know them. Nonritual services are secured
on a cash basis in the town bazar. No commensal restrictions are
overtly observable in daily life. The predominantly high caste
students of the town college patronize a food stall run by a
Namasudra, because his food is good and the business is convenient
to reach. Although some people claim that in the past certain tanks
were restricted to high caste people only, today the rules are not
observed.

In summary, the number of people who take caste into account in
daily interaction within the town account for only a very small
proportion of the population, a proportion that is steadily
shrinking. The young people of the town claim that caste does not

count, and in their behavior, show that it is of minimal importance.

 

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CHAPTER V
SOCIAL CLASS IN MAHISHADAL

Although it is relatively small for a town, the history of
Mahishadal and its present functioning as an administrative,
marketing, and educational center mean that a considerable amount of
daily interaction occurs between "strangers," some of whom may live
in the town for many years and still remain "outsiders.” Social
interaction in Mahishadal's urban arena is based on a system of
social class categories, rather than on the caste system. Patterns
of behavior are based on the perception of an individual's class
status. Class status is based on a number of different ranking
gradients which are evaluated separately, then merged into a
composite score which indicates the individual's relative position

in the town class hierarchy.
CLASS STATUS AND ITS DETERMINATION

The author's approach to social class and its determination is
based on Marvin Harris' study of Minas Velhas, a rural town in
Brazil (Harris 1971). Although the people of Minas Velhas town saw
themselves as comprising two social categories, the rich and white
and the poor and black, Harris found the real class structure to be
more complex. According to the anthropologist's analysis, an
individual's class status is determined by "a combination of

criteria involving economic, occupational, educational, and racial

119

 
 
    
  

railing 'ETadientS ' " (3
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status. Thus, a low P
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The advantages of
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:Learly does not matc‘
iiiarris' Brazilian
this were members.
::the basis of the
excess of money or 5
;:;-:rtional to the
Harris‘ approe
i: Mahishadal town

175%. n
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3

120

ranking 'gradients'" (Harris 1971:96). After determining what
constituted 'good' or 'bad,' or 'high' and '1ow' according to the
local value system, an individual could be ranked on each of the
ranking gradients: his composite score would determine his class
status. Thus, a low position in one ranking gradient could be
compensated for by high positions in the others.

The advantages of Harris' approach are that it provides a
means of explanation for those instances where observed behavior
clearly does not match stated 'ideal' norms. The Elite Social Club
in Harris' Brazilian town was restricted to whites only, but some
blacks were members. Harris could explain the membership of blacks
on the basis of the multi-criteria ranking system: ”they had an
excess of money or some other prestige factor in a ratio inversely
proportional to their racial 'deficiency'" (Harris 1971:129).

Harris' approach can be quite useful in understanding behavior
in Mahishadal town, where daily observation reveals numerous
instances of behavior clearly in violation of what the persons
involved define as 'proper.‘ In Brazil, Harris found that "wealth,
occupation, and education . . . have to a certain extent the power
of defining race" (Harris 1971:126). In Mahishadal, high
educational attainment, wealth, and a prestigious occupation can
compensate for low caste status. The multi-criteria ranking system
can help to explain the many instances when caste is ignored if,
in all other respects, people are of equal status.

The first problem to be faced is that of objectively
determining the actual ranking gradients in the Mahishadal setting,

and then, to determine what constitutes 'good' or 'bad,' 'high' or

7135-3 for each ran
4.7. evaluating an uni
caterer degree thi.
atom and source 0:
tatterns of life co:

. . Of
1331112: manner

The caste hiera
peat deal of ambigu.
:ategodes, reflects
ital concern in the
L:ii‘.'iduals, mainly E
distinctive surnan

‘. ”.‘Hfi‘ '
v.3...lLLl

ve manner of
treaiddle of the cas

:2_.:.ation, share a n1

r=..1:u.arly cas te - 1 i1

a stranger di ffi cul

!-..
".l\
K'W

a stranger his

 

121

'1ow,‘ for each ranking gradient. In Mahishadal the factors involved
in evaluating an unknown individual appear to include caste (to
whatever degree this is determinable), occupational status and/or
amount and source of income, quality of housing, and the general
patterns of life comprising life-style -- deportment, style of
clothing, manner of Speaking, dietary habits, normal daily routine,

G‘CC.

Caste

 

The caste hierarchy of Mahishadal, characterized as it is by a
great deal of ambiguity and lumping of castes into a few broad
categories, reflects the fact that exact caste status is not of
vital concern in the context of everyday life. The caste of some
individuals, mainly Brahmans, Kayasthas, and Baidyas, is indicated
by distinctive surnames. Muslims can often be identified by
distinctive manner of dress and by title and name. But castes in
the middle of the caste hierarchy, accounting for most of the
population, share a number of surnames and titles that are not
particularly caste-linked. This makes precise caste identification
of a stranger difficult. However, the fact that a townsmen rarely
asks a stranger his caste (iati) indicates that precise caste

identification is rarely a necessity.

Caste a§_a_Ranking_Gradient

 

For the purposes of achieving comparable scores on the various
ranking gradients used to determine composite class status, caste

ranks were assigned scores on a 400 point scale. (The reasons for

the #023 point scale
gradients are discus
sure, the higher th

The local caste
arranges 32 castes i
"’7‘cries. For the

»:.~‘5

these categories we r:

 

 

. ":37
A
B
C
l
l
P
3 I
h»:

122

the 400 point scale will become clear when the other ranking

gradients are discussed later in this chapter.) The higher the

score, the higher the position on the ranking gradient.

The local caste hierarchy, discussed in the previous chapter,

arranges 32 castes into five groupings which fall into four broad

categories.

For the purpose of ranking comparative caste status,

these categories were assigned numerical scores as follows:

 

Category

Table 14

Caste Hierarchy Scores

Castes Assigned Score
All Brahmans 400

Vaisnava 300
Kayastha

Baidya

Kshatriya Brahman

Mahishya

Malakar 200
Karmakar

Kumor

Swarnakar

Karan

Teli

Tili

Tambuli

Napit

Chutahar

Tantubai

Jugi

Dhopa

Namasudra

Bagdi

Nepali

Hari-Keora

Muchi

Dom (Pandra-Kshatriya)

Methor 100
Muslim

Occupations in 5
the standards of the
elite group that has
Excrzfield 1968). T?
betaken as the Benga
the proper life: the
tcsnze extent by vil
lazi'hadal the most c

In Mahishadal th
according to the pres
357:9 to which the c
3.75355)” arid/or Speci

‘CCLpation, and t

father
than 'ruIalv a

sandal labor 1 s

?
~S
BeCted, d
t}

J: .

‘upatiOH

1 di
tfat ]

123

The Occupational Ranking Gradient

Occupations in Mahishadal appear to be evaluated according to
the standards of the Bhadralok ("re5pectable people"), a Bengal-wide
elite group that has been in existence since pre-British times (see
Broomfield 1968). The value system of the Bhadralok form what may
be taken as the Bengali Great Tradition view of respectability and
the proper life: the values of this Great Tradition are recognized
to some extent by villager and urbanite alike, and provide for
Mahishadal the most obvious scale for evaluating occupational rank.

In Mahishadal the values people use in ranking an individual
according to the prestige of his occupation include the following:
degree to which the occupation involves manual labor, the degree of
literacy and/or specialized education required to meet the demands of
the occupation, and the degree to which the occupation is 'urban'
rather than 'rural' as locally defined.

1. Manual labor: A basic assumption frequently voiced is that

 

manual labor is demeaning. The amount of manual labor required
of an individual is inversely proportional to the prestige
accorded his occupation. The negative value given manual labor
is more characteristic of city people than villagers, whose
occupations include manual labor.

2. Literacy and/or Special Education: Literacy is highly
respected, and the degree of literacy required by an

occupation is directly proportional to the prestige accorded

that occupation. Occupations requiring literacy in both

English and Beng
accorded the nos
Bengali are acco
with no requires:
The high value p
the town.

3. Urban vs_ Ru

 

that must be Per

office emplofi'sen‘

occupations. 'R‘I

traditional arts

caste groups.

The values under
are :‘erited from vari<
Traiition values of ti
:Lstes (Bra‘man,

Raid:

‘1
7,51,]
.7“

The basic
hfi and abhad

and . '
:1. their belief

124

English and Bengali, such as titled government positions, are
accorded the most prestige. Occupations requiring literacy in
Bengali are accorded somewhat less prestige, and occupations
with no requirement of literacy are accorded little prestige.
The high value placed on education and literacy is universal in
the town.
3. Urban vs. Rural Occupations: 'Urban' occupations, those
that must be performed in a town or city, such as business or
office employment, are accorded higher prestige than nonurban
occupations. 'Rural' occupations include cultivation and
traditional arts and crafts and services performed by special
caste groups.
The values underlying the ranking of occupations in Mahishadal
are derived from various sources. Some clearly reflect the Great
Tradition values of the traditional Bengali gentry -- the Bhadralok

castes (Brahman, Baidya, and Kayasthas).

The basic and most rigidly maintained distinction between
bhadra and abhadra, between high and low, the respectable and
the others, was the Bhadralok's abstention from manual labor
and their belief in the inferiority of manual occupations.
This stigma attaching to physical labor was a long-enduring
prescription of the three upper castes of Bengali Hindu
society, Brahman, Baidya, and Kayastha, from which so many
of the Bhadralok were drawn that the term Bhadralok was
frequently used as a synonym for high caste. For many
centuries there appears to have been an unusually wide gap
between the high and low castes in Bengal, for there were
few of the respectable intermediate castes that existed in
other areas to act as a bridge. Unlike the high castes of
some parts of India, those of Bengal did not till the soil.
If they were engaged in agriculture, they employed others
to work their fields, for manual labour was considered
degrading (Broomfield 1968z6).

It is interest

Bhai.alok are part

oxipational presti
Pa-ishadal has been

gentry. Members of

:enturies, since the
:: fill aininistrati
gialifiec' and left a
resident gentry were
35:3er of the Raj as
535 a cultural backwc
tie Shadralok castes

its traditional elite

(._‘Q

.:..i:e stints there

we a few younger I:
7.5-then, after find

:5 [:37 1" '
.8 buildings bei:

to face Mahishe

:sirfanilies each we
The third value u
.flect the valu

4‘41 st persons a
‘fthe ddle~rank

The: annual labo

‘5 and crafts, 3 th

25;. 5 e
t D: and, t som
est fe e

 

125

It is interesting to note that while the ideas of the Bengali
Bhadralok are part of the local value system with regard to
occupational prestige, one of the basic features of the history of
Mahishadal has been its minimal contact with a resident Bengali
gentry. Members of the Bhadralok castes have come and gone for
centuries, since the founding of the Raj Estate, but they came only
to fill administrative positions for which they were uniquely
qualified and left at the end of their service. Most members of the
resident gentry were Hindusthani-speaking Brahmans, from North India,
members of the Rajas' caste. To the Bengali Bhadralok, Mahishadal
was a cultural backwoods, and to this date only a few families of
the Bhadralok castes have settled in the region. Most members of
the traditional elite class who come to the town seem to regard
service stints there as something to be endured rather than enjoyed.
While a few younger men of this class bring wives and young children
with them, after finding 'acceptable' housing for their families in
'the new buildings being built to house an urban elite class, others
prefer to face Mahishadal as bachelors, retreating to Calcutta and
their families each weekend.

The third value underlying the ranking of occupations appears
to reflect the values of the surrounding locality -- an area in
which most persons are members of the Mahishya cultivator caste or
one of the middle-rank artisan or service castes. To the local
people, manual labor, generally related to agriculture and traditional
arts and crafts, is the normal way of life. Although they are
aware of and, to some extent, share the values of the Bhadralok, in

the past few local men held enough land to convert the values into

 

Behavior and complete;
Later. Those who mane
ascetic path to socia
:::5-ring businesses to
isiiess were reinves:
atlarged, and more lar:
lczal elite have a sol
alternative to land ar.
real estate. New bui;

:33: area as prOSperc

M. ..
.
-‘ \sl

,....ailities of built;
tau; 5.

5...s..‘.'15’5 to house bus
:::5: orientation of t

...t.e Tradition , the

\
W.

:tory of the town an

Tue interaction 0

a“

Vs.
,,..
§‘.

9'
.cion has created

 

Li on the degree of

5
~5 an -
occUpati on in

.‘El‘fe A .
‘ategories

a whit

126

behavior and completely give up participation in agricultural
labor. Those who managed to do so did not follow the Bhadralok
academic path to social prestige -- instead they turned to the Bazar,
opening businesses to be managed by 'surplus' sons. Profits from
business were reinvested in agricultural land, the businesses were
enlarged, and more land was purchased in a continuing cycle. The
local elite have a solid base in the rural region. A recent
alternative to land and property has appeared in the form of urban
real estate. New buildings are going up at a rapid rate in the town
bazar area as prosperous ex-peasants perceive the investment
possibilities of building Bhadralok-style housing for rental, and
buildings to house business concerns. One might view the strong
Bazar orientation of the local people as something of a middle class,
Little Tradition, the strength of which has shaped the recent
history of the town and is directing the path of future development.
The interaction of Bhadralok and cultivator values regarding
occupation has created an occupational hierarchy of four ranks,
based on the degree of urban orientation, education, and manual
labor an occupation involves. The occupations of the town fall into

twelve categories, which are ranked in a hierarchy of four

Occupational Classes. The Occupational Hierarchy is presented in
Table 15 and the occupations for 500 Mahishadal Household Heads is
presented in Table 16. This hierarchy is based on the
anthropologist's analysis: the categories are not overtly

recognized by the townsmen themselves.

 

'. Class I Occupatio:

id

The Cc:

Government C!
usually with
Development
of Police) .

Professional
profession 1:
Includes col
homeopathic
formal train
veterinarian

 

hhite-collar
K
“m a gener
English.

 

Honewor. 7

F; a
OW“Elation b
forms of 1m.

market. Dan
in the 8‘3 rr.
labor Catego
faCtOrieS’ t‘
manufacturin

1.

GOVT

PF

S-l

MANU

2.

S-2

Class

Class

127

Table 15

The Occupational Hierarchyi2_Mahishadal

I Occupations

Government Official: Occupant of a named government post,
usually with own office. Examples are the B.D.O. (Block
Development Officer) and O.C. of Thana (Officer-in-charge
of Police).

Professional: Trained specialist practising a recognized
profession usually requiring a B.A. or higher degree.
Includes college professors, physicians (all allopathic,
homeopathic and ayurvedic practitioners who have undergone
formal training)?‘d§fifi§fs, lawyers, engineers,
veterinarians, graduate nurses and school teachers.

 

White-collar Salaried Employment: Primarily office work,
with a general requirement of literacy in both Bengali and
English.

 

Homework: a ”native” designation for those who practice no
occupation but live on income derived from land or other
forms of investment, such as bazar buildings and
residential property.

Manufacturing: Factory manufacture of goods for a cash
market. Ownership of factory building and necessary
equipment. Actual labor is done by others who are either
in the S—S menial salaried category or in the L unskilled
labor category. (In Mahishadal there are only four
factories, two for making biris, one for soap
manufacturing, and one where bricks and tiles are
manufactured.)

 

II Occupations

 

Business: Ownership of a business enterprise in the
Mahishadal Bazar or elsewhere.

Other Salaried Employment: Requires some amount of
literacy in Bengali, although no degree is required.
Includes bus drivers, sales personnel, postmen,
physicians assistants, etc.

 

 

i Uasslll Occupat;

 

Cultivation I
agriculture
casual labc:
bais.

a. Artisan: P5

traditional
carpentry,
rtiStiC €175:

7- Other: A n:
Egg_ES-E-é1assocz'
h'aSherman.
other reguli
begger, mus:
magiCian ’ 8‘

: Chsslv Occupati»

‘~.““‘-—~—_.;

innial Sala:
Salaried bag
donesuC Se]
institutiOng
EDpIOyment ’

@i A11
whether the

 

ART

OT

4.

8-3

128

Table 15 (cont'd)

Class III Occupations

 

Class

Cultivation: Includes all persons regularly employed in
agriculture, including sharecropping. Does not include
casual labor hired for particular seasonal work on a daily
basis.

 

Artisan: Person engaged in household industry using
traditional methods. Includes leather-working, weaving,
carpentry, brass work, pottery, and also nontraditional
artistic employment such as painting and sculpting.

Other: A mixed category including most traditional
caste-associated occupations such as priest, barber,
washerman. Also includes all occupations not fitting into
other regularly recognized categories, such as sannyasi,
begger, musician, singer, actors, circus perforfiETT———'
magician, etc.

IV Occupations

 

Menial Salaried Emplgyment: Regular employment on a
salaried basis, with no literacy required. Includes
domestic servants, janitor, servants in residential
institutions including cook, regular factory labor
employment, etc.

 

Labor: All unskilled laborers paid on a wage basis,

whether the employment is urban, such as rickshaw-pulling,
or rural, such as temporary agricultural labor.

 

primary

’cr'rational Categorv

 

:2: WWW“

:5 Professiona
S-i hhite-colla
55' Homework

i157; Manufacturi
Business

3-3 Other Salar
I Cultivation
5.2T Artisan

7. Other
Menial Sale
1 Unskilled L

 

 

The Occuoat
‘ M-

Since it is beir.

--An ‘

anaec prestige, is

L

22.5.23 of individuals

:..::_:t was made to d

mat which individ

its}? '
Lining the town

Siren
an largest cast

The '
mam proble

\
.J ‘ "
u. ‘

 

 

129

Table 16

Primary Occupations of 500 Household Heads

 

Occupational Category Number of Households
GOVT Government Official 17
PF Professional 60
S-l White-collar Salaried S4
HW Homework 20
MANU Manufacturing --
B Business 49
S-2 Other Salaried 36
C Cultivation 84
ART Artisan 40
OT Other 18
S-3 Menial Salaried 19
L Unskilled Labor 103

 

The Occupational Hierarchy a§_§_Ranking_Gradient

 

 

Since it is being argued that occupational status, in terms of
accorded prestige, is one of the indices used in evaluating the class
status of individuals in the urban arena of Mahishadal, an initial
attempt was made to determine the background pattern of classes
against which individuals were being measured. The initial attempt
at defining the town class structure focused on defined groups, the
fourteen largest caste groups in the town.

The major problem encountered in the comparison of occupational
configurations of the various caste groups was a problem encountered
again and again in this study -- that of the extreme variation in
group size. The 500 households surveyed came from 32 different
castes, ranging in size from 160 households (Mahishya) down to a
single household. The range of variation was so extreme as to

render strict numerical comparison meaningless. The largest caste

-~ulation of 160 Nah:
I'.’ I
'3 household Muslim p;
:::olation. Because c
::‘tarious castes, it
incident of occupati:
5:5 attezpted for onl;
::Lseholds. In addit:
:Lstes (Rarhi and Bare;
tecaste clusters the

fifty-six informants

::f prinary occupations

lite occupations,
sores on a four-point
7e {4) indicating h
‘il‘fiesy ten. The Set:
Class I Occu

Class 11 Doc

Class III Oc

Class IV Occ

 

130

population of 160 Mahishya households was followed by a

73 household Muslim population, and a 27 household Kayastha
population. Because of the extreme variation in the population size
of various castes, it was decided to base comparisons on a percent
breakdown of occupations within each caste group. This breakdown
was attempted for only those castes with a population of ten or more
households. In addition, the comparison was made for the Bhadralok
castes (Rarhi and Barendra Brahman, Baidya and Kayastha), and for
the caste clusters that appeared in the hierarchy as depicted by
fifty-six informants (see preceding chapter). The total breakdown

of primary occupations by caste is shown in Table 17.

The Scoring_Sgstem

 

The occupations, grouped into four ranked classes, were assigned

scores on a four-point system borrowed from academia, with highest
score (4) indicating highest accorded prestige in the Mahishadal

value system. The Scores of the four occupational classes were:

Class I Occupations 4
Class II Occupations 3
Class III Occupations 2
Class IV Occupations 1

This scoring system was clearly a rough one in that it did not
indicate, for instance, slight differences in accorded prestige
within a single occupational class. However, since the units being
evaluated were groups rather than individUals, the four-point system
was sufficient to make apparent small differences in the occupational

configurations of the different groups: these differences are

EQESQLQ NCQLVJ NCLCQ

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Mum .uC .uh< U Ntm : 3:32 2: ~um && u>OC
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131

 

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132

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reflected in the scoru

 

The initial C0“:
its 14 castes com;
the primary occupati<
::5te total, and the
:::rpational classes
its: class. The SUIT
iierarchy Score for
13w of 100 (100% C1;
TLC-Ci Class I Occup
Table 18, show a wi
33 ’50 a near perfe

“mm in the loc

Occu.
w

.i‘ ‘V
.Ii

e .
occupationa

caaacteristics of
iistort
the picture
Elite.
The locally
.5571:—
al strength

133

reflected in the scores of the various groups.

Methodology

 

The initial comparison was made of the occuptional configurations
of the 14 castes comprising ten or more households. For each caste,
the primary occupations were expressed in terms of percent of the
caste total, and the percent of occupations in each of the four
occupational classes was then multiplied by the rating assigned to
that class. The sum of the totals formed a composite Occupational
Hierarchy Score for that caste. The scores range from a possible
low of 100 (100% Class IV Occupations) to a possible high of 400
(100% Class I Occupations). The scores of fourteen castes, shown in
Table 18, show a wide range of variation, from a near perfect high of
390 to a near perfect low of 130. The scores for the major caste

clusters in the local caste hierarchy are shown in Table 19.

Occgpational Hierarchy Scores and Caste Rank

 

There is a very general correlation between caste rank and score
on the occupational hierarchy ranking gradient. The particular
characteristics of the local caste-ranking system, however, actually
distort the picture of how caste rank correlates with occupational
score. The locally dominant Mahishya caste, with overwhelming
numerical strength in the micro-region, if not within the boundaries
of the town itself, are in the local system placed with the second
caste cluster, the high castes. Included with the Mahishyas in this
cluster are the Kayasthas and Baidyas of the Bhadralok castes, who

have specialized in Class I Occupations for several generations. The

. _ ' . .
..- 1’. "T- .

Occulv‘ational

(Pr

Rarhi Brahman
Kayastha

Pa5:il'53 Brahman
Madhya Steni Br
Utkal Brahman
Malakar

Mahishya

Teli

lu’aisnava

2. hamakar

. Kuror

. Huslim

. Tantubai

. Keora-Hari

Bhadralok Castes

Lurosite Score for

Occupational

 

134

Table 18
Occupational Hierarchy Scores for Fourteen Large Castes

(Primary Occupations of Household Heads)

Scores Range from Possible Highgof 400 to Possible Low of 100

l. Rarhi Brahman 390.00
2. Kayastha 385.19
3. Pascima Brahman 361.11
4. Madhya Sreni Brahman 336.36
S. Utkal Brahman 294.44
6. Malakar 273.33
7. Mahishya 264.38
8. Teli 252.63
9. Vaisnava 240.00
10. Karmakar 200.00
11. Kumor 190.91
12. Muslim 157.53
13. Tantubai 150.00
14. Keora-Hari 130.00
Bhadralok Castes 388.89
Composite Score for 500 Household Heads 253.00
Table 19

Occupational Hierarchy Scores for Composite Caste Groups

(Primary Occupations)

Four Caste Ranks of the Local Ranking System

 

Rank A castes 350.54
Rank B castes 280.90
Rank C castes 210.97
Rank D castes 158.82

(Rank for all castes of 500 Household Heads) 253.00

135

Mahishyas, however, are relative newcomers to the Class I
Occupations, and are just beginning to enter the various occupations
in this category: to date, most Mahishyas in Class I Occupations are
engaged in Homework, or management of landed property. The inclusion
of the Kayasthas and Baidyas in the Mahishya caste cluster raises the
composite score for the cluster. If these castes are excluded, the
composite occupational score for the B caste cluster drops some

30 points.

Another element of distortion in the raw Occupational Hierarchy
Scores is revealed upon examination of the history of residence in
Mahishadal. When Newcomers (households where the present head or his
father made the move to Mahishadal) are compared with Oldtimers
(resident in the town for two or more generations), the occupational
scores reveal that the two groups are engaged in different kinds of
occupations. A breakdown of Primary Occupations for Oldtimers and
Newcomers is presented in Table 20, and the Occupational Hierarchy
Scores for these groups is in Table 21.

If only Primary Occupations are taken into account, it appears
that Mahishadal is attracting outsiders who already possess the
skills to move into the higher Occupational Classes. Long-term
residents appear to be maintaining their traditional occupations,
rather than moving into the more prestigious occupations, at least
as far as Primary Occupations of Household Heads-are concerned. This
trend for skilled outsiders to move into high positions is clearly
visable when one compares the Oldtimers and Newcomers of the dominant
Mahishya caste (Table 22). What the Table does not reveal, however,

is that the movement of skilled villagers into the more prestigious

136

Table 20
Primary Occupations of 500 Household Heads

(Newcomers vs. Oldtimers, with Unknowns Divided Equally)

 

Occupational Category Newcomer Oldtimer Total
(05 1 gen.) (2+ gen.)
Government 16.0 1.0 17
Professional 53.5 6.5 60
White-collar Salaried 31.5 22.5 54
Homework 12.0 8.0 20
Manufacturing ---- ---- --
Business 28.0 21.0 49
Other Salaried 22.5 13.5 36
Cultivation 14.5 69.5 84
Artisan 10.0 30.0 40
Other 5.5 12.5 18
Menial Salaried 8.0 11.0 19
Unskilled Labor 22.0 81.0 ;!12
223.5 276.5 500
Table 21

Occupational Hierarchy Scores: Oldtimers vs. Newcomers to Town

(Primary Occupations for 500 Households)

 

 

 

Occupational Newcomers Oldtimers
Class (QJ lggeng) (2+ gen.)
Number Percent Number Percent
I 113.0 50.56 38.0 13.74
11 50.5 22.60 34.5 12.48
III 30.0 13.42 112.0 40.51
IV 30.0 13.42 92.0 33.27
223.5 100.00 276.5 100.00

Score 310.30

Score 206.69

137

Table 22
Mahishya Occupational Hierarchy

(Primary Occupation)

 

Occupation Newcomers Oldtimers
Class I
Government 3 -
Professional 20 2
White-collar Salaried 7 7
Homework 10_ _2_
40 11
Class II
Business 14
Other Salaried _9_ '3
23 9
Class III
Cultivation 1 41
Artisan - 4
Other ; _-_-
1 45
Class IV
Menial Salaried 3 2
Unskilled Labor 5. _1.
8 23
Total 72 88

Percent Breakdown and Occupational Hierarchy Score

Class I 55.56 12.50
Class 11 31.94 10.23
Class 111 1.39 51.14
Class IV 11.11 26.14

100.00 100.01

Score 331.95 209.11

138

town occupations is not entirely a matter of random attraction of
urban-oriented pe0p1e from the locality. In many cases, these
individuals have been recruited through marriage and kinship networks
that link them to town families in the Oldtimer group.

Another trend is revealed by broadening the scope of comparison
to include all workers and all occupations providing income to a
household (see Table 23). For most castes, the change in Occupational
Hierarchy Scores is not significant -- but for others it indicates
that the occupational pattern is undergoing change. The Malakar
(Garland’maker) caste score is raised 40 points when all workers and
all occupations are considered: young men (and young women) of this
caste are beginning to attain the educational qualifications for
Class I Occupations. The Utkal Brahmans are moving up slowly, as are
the Mahishyas. The Telis have improved their score as young men
whose fathers are in business themselves enter the Professional
category. The Karmakars are undergoing a change similar to that of
the Telis. While some castes at the lowest ranks in the Primary
Occupational Hierarchy appear to be holding their own or at least
losing ground slowly (Muslims and Keoras), others appear to be moving
into less prestigious occupations. The Tantubai caste shows a
definite downward trend as young men of this caste either continue
the occupations of their fathers (sharecropping or cowherding for

the Rajas), or are being forced into the itinerent labor pool.

Life-Style a§_a_Ranking_Gradient

 

 

As might be expected, life-style is the most difficult of the

ranking gradients to measure. Deportment, dress, the daily routine

139

Table 23
Occupational Hierarchy Scores for Fourteen Large Castes

(All Workers and All Occupations Included)

1. Kayastha 390.48
2. Rarhi Sreni Brahman 387.31
3. Pascima Brahman 358.83
4. Madhya Sreni Brahman 339.96
5. Malakar 313.58
6. Utkal Brahman 308.00
7. Mahishya 274.48
8. Teli 271.09
9. Karmakar 222.83
10. Vaisnava 221.94
11. Kumor 215.77
12. Muslim 154.28
13. Tantubai 131.56
14. Keora-Hari 124.00
Composite score for 500 households 260.93
Bhadralok Castes 391.76
New Mahishyas 324.30
01d Mahishyas 235.70

 

of a household, furnishings, and recreational pursuits are among the
many indices that Mahishadal people use to evaluate an unknown
individual within the urban arena of the town. This kind of
information is very difficult to deal with on a systematic basis, as
the following example shows. One professor of Mahishya caste lives
in a large mud house removed from the bazar area and far from the
Boys' College. His house is furnished with local cots, chairs and
tables, and has no "modern” sanitary facilities.v His professional
colleague lives in a modern brick bungalow with an attached lavatory
with porcelain fixtures (but no running water), a bathing enclosure
on a large tank, and a tube-well in the compound court yard. His

home is rented, not owned, and furnished with western-style sofas and

140

chairs, dressers and beds. He has brought his furniture from
Calcutta. Although professionally these men are of equal status,
with the former completing a Ph.D. while the latter has only an M.A.,
in their daily activities they interact with different segments of
town society. In the morning the first professor bathes in the large
public tank adjacent to his house, and then may be seen hurrying
toward the bazar with a cloth market bag, going to purchase the fish
and vegetables that his wife will use to prepare his mid-morning meal.
His colleague spends his early morning reading, going over his
children's homework, or listening to the radio. He has a servant to
do the marketing and help his wife with the housekeeping and cooking.
At mid-morning the first professor emerges from his home and starts
for the college, dressed in ghu£i_and carrying a black umbrella and
a worn briefcase. His colleague, who lives an equal distance from
the college but in the opposite direction, can be seen sauntering
along the semi-paved road toward the college. Dressed in trousers
and sports shirt, he carries a briefcase but no umbrella. Where

the first professor usually walks the complete distance to the
college alone, the second usually arrives with two or three other
colleagues who live in rented houses along the main road. By 10:30
in the morning all are engaged in their professional work. When
they leave the collage they again depart in opposite directions,

and unless there is some special activity concerning the college
community, it is unlikely that they will meet until work the next
day. The striking thing is that these men are college professors

at the same small insitution in the same tiny town, and yet they

lead lives that involve them in a minimal amount of social

141

interaction outside the college. They are in different social
classes if one calculates their composite scores on the multiple
ranking gradients.

Although Mahishadal people observe and evaluate minor differences
in behavior such as those described above, it is obviously not
possible for the anthropologist to observe such detail when dealing
with a population of almost 7000 people. It was therefore decided
that the life-style evaluation should be based on traits most easily

observable in the Household Survey: house type and residential area.

Housing in_Mahishadal

 

One of the most striking discoveries in the Household Survey
was the tremendous variation in housing to be found within the
town. Some families live in tiny huts with thatched roofs, with
doorways so low that a short American has to stoop to enter. Others
live in enormous marble and brick palaces, "Italian" and "English"
in style, decorated with statuary, friezes, and mosaic inlay.
Between these two extremes a great variety in housing is seen. Some
wealthy individuals live in large solidly-constructed brick houses,
some with walled enclosures. A number of small apartment buildings
have been constructed, offering three and four room flats with all
the modern conveniences possible to provide in a town that as yet
has no electricity or water supply system. Many houses have been
constructed in the conventional style of the locality -- substantial
two-storied mud structures with tile roofs and a large verandah.
Some village type two-storied mud and thatch houses are also to be

found, along with a few mud or brick buildings roofed with tin.

142

Bungalow colonies are found in some outlying areas, providing a

number of small identical brick houses at reasonable rents. Some

of the bazar buildings are multi-purpose, with residential quarters

on the second floor. Some shopkeepers live in flats over their
shops, and some investors have constructed multi-purpose bazar
buildings solely for rental purposes. A few families live in rooms
originally designed for other purposes, and have to put up with
great inconvenience with regard to sanitary facilities: generally
new arrivals, these families have not yet found suitable residential
quarters to rent on a long-term basis.

What seems to characterize Mahishadal housing, other than the
enormous variety offered, is its temporary nature. People move from
one building to another with great frequency. During the field
research period (1968-1970), Mahishadal was faced with a distinct
shortage of "quality" housing. New arrivals, posted to the town in
government service, often have to settle for temporary rented quarters
in mud houses, solidly constructed and large in size, but rural in
style. When space becomes available in more suitable buildings (the

brick structures near the bazar, or along the main paved roads)

they move. Some ten families recorded in the Household Survey
changed residences, sometimes more than once, before the Survey was
completed.

The shortage of quality housing is clearly recognized by
several enterprising Mahishyas, who see the possibilities of rental
property as an investment likely to provide a high return, given the
proximity of the town to the Haldia Port Project. Electricity had

already been planned for, and it was expected that electrification

143

of the town would be completed within a year. The inauguration of
passenger service on the new rail line was set for the near future,
and with the new roads built for the Port Project, bus transportation
was increasing in efficiency. Already some families reside in
Mahishadal, with the household head commuting to other towns for
employment.

Although the shortage of quality housing is a boon to the
Mahishya building owners, it causes problems for the mobile
government official —- some are faced with a waiting list for the
housing they considered suitable, but are likely to be transferred
to another town before the housing becomes available. Some
individuals are able to circumvent the housing shortage by residing
in government-owned residential quarters assigned to them. And
rumor has it that some local influential men willingly provide free
housing to some transient government officials of high rank. Some
new arrivals, upon observing the housing situation, simply decide
to rough it for the duration of their stay, and reside in the one
residential hotel or one of the messes or hostels, returning home to
their families on weekends and holidays.

Since house type is being used as an index of life-style, a
scheme has been devised for ranking the different kinds of housing in
terms of the amount of prestige they are accorded in the local

value system. The Ranking Scale ranges from 0.5 to 4.0, as follows:

144

0.5 Tiny mud/thatch hut

1.0 Small to medium mud/thatch house

1.5 Large (generally two-storied) mud/thatch house

2.0 Small to medium mud/tile house or mud/tin

2.5 Large mud/tile or mud/tin house

3.0 Small to medium brick house or apartment in a brick
building

3.5 Large brick house

4.0 Very large brick house with surrounding brick wall

Since housing is being used as an index of life-style or
cultural orientation rather than economic status, and since the
number of persons living in rented quarters is rather high, no
penalty has been made for rented housing. However, when two or
more families are sharing a single dwelling designed to house a
single household, the Housing Score has been lowered by 0.5. Thus,
in a case where three brothers lived as three separate households
(with separate kitches) in a large mud/thatch house built by their
deceased father, the Housing Score of each of the three households
is 1.0 rather than the 1.5 the house normally would be rated. But
in a case where four unrelated families are housed in separate flats
on the second story of a brick building in the bazar, each household
is given its normal Housing Score of 3.0.

In the evaluation of housing for the larger caste groups in the
town, the procedure has been essentially the same as that used in
establishing the scores for these groups on the Occupation Ranking

Gradient. Again, the immediate goal has been to provide a general

145

picture of the range of variation in housing found within the town.
The Housing Scores of the fourteen largest castes and of important
composite groups of castes are presented in Tables 24 and 25.

With regard to the Housing Scores, it is interesting to note
that the range of variation in house type is narrower than the range
of variation found in occupations. The housing picture in Mahishadal
illustrates a pattern in the developmental process of the town. In
terms of social structure, Mahishadal has had some of the qualities
of an urban center for over a century. However, the urban arena in
the town has been steadily increasing in importance since the late
1940's, with the founding of the Raj Collge, and the early 1950's,
with the government takeover of administrative functions previously
carried out by the Raj Estate. The last few years, with the
development of the Haldia Port Project, have greatly increased the
pace of expansion of the urban arena of the town, by bringing about
a dramatic improvement in transportation and communications and an
influx of skilled outsiders seeking housing for their period of
employment at the Port site. This influx of a skilled elite has
in turn created economic Opportunities in the Bazar and in real
estate and building investment. In essence, the physical development
of the town has lagged behind its social development. It is only
recently that the local people have come to view the town's future
expansion as a potential source of income. It is likely that the
supply of quality urban housing will lag behind the demand for such
luausing for several years, because the demand continues to increase
:It a fantastic rate. It is not only transient Bhadralok who seek

snich housing: the demand from local village families is growing.

146

Table 24

Housing Scores for Fourteen Large Castes

(Scores range from possible high of 400 to possible low of 50)

1. Kayastha 259.21
2. Rarhi Brahman 257.50
3. Madhya Sreni Brahman 227.25
4. Pascima Brahman 213.84
5. Mahishya 203.80
6. Utkal Brahman 194.40
7. Kumor 190.90
8. Teli 188.86
9. Karmakar 188.86
10. Malakar 184.38
11. Vaisnava 157.50
12. Tantubai 139.29
13. Muslim 84.94
14. Keora-Hari 62.50

Composite Score for All Households 180.30

Table 25

Housing Scores for Important Groups in Mahishadal

Composite Score for All Households = 180.30

Mahishya Caste 203.80
Newcomers 244.45
Oldtimers 160.85

Bhadralok Castes 236.11

Housing Scores for Caste Clusters in Local Caste Hierarchy

A Castes 288.15
B Castes 207.20
C Castes 165.71

D Castes 85 . S4

147

Table 25 is a comparison of Housing Scores for Mahishya Oldtimers and
Newcomers. Not only are Mahishya Newcomers moving into the higher
prestige occupations -- they are also seeking high prestige housing,
even it if means that they must live in rented quarters. The
importance of housing in terms of perceived life-style is so marked
that an upwardly mobile high school teacher from a nearby village
will bring his family to live in the town, for "town living," even
though he could save a substantial amount of money by remaining in
his village home two miles away. The Mahishya influx to the town is
relatively recent, whereas the influx of Bhadralok elite has occurred
at a constant rate (with steady turnover) for several decades,
increasing again in the recent past due to the new jobs Opening at
the Port Project. Presently only a few town families benefit from
the undersupply of quality housing. However, town businessmen are
aware of the increasing investment potential of bazar building
ownership and the number of lawsuits over urban lots (as opposed to
plots of agricultural land) is increasing as the value of urban land
goes up.

Neighborhood 2£_Residential Area

A fourth ranking gradient that analysis revealed is used in
assessing social status is the area of residence within the town,

and the degree to which the location exhibits "urban" versus "rural”
features. To some extent it appears that the people most intensely
involved in the urban arena of Mahishadal are the most likely to

live near the town center. However, this does not always hold true:

a few men who are prominent in town affairs live in adjacent villages

148

or distant 23535 of the town.

Oldtimers and Newcomers differ in their residential concentration
within the town. Newcomers are to some extent limited in their
choice of residential area -- they must take what is available.
Newcomers exhibit a strong preference for residence in the center
of town, or else in new buildings in outlying neighborhoods along
the main roads. Oldtimers tend to maintain their residence in the
p§£§_(neighborhood) of their forefathers, even when they undertake
the construction of new brick homes of modern style.

The Neighborhood Ranking Gradient is not explicitly recognized
by informants. It is expressed in vague generalizations stating that
”town living" is somehow better than "village" life. Many of the
new Mahishyas have moved from villages that were as close to the town
as some of the outlying areas included in the town: they move, they
claim, for the sake of their families and "town living." The town
schools are said to be better, as are town medical facilities, and
access to transportation. However, objectively speaking, all of
these facilities are within easy reach of the villages they left
behind. Town living in general confers prestige upon a household
head. It symbolically demonstrates his freedom from the concerns of
the villager, agriculture, and his strong orientation toward urban
life.

Although respondents accord "urban" neighborhoods higher
prestige than "rural" neighborhoods, it is recognized that there is
considerable variation in the class standing of the people
found within a single neighborhood. The preferred bazar area is not

without its "undesirable" elements: servants live in the small mud

149

huts found between large brick buildings, and some small mud houses
surrounding one of the large tanks in the bazar are reputed to be
inhabited by prostitutes. Because of the unequal size of the

various neighborhoods and the uneven distribution of the population
by caste and occupation in the different paras, neighborhood ranking
has been based on something readily measurable: ease of access. The
areas preferred by the high caste Newcomers and by most professionals
are those on the main roads or within the main area of the bazar.
Conversely, there appears to be avoidance, on the part of the high
caste Newcomers, of the more rural neighborhoods accessible only by
rikshaw. The Neighborhood Rating Scale is based on accessibility in
terms of size of access path, size ranging from fully paved roads
which are main bus routes to very narrow footpaths passing through
the paddy fields to isolated outlying paras: The Neighborhood Rating
Scale is presented in Table 26, with the scores of the fourteen
largest caste groups in Table 27. The procedure used to derive the
scores is, as in the case of the other ranking gradients, based on

the percent distribution of neighborhood types within each caste

group.

150

Table 26
Neighborhood Ranking Scale
Main Road: along a main road (paved or unpaved), passable for
large vehicles (trucks and buses) year round.
Road: along a road passable for small motor vehicles
(automobiles) year round, and which could be negotiated by

large motor vehicles with difficulty because of narrow width.

Wide Path: paths passable year round, negotiable by jeep with
ease and by taxi with caution.

Medium Path: paths inaccessible to all motor vehicles except
motorcycles, but easily accessible by rickshaw.

 

Medium-Small Paths: passable year round by bicycle and with
caution, by rickshaw (generally rickshaws have to be walked
rather than peddled) and motorcycle.

 

Small Paths: paths mainly traversed on foot, they are difficult
to negotiate on bicycle during the rainy season. There are very
few such paths in the town.

 

Foot-Paths: very narrow paths, which presented year-round
difficulty to cyclists. Bicycles had to be walked on such
paths.

 

Poor Foot-Paths: generally secondary routes to distant
villages, they are really boundaries between fields. Slippery
and dangerous during the rainy season, they were generally in
use only during the dry season, and were used mainly by
villagers seeking the shortest route by which to carry fruits
and vegetables to the biweekly hat (periodic market).

 

151

Table 27

Neighborhood Ranking Gradient Scores for Fourteen Castes

(Scores based on a scale ranging from possible low of 50 to possible
high of 400.)

l. Rarhi Sreni Brahman 327.50
2. Kayastha 309.27
3. Pascima Brahman 300.03
4. Madhya Sreni Brahman 295.43
5. Utkal Brahman 261.12
6. Teli 255.23
7. Tanti 250.00
8. Mahishya 248.19
9. Malakar 243.32
10. Vaisnava 235.00
11. Karmakar 218.18
12. Muslim 214.41
13. Kumor 200.00
14. Keora-Hari 200.00
Bhadralok Castes 324.08
New Mahishyas 286.08
Old Mahishyas 217.08

 

Class Status and the Multiple Ranking Gradient Scores

The preceding analysis of some of the major ranking gradients
underlying the system of social classes operating in Mahishadal
provides an outline of the broad categories against which individuals
are measured and accorded status in the town. Occupation, caste
rank, housing, and residential area are the most readily discernible
criteaia.that can be used in interacting with "unknowns." For most
people in most situations, these criteria, or even some of them, will
provide enough information for a general status assessment to be
made, so that interaction can proceed in a "proper" manner. The

focus on equally-weighted multiple ranking gradients suggested

152

by Harris' study of a rural Brazilian town (Harris:l971). In
Mahishadal, however, the various ranking gradients are 9.03. of equal
importance in assessing status. Occupation, which indicates some
information about educational attainment as well as amount and source
of income, is the most important factor used by townsmen in status
determination. Initial interaction with a stranger is usually in a
professional capacity. People move into the urban arena of
Mahishadal mainly as status incumbents: they come to fill particular
positions in the town. Because of the greater importance placed on
occupation in initially assessing class status, the occupational
factor has been given twice the weight of the other ranking gradient
scores in determining final composite scores indicating class status.
Tab1e 28 presents the Composite Class Scores for the fourteen
largest castes and for the other important caste groups of the urban
sphere. The heavier weight placed on the occupational factor does
not drastically alter the rank position of any of the castes
analyzed. However, in some cases it does change the Composite

Class Score by a considerable amount.

Table 28 also includes the Composite Class Scores when the
occupation factor is based on all workers and occupations providing
income to a household. Many Mahishadal households have multiple
income sources, sometimes because the household head engages in
supplementary part-time occupations, and sometimes because there
are several workers in the household. The calculation of
occupational score based on supplementary as well as primary income
sources provides information about changes in class status occurring

in particular caste groups. For example, the Malakar composite

153

Table 28

Composite Class Scores for Important Caste Groups

 

Score on

Score on 3 Gradients, Score on

Three Gradients, Primary Three Gradients,

Equally Ranked Occupation All Occupations

Weighted 2 Weighted 2

Rarhi Sreni Brahman 325.00 341.25 339.91
Kayastha 317.87 334.72 337.36
Pascima Brahman 291.65 309.02 307.88
Madhya Sreni Brahman 286.34 298.86 300.65
Utkal Brahman 249.97 261.10 267.88
Mahishya 233.82 245.19 250.24
Malakar 233.82 243.59 263.72
Teli 232.24 237.34 246.57
Vaisnava 212.50 218.13 209.10
Karmakar 202.34 201.76 213.18
Kumor 193.93 193.18 205.61
Tantubai 179.42 176.09 163.10
Muslim 152.33 149.84 151.98
Keora-Hari 130.83 130.63 127.63
Bhadralok Castes 317.53 334.49 335.93
New. Mahishya 287.49 296 .52 294.78
Old Mahishya 195.68 199.04 212.33

 

score rises 20 points when supplementary income sources are taken
into account. The Teli composite score rises 7 points, and the
Karmakar score 12 points. On the negative side, the Tantubai and
‘Vaisnava scores decline. The change in composite score reflects the
enrtrance of young people into employment. Young men (and women) of
the Malakar, Teli, and Karmakar castes are entering into high
prestige occupations. The young men of the Tantubai caste lack
education and special skills and enter into employment similar to
that of their fathers: they are either cultivators (generally as

sharecroppers) or join the unskilled labor pool of the town. The

 

154

Bhadralok pattern holds constant, as it has for several generations.
The scores for both Old and New Mahishyas rises, as young people enter

occupations of greater prestige than those of their fathers.

The Class Structure gf Mahishadal Town

 

If the Composite Class Scores of the largest castes are examined,
it becomes evident that there is a tendency for scores to cluster at
certain points within the 300 point range. In Figure 9, there are
six areas at which composite scores seem to cluster, indicating that
the population represented in that diagram (roughly 80% of the total

Household Survey) falls into six social classes, as defined below:

 

Class Composite Score Range
Upper Class 310+

Upper-Middle Class 275-309

Middle-Middle Class 220-274

Lower-Middle Class 180-219

Upper-Lower Class 150-179

Lower-Lower Class 149 or less

If the occupational gradient score is based on all occupations,
supplementary as well as primary, the dividing lines do not change.
While there are some small shifts in precise rank order, no caste
group is shifted from one class to another solely on the basis of
supplementary income sources.

The three major power groups in Mahishadal town, the Bhadralok
castes who dominate elite occupations, the Pascima Brahmans who were
the former rulers, and the Mahishyas who are the dominant cultivating
caste, all occupy special niches in the town class structure. The
Bhadralok castes and the Pascima Brahmans have consistently maintained
an Upper Class Status since their arrival in Mahishadal. The

Mahishyas, however, are in the process of changing their class

155

Figure 9

Composite Class Scores for Important Caste Groups

Composite Primary Occupations Only,

All Occupations Included

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scores
400
390
380
370 UPPER
360 CLASS
350
340 l l
330 2 2 X
320
310 3 3
300 4 UPPER 4 Y
290 MIDDLE
280 CLASS
270 .
260 5 5 7
250 MIDDLE 6
240 :7 CLASS 8
230
220 a ‘A
210 ’ 9IU Z
200 10 LOWER 11
190 11 MIDDLE
180 _‘ CLASS
170 *‘ UPPER
160 LOWER 12
150 13 CLASS 13
140
130 14 LOWER 14
120 LOWER
110 CLASS
100
, KEY
1. Rarhi Sreni Brahman 8. Teli X Bhadralok Castes
2:. Kayastha 9. Vaisnava Y New Mahishya
.z .3. Pascima Brahman 10.Karmakar Z Old Mahishya
/ ”V 4. Madhya Sreni Brahman 11.Kumor
' 5. Utkal Sreni Brahman 12.Tantubai
."/’ -.'Mahishya 13.Muslim
,ar -‘a_
_‘3 (gal. Malakar 14.Keora-Hari

. Th'uh ‘7'}?
‘fig tn." '
4‘. ..)-

swarm“!
4K

.40."?

156

status: they are rapidly moving upward in the class structure. The
changing Mahishya class status, reflected in the difference in
composite scores for the Old and New Mahishyas, indicates a change in
town social structure: the basis for power has shifted from the Raj
Estate and its administration to the Bazar and associated urban
institutions. The composite score of the Mahishya caste is
Middle-Middle Class. However, this reflects a balance between the
Newcomers, who are Upper-Middle Class, and the Oldtimer families who
are Lower-Middle Class. The different nature of the three power
groups, and the social change that is reflected in the upward mobility
of the local Mahishya caste will be discussed in detail in later
chapters. At this point it should be noted that for the Mahishyas,
the situation is more complex than it appears. It is not always
possible to make a clear distinction between Mahishya Newcomers and
Oldtimers: factors of kinship and affinity operating within the

Mahishya caste often link families in the two groups.
CLASS: THE SYSTEM IN ACTION

The contemporary town of Mahishadal, a growing regional
commerical and administrative center, has an extremely heterogeneous
population for a settlement of only 7000 people. Yet the residents
of the town seem readily able to deal with the complexity of the
population. MUch social interaction involves relative strangers.

Behavior in such instances makes use of a relatively simple system

of classification through which the diversity of the town pOpulation
is reduced to a system of status categories indicating appropriate

modes of behavior for interacting with strangers or newcomers. The

157

assignment of such people to statuses reflecting broad class
categories, based on the multiple ranking gradient system previously
discussed, allows interaction to proceed without detailed knowledge
about precise caste status, family standing, genealogy, or other
information that appears to be of importance in a village setting.

The amount of interaction involving relative strangers is
very much greater in a town than a village. In both urban and
rural settings, it involves males more than females, whose life
centers on the home. Villagers and townsmen alike are involved in
networks of kinship and marriage. But while various kinds of
networks (kinship and marriage, employment, friendship, common
village membership, or neighborhood residence) tend to overlap in
the rural setting, in the town the nature of personal networks
changes. Urban residents become involved in nonoverlapping networks
through school and college ties, through employment in a particular
kind of institution or branch of government service, and through
membership in formal voluntary associations of various kinds. At the
same time, they remain involved in personal networks of kinship and
marriage and friendship that may center on permanent homes in
distant places.

An interesting factor revealed by this study is the qualitative
difference in the personal networks of urban males when compared to
urban females. Town males tend to be involved in discrete networks
of particularistic nature. The networks of town women tend to
overlap far more than for the males of the same households. Women's
life in both village and town centers on family and neighborhood.

But for women in the town, "neighbor" has a class connotation.

158

Certain families in the immediate proximity will be considered as
"neighbors," and others will not.

"Who Are You?"

 

This inquiry implies a series of questions in the Mahishadal

It includes a request for name, sometimes indicative of

setting.
Also implied

specific caste, religious group, or provincial origin.
is information about "who" in the sense of "What are you doing in

Mahishadal?", meaning occupation or nature of local affiliation. A
frequent third question is a request for information about place of

residence in the town, also an indication of the nature of local

affiliation.
In urban Mahishadal these questions provide virtually all

infOrmation immediately necessary to determine behavior patterns
Underlying these questions

appropriate to the individuals involved.
The

there is mutual nonverbalized assessment of social status.

degree to which status assessment is verbalized varies inversely with
The man in western

the amount of overtly manifest status difference.
dress, who hires a rickshaw in the town bazar, has no need for further
information about the relative social standing of the rickshaw-puller.
But he may feel impelled to make such inquiries about the status of

another traveler, clad in formal Bengali dress, standing beside him
If the two men are seeking transportation to

at the rickshaw stand.
the same place, it may or may not be appropriate to suggest that a

ri ckshaw be shared .

 

 

159

Who You Are

The Upper Class: Composite Class Scores 310-400

Families in this class are either former members of the Local
Gentry associated with the Mahishadaeraj Estate or new arrivals in
the town who are members of the Bengal—wide Bhadralok. In Mahishadal

the Upper Class, including transient and permanent town residents,
forms a highly urban-oriented elite that sets the cultural standards
for the rest of the town population. Upper Class families tend to
be people long familiar with urban life, whether in Mahishadal or
elsewhere. Such families have been educating male members for
several generations, and have developed a degree of cosmopolitanism

that enables them to live a particular life-style (the Bhadralok

life-style) wherever their life takes them. In Mahishadal, in fact,

most urban elite families accorded Upper Class status are not

considered citizens of the community. They live in the town but

consider another place home. They expect to leave Mahishadal after

serving there for a brief period, to move on to another rural town
where they will live much the same kind of life.

Upper Class men are the occupational elite of the town. Most
are professionals -- college professors, high school teachers, or
physicians. Many are Government officers, holding named positions
le‘the various Government services. A small number of Upper
Class men rely on large landholding and ownership of town

property as both occupation and source of income, but most are

employed in occupations requiring advanced formal education and

‘1IEE‘TT “”“flfllll'
3 J

 

ll

160

literacy in both English and Bengali. At the lowest rung of the

elite occupations dominated by men of the Upper Class are those of
while-collar or office employment. Salaried Office employees,
though literate and formally educated, are accorded less prestige
than professionals, Government officers, or landholders, because

the nature of their employment places them under the supervision

of another individual of higher status. It is therefore not

surprising to find that the men in white-collar salaried positions

come from families new to this class. Such families have short

histories of formally educating males for entrance into prestigious

occupations. While the majority of men in white-collar service

are Mahishya, most of those who are professionals or Government
officers are Brahmans, Kayasthas, or Baidyas -- from the

traditional Bhadralok castes.

The urban elite of the Mahishadal Upper Class lead a life-style

comparable to that of the Upper-Middle Class in Calcutta. They show

a very strong preference for a particular type of housing. If they

own homes, they are large brick buildings. If they live in rented

quarters, they rent brick houses or flats in the most modern brick

buildings in the town. Their residences cluster in the 'preferred'
town neighborhoods, in the central bazar area or along the wide main

A newly arrived Upper Class family will follow an entirely

roads.
they

predictable pattern of choice of housing and residential area:

will without fail seek housing in a brick building in a central or

easily accessible neighborhood. If such housing is unavailable, they

will make do with inferior housing or an inferior neighborhood, but

 

 

 

‘r
'\

 

161

will do so on a temporary basis. There are several cases of Upper

Class families living in 'improper' houses or neighborhoods. ‘In each
such case the family makes it known that there is valid reason for
this compromise in life-style -- 'proper' housing is unavailable, or
there are several sons in college and the cost of proper education
precludes paying the higher rentals for good housing, or funds are

being diverted to provide generous dowries for several daughters of

marriageable age. In all such cases a change to 'proper' housing or

neighborhood will be made as soon as it is financially possible.
The multiple ranking gradient basis underlying the class system

provides an explanation for the existence in Mahishadal of several

households universally accorded Upper Class status, but living in
housing that is far below the standard of housing characteristic of

the Middle Class. It is widely recognized that the economic

realities of life may sometimes prevent a family from living the life

it desires.
Families of the Upper Class show distinctive patterns in their

allocation of financial resources. Despite their overwhelming

preference for expensive 'quality' housing and 'urban' neighborhoods,

financial resources will always be diverted to cover the cost of

formal education for male children, and sometimes also for female

children, before it is spent on housing. The education of males is

essential if they are to find employment in the most prestigious
occupations demanded by the Bhadralok ethos -- occupations that

require formal and often specialized education, involving no manual

 

 

162

labor, and (as much as possible) placing an individual in a
supervisory position where he directs the work of others rather than

taking direction himself. An Upper Class family will endure hardship
to enable a son to enter a profession or Government service rather

than salaried employment, and will educate sons even when there is

no financial need for them to earn an income because of inherited
wealth. Although "homewOrk" (a borrowing from English meaning

management Of family property as an occupation and source of income)
is included in the high ranking Class I group of occupations, it
does not confer the prestige associated with a profession such as

medicine or a position as a Government official in contemporary

Bengal. Educational attainment reflects family status, and

"homework" does not require formal education, although it does meet

the other requirements of the Bhadralok ethos with regard to

abstinence from manual labor, direction of underlings, and living the
'proper' life-style.

The Upper Class families in Mahishadal share a clearly defined

preferential life-style with their fellow Bhadralok elsewhere. They

furnish their residences with western-style furnishing.

Most of them
employ at least one full-time servant.

Servants are an essential
part of the Bhadralok life-style, for men of the Upper Class feel it

improper to do the daily shopping for groceries in the town bazar,
and women of the Upper Class feel it improper that they should do

the manual labor involved in cooking and cleaning in a 'rustic'
setting. Another Upper Class characteristic is the desire for
luxury items of a characteristic type. Members of the Upper Class
purchase items which reflect their concern with the Bengali Great

 

 

163

Radios, phonographs, and tape-recorders are considered

Tradition.
Other

to be highly desirable items, as are musical instruments.
luxury expenditures include lessons in music, art, and dance. Such

items will be purchased only if a family has funds left after

education, housing, domestic help, furnishings, and quality clothing

are paid for and the expenses of proper weddings, death commerations,

first-rice ceremonies and other rituals can be met. The luxury items

purchased by Upper Class families clearly reflect their concern with
their position of cultural leadership in the Bengali Great Tradition.

Upper Class families in Mahishadal, then, have certain standard

and predictable characteristics. They fall into two main groups.

These are the transients, members of the Bengal-wide urban elite

Bhadralok class, and the Old Gentry associated with the defunct

Mahishadal Raj Estate.
Transient Upper Class families are of the three highest

few are Mahishyas. Households of the

ranking Bengali castes:

transient urban elite generally consist of small nuclear

families living in rented quality housing. The men of high castes

are Government officials or independent professionals, such

as college professors or physicians. Mahishya men tend to be

high school teachers or in whiteécollar salaried employment.
Newcomer families are young, with the household heads in their

thirties or forties and the children attending school or beginning

college.
Another Upper Class family pattern is exhibited by the

households of the 01d Gentry. In previous generations these

households provided the highest officials for the Administration of

I
#1

 

164

Families in the Old Gentry category are Pascima

the Raj Estate.
Their households are

Brahman, Bengali Brahman, or Mahishya by caste.

more frequently joint and extended than nuclear. Most Old Gentry

families own homes in Mahishadal, large brick houses located in the

better neighborhoods of the town.. Old Gentry Household heads are

fifty or sixty and have grown sons who are married with children.
Older men frequently have "homework" as a primary occupation, although

many have retired from previous careers in the service of the Raj

Estate or Government. The young men in these joint families are

employed in Class I occupations. 'Few young men have "homework" as a

primary occupations. The few exceptions occur in very large lineal

collateral joint families. In cases where such a family holds

sizeable amounts of agricultural land or valuable urban property, one

>f the younger males may be designated as manager of family affairs

n lieu of a specialized occupation.
The transient Urban Elite households share the Bhadralok ethos

ith the Old Gentry families the Upper Class. They view themselves

; equal in status and clearly superior to other class groups in the

mm, and share the firm conviction that they must provide the model

' life-style and culture for the rest of society. From this group

me the leaders of Mahishadal cultural life.

: Upper-Middle Class: Composite Class Scores 275-309

The Upper Middle Class in Mahishadal is composed of families in

I__

process of upward social mobility, climbing from Middle Class to

er Class status. The Upper Middle Class is largely Mahishya, but

0 includes some of the more traditional Madhya Sreni and Utkal

1i Brahmans and a few families of middle-ranking artisan and

 

16S

vice castes. Largely nouveau riche local families, most

.seholds in this class are from nearby villages. A few are Oldtimer

lilies whose occupational patterns are changing as educated young

1 enter prestigious occupations.

The Mahishadal Upper-Middle Class is in avid pursuit of the
fe-style characteristic of the Upper Class of the town, but the two
asses show important differences in value orientation. This

fference reflects the fact that the Upper-Middle Class has emerged

rom a peasant, rather than Bhadralok, background. They are learning

1e proper Bhadralok life-style while striving to establish themselves

5 Upper Class. There is a certain amount of hostility between Upper

lass families and their Upper-Middle Class neighbors, based on the
nutual realization that the former are secure in their status as

:ultural elite while the latter are not.

Typical Upper-Middle Class families do not fully share the

values of the Bhadralok ethos. Usually from castes of middle rank

(Mahishya or artisan castes), they show the Upper Class preference
for 'proper' housing in 'proper' neighborhoods. But they are men

of the bazar rather than men of the book. The Upper-Middle Class

consists mainly of moderately successful businessmen who have
emerged from the prosperous peasantry of the rural locality. Most
of the households of such businessmen are nuclear subunits of

coparcenary joint families which maintain a village residential

base and a solid interest in agriculture. They believe that their

success is due to hard work and careful planning, and thus cannot

fully share the Bhadralok disdain for manual labor. While

household heads of the present generation tend to be literate, with

at least some high school education, running a successful business

 

166

does not in itself require formal educational attainments. A few men
of this class have achieved the necessary education to attain

professional status. Most who have done so are high school or grade
school teachers. But, by and large, it will not be until the next

generation that the present households of the Upper-Middle Class
The

will gain a solid hold over the prestigious Class I occupations.
present generation of young businessmen are planning an Upper Class

future for their children, and it is to acquire familiarity with the

'proper life' of the Bhadralok that they are establishing town

residences. It is only in the town that their children can be

exposed to the cultural life of the elite.
Upper Class families complain that their Upper-Middle Class

neighbors do not know how to live the 'proper life,' that they seek

only the physical manifestations of the prOper life-style without

sharing the values inherent in the Bhadralok ethos underlying that

way of life. If one looks at the possession of luxury items, it is

clear that some families of the Upper-Middle Class possess far
greater wealth than most families of the Upper Class. This is a
source of irritation to proud urban elite families who live on a

moderate income. In the town of Mahishadal such hostility cannot be

directly expressed, for the town belongs economically and

politically to the nouveau riche of the Upper-Middle Class, a fact
well recognized by the transient urban elite. Members of the Upper

Class are careful to express their hostility only to their own kind
One Upper Class male, gazing out of his government office window to

contemplate the enormous new town residence of a very successful

businessman, expressed this view of his Upper-Middle Class neighbor,

 

167

also his landlord .

They have that big house, but they don't know how to
live in it properly. They have all that fancy furniture
but they can never be big (very respected) people. They
are cultivators . . his father was afarmer. And you

can see how little they care (about Bhadralok values)
His own brother lives in that old mud house behind that

bathing pond in the back of their compound . His
brother's house is falling down . .

Sometimes the hostility generated by the disparity between Upper

Class cultural prestige and Upper-Middle Class wealth is expressed
through slurs on the character of successful businessmen. "He is so

"He is a Vaisnava," (the

black." (Fair skin is highly valued.)

intonation insinuating that the speaker means Vaisnava sect, with
recruitment reputed to be through illegitimate birth.) Upper Class

hostility is frequently expressed through vague accusations that a

successful man of the bazar drinks or smokes bhang (hashish) on the

side, keeps a mistress, or has a daughter who has gotten into trouble.

But should the frustrated Upper Class renter meet his Upper-Middle

Class landlord in the bazar, he will take great care to treat him as

an equal.
How does the Upper—Middle Class view the disdain of the urban

elite? Although the hostility is recognized, for the most part it

is ignored. The Upper-Middle Class is in a very secure position in

Mahishadal, firmly in economic and political control of both the

town and the micro-region. They are the permanent men of the town,

while most of the urban elite are merely transient members of town

And whatever their opinions of local society, the urban

society.
They support the

elite serve a useful function in Mahishadal.

 

 

168

Upper-Middle Class by living in their houses and apartment buildings

and buying in their shops. And it is the children of the Upper-Middle
Class who are being educated by the urban elite, and who ultimately

will oust the outsiders from their elite position in town society.

Who, then, are the Upper-Middle Class households of Mahishadal?

They tend to consist of small nuclear families living in rented

housing in the bazar or other preferred neighborhoods, although some
have built, or are in the process of constructing, town homes. The

household heads are business owners or salaried employees in the
offices of the town, or teach in the local grade schools and high

schools. Upper-Middle Class families generally have two homes -- a

newly constructed or rented residence in the town and a permanent
home in a nearby village, where brothers, fathers, and uncles
continue to live and cultivate the family land that is usually

Upper-Middle Class households show an unusual

jointly held.
A nephew may visit

flexibility in membership from week to week.

during the period of rehearsals for a club dramatic performance, or

a niece or sister may join the town branch of the family for the

duration of the school year. Sometimes the household head resides

alone in his town residence for weeks at a time, while his wife and

children remain in the village to help with preparations for some

important family ceremony. Interaction between the urban nuclear

family and its larger village component is frequent and unscheduled,
for village homes are usually located within a few miles of the town
center.

Members Of the Upper-Middle Class express a clear preference

for town life, because they believe that "town living" offers

Wmm-irflcm
un- . : ...

 

169

educational and cultural advantages not available in the village

setting. The sons and daughters of these families attend school

almost without exception, and it is expected that sons (and daughters
if possible) will attend college. Upper-Middle Class families

expect that their children will have an urban future. Every attempt
will be made to maintain and expand a family's business interests in
the town, and if it is possible, an attempt will be made to see that
at least some of the sons have the formal education necessary to
take up a more prestigious profession or enter Government service.

Daughters are groomed for marriage with urbanized men, and a strong

attempt is made to provide them with the education and cultural

graces demanded by town and city society. Although most of the

present household heads of the Upper-Middle Class were born and

raised in the village and came to the town as adults, they take great
pride in their identification with Mahishadal town and urban life.
They view the village as a good place to retire when old, and as a

safe haven in the event that some unforeseen disaster should wipe out

all prospects for continued life in the town.

The Middle Class: Composite Class Score 220-274

The families that comprise the middle ranks of the Mahishadal

Middle Class are drawn from the artisan and service castes of the

town locality. The major caste groups found in the Middle Class are

the Vaisnavas, the Oil-pressers, and the Garland-makers, and a few

households of Mahishya caste. Households of the Middle Class tend

to show a consistent position in all the ranking gradients used to

determine composite class score. They live in housing considered

 

 

170

modest by town standards, more frequently the large substantial mud
and tile house characteristic of the rural locality than the brick

bungalows and houses preferred by the Upper and Upper-Middle Classes.

They live in the isolated rural neighborhoods of the town, and not

in the bazar or more prestigious neighborhoods bordering the main

roads. The housing and residential neighborhoods characteristic of
the Middle Class reflect their history in the town. Households in
this class tend to be Oldtimer families. In previous generations
they followed traditional village occupations, but now they are
branching out to enter the less prestigious urban-oriented
occupations. Men of the Middle Class run the many tiny business
concerns to be found in the town bazar, and are the employees who do
much of the actual work of running the large business concerns owned
by the Upper-Middle Class. They are the nonprofessional employees
of the educational institutions, the physicians' assistants, the
compounders who make up prescriptions in the government hOSpital and
the messengers employed by the town offices. The basic characteristic
of Middle Class occupations is that they do not require more than
basic literacy in Bengali, never require the attainment of a formal
educational degree, and that they involve some degree of manual
labor and/or place individuals under the direct supervision of
others. Although households of the Middle Class are fully dependent
on the urban sphere of Mahishadal for income, their dependence is at
a subordinate level.

The families of the Mahishadal Middle Class, then, are changing
their orientation from the rural to the urban arena of the town.

They live in neighborhoods first settled by their grandfathers or

 

 

171

great-grandfathers, and most of the present household heads were

born in the houses that their families live in. Many of the Middle

Class families still cultivate agricultural land located in the

vicinity of the town, but rarely hold enough land to fully support

their families. Because they are mainly Mahishadal Oldtimers, they

live in neighborhoods inhabited by households of brothers or cousins.
Frequently one household in a kin-aggregate will undertake cultivation
of the land owned (usually separately) by all the households of the
kin group, leaving the other men free to seek employment in the town

or outside. Most of the families of the Middle Class maintain a

precarious balance between the urban and rural arenas of life in

Mahishadal. They are not fully reliant on either arena. If they

are salaried employees in the town by day, they come home to

cultivate a necessary vegetable garden in the evenings, and produce

some of the food consumed by their households. Frequently, Middle

Class household heads will have more than one occupation, attempting
to support themselves through urban work alone, but lacking the
education to Obtain the higher paying jobs in the town.

In one feature the Middle Class households of the town
resemble the more successful households of the Upper-Middle Class:

they show a clear preference for orientation to urban rather than

rural life-style. Their children attend school as long as it is

possible for them to do so, but for most of the Middle Class
households, the present teenage boys are the first in their families
to have the opportunity to attend high school, and most will not
Caught in an economic bind because their traditional

finish.
occupations and agricultural land are not enough to provide future

 

 

 

172

generations with a livelihood, the present household heads have few
of the skills necessary to achieve success in the town. They work as

hard as they can, trying to maximize the security of their position

as townsmen, so that their sons can have a better life.

The Lower-Middle Class: Composite Class Score 180-219

The Lower-Middle Class consists of traditionally-oriented
Oldtimer families, resident in the town area for several generations.
Most of the households in this class are cultivators of Mahishya

caste. Also included in the Lower-Middle Class are the households

of artisans (including those from the traditional artisan castes and

others), as well as those of middle-ranking service castes who

continue to practice a traditional caste occupation. The basic

characteristic seen in all households of the Mahishadal Lower-Middle
Class is their orientation toward the rural arena of local life.

The men of these households are engaged in respectable rural

occupations. They are cultivators, sometimes cultivating their own

small holdings, sometimes working the land owned by the

bazar-oriented families of the Upper—Middle Class, and frequently

doing both. They are the traditional artisans of the town, although

many of them are not from the artisan castes. They are the potters

and brassworkers who supply the town bazar and outside markets with

the basic utensils that every household requires. They are the

weavers who make the inexpensive cotton saris, dhutis, and gumchas

that are the clothing for most of the local population. They are

the basket-makers and mat-makers who sell their wares in the bazar

on hat days. They are the priests who do the rituals in the village

 

 

173

temples and household shrines of wealthy town families. They are

the washermen and barbers who continue to practice a traditional

caste occupation in the town.

Most families of the Lower-Middle Class live in traditional
mud and thatch houses in the more isolated rural neighborhoods of

the town. Their households consist of extended families, and most

households are members of larger kin-aggregates inhabiting a single

para. The men of the Lower-Middle Class have had a minimum of

education, although some have attended grade school. Many of their

younger children presently attend school but rarely progress beyond

the training offered at the primary level.

The Lower-Middle Class of Mahishadal town is built from the

peasant population characteristic of the villages of southeastern

Midnapore. The members of this'class differ from the classes

previously discussed in that they do not share the values of the

Bhadralok ethos. They engage in manual labor, but in respectable

village occupations. And further, they view manual labor as both

necessary and good. Their definition of a good life differs

considerably from that of the higher classes of the town. They do
not seek a future in the urban arena of the town, but attempt to
improve the quality of their lives in terms of traditional village

values. They would prefer to purchase a small plot of land rather

:han use available funds to attempt to open a tiny business in the

razar. They would prefer to expand their production in their

Lousehold workshops rather than attempt to getrsome male family

nembers into other lines of work.

The men Of the Lower-Middle Class envision afuture for their

r 723“ I ,
mm ‘

‘u'l.

"W A;
l

174

children that is in essence a similar life but with more financial

security. .As might be expected with such expectations, children of
the LowerbMiddle Class get a minimum of formal education, although
the length of school attendance appears to be increasing. Sons enter
the professions of fathers in their early teens, and daughters are
married off at that age.

Household structure shows considerable variation in the
Mahishadal Lower-Middle Class. The households of artisans frequently
consist of families that are joint commensal and coparcenary units.
Some artisan households are commensally separate but joined in a
larger coparcenary family centering on a single workshop. It is not
unusual to find the addition of affinal and even maternal kin in
artisan households, where a definite minimum of trained males are
required to make household production a viable concern.

The households of cultivators tend to be smaller than those of
artisans. Among cultivator families, division of property between
brothers generally occurs soon after the death of the father.
Collateral joint families are rare among cultivator households. It
is not unusual to find several commensally separate nuclear families
inhabiting a single large house, but maintaining separate kitchens
and household budgets, each household head cultivating his share of
the inherited land independently. Rarely are cultivator families
supplemented by the addition of affinal or maternal kin, for unlike
the situation in artisan households, where the addition of another
able-bodied worker means the expansion of production, in a
cultivator household an additional person can contribute little.

Households of the Lower-Middle Class, then, live a relatively

 

175

comfortable and uneventful village existence within the rural
neighborhoods of the town. Men of these households expect to live
their entire lives in their natal pgggs, joining their brothers and
cousins in the work that their fathers did before them, and that
their sons will do after them. Cultivators dream of increasing the
amount of land they work. Artisans try to expand their production
and worry that the new mass-produced products now appearing in the
shOps of the bazar will decrease the demand for their products.

The peasants who form the Lower-Middle Class of the town are not
unaware of change, however, and readily make use of new technological
advances that they deem useful. Cultivators in Mahishadal use
insecticide, rent water pumps, and make use of the new high-yield
varieties of rice when it is possible for them to do so. Artisans
adapt their style and even gear their production to the demands of
a changeable market. But the men of the Lower-Middle Class want to

improve their present way of life, rather than to change their mode

of existence.

The Upper-Lower Class: Composite Class Score 150—179 and

The Lower-Lower Class: Composite Class Score 149 or less

The Lower Class in Mahishadal is a broad continuum containing
households from many different castes. However, the clustering of
composite class scores of the large town castes at two distinct
levels indicates that the people of the town perceive of two kinds
of Lower Class. The distinction between the two appears to be based
mainly on caste affiliation, with particulars of occupation being

the second determinant of position within the Lower Class.

 

176

Households generally included in the Upper-Lower Class tend to come
from low-ranking Hindu caste groups, but castes that are not
considered untouchable. The Lower-Lower Class, in contrast, consists
largely of households of untouchable Hindu castes of the very lowest

rank, and also includes most of the Muslim households in the town.

It is apparent that with regard to placement within the Lower Class,

caste status is more relevant than occupation in the view of townsmen.

Leatherworkers, sweepers, and a few Muslims who are butchers are the
only households included in the Lower Class actually practicing
caste associated occupations traditionally viewed as unclean. The
occupations of all but a dozen Lower Class households are
nontraditional or not caste associated, but are those accorded the

least prestige in the occupational hierarchy of the town.

The Upper-Lower Class:

The households in this class are landless, most owning only
the land on which their houses stand. Men of the Upper-Lower Class
engage in a range of occupations, all of which involve manual labor,
require no education, and place them under the direction of other
individuals of higher Status. Although a few men of this class do
some sharecropping, most are involved in agriculture as paid
laborers, and live from week to week with little job security. Those
wdu: cannot find work in agriculture join the unskilled labor pool in
the town. They make bricks in the two small factories, are the
laborers building the new houses of the Upper-Middle Class, or work
(n1 Government projects of road improvemnt or railroad construction.

Some men of this class leave their families in Mahishadal while they

 

 

177

go to Calcutta or the Haldia Port area to seek work.

The families in the Upper-Lower Class have been resident in
Mahishadal for several generations. Some of them possessed some
agricultural land in the past, but most have been landless for at
least a generation. In the past many were employed by the Raj Estate,
where they cared for animals, tended gardens, or were the lowest
ranking domestic servants and custodians in the Palace Compound.

Now they have difficulty finding work.

Families of the Upper—Lower Class live in village-style housing

 

of poor quality, in the most isolated rural neighborhoods of the
town. They are extremely hardworking people. Most households
receive income from the part—time employment of several different
household members. Children are rarely sent to school if they can
contribute anything to the family income. Women of this class are
often employed as domestic servants by wealthier families, and some
of the older children also work as servants. A child goes to work
as soon as it is able. Girls are married off as soon as possible,
and most men marry late because of the difficulty they face in

finding a steady source of income with which to support a young

family.
The Lower-Lower Class

The Lower segment of the Lower Class differs little from the

Upper segment in occupation or life-style. Except for the few

turtouchable Hindu families and the Muslim butchers who continue to

jpractice caste associated 'unclean' occupations, the men, women, and

(firildren of this lowest class provide unskilled labor for the town

178

at large. The vast majority of the households in this class are
Muslim, and live in tiny huts clustered in three distinct
neighborhoods. Most of the Muslim men seek work in the bazar area,
where they virtually dominate the two most physically demanding
occupations -- rickshaw-pulling and coolie labor. Others join their
Hindu neighbors in other kinds of manual labor, such as house
building or road construction.

Unlike their Hindu neighbors, Muslim families practice cousin
marriage. Although they state that such marriages are 'preferred,'
cousin marriages occur with the most frequency among the poorest
Muslim families, where the practice serves to eliminate heavy
expenditure for marriage. Muslims of both sexes marry at an
earlier age than Hindus, and divorce is not only possible but
frequent. Although polygamy is allowed according to Muslim custom,
poverty has prevented it in all but two households, households which
are Lower-Middle Class in status.

Few Muslim children attend school, for by school age they have
already joined the labor force on at least a part-time basis.

Muslim women are sometimes employed as servants by Hindu families

in nearby houses, but by and large, the Muslim community prefers that
married women be secluded. While the Muslims of Mahishadal do not
practice formal &, women are generally restricted to the confines
of their neighborhoods, and the companionship of relatives and
in-laws.

For the Lower Class of Mahishadal (both Upper and Lower sections),
life is very difficult and proceeds on a day-to-day basis for many

improverished families. Families of the Lower Class seek security by

 

179

>rming patron-client relationships with households of higher class

tatus. Permanent bonds of paid employment are sought to connect a

oor household with one that is financially secure. The particular

ember of the client family who provides the contracted-for labor

>n any given day will vary, depending on what other income prospects

ire available at that time. If an employed female finds temporary

work helping an Upper Class family prepare for a large wedding
feast, for example, she may send one of her older children to perform
her customary chores in the household that regularly employs her.
Such substitution is tolerated by the patron family, and no

financial penalty will be imposed as long as the expected labor is

performed on a regular basis.

SOCIAL STATUS AND SOCIAL INTERACTION

In Mahishadal as in village Bengal, social relationships are of

two kinds -- hierarchical and egalitarian. Both kinds of

relationships involve a consideration of relative class status, as

reflected in the numerical composite class score.

Mahishadal is a cosmopolitan town and its history as a royal

center has meant that elites have been coming to the town and leaving

again for several centuries. The turnover within the upper class

continues today, but the contemporary town is a rapidly expanding

urban center which is attracting people from the rural locality at

an increasing rate. 0f the 500 household heads included in the

survey, over a third were born outside the town. Not included in

the survey were many households who had lived briefly in Mahishadal

as members of the transient elite. Also not included are the vast

 

 

180

unber of townsmen who do not live within the boundaries of the
own: men who live an urban life in the bazar by day and return to

illage homes at night. Almost two-thirds of the bazar businessmen

:'all into this category: these commuters may be considered as

>Otential town residents.

Relative class status determines the way a town resident lives.

It also determines the way in which a villager acts in the town

setting. For the large numbers of households moving from village to

town, the class system provides orientation to town life. Ideas

about class status allow households from Midnapore villages to

interact with their neighbors whose families have resided in Calcutta

for three generations. The class system provides the basic frame of

reference for behavior in the town.

In its hierarchical aSpects, the class system provides the new

arrival with a guide toward establishment of the proper kind of

residence in the town. An Upper Class family newly arrived from

Calcutta will not seek housing in a mud building until all

possibilities for residence in a brick structure have been eliminated.

Certain buildings are considered 'suitable'- for residence, while
others are ignored. The Middle Class family, arriving from the

rural locality, will attempt to live in the more 'urban'

neighborhoods, and may choose to rent a whole mud house close to the

bazar rather than two rooms in a brick building. It is not that the

Middle Class family does not desire prestigious housing, but that

they lack strongly negative feelings about village-style

housing. The Government officer from Calcutta, however, has such

strong negative feelings about residence in a mud house that he may

 

 

181

choose to leave his family in Calcutta rather than have them reside

in "substandard" quarters. The prosPerous businessman who moves to

the town will accept the Upper Class view of "suitable" housing, even

though his village home falls into the "substandard" category because

it is mud.

Relative class status, then, has an effect on where a person

will live in the town. In the case of local businessmen, it may

determine when they make the move from village to town -- most wait
until they are able to emulate the life—style of the cosmopolitan

Once a family settles in Mahishadal, relative class

Work

Upper Class.

status determines the nature of daily life in the town.
relationships tend to be formal and to some degree hierarchical.

Each person is involved with both subordinates and superordinates.

But town social life is basically egalitarian. Mahishadal residents

seek out their own kind when it comes to social activities, and

socializing almost always involves exclusive interaction with others

of the same social class. In a long established city, neighborhoods

develop a strong class basis. These class-exclusive neighborhoods

have not developed in Mahishadal. While there is a tendency for

people Of different social classes to live in distinct neighborhoods,

all neighborhoods are mixed. Because of the recent rapid influx

of Upper Class and Upper-Middle Class families, the high rate of
turnover in the urban elite population that mans the official
positions in the town, and the acute shortage of quality housing,

:he people with whom social relationships are sought--one's own

:ind--tend to be distributed over a wide area. Friends may not

ne immediate neighbors, and conversely, neighbors need not be friends.

"""‘ ‘5”

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182

The degree to which similar class status is involved in both
establishing and maintaining social relationships is illustrated by a
list of town households drawn up by the women and teenage boys of my
Rarhi Brahman host family, 01d Gentry and Upper Class. The list
includes those households considered "knowledgeable" about the town.
The list originally included 17 names, of which I was able to
interview 15. The households include Brahmans of different kinds,
Kayasthas, Mahishyas, Garland-makers, Oil-pressers, and Blacksmiths.
Some households are Mahishadal Oldtimers, and others are Newcomers,
resident in the town for less than ten years. The households are
located in a variety of town neighborhoods, and three live in
villages. Despite the remarkable variety found in this list of
"Knowledgeable People" (Table 29), they share a common class status.
All of the households have composite class scores that place them
in the Upper Class or in the high ranks of the Upper-Middle Class.

It is even more striking to view the composite scores of these

households over time: since the list was first drawn up, the

composite scores have been narrowing in range. Those households that

have serious defects in one ranking gradient are attempting to
remedy the situation with appropriate action. A family cannot
Change caste, but they can change occupation, housing, and
neighborhood over time.

This list, drawn up early in fieldwork, is not a list of
lususeholds with factual information about Mahishadal, but a list of
lususeholds of appropriate status to be interviewed by a visiting
znrthropologist. 'Appropriate status' was defined by the host

:family, and appears to mean of equivalent social class standing.

 

j 155'

l

 

183

Table 29

"Knowledgeable People"

Numerical Scores on Ranking Gradients

 

Composite

Household Caste Occupation Housing:;Neighborhood Score
1. 3.0 4.0 4.0 4.0 3.8
2. 3.0 4.0 3.5 3.5 3.6
3 3 0 4 0 2.5 3 5 3 4
4 * 2 0 3 0 3.5 2 5 2 8
5 ** 3 0 4.0 2 0 2 S 3 l
6 2 0 4 0 4.0 4 0 3 6
7 4 0 4 0 3.5 3 0 3 7
8.*** 4.0 4.0 2.0 2.0 3.2
9. 3.0 4.0 2.5 2.5 3.2
lO.**** 3.0 4.0 2.5 2.5 3.2
11. 4.0 4.0 3.5 4.0 3.9
12. 3.0 3.5 3.5 2.0 3.3
13. 2.0 3.0 3.5 3.5 3.0
14. 4.0 4.0 2.5 3.0 3.5
15. 4.0 4.0 3.5 2.5 3.6
List Average 3.1 3.9 3.1 3.0 3.4
Informants'

Household 4.0 4.0 3.5 3.5 3.8

 

irflfihe young men of this Blacksmith family are attending college in
preparation for Class I occupations.

.** This family has recently constructed a modern brick house and now
has a composite score of 3.4.

*** This Pascima Brahman family lives in an old mud house but is
sending its sons to Calcutta for education and employment.

**** This Mahishya family has recently completed a new brick house
and now has a composite score of 3.4.

 

‘ U

184

There are two exceptions. Household 3 (Composite Score 2.8) is
located across the street, and the young men of that household are
student friends of the boys who drew up the list. The adults of the
host family have little interaction with the adults of this Blacksmith
household. Household 13 (Composite Class Score 3.1) is an upwardly
mobile Garland-maker family that owns several businesses and is
achieving some prominence in town cultural life. Also important was
the fact that the aged male head of the kin-aggregate is an artist
who has achieved moderate recognition on a Bengal-wide basis.

The list also is of interest in what it is not. It is not a
list based on caste status, since 80 percent of the hOuseholds are
from non-Brahman castes. It is not a list of neighbors, since only
40 percent of the households are in the vicinity of the host family's
house, and not all of these are informally visited as neighbors by
the women of the host family. It is striking that thirteen of
fifteen families have Class I occupations now, and that in the next
generation, all will have Class I occupations as sources of income.
It is also striking that when the list was drawn up nine of fifteen
households had residences equal to or more prestigious than that of
the informants. (Now eleven of fifteen households have such
residences.) The list includes eight households who had some
connection to the Raj Estate Administration, but does not include
the Raja or his relatives. It also does not include a number of
prominant men of the town who with extensive knowledge of town life
.and local history: those local leaders excluded were of class
status inferior to that of the informants. The list included those

"knowledgeable persons" of greatest social importance to the family.

 

185

Clubs

All people who spend any length of time in Mahishadal make new
friends there. Personal friends, with whom informal Social
interaction occurs, tend to be individuals of roughly equivalent
class status. But there is also a highly structured social life in
the town. Dozens of clubs of various kinds exist, and membership in

each club follows along class lines.

The Elite Men's Club: This club meets in its rented quarters in the
central bazar. Members gather there in the evenings to talk and play
cards, chess and checkers. Once or twice a year the members of this
club will present a play (their wives and sisters are allowed to
play female roles). The dramas, 19th and 20th century, are Bengali
classics by Tagore or other Bengali playwrights, and often have
nationalistic themes. This club also sponsors cultural events for
the Upper Class children of the town: essay writing contests,
drawing contests, poetry recitation contests, and the like.

The members of the Elite Men's Club come from a variety of
castes. Included are several kinds of Brahmans, Baidyas, Kayasthas,
Oil-pressers, and even the Muslim community. All members have
Class I occupations, and most live in the best housing and
neighborhoods to be found in the town. The homogeneous class
background of the members of this club is presented in Table 30,
but this table does not indicate the heterogeneity found among club
members. Class equals in terms of composite class scores, they

have been drawn together in a town where few have permanent homes.

 

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"if .1 _

186

Table 30

The Elite Men's Club

Numerical Scores on Ranking Gradients

 

Member Age Caste Occupation Housing Neighborhood Composite
l.* 45 3.0 4.0 4.0 4.0 3.8
2. 52 3.0 4.0 ?--town-- ? 3.5**
3. 55 3.0 4.0 ?—-town-- ? 3.5**
4. 45 4.0 4.0 3.0 3.5 3.7
5. 50 3.0 4.0 3.0 4.0 3.6
6.* 30 2.0 4.0 4.0 4.0 3.6
7. 62 3.0 4.0 ? -vi11age- ? 3.5**
8. 45 4.0 4.0 3.5 3.0 3.7
9. 48 4.0 4.0 ? ~village- ? 4.0**
10. 34 3.0 3.0 ?--town-- ? 3.0**
11. 45 3.0 4.0 3.5 3.5 3.5
12. 50 3.0 4.0 ? -village- ? 3.5**
13. 42 3.0 4.0 3.5 3.5 3.6
14. 38 1.0 4.0 2.5 2.5 2.8
15. 38 3.0 4.0 ? -village- ? 3.5**
16. 64 3.0 4.0 ? -village~ ? 3.5**
17. 34 4.0 4.0 3.0 3.5 3.7
18. 33 3.0 4.0 ?-—town-- ? 3.5**
19. 32 3.0 4.0 ?--town-- ? 3.5**
20.* 60 4.0 4.0 3.5 4.0 3.9
21.* 60 4.0 4.0 2.0 2.5 3.2
22. 48 3.0 4.0 ? -village- ? 3.2**
Average 46 3 2 4.0 3.2 3.5 3.5

 

* Also on list of "Knowledgeable People"
**Composite score based on known ranking gradient information,
weighted equally.

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187

Most of the members came to Mahishadal in the course of employment.
Some have established homes in the town, a few are in the process
of doing so, and other members of the club perceive of themselves
as transients in Mahishadal. What they share is common status in a
regionally recognized class system. Those members who leave

Mahishadal will find a similar group to join in their next place of

residence.

The Bazar Club: This club is the most active of the social clubs in
town-oriented activities. Its membership is Upper-Middle Class,
drawn mainly from the town bazar, and two-thirds of its members are
daily commuters from nearby villages. There are only three members
of the Bazar Club with Class I occupations. One is a young
Oil-presser who owns a business but is also a high school teacher.
The others are the two top Police officials in the town, who were
invited to join by the other members. The Bazar Club Class Scores
are presented in Table 32.

The Bazar Club occupies permanent quarters in a rented room in
the bazar, where members gather in the evenings to play cards,
gamble, and talk. But the Bazar Club, unlike the Elite Club, makes
a deliberate effort to undertake united action in the name of the
town. Projects undertaken in the past include campaigns to establish
better standards of hygiene in the bazar, collection of funds for gas
lanterns to light the central bazar at night, and sponsorship of
religious and secular components of town festivals. They also follow
the Elite Men's Club in sponsoring cultural activities for children.

The Bazar Club appears to have considerably more financial resources

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Numerical Scores on Ranking Gradients

188

Table 31

The Bazar Club

 

Member Age Caste Occupation Housing Neighborhood Composite
1. 28 3.0 3.0 ? -village- ? 3.0***
2.* 32 3.0 3.5 3 5 2.5 3.2
3.* 40 3.0 3.5 3 5 2.5 3.2
4.* 26 3.0 3.5 3 5 2.5 3.2
5.* 34 3.0 3.5 3.5 2.5 3.2

6. 40 3.0 3.0 ? -village- ? 3.0***
7. 35 3.0 3.0 ? -village- ? 3.0***
8. 45 2.0 3.0 ? -village- ? 2.5***
9. 35 3.0 3.0 ? -village- ? 3.0***
10. 35 4.0 3.0 2.0 2.0 2.9
11. 38 3.0 3.0 ? -village- ? 3.0***
12.* 30 2.0 3.0 3.5 2.5 2.8
l3.* 29 2.0 3.0 3.5 2.5 2.8
l4.* 20 2.0 3.0 3.5 2.5 2.8
15. 28 2.0 4.0 ? -village- ? 3.0***

(Nandigram)

16. 35 3.0 3.0 ? -village- ? 3.0***
17. 40 3.0 3.5 4.0 2.0 3.1
18.** 40 - 4.0 4.0 3.5 3.5 3.8
19.** 45 3.0 4.0 3.0 4.0 3.6
20. 40 3.0 3.0 ? -village- ? 3.0***
21. 32 3.0 3.0 ? —village- ? 3.0***
22. 38 3.0 3.0 T-Calcutta- ? 3.0***
23.* 35 2.0 4.0 4.0 4.0 3.6
24. 35 3.0 3.0 ? -village- ? 3.0***
Average 34.8 2.83 3.27 3.42 2.75 3.07

 

* On list of "Knowledgeable People"
** Police Officials
*** Composite score based on known ranking gradient information,
weighted equally.

r
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‘IF-

189

than the Elite Men's Club. The most notable activity of the Bazar
Club in 1969 was to sponsor five days of Bengali drama performed by
a professional group brought from Calcutta. The performance was held
in a large circus tent. The plays were all modern dramas, rather
than religious epics, although the occasion was one of the annual
Hindu festivals.

The men of the Bazar Club, with the exception of the two Police

representatives, share a common background in the Mahishadal locality.

They are oriented to Mahishadal town in particular, rather than to
urban life in general. Most members are first generation townsmen
who have emerged from the prOSperous peasantry of the locality.
Although they are, by and large, wealthier than the men of the Elite
Club, they seem to share a conscious recognition of 'cultural
deficiency' when compared to the members of the other club. The
Bazar Club chooses to follow upper class ideals in its group
activities, and whenever possible, to outdo the Elite Men's Club in

the scope of its undertakings.

The Workers' Club: Formal clubs are not limited to the Upper and

 

Middle Classes, but exist for all strata of town society. The'
Workers' Club draws its members from the poorer members of the Lower
Classes.(see Table 32). This club has no permanent headquarters.
Members meet at the president's house in a nearby village, or in the
room of a member residing in the central town. This club is
nicknamed the Rickshaw-Puller's Club, since most members do this
work and the president of the club runs the rickshaw business in

the town. Members of this club are Muslim and Mahishya,

'\ pic-.1;

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I

190

Table 32

The Workers' Club

Numerical Scores on Ranking Gradients

 

Member AgeifiCaste Occupation Housing_ Neighborhood Composite
1. 40 3.0 3.0 ? -vi11age- ? 3.0*
2. 44 1.0 3.0 ?-—town-- ? 2.0*
3. 35 3.0 2.0 ?--town-- ? 2.5*
4. 26 1.0 1.0 0.5 2.0 1.1
5. 35 1.0 3.0 2.5 2.0 2.3
6. 26 1.0 1.0 0.5 2.0 1.1
7. 17 3.0 2.0 1.5 2.0 2.1
8. 19 3.0 2.0 1.5 2.0 2.1
9. 26 3.0 1.0 1.5 2.0 1.7
10. 30 3.0 1.0 1.5 2.0 1.7
11. 30 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.5 1.1
12. 27 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.5 1.1
13. 40 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.5 1.1
14. 16 1.0 1.0 ?--town-- 2 1.0*
15. 19 1.0 1.0 ?--town-- ? 1.0*
16. 45 1.0 3.0 2.5 2.0 2.3
l7. 18 1.0 1.0 0.5 2.0 1.1
18. 26 1.0 1.0 0.5 2.0 1.1
19. 24 3.0 3.0 ? -village- ? 3.0*

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Average 28.6 1.23 1.89

 

*Composite score based on known ranking gradient information,
weighted equally.

‘-

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191

predominantly young men with little or no education. They earn their
living through manual labor. The activities of the Workers' Club are
mainly recreational. They play football on the Rath Tala, set up
images of the deities at major Hindu festivals (despite the fact that
most members are Muslim), and participate with exurberance in town
celebrations. Members of this club dressed as clowns for one
festival and entertained other townsmen by performing transvestite
dances to the accompaniment of bawdy songs.

This club has more overt political overtones than the others
discussed. To some extent members serve as a faction supporting
the president. They wore shirts bearing the emblem of the Leftist
Communist party of the leader during the election period. However,
individual members claim that the shirts were gifts and did not
necessarily reflect their personal political preferences. They also
wore matched shirts during the Rath festival, this time advertising
a nationally-popular biscuit. Both times the shirts were given out
free, and members wore them until they were rags.

The members of the Workers' Club represent the urban Lower
Class. They are friends and neighbors who have grown up together
in the town, and who lead similar life-styles in Mahishadal. Their
joint participation in town activities as members of an identifiable

named club gives them group identity in the town.

Other Clubs: The three clubs described are the best known of the
town clubs, but many others exist. There is one club that draws its
members from the owners of tea stalls and fruit stands near the Old

Bus Stand. Another club, based in a nearby village, is made up of

 

192

commuters to town who have formed their organization to improve
cultural facilities in their village. The schools and colleges of
the town house several coeducational clubs that perform dramas and
organize cultural activities for national holidays as well as
religious festivals. Most of the active members of the school and
college clubs are young people from Mahishadal families. The large
student population that lives in dormitories and hostels has little
interaction with the town at large.

At the festival for the Goddess Saraswati, patron of learning
and music, fifteen town clubs set up images of the deity and
entered into competition for a cash price for the best decorating
job. Each club had a membership strikingly homogeneous in class
background when viewed against the extremely heterogeneous town

population. People seek out their own kind.

0 CT ",,'-’ .
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CHAPTER VI
URBAN LIFE IN A RURAL TOWN: THREE ELITE GROUPS
THE TOWN ELITE

The town of Mahishadal is simultaneously urban and rural in

terms of the alternative life-styles possible for town residents.

In its history as a royal center for several centuries, and in the
expanding marketing and admiministrative center that Mahishadal

is today, three distinct elite social groups can be seen. The

Pascima Brahman Elite are descended from the Rajas and their
relatives together with some unrelated families of the same caste
who came to Bengal from North India to fill administrative positions
in the Raj Estate. The remnants of this group still reside in the
town today. A second group of elites, the Bengali Bhadralok, is
composed of members of the highest castes in Bengal -- the Brahmans,
Baidya, and Kayasthas -- who are present in the town to fill the top
administrative positions in the Estate Administration and prestigious
positions in the associated town. They have come to Mahishadal as
they have come to every town in Bengal, because they have had the
special qualifications to fill certain kinds of positions. They are
job—oriented, and have felt no special tie to either the Mahishadal
Raj Estate or the rural micro-region. A third group of elites has
been drawn from the local Mahishya caste. This elite group has a
special tie to the town of Mahishadal in particular -- it is their
urban center. Members of the cultivator caste that comprises the

193

 

Wfiai_

194

bulk of the local rural population, the Mahishya Elite either
developed special connections to the Raj Estate of the past or have
been exploiting the business opportunities of the town. Whatever
the path they chose to build their power in the town, the Mahishya
Elite have a very special bond to the town and its micro-region: it

is their territory.
BENGAL I BHADRALOK

The Bhadralok families of Mahishadal, past and present, are
part of an elite status group that is visable in every urban center
in Bengal and the major cities of North India. This region-wide

elite group had emerged by the beginning of the twentieth century.

At the beginning of the twentieth century Bengali
rural and urban society differed in many fundamental
respects, yet they shared at least one feature; a common
dominant elite. In city, town, and village there was one
group of Bengalis who claimed and were accorded recognition
as superior in social status to the masses of their
fellows. These were the bhadralok, literally the
'respectable people,‘ the 'gentle men.‘ They were
distinguished by many aspects of their behavior -- their
deportment, their Speech, their dress, their style of
housing, their eating habits, their occupations, and
their associations -- and quite as fundamentally by
their cultural values and their sense of social
propriety (Broomfield 1968:5).

The Mahishadal Bhadralok are local representatives of the
Bhadralok that Broomfield describes. They are a status category,
rather than an economic or occupational class. Some are large
landholders, zamindars, and others are landless but employed in
prestigious occupations. The Bhadralok regionally regard themselves

as a landed and educated elite, although there has always been

considerable variation in economic status within the group.

 

Wigs-

195

Fifty-four households of the traditional Bhadralok castes (as
regionally defined) were found among the 500 households surveyed.
There were 20 households of Rarhi Sreni Brahmans, 4 of Barendra
Brahmans, 27 of Kayasthas, and 3 Baidya households. (The strength
of the Bhadralok population in the town is not fully represented by
the number of households encountered, since the survey excluded
many single men of Bhadralok status living in hostels and boarding
houses, and also excluded Bhadralok families who were part of the
town society but lived in nearby villages.

The Mahishadal Bhadralok are an Upper Class group, with a
Composite Class Score of 334.49. They are employed in the most
prestigious occupations in the town. 0f 54 household heads, 12 were
Government Officers, 21 were professionals, 15 were white-collar
salaried employees, and one lived on income from landed property.
The Occupational Score of the 54 Bhadralok households is a striking
388.89 out of a possible 400.

The family histories of Mahishadal Bhadralok families indicate
that they have been performing similar occupations in many places
for several generations. The history of the Bhadralok as a literate
elite enabled them to dominate the high positions in the Raj
Administration in the past, and has enabled the present generation
of Bhadralok to maintain control of the top administrative positions
in the town today. (Only one top Government Officer in Mahishadal
is from a non-Bhadralok caste. The B.D.O., who works with the
people of the locality in community development projects, is a
Mahishya from a local village.) Bhadralok control over the highest

administrative positions, white-collar salaried employment, and the

 

196

professions has not been seriously challenged in Mahishadal until
the last two decades. Since that time more and more Mahishyas have
attained the formal education that was once so restricted to the
Bhadralok that an early British government report described
Bhadralok-dominated Bengali society as "a despotism of caste,
tempered by matriculation" (quoted in Broomfield 1966:282). At this
time only those Mahishya elite who follow the distinctive life-style
associated with the Bhadralok ethos are recognized as equals by the
predominantly high caste 'Respectable People' of the town.

The Bhadralok families of the town fall into three distinct
categories defined by their orientation to the town of Mahishadal.
The Transient Elite come to the town for employment purposes: their
occupation is their link to the town. The Bhadralok Old Gentry
consists of a few families who have been town residents for several
generations, and were associated with the Raj Estate in the past.

The East Bengali Settlers are a growing part of the town Bhadralok
population. In this category are families that were formerly members
of the Transient Elite, with homes in East Bengal. With the partition
of Bengal between India and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), these

Bhadralok were cut off from ancestral homes and landed estates. Some

of them have chosen to make Mahishadal a new home.

The Transient Elite

 

The Government Officer: "Please come in." With this invitation in

 

English, I am escorted into a western-style parlor in a duplex
apartment in the bazar area. (Quality western-style furniture is not

sold in the town bazar, but must be imported from Tamluk or Calcutta.)

197

An inexpensive kerosene lantern on the coffee table provides light,
and the room is dark in contrast to the bazar outside, brightly lit
with costly pressure lanterns. As I am shown to a comfortable
armchair, giggles and scurried footsteps can be heard from behind a
curtained doorway leading to the next room. "My daughters are very
excited that you have come. My wife and my sister, also, want to
meet you." Soon after that the wife and sister serve tea and
biscuits, while two little girls peer around the edge of the door.

The Government Officer has been in Mahishadal two months. He
has come to take the position of O.C. (Officer-in-Charge) of
Mahishadal Police Station. He apologizes for the lack of decoration
in his home, saying that his family has not had time to really
settle in to their new apartment. The family consists of his wife
and three young daughters and his sister (MoBrDa) who has joined the
household in Mahishadal to attend the Girls College (Figure 10).

The Government Officer is locally addressed by title rather -
than name. The O.C. has become accustomed to frequent transfers.
Mobility is one of the traditions of Police Service. He has served
as O.C. in several other towns and expects to be assigned to
several more places before he might expect promotion to a permanent
position in one of the major administrative towns of West Bengal.
Three of the O.C.‘s four brothers were mobile, with only one brother
remaining in the family's ancestral home in Birbhum District. The
family land, jointly owned, is being cultivated by sharecroppers as
it has always been. The O.C. is a Brahman, and Brahmans do not
cultivate land or engage in other kinds of manual labor. All of

the men of the O.C.‘s family now have modern occupations.

 

 

198

Figure 10

The Government Officer (E)

Caste-—Rarhi Sreni Brahman 4 O
Occupation--O.C. of Police 4 O
Housing--Duplex Brick Flat 3.5
Neighborhood--Bazar Wide Path 3 O

COMPOSITE CLASS SCORE 3.7

zamindar,
zamindar, (Pathai,
(Dakshingram, ~ - Birbhum Dt.)

Birbhum Dt.)

T acher zamindar,
. (Midnapore ( 3
j Dt.)
W 7

zamindars

 

 

 

*

ancestral village
(bari)

L 1 '
\l 7 19
Husbands zamindars
in Santal Parganas
and Birbhum Dts.

 

 

 

 

 

Railway service Birbhum town (wife stays 2331)
High school teacher (bari)
Railway Police (Howrah city)

Police Official (Asansol, Burdwan Dt.)
Student (Mahishadal)

mcnw>

Land jointly held - about 80 bighas

  
   

 

199

The life of a Transient Elite family is shaped by its lack of
orientation to immediate place of residence. The town of Mahishadal

is basa (residence) rather than bari (home). The family of the O.C.

lives in a rented flat with furnishings provided by the Police
Service, but they have little emotional attachment to the town. When
the O.C.‘s wife developed pneumonia his first thought was to get her

to a 'real' hospital, in Calcutta. This meant taking leave from work,

and uprooting the family for a while, but again, this behavior was
seen as 'necessary' in transient elite life. In any case, Transient
Elites always return home for important annual festivals, at harvest
time if they own land, and for life-cycle rituals. Home is not

Mahishadal.

A Landless Bhadralok: The Mahishadal Health Inspector, a Kayastha,

 

lives in a rented apartment over the Health Office in the town bazar.
He has lived in Mahishadal for five years but still thinks of
himself, and is viewed by others, as transient. The Health
Inspector has served in a long series of official positions. He
had started in Government work as a military officer, then became a
Jute Inspector, working in East Bengal. After Partition he took his
family to Calcutta, and then entered into Government employment under
the State of West Bengal. He was made a Health Inspector and has
served in two small towns of Midnapore, in two different Calcutta
suburbs, and in the central headquarters in Calcutta before taking
his current post in Mahishadal.

His wife was reluctant to come to Mahishadal at first, because

it was 'too rustic.‘ She had been brought up in the large town of

 

ZOO

Comilla, in East Bengal, where her father had been a college
professor. The couple's family is young, and their three daughters
and a son live with them in Mahishadal. For three generations the
men of the Health Inspector's family have been members of the
Transient Elite, and all the women of his family have been married to
educated men (Figure 11).

The Health InSpector does not foresee any particular problems
facing his family. Although he lost his ancestral land at the time of
Partition, he has security as a senior Government official with

tenure. He has some concern about the education of his children.
For the Health Inspector, "home" is now Calcutta. When his son was

twelve or thirteen he would be sent to live with an uncle in Calcutta,
where he could attend a good school and go on to college. The

Health Inspector was not as concerned about the education of his

three daughters, but said that if possible, he would send them to

Calcutta schools as well.

The Music Teacher: The Music Teacher, a Rarhi Sreni Brahman, has

 

been in Mahishadal for six months. Officially he is in Government
service, serving as an Extension Officer in the Development Block
with headquarters in Nandakumar (a five mile bus ride). His official
duties are to develop and perpetuate the local tradition of folk
music. He had received his musical education at Santiniketan, the
University founded by Rabindranath Tagore. He acts as advisor to
local groups planning musical performances, and also teaches some
public classes in "folk" music. He has also taken on some private
pupils, sons and daughters of the town's Upper and Upper-Middle

Classes.

 

201

Figure 11
The Health Inspector (K)

A Landless Bhadralok

Caste--Kayastha 3.0
Occupation--Government 4.0 COMPOSITE CLASS SCORE 3.5
Housing--Brick Flat 3.0
Neighborhood-~Bazar Road 3.5
l 2

 

 

 

is i4 is is
PMMMM

H I

 

 

 

 

 

Pleader (Vikrampur, Dacca Dt., bari)
zamindar (Dacca Dt.)

Doctor (Vikrampur)

Clerk (Mymensingh)

School headmaster (Noakhali)
Government contractor (Noakhali)
Professor (Comilla)

\lGMbMNt—n

Husband is manager, private company
Husband is lawyer

B.D.O. (transferable government service)
Clerk (transferable)

Government contractor (Calcutta)

Service (Agarpara, 24-Parganas Dt.)
Service (Agarpara, 24-Parganas Dt.)
Government contractor (24-Parganas Dt.)
Government contractor (Chinsura, Hooghly Dt.)
Government Service (Chinsura, Hooghly Dt.)
Health Inspector (Mahishadal)

7<¢uh4::cawan1car)uz>-

202

The Music Teacher and his young wife live an Upper-Middle Class
Calcutta life in Mahishadal. They live next door to the Health
Inspector, and share a servant with the Health Inspector's family.
Neither family thinksthat the streets of Mahishadal are a safe
playground for unsupervised children, and their children are always
under the care of an 2122: The furnishings of the Music Teacher's
flat, like those of the Health Inspector, had been transplanted, bit
by bit, from Calcutta. Concern with the Bengali Great Tradition is
evident in every bit of decor, from the block-printed curtains to
the prints on the wall. A table piled high with books in Bengali
and English dominates the front room. A guitar, modified to be
played Indian style, is propped against it.

Both the Music Teacher and his wife were brought up in regional

cities of Bengal, although both of their families considered Calcutta

as their real 223;, The couple met as college students, and their
marriage was "semi-arranged." They are of the same caste and were
in love, and with the help of sympathetic elder siblings had
succeeded in getting their marriage arranged through the proper
channels. Both came from "modern" families, and the kin-network of
the couple links them with nuclear family units residing in most of
the important regional centers in Bengal. They expect that they
will reside in several towns before the Music Teacher is assigned a
permanent position (Figure 12).

For the moment the couple is enthusiastic about life in
Mahishadal. The wife is concerned about the local schools. She
wants a progressive education for her three-year old daughter, who

would have been in a nursery school in Calcutta. A Mahishadal

I..: oat?
r'vl'v‘b.

 

 

203

Figure 12

The Music Teacher (G)

 

Caste—-Rarhi Sreni Brahman 4.0
Occupation--Government Officer 4.0 COMPOSITE CLASS SCORE 3.6
Housing-~Brick Flat 3.0
Neighborhood--Bazar Road 3.5
All males Service,
Service, (Uttarpara
(Calcutta) town)
: Railway service,
Doctor, (Asanso city)
(Burdwan A
city)

 

 

AA AA AA

 

 

Husband is professor in Burdwan

Husband is in railway service in Asansol
Service in Burdwan

Service in Uttarpara _

Doctor in Burdwan

Service in Durgapur

Government music teacher in Mahishadal

ommcnw>

204

friend, wife of another Transient Elite male, was a Montessori
teacher. She was tutoring the little girl, who had already learned

the English and Bengali alphabets. The two women were making
vague plans about founding a Montessori school in Mahishadal, where

a growing segment of the population views the traditionally-oriented

town schools as inadequate. So far, nothing has been done.

The O.C., the Health Inspector, and the Music Teacher come from
different parts of Bengal but they fall into a single category with
regard to their orientation to Mahishadal town. They regard
themselves as transient residents in the town; the people of the
locality regard them as outsiders. Whether they make the change
from the outsider category to that of local people will depend

not on the length of time spent in the town, but on the nature of

interaction with other sectors of town society.
The Bhadralok Old Gentry

The number of Bengali Bhadralok families who may be classified
as Old Gentry is small. The term "gentry" is used here to refer to
families whose claim to elite status is derived through their
association with the Rajas and the Estate administrative structure,
whose members occupied the higher ranks of administrative positions,
and who had been given grants of land by the Rajas and were

themselves zamindars.

The Tutor's Family: The Tutor's family served as my host in
Mahishadal. It is a well known Old Gentry family, now somewhat

impoverished but maintaining a very respectable position among the

 

\

205

town elite. The family traces its local history back four
generations to the time of Raja Lachman Prasad, in the 1880's.
About this time Hem Babu, an educated Rarhi Sreni Brahman from

Nadia District, was brought by the Rajas to tutor the children of

the royal families. Hem Babu had been educated in both Sanskrit

and English in the respected schools of Nadia town. The Rajas gave
him a grant of paddy land to support his family. The land was
located at some distance from Mahishadal town, and is now in

another district. He was also given a house-plot along the Rath Tala.

Hem Babu married a girl from his home area, but brought her to

Mahishadal. At first the family residence was a simple mud house in

the local style. After the marriage of his son, Hem Babu built the
large brick home presently occupied by the family. The new house had
a tiny pond and 'English-style' flower garden in front. A large
tank was excavated on the adjacent strip of land, and the Tutor
constructed brick steps with benches as an aid to the people who
bath in the tank.

When Hem Babu's son Narendranath entered Police Service, he was

posted in various towns in Bengal. He was married to a girl from

the family's former Nadia locality, but his wife and children

resided in the Mahishadal house which had now become a permanent
home. When the royal families' children were placed in private
schools in Calcutta, Hem Babu was retired from his tutorial position
and made an honorary sub-manager of the Raj Estate. He was given a
tiny office in the main administration building. The Raja's Children
returned home from school for various holidays and would greet their

former tutor with the pranam, a gesture of respect. They continued

 

‘E' ._. . V.

206

to greet Hem Babu this way as long as he lived. The present family
members relate this as ”proof" of their gentry status. The present

head of the family is Hem Babu's grandson, although the

great-grandson is old enough to be involved in marriage negotiations.

The household head is a clerk in a Government office, and is posted
outside. He returns home about once every three weeks. The present
household includes Hem Babu's married graddaughter and her sons, as
well as the paternal great-grandchildren (Figure 13). All of the
great-grandchildren are students at the town schools and colleges.

The financial status of this family has sharply declined since
Hem Babu's time. With Zamindari Abolition the once important link
to the Rajas ceased to have any formal value. The land grant they
had received was retained, but recent restrictions on the marketing
of paddy have made it necessary for them to sell the crop from their
land (cultivated by sharecroppers) where it is grown, and they must
then purchase the rice they need in Mahishadal. Since the recent
death of Hem Babu's son the family has been supplementing the income
of the household head by renting out rooms of the house to young men
who are members of the Transient Elite. I was the most unusual of
their renters, but I was not the first nor was I the last. The
Gentry life-style expected of this family requires a certain amount
of cash income above and beyond the income from their moderate land
grant and the clerk's salary of the household head.

The way in which the Tutor's family is identified by town
residents clearly shows the difference in orientation that
distinguishes Old Gentry from Transient Elite. The Tutor's family

was identified with its history, while households of the Transient

 

 

Caste--Rarhi Sreni Brahman

Housing--Large Brick

207

Figure 13

The Tutor's Family

4 0

Occupation--White-Collar Service 4.0 COMPOSITE CLASS SCORE 3.8
3 S
3 5

Neighborhood- -- Road

raua>-

‘ut'flD

Hem Babu
"The Tutor"
Police :5
officer 51:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A9
653A

Students

 

 

Husband is engineer in Bihar State

Husband is zamindar in village in Midnapore Dt.
Husband has business in Haldia (wife stays in
natal home in Mahishadal

Government clerk (transferable)

Doctor in Assam State

Government clerk (transferable)

 

 

‘Eiai.

208

Elite were identified with their positions. When the present head

 

of the Tutor's family is in Mahishadal, he is known as Hem Babu's
grandson or the late Naren Babu's son (the house the family lives in
is linked to historical town personages). But when the Tutor's
grandson is in his Government office in another town, he is viewed

there as a member of the Transient Elite.

The Retired Judge; The family of the Judge lives across the street

 

from the Tutor's family. The property on which their small mud
house is located (where they plan to build a new brick house) was

originally in the hands of his wife's family. The Judge, a

Kayastha, comes from a long line of gentry, but his family was not

in any way associated with the Mahishadal Rajas. One of his family's

titles was bestowed on an ancestor in Moghul times, when his family
was associated with the Nawab of Bengal. For four generations the
men of his family have been zamindars of an important village in
neighboring Hooghly District. Now they are in modern occupations as
members of the Transient Elite. The Judge gets his special tie to
the Mahishadal locality through his wife's people.

The Judge's wife is the daughter of one of the Old Gentry
families associated with the Mahishadal Rajas. For several
generations her family has resided in one of the larger villages
near the town, and the men of her family have been the managers of
the Kumari Estate--the property that belonged to the Raja's daughter.
Her father was Chief Manager of the Kumari Estate and then achieved
political prominence in the locality when he was elected

President of one of the old Union Boards, governing an area about

209

the size of a Community Development Block. Her sisters have married
into other Old Gentry families prominent in southeastern Midnapore,
and her brother is now a Government Official residing in Calcutta.

The Judge and his wife live in a small mud and tile house with
their six sons and one daughter, and their daughter-in-law (Figure
14). Four of the sons are outside, one in employment, and three at
Calcutta University. It is because the family has required funds
to properly educate six sons that the Judge has allowed his family
to continue to reside in a mud house. (Recent information indicates
that a new brick house has been completed, with the financial aid of
three sons employed in Class I occupations.)

The Judge and his household are among the cultural elite of
Mahishadal. The Judge's wife is at once traditional and modern.
Although she did not attend college, she reads a great deal and
regularly attends lectures and cultural programs at the Ashram and
Meeting Hall. Her daughter expects to attend college. The Judge's
wife spends a great deal of time visiting other Old Gentry
households, and makes frequent visits to Calcutta and Tamluk, where
she has both friends and relatives. Her modern interests include
Bengali folk art and traditional handicrafts. She encourages her
children to express themselves artistically -- they have decorated
the walls of the family house with murals. At the same time, the
Judge's wife is one of the more traditional women in town with
regard to standards of behavior. She is widely regarded as an
authority on household rituals. She is frequently consulted by
other women on matters involving traditional rules of etiquette.

She is one of the few middle-aged women of the town to continue to

D ‘ r .l D A. 'A"

 

210

 

Hmaoaox aw umvawamu m

mafiams as sumac a

mausuamo muuaoamu :« mofi>umm w Amanmummmemuuv 0

ca ummcawam H mxuoao unassum>ow mum mvcmnmsm
Hmememuemz as omega vacuums m m
manwoom .ouowmamwcmnu ea Honomma m Madame cw Hmaumou ma panama: <

 

 

a as.

usn>mv=mmmilllllkllIIIJ Humasx AMMWIIJ

 

 

 

H.n mmoum mm<qu mHHmomzoo

Amv amuse consume use

«a «Human

 

 

 

 

afi mumwefiamu AWN AwV mo Hmwmcmz usnbowsmmm
. ca unvafiamu

mmmaafi> u=a>op=mmm
cw Havaaamu

.ue sHewoom
.uaqmvawem>mn
aw mumuafiamn

 

m N some assemznueooeuonemamz
o N on: Hamamuumeamsom
o.e unmacuo>oollaoaumm=ooo
o m asumwamxluoummc

211

follow caste restrictions on interdining and dietary restrictions.
(She was, in fact, the only middle-aged woman I encountered who
continued to follow old rules.) Her family once took a vow against
eating chicken and eggs (in addition to beef). The Judge's wife
will not eat these foods herself or allow them in her house. She is
aware that her family does not adhere to these rules outside the
home.

As the Judge serves as one of the male cultural elite and his
wife as a cultural leader for town women, so their children serve as
social and cultural leaders for the Bhadralok youth of Mahishadal.
They are involved in every major cultural undertaking in the town,
and are the leaders of most of the youth organizations. Her sons
attending college in Calcutta returned to Mahishadal to direct an
evening of Bengali folk music, presenting a series of old boatmen's
songs (they learned these from radio broadcasts). They organized
parades for Independence Day and Netaji's Birthday. They were the
most ardent and persistent of the fund-raisers for the annual
festival of Saraswati, Goddess of Learning and Music.

Someone from the Judge's family is involved in every major
social and cultural institution that exists in the town of
Mahishadal. They actively campaigned to establish the local
literary association, to help found the local libraries, and the
Girls' College. They are active participants in a fund-raising
drive to maintain local shrines and monuments. They are far from
wealthy, yet are universally accorded elite status. They show all
of the qualities of the Bhadralok described by Broomfield, but

differ from the Transient Elite in their strong tie to Mahishadal

212
town as their home.

The Old Teacher: The Old Teacher, now retired, formerly taught

 

Sanskrit at the Raj High School. He lives in a large brick house
across from the Palace Compound, around a corner form the High
School. His family has been in Mahishadal for three generations
(Figure 15), since his grandfather was brought by the Rajas to teach
Sanskrit and Hindu law. The Old Teacher's family has specialized
in religious scholarship for several generations. His father and
grandfather were awarded honorary titles for their scholarly
achievements in Sanskrit. The family has a Bengal-wide reputation.
The Old Teacher's FaSi was married to one of the Chief Managers of
the Raj Estate, an East Bengali Brahman from another family
regionally known. The Old Teacher's wife is the daughter of another
well-known Sanskrit scholar, but with the Old Teacher's generation,
men of the family began to enter secular occupations. Most are now
engaged in Class I occupations and are members of the Transient
Elite.

The Old Teacher is a very respected member of town society.
His youngest son is still in Mahishadal, a student in high school.
A second son is attending college in Calcutta, and a third is
employed outside and has his wife and children living with him. His
daughter has married a Calcutta man. The Old Teacher is officially
retired, but continues to take an active interest in the Raj High
School. He is a member ofthe Elite Men's Club, and active in all
the social and cultural institutions supported by the Judge's

family.

 

 

213

Figure 15

The Old Teacher (D)

Caste-~Rarhi Sreni Brahman 4.0
Occupation--Professiona1 4.0 COMPOSITE CLASS SCORE 3.9
Housing--Large Brick 3.5
Neighborhood-~Main Road 4.0
(bari was Bhatpara) Specialist

ommcnw>

in Hindu Law (Mahishadal)

Manager Sanskrit 4x Professor of
of Raj teacher Sanskrit
Estate (Mahishadal) ‘ (Calcutta)

(Mahishadal)

A M 09
AMOS/Zip

 

 

 

 

Husband is military officer (transferable)
Husband is priest

Husband is in Railways service (transferable)
Sanskrit teacher (Mahishadal)

Husband in service (Calcutta)

Student in Calcutta

Service in Chandanagore, Hooghly

..

 

‘EZLLMH

 

214

Both the Old Teacher and the Judge were included in the list of
"Knowledgeable People" drawn up by the Tutor's family. None of the
Transient Elites were included in the list, but some of the new
settlers from East Bengal have been accepted as local people by the

Tutor's family and Mahishadal at large.

The East Bengali Settlers

 

Of the fifty-four Bhadralok caste families encountered,
thirty-five are originally from East Bengal (the area now included in
Bangladesh). This number is probably an underestimation of the true
number of high caste East Bengalis living in the town. One wealthy
Kayastha family of East Bengal origin retains property in the bazar
area but permanently resides in Calcutta and were not included in
the Household Survey. One elderly Kayastha widow, poverty stricken,
supports herself by renting rooms to students. A number of single
men of Bhadralok castes living in the hostels of the town are
probably of East Bengal origin.

Most of the East Bengali Bhadralok are members of the Transient
Elite. Although there may be some East Bengali Old Gentry families
residing in outlying villages, only two such families live in the
town. Another seven families have permanently settled in Mahishadal.
They originally came in the course of employment purposes, but have
since purchased house plots and constructed brick homes in the town.
Other families appear to be in the process of permanently settling
in Mahishadal, living permanently in rented quarters, while
acquiring the means to purchase house plots and build homes of their

own. About twelve households appear to be potential settlers. The

r
‘ J
. 1.-.. A
.

 

‘F'
we

 

215

other East Bengal Bhadralok appear to be transients. There are five
single person households among the thirty-five of East Bengal Origin.
Two of these are made up of young unmarried males in first employment,
who are economically members of natal families with homes in other
towns. Three of the single person households are single person for
employment purposes, composed of males who have left their wives and
children in homes elsewhere.

The East Bengali Bhadralok face a special problem which is not
shared by Bhadralok from other parts of Bengal. With Partition and
the creation of Pakistan in 1947, East Bengali Bhadralok were cut off
from landed estates and ancestral homes. All of the Bhadralok
continue to exhibit a pattern of service orientation that developed
during the 19th century, when expansion of British power in India
meant the opening up of jobs in areas more and more distant from a
family's home. The Bhadralok developed a flexibility with regard to
place of residence, a flexibility demanded by the necessities of
employment. By the mid-19th century, many Bhadralok families had
ceased to be residentially joint units, although in many cases
dispersed families continued to exist as coparcenary units. For
several generations the young men of Bhadralok families, particularly
those of East Bengal, have been venturing far from ancestral villages
to take up positions in government, zamindari administration, and the
professions. For most of the year, the family home in the ancestral
village, housed a skeletal fragment of the c0parcenary joint family,
which was residentially dispersed in basically nuclear units ‘
wherever family members were employed. The ancestral home was more

of a "headquarters" than an actual place of residence. Family

216

members converged on the ancestral home for annual celebrations such
as Durga Puja, and for life-cycle rituals such as weddings, death
rites, and commemorative ceremonies. Despite the fact that the very
mobile elite rarely lived there, then, their "home" (2333) was very
important to the continued existence of family ties. It is precisely
those families who, with the creation of Pakistan, lost their
ancestral homes that are today most likely to view Mahishadal town

as a potential settling place.

Six of the seven successful settler families show similar
histories of arrival in Mahishadal town. The seventh household was
brought by one of the other six, through bonds of family friendship
that existed in the ancestral village in East Bengal. There appears
to be a sequence for settling in Mahishadal. Successful settlers
arrived in mid-career. (They now vary in age from around 53 to over
70.) Most had fathers who were professionals or government officials,
and some had grandfathers so employed. All come from wealthy
zamindar families, but lost their land at Partition. Three settlers
arrived in Police Service, two came to teach in the High School and
one came as a college professor. All of these men come from families
well established in the professions and Government service-_brothers
are following similar occupations and are widely dispersed in various
towns and cities of West Bengal and North India. Most of the settlers
now have sons established in similar high prestige occupations,

employed in other towns and cities.

The Old Police Inspector: The Old Police Inspector lives in a

 

compact brick bungalow of modern design, located on the tiny house

217

plot he has purchased near the Palace Compound. He lives with his

wife and youngest child, a daughter who is a school teacher in the

Girls' High School. Six sons have left home. Two are students at

outside universities and three sons are employed outside. A sixth

son has been "disowned," after he went against his father's wishes

and married a girl of Brahman caste. Two married daughters live in
cities outside.

The Old Police In5pector came to Midnapore District in
Government service in 1942, and was posted to Mahishadal in 1950.
He retired a few years later. His family has been engaged in
Class I occupations for several generations (Figure 16). His
grandfather was Manager for a Raj Estate, his father was with the
Police, and his uncles also worked outside. A brother in Calcutta
is a physician.

The Old Police Inspector shows the typical pattern of the
successful East Bengali settler. When his landed property and

ancestral home were lost at Partition, he was already involved in a

long and successful career. He reached Mahishadal at the peak of his

Police career, and Spent several years in rented quarters while
saving the money to buy land and build a house. His elder sons were
already entering college when he came.

The Old Police Inspector is clearly a permanent resident of
Mahishadal. He has been elected to the panchayat representing his
village, and is an active leader in town cultural and social
activities. Members of the Old Gentry families view him as equal in
social status, and his clear focus on Mahishadal as the new bari_

distinguishes him from the other East Bengali Police Officials who

 

fifn

 

218

Figure 16

The Old Police Inspector (A)

Caste--Kayastha 3.0
Occupation-~Government 4.0 COMPOSITE CLASS SCORE 3.4
Housing--Small Brick 3.0
Neighborhood--Wide Path 3.0
Manager of zamindar
Raj Estate (Fariopur Dt.)

(bari was
Barisal Dt.)

T
‘ Pleader ovt
élggwm lice zamindar
A ork é; (Barisal Dt.)
? " " gbari__/
(Calcutta)

(Chattra, “magi-3: A AA
9997A A A A A9 A9

Police Inspector, retired (Mahishadal)
Husband in service (Calcutta)
Husband in service (Calcutta)
Teacher in Mahishadal

Student in Calcutta

Student in Bisnupur

Service in Calcutta

Air Force officer (transferable)
Service in Purvlia

"Disowned" after making inter-caste
marriage. Class I Occupation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

hHmmmmonw>

219

are transients. While they are referred to by local people in
terms of their official position, he is referred to by name. He is

included in the list of "Knowledgeable People" drawn up by the tutor's

 

family.
I§g_fligh5chool Teacher: The High School Teacher, in his late P}

forties, lives with his wife and four children in a small rented
brick cottage near the town hospital. He has purchased a house plot

and built a brick house. This house is presently rented out to a

 

"W ,_ . .

Transient Elite family.

The High School Teacher came to Mahishadal in 1951, when he was
just starting his career. His family and that of his wife were
zamindars in East Bengal and presently members of the family are
living in West Bengal, where they are in service and in professions.
His eldest daughter has completed college and is now teaching
school in Mahishadal.

The High School Teacher, like the Old Police Inspector, is
thought of as a Mahishadal resident. He is a member of the Elite
Men's Club, and is a prominent participant in all the cultural
activities of the town. He is also included among the "Knowledgeable

People."

The Philosophy Professor: The Philosophy Professor, author of two
books, lives in a tiny mud and thatch rented house on the Rath Tala.
He came to Mahishadal in 1950 to teach in the newly established Raj
College. The Philosophy Professor is from a landless East Bengali
Bhadralok family, and has no relatives living in other places. He

has six children, including three daughters, and it is the need to

kw 4“.

 

220

educate his sons in Calcutta and provide his daughters with both a
college education and adequate dowries that has prevented him from
purchasing property in Mahishadal. It is clear that the Philosophy
Professor views Mahishadal as his permanent home, and is thought of
as a town resident. In his sixties, the Professor is worried about
his age and the possibility that bad health might force him into
retirement before he can provide his family with a real home. His
eldest son has just entered employment as an engineer, but he is
working in Goa on the weSt coast of India, and will not be able to
contribute to the family income for some time. His recent marriage
to a girl of Goldsmith caste has greatly upset his Rarhi Brahman
father, who had looked forward to heading a large joint family in his
old age. He feels that the intercaste marriage would make it
difficult for his wife and daughter-in-law to get along.

The Old Professor is widely known and greatly reSpected in
Mahishadal. Allowance is made for the poverty that prevents him
from providing the proper housing for his family, and his decision
to educate his sons first and buy a home later is thought to be the
proper one. The Philosophy Professor is one of the men whose advice

is sought in planning cultural events in the town. He is one of the

founding members of the religious group that built the large Meeting

Hall where a library is maintained, and is very actively involved in

the program of lectures at the Ashram near the town. Despite his

present poverty, he is highly respected in the town. He, too, is

among the group of "Knowledgeable People."

The Headmaster: The Headmaster's family is one of three Baidya

 

\F
‘2'. 3

 

221

households in the town. The Headmaster lives in a small brick house
owned by the Raja, and located near the Raj High School.
The Headmaster's family home was in Chittagong District, near

Burma (Figure 17). Both grandfathers were zamindars with large

 

landholdings, but every man in his father's generation had a career
of some kind. The household in Mahishadal reflects the disruption
that Partition caused for the Headmaster's family. He lives in a
collateral joint family that includes the family of a sister, as
well as the family of a brother. His brother, a military officer,
works outside. His sister and her husband are outside because of
employment, but their younger children remain in Mahishadal. Two
other brothers reside in other towns. The Headmaster's son and his
sister's eldest son have finished college and are working away from
home.

The Headmaster's family came to Mahishadal in 1953, when he was
made Assistant Headmaster of the Raj High School. The collateral.
extensions Of the family developed in response to the economic crisis
caused by Partition, when the family lost b§£i_and lands and became
completely dependent upon employment for income. Living in
Mahishadal is considerably cheaper than living in larger towns and
major cities. Since the Headmaster's position was the most permanent
of all the brothers, his home has become the new bari_for this
displaced family. Even though his family lives in a rented house,
the Headmaster is considered a permanent Mahishadal resident and is
an active member of the Elite Men's Club and a leader in most of the

town's cultural activities.

These East Bengali households are the most successful of those

222

Figure 17

The Headmaster (I)

Caste--Baidya 3.0
0ccupation--Professional 4.0 COMPOSITE CLASS SCORE 3.6
Housing--Small Brick 3.0
Neighborhood--Main Road 4,0

zamindar
4X (Chi ttagong Dt .)

A AA DA A A

(:96 A. .A 1A
(M) O

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Surveyor (Chittagong)

Postal service (Burma)

Tea Garden manager (Assam)
Doctor (Chittagong)

Postmaster (Chittagong)

Doctor (Chittagong)

Railway service (transferable).
Family stays in Mahishadal.
Military service (transferable)
Family stays in Mahishadal.
Headmaster of Raj High School (Mahishadal)
Railway service (transferable)
Teacher (Calcutta)

Service (transferable)

Service (Calcutta)

: nnmcnm>

Zr'xc-u-t

 

223

in the process of making Mahishadal the new bar_i_. The structure of
the Headmaster's household illustrates a continuation of the
residential pattern characteristic of Bhadralok families for several
generations. Bhadralok men are highly mobile. The first degree
relatives of East Bengalis in Mahishadal link town families with
mostlnajor towns and cities in Bengal, distant parts of India and
even Africa, Australia, and Europe. The nature of a family's ties
with'the outside tend to reflect the degree to which that family has
settled in Mahishadal. Those families with sons and daughters
elsewhere tend to be permanently settled in the town. These
household heads are at the peak of long careers begun outside
Mahishadal or are retired. Families whose ties to the outside are
through brothers are usually transient, with permanent family
headquarters elsewhere. Heads of these households are young and
middle-aged, in the middle phase of an elite career. In a few
cases;, collateral joint households with Mahishadal as headquarters
are residentially dispersed for employment purposes. The few cases
where ties to the outside are fathers or fathers' brothers represent
young households, the new generation of Bhadralok transients that
has enmrged in the last decade. These East Bengali households have

usually established new baris outside of Mahishadal, usually in

Calcutta.

THE PASCIMA BRAHMANS

The eighteen families of Pascima Brahmans now living in
Mahishadal are the remnants of a power group that is in rapid decline.

Originally from the area of Allahabad in North India, and speakers

224

of Hindi rather than Bengali, the Pascima Brahmans include the
Rajas and their relatives and a few immigrant gentry families once
closely associated with the Raj Estate Administration. Always a
small population in terms of number, the Pascima Brahman elite group
has faced a special problem in Mahishadal. They have been separated
from the Bengalis they lived among by their language and their
cultural differences, their caste endogamy, and their adherance to
the strict system of rules regarding caste interaction characteristic
of their North Indian homeland. In Mahishadal their power has been
in their recognized high caste status (Brahman) which was enhanced
by actual or claimed kinship ties to the.Raj family, and by their
secure positions within the administrative service of the Raj
Estate. Zamindari Abolition undermined their special position. The
fact that they were members of the Raja's caste and potential or
actual relatives of the Royal family no longer counts. Most of the
Pascima Brahman elite have established permanent homes in Mahishadal,
and now comprise a small part of the Upper Class (Composite Class
Score 309.02). For most Pascima Brahmans the degree to which they
have succeeded in becoming accepted as local people varies directly
with the degree to which they have shed distinct cultural differences
and "become Bengali."

The Pascima Brahmans today can be divided into three categories:
The Rajas and their close relatives, the Old Gentry families who have
had a long association with the Raj Estate, and a few commoner
families who were employed in the lower positions of Estate

administration. The latter appear to be descended from individuals

who drifted to the Mahishadal area in hope of gaining employment.

 

 

225

Although the Hindusthani commoners often claim a special tie to
the Royal establishment, in reality they share only caste identity.

They are not elites in Mahishadal.

The Raj Relatives

 

The Pascima Brahman gentry families of Mahishadal are Sororia
Kanauj Brahmans. All claim to be related to the Raj family, although
the present Raja acknowledges only two families as actual close
relatives. Both of these families are headed by cousins of the
present Raja.

One related family is headed by the present Raja's MoSiSo. This
family has settled in an interior village, and family members do not
engage in much interaction with the main Raj family or with the town.
It was not possible to visit their home to collect a detailed
genealogy.

This family was until recently a lineal-collateral joint family
in terms of both residence and property holding, but recently has
divided its property. Of the eight brothers, seven continue to
reside in the family home, supported by income from their large
landholdings. An eighth brother has married the daughter of the Raj
of Malda and now resides there. Four daughters of the family are
married to Pascima Brahmans who live in West Bengal.

The second family related to the Rajas has been in Mahishadal
since 1885, when a young man was brought from North India as the
future husband of the Raja's sister (the FaSi to the present Raj).
The boy was educated by the Mahishadal Raj family and, in time, the

marriage ceremony was performed. The couple settled in the nearby

 

‘. u
‘1

 

226

village of Rambag, near a large temple constructed by the Rani Janaki
a century earlier. For a short time the head of the Rambag household
served as Manager of the Raj Estate (this position has been given to
affinal relatives several times in the history of the Estate). An
enormous palace was constructed by the couple in Rambag. Built of
red brick with turrets and towers, it is said that the palace was
constructed in imitation of a country estate shown in a British
magazine.

The Raj family and the Raj relatives today hold land in excess
of the twenty-five acre ceiling set in land reform measures enacted
by the State of West Bengal. They have been able to retain this
land legally, by claiming that although they have been residents in
Bengal for several generations, they are still culturally North

Indian and are thus entitled to follow the Mitakshara property system

 

common in North India. Under the Mitakshara system, father and sons

 

are entitled to hold a property share (in West Bengal a maximum of
twenty-five acres) from birth. Under the Dayabhag property system of
Bengal, the father holds all rights to family property until his
death or until it is legally divided. A joint family under this
system is limited to a common holding of twenty-five acres. In

support of their claim to adherance to the Mitakshara system of their

 

homeland, the Raj family and relatives employ only Hindusthani
Brahmans to perform their life-cycle ceremonies. (A family of
Hindusthani pandits was brought by the Rajas a century ago: they were
given a brammottar land grant, and today reside in Geonkhali.)

The Raja's cousin in Rambag (FaSiSo) is today karta or legal

 

 

227

head of a lineal-collateral joint family. Formerly this family held
over 2000 bighas of land. Today they claim their holding is only
150 bighas of land, certainly an underestimate. -

In terms of marriage the Rajas and their relatives are allied
with other high status families at great distances. Among the
existant marriage ties are some as far away as Bombay, and several
in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh states. However, in all the marriages
recorded since 1600, the Rajas have made only three marriages with
Bengalis. All other marriages have been with families of Kanauj
Brahman caste.

The coparcenary joint Rambag family, like the Raj family
itself, and like many of the settled Bhadralok families of the town,
is residentially dispersed. Young men from the Rambag family work
in Calcutta, but their wives and children remain in Rambag most of
the time. Two of the three living coparceners of the main Raj
household reside regularly in Calcutta, where the Estate holds
property, but return frequently to Mahishadal. The present Raja,
karta_of the coparcenary family, resides in Mahishadal. The men of
the main Raj family and those of related families are employed in
Class I occupations, although all three families derive considerable
income from their property holdings. In addition to sizeable
amounts of agricultural land, this property includes urban real

estate and business concerns in Calcutta and other cities.

The Old Gentry

 

The Accountant: The Raja's Accountant, about 60 years old, lives in

 

a large traditional style mud and thatch house behind the Palace

 

228

Compound. He is part of a kin-aggregate that presently includes
three closely related households, and has marriage connections with
other Pascima Brahman Gentry in the locality. The Accountant's
family traces its local history back to 1850, when a "brother" of
the adopted Raja Lachman Prasad came to Mahishadal to enter the
EState service. This was the great-grandfather of the Accountant.
_The family was given a grant of land and a house plot near the rear
gate of the Palace Compound. For four generations this family has
provided office staff for the Raj Estate (Figure 18). In the present
generation four brothers served as Estate clerks and accountants,
while a fifth left Mahishadal to become a monk. Two surviving
brothers and a son now comprise the total office staff maintained by
the Raja, while other family members have found similar employment in
government offices outside the town. One young man has become a
teacher.

The Accountant makes two claims of kinship ties to the Royal
family. One is by claiming that the ancestor who came from North
India was a "brother" of the Raja. Another connection is traced
through the Accountant's wife, who claims to be a "sister" to the
Raja (MoSiDa to the present Raja and FaSiDa to the head of the
Rambag family). The Raja denies any knowledge of real ties of
kinship with the Accountant's family.

The Accountant has been one of the Pascima Brahmans who has
been extremely successful in assimilation into Mahishadal society.
He is a member of the Elite Men's Club and is an active participant
in town cultural life. He has succeeded in becoming 'Bengali,'

wearing formal Bengali dress frequently and using Bengali as the main

 

“\-

229

Figure 18

The Accountant (A)

Caste--Pascima Brahman 4
Occupation--White-Collar Salaried 4. COMPOSITE CLASS SCORE 3.2
Housing--Large mud house 2

2

Neighborhood--Medium path
T ........

010100

1

Palace. Brother to Raja
[25. Clerk came to Mahishadal

Pal ac A
Clerk
Palace
Raja Clerk

 

 

 

 

Occupations of Males

Occupations of Husbands

 

A Accountant in Palace (Mahishadal) 1. Judge (Calcutta)
2. Government Official

B Clerical work (Calcutta) (Calcutta)
3. Clerk (Calcutta)
C Clerk in Palace (Mahishadal) 4. Ayurvedic physician

 

(village in Midnapore Dt.)
D Clerk in Palace (Mahishadal)

E Clerical work (outside)
F Clerical work (outside)
G Clerical work (outside)

H Teacher (Mahishadal)

230

language in his home and in everyday activity. The Accountant's
family has not, however, intermarried with Bengali Brahmans. Most of
the marriages have been made with families in Bengal, but only with
Pascima Brahmans of North Indian extraction. The Accountant is
regarded as a local man: he is included in the list of "Knowledgeable

People."

The Hindusthani: The Hindusthani is the eldest male in a Pascima

 

Brahman Old Gentry kin-aggregate with its residential base near the
Polaoe. There are four closely-related households in this
kin-aggregate, and they also share marriage ties with other Pascima
Brahman Gentry families in the town.

The Hindusthani is the third generation of his family to be in.
Mahishadal, but the family is no longer in the employ of the Raja.

Older men of the kin-aggregate live on the income from their

agricultural land, which was given to their immigrant ancestor as a
service grant. Younger men have found office positions in Mahishadal

town.

The families of the Hindusthani's kin-aggregate still retain
their foreign status. The older people still speak only Hindi in
their household, although the young men are now fluent in Bengali.
The kin-aggregate makes most of its marriages with families still
resident in North India, although there have been a few local
marriages (Figure 19).

The families of Old Gentry described are the most prominent of
the Pascima Brahman families in the town. The population of Pascima

Brahmans in the Mahishadal area is large enough for an intricate

Caste--Pascima Brahman
Occupation--"Homework"
Housing--Large mud house
Neighborhood--Medium path

231

Figure 19

The Hindusthani (A)

NN-fih
(“MOO

COMPOSITE CLASS SCORE 3.2

 

A A A9

(Stayed Banda Dt. U. P. )

Palace clerk
(Mahishadal)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Occupations of Males in

 

Kin-Aggregate l

mmmcnw>

zamindar (Mahish adfi)
zamindar (returned to U.P.)

Clerk (Mahishadal)

Teacher (Mahishadal)
Clerk (Mahishadal)

macaw

 

Occupations of Affinal Relatives

Fa in service (Inter-caste
marriage)

Fa zamindar (Rambag)
FaminUHP

Fa business owner in U.P.
Fa zamindar (Rambag),

*All husbands zamindars in Uttar Pradesh District

Ca1_ a .‘_'-.JH ‘ I'

A:
a...-

 

\

232

network of marriage ties to have developed. Some of the existant
affinal ties are shown in Figure 20.

The Hindusthani Brahmans share with the Bhadralok the problem
of achieving assimilation into the local population. One of the
problems facing the 01d Gentry of both groups has been that their
caste affiliation and recruitment from different linguistic and
cultural regions meant that, in the past, social interaction between

Pascima Brahman and Bhadralok was largely interaction in a professional

capacity. Little social life developed that involved families of

 

both groups. Although they shared economic and political interests
that focused on Mahishadal, their language and culture, and their
kinship and marriage ties gave them a strong emotional orientation
to homelands far away. The Mahishya Gentry families have never
faced this problem of conflict of interest between home and family
and employment. For the Mahishya Gentry, economic interest,
political interests, and kinship and marriage ties all have
centered on Mahishadal town and the immediate locality. They did
not have to become "local" to maintain a position in town society

after the demise of the Raj Estate.

THE MAHISHYAS

The growing urban orientation of the local Mahishya caste
respresents the development of new ideas and values by members of
this cultivating caste. They are beginning to share the values of
the Bhadralok who have been urban oriented for several generations.

The 160 Mahishya households in the Household Survey display

extreme diversity in class status when compared to the much smaller

 

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234

groups of Bhadralok and Pascima Brahman households. Mahishya
families in the town range from very poor to extremely wealthy. They
live in housing of all kinds, from tiny one-room mud and thatch huts
to large modern brick homes with private gardens enclosed by walls.

In terms of occupation, Mahishyas are unskilled laborers, cultivators,
artisans, shopkeepers, doctors, teachers, college professors,

and large landowners.

The Mahishya residents of the town, however, show a definite
urban orientation in terms of their occupation. Roughly half of the
Mahishya households received income from the urban oriented
occupations of the town (51 were in Class I Occupations and 32 were
in Class II Occupations). This contrasts sharply with the pattern
shown by the Bhadralok and Pascima Brahmans, where virtually all
households received income from Class I Occupations.

In discussing the Mahishya Elite, we face a more difficult
problem than in dealing with the Bhadralok and Pascima Brahmans, who
entered the locality in elite status. The Mahishya Elite contains
several sub-groups which are today blending together to make up a
large Upper-Middle Class that shows both the Bhadralok ethos and a
bazar orientation that reflects close ties with the prosperous
peasantry of the locality. The Mahishya caste has its Old Gentry,
associated with the Raj Estate. It also has a category not

encountered in the elite groups previously discussed, the Bazar Elite.
Mahishya Old Gentry

The Mahishya Old Gentry, like those of other castes, base their

elite status on a long history of association with the Raj Estate.

235

There are only a few households of the town which fall into the
category of Old Gentry, and their families are extremely important in
the town today. They have emerged as the natural leaders of
contemporary Mahishadal town because they are both Bhadralok in

life-style and Mahishya (local people) in background.

The Administrators: The families in the kin-aggregate known as "The

 

Administrators" (Figure 21) appear to be members of the local
Mahishya aristocracy displaced when the North Indian Rajas gained
control of the area. The ten Administrator households are clustered
at the far end of the Rath Tala, near Masir Bari ("MoSi House"), the
structure that houses the gods during the period of the Rath festival.

The Administrator families have a written genealogy that traces
their history back to the late 18th century and the reign of Rani
Janaki. This Rani was famed for her temple founding. The founder
of the Administrator families came to Mahishadal from the Kingdom of
Kasijora to the north. The family appears to have been established
in the administration of the Kasijora Estate, and when they moved to
Mahishadal, became established in the Mahishadal Estate. The family
brought with them their patron diety. They received two grants of
land from Rani Janaki. One grant of land was made to the family
itself, and the other was a devottar grant made to support worship
of the deity housed in a household shrine. The details of the land
grants were recorded and the deed has been carefully preserved by
the Administrator families.

Men of the Administrator families have supplied the clerks who

recorded land transactions for three generations. In the past they

{5%
A

The Administrators:

AA AAA

Students

Occ ations -

All are zamindars

Rice mill owner

Landholder
and

mcnw>

Occupations of Affinal Relatives

Service in Calcutta

business investment

HID?!

7<

 

l MoFa zamindar

2 FaSiHu Govt Engineer
A+B 3 SiHu Doctor

4 zamindar

S zamindar

6 WiFa Business

7 WiFa Doctor
C,D l MoFa Raj Relation of

Tamluk Rajas

E,F 2 SiHu Business

3 SiHu Landholder

4 WiFa Landholder

5 WiFa Landholder

6 DaHu Teacher

7 DaHu Clerk

8 DaHu Headmaster

9 DaHu Teacher

10 DaHu Service

11,1

Figure 21

Main Families

:2: Founder

Physician in Calcutta

Deed writer in Registry Office
Clerk (retired)

Landholder and business
investment

Engineer

1 MoFa Landholder
2 WiFa Landholder
3 SiHu Landholder
4 SiHu Landholder
5 SiHu Landholder
6 SiHu Rice Mill
7 SiHu Homeopathic Doctor
1 MoFa Homework

2 WiFa Doctor

3 WiFa Lawyer

4 SiHu Teacher

5 SiHu Teacher

6 SiHu Teacher

7 SiHu Landholder
8 DaHu Teacher

9 DaHu Doctor

237

were employed in the Raj Administration. Today they are employed in
Government offices. Although most of the devottar grant was lost at
Zamindari Abolition, the Administrator families continue to hold
considerable amounts of land. Today they are diversifying their
interest, entering business and the professions. One family member
is a physician in Calcutta. (He did his residency in America.) He
is currently financing the construction of a new modern brick temple
to house the family deity. Another man owns the local rice mill.
Together the Administrator families control considerable bazar
property and are active in town and regional politics.

The Mahishya Old Gentry families, like the Old Gentry families
of other castes, base their elite status on their past in the
locality. The Administrator families have three things in their
past history which justify their inclusion in the town elite. First
is their status as aristrocracy within the local Mahishya caste, as
reflected in past marriages with the Mahishya Rajas of Tamluk.
Second is their history of association with the administration of the
Mahishadal Raj Estate. The third element that supports their claims
to elite status is their right, granted in the past, to provide the
conch shell used in the marriage ceremonies of the Mahishadal Rajas.

Weddings are performed in Masir Bari, the pavilion adjacent to the

 

houses occupied by Administrator families.

The Raja's Doctor: The Raja’s Doctor, the last official Medical

 

Officer for the Mahishadal Raj Estate, lives with his family in a
large brick house just off the Rath Tala. He maintains a separate

brick building to house his office and provide space for private

238

patients to stay should they need prolonged treatment.

The Raja's Doctor is a first generation town resident but from
a local gentry family long resident in an isolated village along the
northwestern border of the old Raj Estate, where they have served as
zamindars for the Rajas for several generations. The Raja's Doctor
came to Mahishadal to serve the Raj Estate, and has established a
very successful private practice in the town. His daughter is
married to the most prominent Mahishya leader in the locality, the
descendant of the only Mahishya Chief Manager of the Raj Estate. The
Raja's Doctor's five brothers have remained in their ancestral village,
where they maintain the family land and also are entering new
occupations (Figure 22).

The Raja's Doctor's sons have joined the Transient Elite. One
son is a judge and one is a college professor. Both reside outside
the town, but consider Mahishadal (rather than the ancestral village)
home. Past generations were elites with landholding as an
occupation. Education for careers began with the Raja's Doctor's
generation.

The family of the Raja's Doctor ranks as one of the most highly
respected in the town, and are treated as equals by the Bhadralok
and Pascima Brahman Old Gentry families. The Doctor himself is a
frequent visitor to the Palace, where he is a close associate of the
Raja. He is a major source of information to the Raja about the
growing town that the Raja rarely visits. Members of the Doctor's
family are active in all major social and cultural undertakings.
They support all town cultural institutions, and led the movement

for the establishment of the Girls' College. They contribute funds

239

Figure 22

The Raja's Doctor (I)

Caste--Mahishya
Occupation--Professional
Housing--Large Brick
Neighborhood--Road

COMPOSITE CLASS SCORE 3.6

(NM->0)
010109

zamindar
(bari Rajnagar village)

\ A/
.‘\J
zamindars

ibari)

éééé

 

 

 

 

 

 

m[>—
[:>,__
(>__

 

 

Husband is zamindar
Husband is zamindar and businessman
Husband is zamindar and music teacher

All are zamindars in bari, E also teacher

The Raja's Doctor (Mahishadal)

"The Leader", zamindar in Mahishadal
Judge (Tamluk)

Professor (Contai town)

FXQO-‘ICI'TJPUD,CW>

240

and leadership to the numerous drives to repair and maintain local
shrines and monuments, and to maintain and enhance the image of the
'town in the wider region. What characterizes their cultural activity
is its distinctive focus on Mahishadal in particular, rather than
Bengali culture in general. In this they show their Mahishya caste
background: Mahishya Gentry cultural life is characterized by
geographic chauvanism in its expression of the generalized Bhadralok

ethos.

The Leader: The Leader is the son-in-law of the Raja's Doctor.

 

About forty-five years of age, he would almost certainly be elected
"Mayor of Mahishadal" if such a position existed. The Leader lives
in a very large brick home, surrounded by a walled courtyard,
directly across from the main gate of the Palace Compound. In his
large front yard is a thoroughbred watchdog, a gift from the Bazar
Doctor who lives across the canal.

The Leader's family has been associated with‘the Mahishadal Raj
Estate for seven generations, when an ancestor gained control of a
cluster of villages southeast of the present town (Figure 23). The
family has resided in its present town home since 1890, when the
Leader's grandfather was appointed Chief Manager of the Raj Estate,
the first and the last Mahishya to hold that position.

According to the present Raja, the few years of Mahishya
management was a period of turmoil, when some tenants refused to pay
their rents. It was thought that appointing a Mahishya manager
might enhance the view of the foreign Raj Estate in the eyes of the

local population. Unfortunately, the Leader's ancestor was not able

Iflm‘mm In“:
I ‘ 'I' . _.'

‘; “EL-..

241

Figure 23

The Leader (F)

Caste--Mahishya
0ccupation-—"Homework"
Housing-~Very Large Brick
Neighborhood-—Main Road

COMPOSITE CLASS SCORE 3.8

Jib-ADJ
COCO

zamindar
(bari, Deulpota village
Sutahata P.S.)

 

 
 
  
  
 
  
 

Manager, Raj Estate
(Mahishadal)

zamindar and ' ' A The Raja's Doctor
Manager of family estate, . ' (Mahishadal)
l . . g -

 
 
  

 

 

 

  

Students

W

A} Husband is zamindar

U

Husband is businessman (Howrah city)
zamindar + business interests
zamindar + business interests
Teacher

n-nmn

242

to bring stability back to the locality. During a scuffle with
tenants, the Chief Manager was stabbed. He survived the attack, but
left his position as Manager and was replaced by a Bengali Brahman,
one of the many Transient Elite men who served the Estate.

The Leader's family has maintained its control of vast amounts
of land and until the present younger generation, men of this family
have refrained from entering professions or occupations, and have
been content to manage the family estate from a home office. The
Leader and his brother, who have a joint household, are both
prominent in local politics. The Leader has been elected head of

one of the multi-village panchayats. In addition, the brothers have

 

invested heavily in the Mahishadal bazar. They own several large
brick buildings and control several business concerns which are run
by employees. The Leader is very involved in town life. He is

a member of virtually all important groups. The President and
founder of the Elite Men's Club, he is also the founder of the
religious group that built the Meeting Hall. A zealous Mahishadal
promoter, he has been initiator of town improvement projects such as
the construction of the Martyr's Monument to honor the Freedom
Fighters who won India's independence. He is also, like his
father-in-law, one of the men who regularly meets with the Raja.

His family history gives him a secure position among the Old Gentry,
his caste membership gives him a stable position as a "local" man,
and his heavy investment in the bazar has given him a special place
among progressive townsmen, many of whom can match his wealth but

not his politically advantageous connections.

,_i;3’

 

243

The Bazar Doctor: The Bazar Doctor's name is heard in the town bazar

 

as frequently as the Leader's. Almost eighty years old, the Bazar
Doctor owns more buildings than any other individual in the town.
Born to a prosperous Mahishya cultivator family in a village near
Tamluk, he and a brother were successful in moving from rural to
urban Spheres. While other men of his family remained landholders
on a moderate scale, he and his brother attended school and college
and took up residence in growing towns. His brother became a very
successful lawyer in the Sub-Divisional Courts of Tamluk town, and
married one of the daughters of the Administrator kin-aggregate

of Mahishadal.

A half—century ago, the Bazar Doctor moved to Mahishadal to set
up a medical practice. He already owned some land in the vicinity
of the town, and was very skillful at investment. He purchased land
in what has become the town center, and erected buildings for rental
purposes. He built houses on land outside of the main bazar area,
and rented them out, reinvesting his profits continuously. Today
the Bazar Doctor owns numerous buildings in the bazar and spread out
in outlying neighborhoods, and maintains several large hostels for
college boys. Although most of his buildings are of mud, rather than
brick, they still yield considerable income, and can easily be torn
down when the Bazar Doctor decides to erect more costly brick
buildings.

The Bazar Doctor is ready to retire now, after educating eight
of his twelve children (the rest are still students). All but his

eldest daughters have gone through college. Two sons and a

244

daughter have received medical degrees, and their father was able to
send them to London for post-graduate study (Figure 24).

The Doctor's children and grandchildren are now moving into
employment in the town and outside. During fieldwork, his daughter
returned from London to join her father in medical practice. She
was so busy with her speciality, obstetrics and gynecology, that it
was impossible to interview her. Her brothers will probably return
to Mahishadal as well, and it is not unlikely that the family will
set up a nursing home (private hospital) in the town.

The Bazar Doctor's eldest son is acting as manager of the

family property, while following an avocation in art and architecture.

He has also inherited his father's keen interest in state and
national politics. Both have been candidates for Parliament (the
Bazar Doctor successfully), and both have shown political
flexibility: they have each been candidates for two different
parties, and once were competitors.

The son-in—law of the Bazar Doctor has moved to Mahishadal town
and lives in a large mud house near that of his father-in-law. He
decided to come to the town when his children reached school age.
The town offered good schools, medical facilities, and ample
opportunities for investment in business. His father was a village
zamindar holding considerable amounts of land, and the Bazar Doctor's
son-in-law has made considerable money in Mahishadal by investing
money (probably from sale of surplus agricultural land above the
land ceiling limit) and investing in transportation (a bus line) and
a rice husking mill. His brothers have remained in the home

village, but the Bazar Doctor's son-in-law has become a townsman.

 

‘4‘.

~. :3
.
I
A

1'" 7:.) _.

 

245

Figure 24

The Bazar Doctor (A)

Caste--Mahishya 3.0
Occupation--Professional 4.0 COMPOSITE CLASS SCORE 3.1
Housing--Large Mud 2.5
Neighborhood--Medium-Smal1 Path 2 0

zamindar
(bari,
Padam Khana zamindar
village) Administrators (bari,
family (Mahishadal)GourharipunégS

 

village, Contai)

A, A AA ? 9 AA

in bari"~““‘r-~——e A (bari

AAA AAQW

 

 

    
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Doctor (Mahishadal)

B "Homework" (Mahishadal)
C

D Students in Calcutta

E (return home weekends)
I

F

G Doctors in England

H

J Husband owns rice mill
K Owner of bus line (Mahishadal)
L Teacher (Mahishadal)

M Husband is zamindar

N Husband is doctor

 

 

‘E-

246

The Doctor's granddaughter, a music student of the Rajas, has
just completed her B.A. at the local college. She is following the
pattern shown by other women in the Old Doctor's family, and looking
for a teaching job.

The Bazar Doctor, then, has planned secure future for his large
family in Mahishadal. He has done this through shrewdness and a
flexible approach to living that has allowed him to take advantage
of situation that a traditional approach might not. His primary

goals have been economic and political, rather than the Bhadralok

 

ethos of status maintenance through proper life-style. After a
half-century in Mahishadal, the Bazar Doctor is finally building a
'proper' (large brick) house. It is to be an avant-garde building
for Mahishadal, designed by the son who studied architecture, and
the shell being constructed attracts much attention.

The Old Doctor has deviated considerably from the proper
Bhadralok approach to living. While expanding economic and
political power and providing for the future of his family by
educating his children, he has concentrated primarily on future
gratification in the form of recognition of social status. This
constitutes deviation from the Bhadralok ethos. His name is heard
frequently in the town, but the reference is as often derogatory as
flattering. He is said to be a miser, and a difficult landlord.
These complaints come from his renters, mainly members of the
Transient Elite. But it is also recognized that he is a good doctor
who has raised his children properly.

The Bazar Doctor does not fit into any of the traditional

categories -- he is not entirely a professional, a politician, a

247

businessman, or a zamindar. He occupies a position midway between

the Upper (largely Bhadralok) and Upper-Middle (Mahishya) classes of

the town. Because of his "country-boy" origin, he can approach
"town living" with a flexibility not open to the town elite with
their narrow Bhadralok ethos orientation. While members of the
Bhadralok and Pascima Brahman Old Gentry, now in economic distress,
make caustic remarks about a doctor who lets his family breed
chickens and hogs for sale to government processing plants, younger
members of his own caste, including those of Mahishya Gentry
families, admit that he has a head for financial success. The most
successful of the young businessmen who are forming the new
Upper-Middle Class of the town are those who have been able to
approach town opportunities with the same flexibility shown by the
Bazar Doctor. He is not accepted as a true equal by the Bhadralok
elite of the town, but is definitely considered Upper Class by the

Mahishya majority.

Bazar Elite

 

The Bazar Doctor stands at the juncture of two distinct
Mahishya elite groups in Mahishadal: the Old Gentry and the Bazar
Elite. The Mahishya Old Gentry are predominantly Upper Class
families with long histories in the locality, and some connection
with either the Mahishadal Raj Estate or other local rulers. The
Bazar Elite is a group that has developed independently, and its
orientation is not to Mahishadal as a royal center, but to the town
as the central place for the micro-region.

The men who are of the Bazar Elite generally fall within the

 

l

248

Upper-Middle Class in terms of Composite Class Score. They are the
nouveau riche, who are just now making a place for themselves in town
society. They are doing so in a manner that indicates that they are
not from the traditional Bhadralok class, and that they do not
completely share the values inherent in the ethos underlying the
distinctive Bhadralok life-style. The Bazar Elite tend to seek
physical manifestation of elite status before cultural manifestation.
They buy the large brick houses that are the Bhadralok ideal, but
spend money on housing before they spend money on education. They
are lagging in their scores on the Occupational Ranking Gradient, but
their money enables them to live in better housing and

neighborhoods than the established Old Gentry. They arrive at the
town with money, while still in the process of learning how it

should be 'pr0perly' spent.

The Contractor: The families of the Contractor kin-aggregate are

 

very powerful in the town bazar. There are five households in this

kin-aggregate, including two that are affinally related (Figure 25).
The Contractor headquarters is a huge brick house on Main Street, in
the heart of the bazar. This house was built before the family

shifted its residential base from a large village a mile from the

town. The present head of the kin-aggregate is a contractor, building

roads for the Haldia Port Project. His father was also a contractor,
and the family fortune was established before they moved to their new
town residence. They were town-oriented even before they left the
village. None of the women of the family was married to a

cultivator, but marriage ties include four businessmen, two

 

“If

I
(west.

249

 

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umcHonvcmH m

 

 

 

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xuosmaom < mmHz czou :H xavHu I
soochcm. area mHHmmmm xHHewm mo Howmcmz u
HvoonmEoczv xHoHu H m
mmochsm v m

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souooa H u

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HowHonwcwH mmoz mmochSm <
mo>HumHom Hmchm<.mo mCOHummmwoo. m annexe saucHawu HH< : mSOHuwmsooo

a? 3* «A A $04“ ea 88%

HmvamHnmz Ga pmwsfiamu

 

 

 

 

ommHHH> cH newcwewu.

 

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mummoymm<ncHx Houomhucoo och

mN masmHm

250

landholders, a doctor, and a teacher.

One of the Contractor households is headed by a SiHu to the
present head of the Contractor families. This man, separated from
his wife, is secretary of the Bazar Committee. His wife's brother
is President of this powerful council which runs the town. Several
younger brothers of the head of the Contractor families are employed
in the family firm, and one is a clerk. The Contractor kin-aggregate,
however, appears to be looking at employment and investment
Opportunities outside the Mahishadal locality. Six males are
presently outside, five attending colleges in Calcutta and Benares,
and one employed in Calcutta. The eldest girl in the youngest
generation was recently married, and lives in an Upper-Middle Class
section of Calcutta with her engineer husband.

The Contractor kin-aggregate controls about 100 acres
(300 bighas) of agricultural land. In the urban sphere, they own
numerous buildings for rental purposes. They were the first of the
Bazar Elite to perceive the potential market for quality housing in
the town, and have constructed a large bungalow colony and a hostel
for college girls on land they own at the edge of the town. Other
property controlled by the kin-aggregate include a small hostel in
the central town area, four brick buildings in the bazar, and two
brick and four mud residential houses that are rented out.

The Contractor kin-aggregate has moved rapidly from economic
power to political power, and now have members on the Bazar
Committee as well as the panchayat. But these families have not yet
achieved social recognition: present household heads are not

members of the cultural and socially oriented town institutions, or

 

251

the two elite social clubs. In town society they are viewed as

nouveau riche, and are clearly distinguished from the Mahishya

Gentry families.

Dipu Das: Dipu Das is always referred to by nickname in the town.
He lives in one of the largest houses in the town, behind the old
Kumari Estate (Raja's daughter's). His enormous court-yard is
enclosed by high walls topped with jagged glass to discourage
thieves. Included in his compound is a family temple devoted to
Radha and Krishna. Dipu Das supports daily worship in this temple,
employing several priests to do this. Once every year, at the Ras
Festival celebrating the love between Lord Krishna and Radha, he
sponsors a feast and an evening of 13253 (country opera) in his
court-yard. Most of the Upper and Upper-Middle Class families of
the town were invited to the feast held during the fieldwork
period, but most families did not put in an appearance. Instead,
children and servants were sent to pick up kichuri and sweets, which
were taken back to the families who had stayed home.

Dipu Das is a Vaisnava by caste and a goldsmith by occupation.
He owns a large jewelry shop and is one of the wealthier businessmen
in the town. It is clear that he enjoys displaying his wealth, but
it is also clear that the manner in which he chooses to manifest his
status is not in accordance with the Bhardalok ethos. His enormous
house is lavishly furnished in western style, with furniture
imported from Calcutta. He is one of four local motorcycle owners.
He is acquiring bazar property at a moderate rate and is erecting

business buildings on it. He appears to have focused strongly on

252

the bazar as his central interest, and is closely involved with
other businessmen of the town. He is a member of the Bazar Men's
Club, rather than the Elite Men's Club.

But Dipu Das' wealth has not secured him a place among the
established elite of the town: no matter how wealthy he becomes,
he will not be accorded recognition as a true equal by members of
the town Upper Class. He does not share the values of the
Bhradralok ethos, although he can outdo most of the Bhadralok in
the acquisition of material goods. Because of his open display of
wealth, he is the object of much criticism from poorer members of the
Upper Class. Some people say he drinks, and that this causes him to
behave badly in public. They complain that he does-not show
Bhradralok enough respect. One debtor, behind in payments for some
gold bangles, insinuated that there may have been a scandal
involving a girl of the family. But Dipu Das' daughter is married
to a teacher in a distant town. The proud, fair-complexioned
Brahmans, too poor to buy the jewelry Dipu Das sells, satisfy
themselves with vague allegations about his character. Most are
remarks about his dark skin, and others are unprovable statements
about his caste status or family history. Because of his power
in the town bazar, no one dares to say these things openly.

Dipu Das also attracts criticism from the poor, who envy his
wealth. One recurring statement is that it is "wrong" for a
man as wealthy as Dipu Das to have such a poor brother. It was quite
a while before I ascertained that Dipu Das did indeed have a brother.
The brother lives in a small mud house in the same neighborhood

of the town. He owns a small amount of land but lives in

 

ITP!‘
“Dr—1:...

253

relative poverty. Because of his bad health he cannot work his land
himself. His children are not being educated and a sixteen-year old
son had to leave school to seek employment. Most townspeople are not
aware of the fact that Dipu Das' family has been in Mahishadal for
several generations (Figure 26). Dipu Das acquired most of his
wealth during his lifetime.

Dipu Das' status problems stem from a disjunction between his
extreme wealth and his low score on other ranking gradients used to
assess a Composite Class Score. The Occupation Gradient encompasses
educational attainment, degree of manual labor involved, both values
of the Bhadralok ethos. Dipu Das has had no formal education,
although he is literate to the degree his occupation of business
requires. Worse still, although he is wealthy, he continues to work,
sitting daily in his shop and directly interacting with his
customers. His personal involvement with his business and his
failure to provide long-range educational and occupational plans
for his children, clearly indicate to the Upper Class that he is an
outsider. He does not share the values of the Bhadralok ethos:

although from a Mahishadal Oldtimer family, he is new to urban life.

Nani Babu: Nani Babu, (addressed by his nickname with a "sir"

 

attached), is the peoples' Big Man. His family has a long history
in Mahishadal (Figure 27). He, like his FaFa and like his present
cousins, runs a confectionary shop in the town. He is also an
agricultural landowner and an investor, owner of several bazar
buildings, and prominent in local politics.

Nani Babu is one of the most visable of the Bazar Elite. His

home is in an outlying neighborhood, inhabited mainly by families

254

Figure 26

Dipu Das (B)

Caste--Vaisnava 3.0
0ccupation--Business + Homework 3.5 COMPOSITE CLASS SCORE 3.3
Housing-~Very large Brick 4.0
Neighborhood-~Medium path 2.5
zamindar zamindar (Mahishadal)

   
   

. zamindar ,
Homeopathic Mahishadal) A zamindar
Doctor

 

 

 

 

 

 

QAAA

D

 

AACS

 

 

Students

Homework
Business and Homework
Labor

Husband is teacher outside town

CCU)

 

 

255

Figure 27

Nani Babu (G) and His Kin-Aggregate

Caste—-Mahishya 3 0
Occupation--Business 3.0
Housing--Large Brick 3 5
Neighborhood--Medium-small path 2 O

(Founder)
Cultivator + Confectioner

 

 

COMPOSITE CLASS SCORE

 

 

 

Occupations of males

 

 

 

 

 

3.1

A Cultivator I Office Service (outside)
B Clerk J Business (confectioner)
C Landholder H Owner of soap factory
D Landholder K Cultivator
E Unemployed (blind) L Cultivator
F Landholder M Teacher
G Confectionary business N Confectionary business
Qggupations of Affinal Relatives
A,B MoFa Cultivator E WiFa Cultivator
SiHu Cultivator
WiFa Cultivator F,G MoFa Confectionary business
WiFa Cultivator
C,D MoFa Cultivator Cultivator
DaHu Teacher SiHu Cultivator
DaHu Cultivator Cultivator
DaHu Service SoWiFa Teacher
SoWiFa Service DaHu Manufacturing (H)
SoWiFa Cultivator DaHu Teacher
SoWiFa Service DaHu Landholder
SoWiFa Cultivator
H All relatives cultivators

256

of his kin-aggregate. He lives in a new large brick house of plain
design, one of several new homes that have been constructed in his
para, where most houses are large mud and thatch village-style
residences.

Nani Babu is rarely at home during the business hours of the
bazar. He is generally to be found in his confectionary shop,
located at the main junction in front of the Martyr's Monument. His
shop is ideally situated for keeping track of the local population,
because almost everyone passing through the bazar must walk past
Nani Babu's corner. Most of the important men of the bazar stop by
the shop to consult Nani Babu about common concerns.

A member of the Bazar Committee, the formal businessman's
organization that acts as a town body for most practical purposes,
Nani Babu is one of the civic leaders in Mahishadal. He has been
very active in all undertakings of the Bazar Committee, arranging
for financial support of puias, improvement in sanitary arrangements,
financial support for town undertakings such as the construction of
the Martyr's Monument, and the like. Previously the elected Headman
of his village (a position held by men of his family several times
in past generations), he is now one of the elected members of a
ten-village Anchal Panchayat.

Nani Babu occupies a rather unique position in Mahishadal: he
epitomizes the peasant who comes to town. As a man of an old
prosperous peasant family, with a strong economic base built equally
on agricultural landholdings and business and bazar property
ownership, he is in an ideal position to become prominent in

micro-regional politics, and so he has. He has always represented

 

257

the "common man" to the rural population of the locality, first as a
"Nationalist" in the struggle for independence, then as a Congress
Party Worker, then as a Bangla Congress leader during the Bengali
nationalistic phase that occurred during the fieldwork period, then
again as a representative of the regular Congress Party in 1972, when
Bengalis returned to that party in recognition of the Congress Party
support for Bangladesh.

Nani Babu is in the middle of whatever Mahishadal people are
doing. He is active in micro-regional cultural projects as well as
formal politics. He was a member of the Founding Committee that
planned and built the Public Hall with its membership library and
youth activities, and he was one of the group of men who organized
a drive to repair the Martyr's Monument and construct a cement
enclosure for it. But he is not a member of any of the town elite
social clubs. He is not considered Upper Class in status. Nani
Babu is in the unique position of being a cultural broker between
the urban and rural arenas of Mahishadal life. His large
kin-aggregate contains many rurally-oriented peasants, and his
affinal ties are concentrated in the Mahishadal micro-region.
Relatives by blood and marriage are one of the traditional sources of
political support.

But Nani Babu also has made a place for himself in the urban
arena of town life. Confectioners for three generations, his
kin-aggregate holds property in the central bazar area, property that
is daily increasing in value. Recently members of the kin—aggregate
have begun to make use of this property, by constructing brick

buildings for rental purposes.

 

258

In private life, too, Nani Babu is halfway between the rural
and urban arenas of town life. He lives in a collateral joint
family, the older members of which are rurally-oriented. Wives are
from-villages, but sisters have been married to urban-oriented men,
more often businessmen or teachers than cultivators.

Nani Babu has also engaged in a practice that is increasing
among the Bazar Elite -- that of using affinal ties to increase the
economic security of the kin-aggregate in the town. A son-in-law
lives in a brick house nearby. This man jokingly refers to himself
as a ghar_jamai (a son-in-law in the house), pointing out that the
soap factory he manages was purchased with his wife's dowry money,
and that the house he is living in belongs to his father-in-law,
Nani Babu. But this man is far from being a ghgr.iam§_:
from a nearby village, he brought his family to the town to take
advantage of better schools. He continues to hold agricultural land
in the village where his brothers have remained, but he himself is
more interested in his town factory. A town resident for ten years,
he expects to reside in Mahishadal permanently, and expects his

children to go on to live urban lives. Nani Babu, through his dowry

and "gift" of a house, has assured his daughter's children of a

future as townsmen.

Nani Babu's name is frequently mentioned in the town, and
almost always in a favorable context. The poor people and those of
the rural arena look up to him because he has deep roots in the
village and micro-region and can truly act as their Spokesman. The
wealthy men of the bazar look to him as a comrade, perhaps of less

education and wealth, but one who knows Mahishadal town. He is in

 

 

259

the enviable position of being simultaneously "of the people” and

a member of the "Bazar Elite."
CHANGING STRUCTURE OF THE ELITE

The nature of the population considered as elite in Mahishadal
is undergoing change. In the Rajas' town of the past, three distinct
elite groups existed, leading almost independent lives in the town.
The elite of the past consisted of the Bhadralok, the Pascima Brahmans,
and the Mahishya Gentry. These three categories are no longer
sufficient to describe the increasingly complex elite population
of the town.

The relative number of households in the three traditional
elite categories is changing as the town develops. The number of
town households from the traditional Bhadralok high castes is
steadily increasing. Only a half-dozen of the present household
heads of Bhadralok families were born in Mahishadal, but many of
the middle-aged professionals who came as young men at the time of
Partition will spend the rest of their lives in the town.

The Pascima Brahman families of Mahishadal are rapidly losing
their special claim to elite status in the town. No households have
immigrated from North India since 1900. Those households who have
been in Mahishadal for several generations are coming to resemble
the Bengali Bhadralok in their pattern of adaptation to a changing
town. With Zamindari Abolition the Rajas and their relatives lost
control of the vast lands of the Raj Estate. The Raj Estate
Administration was virtually shut down, and most of the

administrative duties that were once performed by Estate personnel

 

 

260

were now under the Civil Service of the State of West Bengal. As
caste-mates and sometimes as very distant relatives of the Rajas, the
small Pascima Brahman Elite had enjoyed a special position within
the-Estate Administration. When the Administration folded, they
were forced to compete with Bengalis for positions in Civil Service.
Their competition has been unsuccessful with regard to government F}
positions in the town of Mahishadal. The older men fill whatever

administrative positions are still available under the Rajas, or live

 

on the income from their landholdings. Younger men are seeking Lj
Class I Occupations in Mahishadal and outside. The Pascima Brahman

population of Mahishadal has not only lost its special privileges,

but has gained a liability: its foreign origin. To successfully

compete for Class I Occupations on the open market in Mahishadal

and outside, the North Indians who have lived in Bengal for several

generations must emphasize their status §§_Bengalis. They must, if

they stay in Mahishadal, make a deliberate effort to play down the

very status as outsider that once gave them special privileges. It

is significant that only one household of Pascima Brahmans continues

to speak Hindusthani in the home, or to dress in North Indian, rather

than Bengali, style. The younger men who have been able to succeed

in Class I Occupations in Mahishadal are those who have been most
successful at becoming Bengali. They speak only Bengali in their
homes, have close friendships with their Bengali schoolmates and
college friends from a youth Spent in Mahishadal, and marry girls
from other families long resident in Bengal. The alternative is to
leave Mahishadal, relegating it to the status of home village, and

seeking opportunities in large cities where non-Bengali status is

261

not such a liability. To date only one young man has returned to
North India. Few of the Mahishadal Pascima Brahman families retain
any land or homes there. The future for these uprooted North Indians
lies in Bengal, and to achieve the same elite status that they held
as Rajas' men in the past, they must compete with the Bengali
Bhadralok on the latter's terms.

The Mahishyas are rapidly coming to dominate the upper strata of
Mahishadal society, both.in number and in influence. \The few
Mahishya Old Gentry families continue to retain their high status,
unaffected by Partition which deprived many Bhadralok of ancestral
property, or by Zamindari Abolition, which undermined the privileged
position of the Pascima Brahmans. The Mhhishya Gentry are operating
in their homeland, and changes that affected the other elite groups
strengthened the position of the Mahishyas in the town and
micro-region. The Mahishya Old Gentry are included in the Upper
Class of the town. But the Mahishya population of the town is
increasing rapidly as members of a new elite group, the Upper-Middle
Class, arrive. The Upper-Middle Class is bazar-oriented, and has a
history as prosperous peasants and traditional small—scale zamindars,
rather than as gentry or urbanites. Several wealthy families,

. displaced from their landholdings by the Haldia Port Project, have
built new homes in Mahishadal. Other prosperous families are moving
into the town from nearby villages as their children reach school
age, seeking the cultural advantages of a town life. Many of the
new arrivals have, in fact, been involved in the bazar for some
time. They move to the town because their businesses require

full-time supervision, and because other family members remain in

 

262

the village home to look after agricultural interests.

Whatever the history of Mahishadal as a Raja's town, it now
belongs to the Mahishya caste. The Mahishya families engaged in
business, doing the building and investing, and making up the

committees planning civic undertakings have a relationship to the

town and locality that the "foreign" Rajas and gentry (Bengali

La .9 F .t..

Bhadralok and Pascima Brahman) never achieved. Because they are

, .'..‘.l I

numerically dominant in the micro-region as a whole, Mahishya

.7; 415—57

networks of kinship and marriage act as channels through which

.mtw

important families make the move to town and later consolidate their
position there. The new families building the large residences in
the bazar are related to older families already established in the
town. Daughters of wealthy men provide dowries that are reinvested
in Mahishadal as sons-in-law move to the town to establish a
factory, Open a business, or set up a medical practice. Wealthy
Mahishya men who themselves lack the educational qualifications to
be accepted as equals by the Bhadralok Elite are now producing
Mahishya Bhadralok offspring. The sons and daughters of the
prosperous peasants businessmen are beginning to fellow the
Bhadralok ethos, and are beginning to move into the Class I

. Occupations in the town. The Upper-Middle Class Bazar Elite are
steadily climbing in composite class scores and eventually will

merge with the Upper Class of the town.

CHAPTER VI I

ELITE INTERACTION AND CULTURAL TRANSMISSION

The elitesof Mahishadal live a life-style that clearly

distinguishes them from the non-elites of both town and surrounding

rural micro-region. Mahishadal town is one of a class of

communities that is of vital importance to the maintenance of a

regional cultural tradition. The town serves as the minimal urban

center for the micro-region, the lowest level center in a hierarchy
of towns and cities containing representatives of the other half of

peasant society -- the literate elites who perpetuate the Bengali
Great Tradition. The town functions as a "city" in meeting the urban

needs of the local peasants, but is "village" to the residents who

come there from large urban centers and find in Mahishadal the last

outpost of "proper" life. In its role as a minimal urban center,

the town functions as the place where the local Little Tradition and

the regional Great Tradition come into contact. The exchange of

cultural information occurs through the interaction of the various

kinds of elites found in the town. This interaction, discussed in

the preceding chapter, is structured primarily by a Bengal-wide
class system, which brings elites from large cities into regular

contact with elites of the sub-region and micro-region. Through

professional association, residential proximity, and participation
in voluntary organizations of a formal nature, outsiders who have

lived in cities all their lives teach regional values to local

263

 

 

264

people making their initial attempt at urban life.

It is the local
elites , new to the town, who are responsible for the transmission of

regional values to the villages of the micro-region. This
transmission occurs primarily through the mechanism of the caste

system, which structures the networks of kinship and marriage that

link the new townsmen to the rural locality, and provide the network

through which constant contact is maintained between village and town

In the preceding chapter a distinction was made between three

groups of elites in terms of their origin in the town.

The first
group, the Bengali Bhadralok, are high-caste urban-oriented outsiders

who have been drawn to the town through their special qualifications

for service in government offices and educational institutions.

Today they serve the state:

in the past they served the Raj
administration. Although their history as an elite group has been

as transients, more and more of these high caste outsiders are

settling permanently in the town.

The second group of elites distinguished by origin, the Pascima
Brahmans, originally came from North India and were the rulers of
the locality and a dominant faction of the landed gentry until the
Raj Estate was officially abolished in the middle of this century.

The number of Pascima Brahman households in the town has remained
constant.

No new arrivals have come since the early 20th century,

and the Pascima Brahmans appear to be merging with their Bengali
Bhadralok neighbors in terms of orientation to Bengal as a home

region. They are becoming Bengali.

The third group of elites had its origin in the locality of the

town. The Mahishya Elites, members of the locally dominant

 

 

265

 

cultivating caste, are increasing in importance in the town. Drawn
from prosperous cultivating families of nearby villages, they are

moving into the town as the town increases in importance as a

marketing center. With the exception of a few families,

Mahishya Elites are both new to elite status and new to town life.

Most have a strong orientation to the town of Mahishadal in P}

' fl
particular, rather than to urban life in general.

When viewed from the vantage point of the peasant, the origins

of the various elites of the town lose importance. To the peasant, j
elites are classified as local men (accessible) and outsiders (not
directly accessible).

 

The accessible elites who are of the greatest

importance to the peasants of the locality are the Mahishya newcomers
to the town, the Bazar Elites who form the growing middle class of

the town and who serve as cultural brokers between the town and
village.

 

FUNCTIONAL CATEGORIES OF ELITES IN RURAL SOCIAL STRUCTURE

The elites of Mahishadal can be classified in terms of the

function they perform in local social structure.

Viewed this way,
three groups become visable.

One group, the Regional Elites, is
strongly oriented to Bengal in its widest sense, as a linguistic
and cultural region. A second group, the Sub-Regional Elites, have

a strong orientation to the southern half of West Bengal. The third
group of town elites, the Micro-Regional Elites, is already the

largest elite group in the town and is increasing rapidly. This
group is oriented to the Mahishadal micro-region in particular.

Each of these elite groups plays a specific role in the maintenance

 

266

of local social structure and the perpetuation of a regionally defined
cultural tradition.

 

Regional Elites

The Regional Elites of Mahishadal include those households with

regular contact with major urban centers of Bengal. They are involved
in networks of kinship and marriage that are Bengal-wide, and that

 

in the past included the eastern districts that are now included in

the new nation of Bangladesh. Members of the Regional Elite are also

 

Ff

involved in personal networks of friendship developed during the

course of higher education and past employment. These various

networks link members of the Regional Elite with major urban centers

at great distances from Mahishadal town.

The Regional Elites are a mobile population who come to

Mahishadal for employment purposes. Included in this group are the

numerous households described as Transient Urban Elites in the

preceding chapter.

 

Also included are those town families who are
permanent residents of Mahishadal but whose household heads are
employed outside in other towns and cities in Class I Occupations.
The number of households in the Regional Elite category is increasing
steadily as more and more of the Transient Urban Elites, eSpecically
those of East Bengali origin, settle permanently in the town.

The life-style of the Regional Elites is modeled on the.
preferred life-style of middle class Calcutta, a place that is
included in virtually every Regional Elite kinship network. Their

urban middle class value system incorporates the Bhadralok ethos,

and stresses "modernity" and "progressiveness," disdain for manual

267

labor, respect for education, and a deep concern for Bengali

nationalism and its cultural expression in literature, art, music,
and politics.

As previously mentioned, the Pascima Brahmans are now attempting

to enter the Bengali Regional Elite. In the past the Pascima

Brahmans maintained a separate ethnic identity in Mahishadal.

This
separate identity was consciously sought.

As North Indians they
were favored for administrative positions by the North Indian Raj as,

and as foreigners suffered no disadvantage in competition for

government positions under the British.

In fact, their status gave
them an advantage:

they could move with ease throughout North India
and Bengal .

The Pascima Brahmans who now seek recognition as members

of the Regional Elite must do so _a_§_ Bengalis. Those who have

achieved success have first successfully established a "Bengali"
identity in Mahishadal town, through participation in those cultural
and political activities most symbolic of Bengali nationalism.

The Mahishya Elites of the town are also attempting to enter

into the ranks of the Regional Elite for the first time. The
Mahishyas never faced the problem of alien ethnic identity. Their
difficulty has been with their traditional status as cultivators,

and a life-style in which manual labor was part of life. To be
successful in upward mobility it has been necessary to adopt the

life-style of the Regional Elite and to adhere to the Bhadralok

ethos. Success has come only recently:

it is the present

generation of Mahishya men who are attaining the formal education

that enables them to compete for Class I Occupations on a Bengal-wide
basis. It is no accident that the Mahishyas have been most

 

 

268

successful in competition in southern West Bengal, in those districts

where they form a significant proportion of the rural population. In

Mahishadal their competition has been successful only at the lower
levels of Class I Occupations. Mahishyas have become clerks in the

various town offices, teachers in the schools, and physicians. But

few have attained titled government posts (only one Government

Officer in the town is Mahishya) , and they account for only a small

segment of the college professors. Few mature Mahishya household

heads have a history of outside employment in Class I Occupations.
Those Mahishyas who are employed in this capacity tend to be the
younger men of extended families, not yet household heads. It is

for this reason that most of the Mahishya upper and upper-middle

class households fall into the category of Sub-Regional rather than

Regional Elites.
The Regional Elites of Bengal perform the function of
maintaining a common version of the Bengali Great Tradition in all

urban centers of the region. They are able to perform this function

because of the extreme geographical mobility associated with their

employment, and the effect this has of dispersing kin, affines, and

friends over the entire region. The Regional Elite as a whole view

Calcutta as "home," and all Regional Elite families, whether
transients or permanent residents, have some important tie to people
in Calcutta. Transients often maintain their permanent homes in
Calcutta. Mahishadal families who have joined the Regional Elite
often maintain permanent residences there and stay in Mahishadal on

a part-time basis, visiting their home town for important festivals.

The diSpersed networks of kinship and marriage characteristic

 

 

 

269

of'the Regional Elite serve to maintain regular contact with the
ideas of the Bengali Great Tradition. There is a great deal of

traveling to visit relatives in other towns and cities, and relatives

from outside often visit Mahishadal families. Family traditions tend

to take on a form that reflects regional orientation and that is
independent of local custom. Young children have the most contact
with local customs (they learn from playmates), but most are sent to

Calcutta to attend high school and college and then come into contact

 

with individuals from all over Bengal.
lhefiubefieaimalfilitss

The Sub-Regional Elites of Mahishadal are often difficult to

 

distinguish from those members of the Regional Elite who live in the
town. They are engaged in similar occupations, live in similar
housing, follow similar life-styles, and come from the same castes
that dominate the Regional Elite. Most are Brahmans, Kayasthas, and
Baidyas, and a few are Pascima Brahman or Mahishya by caste. It is
when genealogies are collected and mapped out that the difference in
orientation becomes clear. The Regional Elites are oriented to
urban centers throughout greater Bengal: the kinship and marriage
networks of the Sub-Regional Elites are clearly concentrated in the
southern half of West Bengal, including most of the important

sub-regional towns and greater Calcutta.

A second difference is evident in attitude toward occupation.
Although most males of the Sub-Regional Elite are employed in Class I

Occupations if they enter into employment, their jobs are almost

invariably within the sub-region. Sub-Regional elites do not

 

270

venture far from home in the course of employment, a fact that is
related to their history in Class I Occupations. Typically, it is
the present generation that is entering into occupations within
Class I with formal educational requirements. Their fathers and
grandfathers were landholders, an occupation considered to be Class I
but not requiring formal education. In contrast, men of Regional
Elite families are following careers first entered into by
grandfathers and in some cases, great-grandfathers.

Sub-Regional Elites, unlike Regional Elites, tend to be permanent
residents of Mahishadal town, of Oldtimer families. Their families
are well-known in the sub-region. This stands in sharp contrast to
the pattern characteristic of Regional Elites, most of whom are
transients in Mahishadal and the locality, and Who never attain
recognition in the locality. Conversely, while many Government
officials who fall into the Regional Elite category come from
families well known in Calcutta and the major urban centers of
greater Bengal, members of the Sub-Regional Elite rarely achieve a
reputation outside the sub-region. It is important to recognize
that the families of the Sub-Regional Elite have a reputation based
on their past history in the locality, rather than on the renown
of particular individuals of the family serving in positions of
prestige in the wider region.

The pattern of reputation of Sub-Regional Elite families on a
Bengal-wide basis appears to be undergoing change, as the more
affluent members of this category increasingly send their children
to Calcutta and other urban centers for higher education. However,

it will take some time to put Mahishadal on the map as a town that

 

13W“ , lpL‘."Zf n c.

 

271

has produced a large number of individuals recognized on a

regional basis.10

The sub-Regional Elites are mest clearly'distinguished from the
Regional Elites by the span of their networks of kinship, marriage,
and friendship, which are limited to the southern half of West Bengal
and concentrated in eastern Midnapore District. Although families of
the Sub-Regional Elite make marriages with other families of
equivalent class status (Upper Class in the class system of
Mahishadal town), these families are from towns and villages of the
sub-region, and their members who are mobile in the course of
employment tend to move about only within the sueregion. The
interaction that occurs through networks of kinship, marriage, and
friendship, then, does not bring members of the Sub-Regional Elite
into contact with alien culture areas within Bengal. They have
little contact with cultural varients characteristic of other
sub-regions. They thus tend to be much more provincial in outlook
than members of the Regional Elite, and show a strong preference for
continued residence within the‘sub-region, unless the requirements of
employment make this absolutely impossible. Men of the Sub-Regional
Elite do go "outside" for employment, but rarely venture far from

Mahishadal, which remains "home."

The W Elites

Micro-Regional Elite families can be clearly distinguished

from.both Regional and Sub-Regional Elites by their characteristic

orientation to the particular town of Mahishadal. They have come to

the town from nearby villages, and are newcomers to urban life.

 

 

272

Households in the Micro-Regional Elite category tend to be
Mahishya, although the Micro-Regional Elite also includes Oilpressers,
Blacksmiths, Garland-makers, and members of local Brahman castes
which have until recently tended to adhere to traditional

occupations.

lhouseholds of the Micro-Regional Elite are engaged in business

_J

as frequently as in Class I Occupations. They are visably

«mistinguishable from Regional and Sub—Regional Elites in terms of

"life-style." Many reside in village-style mud houses located in 7 ‘

outlying paras.

 

Men of the Micro-Regional Elite tend to wear Bengali '

clothing rather than the western dress preferred by members of the

Sub-Regional and Regional Elites.Jl
The strong orientation of the Micro-Regional Elite to the

immediate rural locality is clearly reflected in their networks of

kinship and marriage, which are concentrated in an area within a

five mile radius of the town bazar. Most town families who would be

classified as Micro-Regional Elite are in fact nuclear sub-units of

coparcenary joint families based in nearby villages. They continue

to hold agricultural land and maintain constant contact with the
village branches of their families, making frequent visits home. A
largelumber of Micro-Regional Elite families in fact alternate in
residence, maintaining a flat in the town and a house in the village.
time fwfllies live regularly in the village, with the household head
cmmmming to work in the town.

Mule the genealogies of Regional Elites tend to show a two or

three generation history of Class I Occupations, and Sub-Regional

Elites show a one to two generation history of Class I employment,

 

273

the Micro-Regional Elites are just beginning to enter into employment

in these occupations on a massive scale. Typically it is the young

men who are entering into nonagricultural occupations, while older

men continue to be cultivators or landholders. There is a clear

preference for employment in Class I Occupations or business, and
this is visable in the occupations of affinal relatives. While
fathers' sisters were married to cultivators, sisters and daughters
are being married to men who are teachers, clerks, or businessmen.
Although they are beginning to enter Class I Occupations in
sizeable numbers, men of the Micro-Regional Elite do not tend to

follow the same occupations as the men of the Regional and

Sub-Regional Elites. The latter dominate the top positions, while

the Micro-Regional Elites are businessmen or clerks, and teachers

in primary schools, junior high schools and high schools. They are

not yet a sizeable proportion of the college faculty, nor have they

managed to attain many titled government positions. (Only the 8.0.0.

is a Mahishya. Other Government officials in the town are Brahmans,

Baidyas, and Kayasthas, most of East Bengali origin.)

Another occupational pattern is characteristic of the

Micro-Regional Elite: they appear to be as interested in living in

the Mahishadal area, their home locality, as they are in entering

Class I Occupations. They tend to seek employment in such

occupations within Mahishadal town or in other towns within ten

miles of Mahishadal. Many of the Micro-Regional Elite families live

in the town, but the household head commutes to a Class I Occupation

elsewhere. They often find teaching positions in the high schools

of large villages near the town, while teaching positions at the town

 

 

 

274

high schools go to members of the Sub-Regional and Regional Elite.
'Hhe members of the Micro-Regional Elite, like the members of the

Sub-Regional Elite, have a vested interest in remaining within the

town of Mahishadal. They have homes there or in nearby villages, and

generally own agricultural land in the vicinity of the town. Their
occupations, then, provide only a portion of their actual incomes.
Much of their income comes from agricultural land cultivated by
village relatives or by share-croppers, or from investment in the
town bazar. Like the Sub-Regional Elites, they lack the motivation
to seek employment far from home. It is perhaps paradoxical that
many of the Micro-Regional and Sub—Regional Elite families are far

wealthier than the Regional Elites whom they emulate: it is because

so many of the Regional Elites lost ancestral property located in the

eastern half of Bengal at Partition that they are forced into the
pattern of mobility in their search for suitable employment. The
Regional Elites rely on their salaries as a main source of income.
The Micro-Regional and Sub-Regional Elites have supplementary sources

of income from agricultural land and bazar businesses and real

estate in Mahishadal. Table 33 summarizes the functional categories

of elites in Mahishadal town.
CASTE, CLASS AND CULTURAL TRANSMISSION
The Cultural Tradition of a Rural Town

The rural town serves as the minimal urban center for the greater
cxmplex society in which it is found. It serves a "city” to the

‘ peasants of the rural micro-region and as "country" to the city folk

 

1T0.“
‘W .

‘t-m-

 

275

Table 33

Functional Categories of Elites in Mahishadal Town

Pattern of Present r1

 

Elite History of Extent of Kinship

Category' Class I and Marriage Male Employment in
Employment Networks Class I and II

Occupations
Regional Three or Prior to All employed in
Elite four Partition, Class I occupations
generations total Bengali which require
linguistic formal education.

Sub-Regional
Elite

Micro-Regional

Elite

one or two
generations

present
generation

region. Now
entire State of
West Bengal plus
towns in bordering
States.

Southern half of
West Bengal, but
concentrated in
eastern Midnapore.

Mahishadal
Micro-Region,
southeastern
Midnapore.

—_ - Jis'flum 0A

 

WM.

 

Most employed in
Class I occupations
requiring formal
education. Some
have management
of property
("homework") as
only occupation.
A few are engaged
in Class II
occupations as
businessmen.

Younger males
entering Class I
occupations with
formal educational
requirements.
Older males engaged
in "homework."
Some people
intensively
involved in
business in town
bazar.

who speI
and Lit‘
Mal
centuric
because
Estate.
time. Mc
came to t
caste Ben,
employment
manifest i;
transmissic
SUCh transm
In the
Great Tradlt
Rajas‘ The
tom who WeI
Positions Ni
into the Cat
families int
occurred aln
the legal e

Compoun d .

1

7

tom 0Ut51 (lg

their Calm“

 

276

who spend time there. It is in such rural towns that the Great

and Little Traditions meet and that cultural transmission occurs.

Mahishadal has served as a minimal urban center for several

centuries. The Great Tradition has long been present in Mahishadal

because of'its function as administrative headquarters for the Raj

Estate. Large numbers of elites have resided in Mahishadal over

time. Most were outsiders, either North Indian Pascima Brahmans who
came to the area because the Raj family was North Indian, or high
caste Bengali outsiders, who came to Mahishadal in the course of
employment. To some extent the Great Tradition in the past was
manifest in the life—style of the resident outsiders, and
transmission of Great Tradition ideas occurred informally, much as
such transmission occurs today.

In the past, much of the Great Tradition was the North Indian
Great Tradition and was mediated through the resident North Indian
Rajas. The interaction of the Rajas involved those people of the
town who were officially connected with the higher administrative
positions within the estate establishment, families that today fall
into the categories of Regional and Sub-Regional Elite. Few
families interacted directly with the Raj family, and such interaction
occurred almost exclusively on a formal basis, when the Rajas invited
the local elite population to attend functions in the Palace
Compound. 'The Rajas had little to do with the population of the
town outside of the Palace Compound (although when they were in
their Calcutta residence social life was much more informal). The

premnu:Raja ventures into the town only on formal occasions, to

address the students of the Raj College, or to lead the Rath

 

 

 

procession.
In the

the Great 7
‘nhen the R2
artists to
Inrat Khan
father went
hear Ustad I
Regional and
public assent
follow the No
Rani behind a

of the Raj as
and females, 1
the % CU:

hear the USta
Hide, The C0}
W001 0f soCAI
as membErs of

has One Of thfl

 

277

procession.

In the past, there, the Palace Compound was a formal center for
the Great Tradition, both North Indian and later,the Bengali versions.
When the Raj as desired classical music, they brought well-known

artists to perform in the Palace music room. Ustads Vilayat and

Imrat Khan remember visiting Mahishadal as young boys, when their

father went to perform for the Raja.12 The audience invited to

hear Ustad Inayat Khan play sitar and subrahar consisted entirely of

Regional and Sub-Regional Elites. Men were invited to sit in the

 

public assembly hall of the New Palace, but their wives had to

follow the North Indian custom of the royal family and join the

Rani behind a purdah curtain. (In a musical evening in celebration

of the Rajas Birthday in 1969, the audience contained both males

and females, but the Rani and her adopted daughter remained behind

the purdah curtain.) Although few people were actually present to

hear the Ustad play, the tale of the performance was spread far and

wide. The concept of music as part of the Great Tradition and as a

symbol of social status also spread. Local aspirants to recognition

as members of the town elite learned that enjoyment of classical music

was one of the marks of elite status. Music teachers were sought by

wealthy town families. In time, the Bengali musical tradition

replaced North Indian classical music in importance as a ritual

statement of social status. Present town music teachers teach only

the Bengali tradition, but the present Raja continues to teach

classical singing. Even though such classes are free, few townsmen

are interested in remnants of the royal tradition.

hitheir architecture, the Rajas made use of elements from

 

 

Moghul Nor
built p313
decorated

translated
t'erandahs,
palaces, ar
aspirants t
the Rajas) (

western-styl

architecture
borrowed from

Isms became

When the
Elephants and

social status

to haVe any p I
1
mm“ them

”UTOpeans of (

 

278

Moghul North India, and later, of ideas from Europe. When the Rajas

built palaces with inlaid mosaic design reminiscent of the Taj Mahal,
decorated their formal front entrances with British lions, and
translated motifs from Venice into large tile passageways linking
\nerandahs, they transmitted these concepts to those who visited the

Inrlaces, and even to those who only gazed on them from afar. Again

 

a3pirants to elite status copied the form, even if they (and perhaps

the Rajas) did not fully understand the content. Large ornate

‘westernrstyle brick mansions were built by those who could afford 1*

 

,
tlunn, and are still being constructed. Along with such .-

architecture went foreign ideas concerning the use of space, again

borrowed from both the Moghuls and the Europeans. Gardens and grass

lawns became fashionable.

When the Rajas added thoroughbred horses and dogs to their
elephants and their private zoo, pets became a symbolic statement of

social status in Mahishadal (even though most Bengali's don't appear

to have any particular fondness for animals). The Rajas built a

large aviary to house a collection of rare birds, and elite families

imitated them. The Rajas kept dogs as pets in the manner of the

Europeans of Calcutta. Many Bengali families maintain a mongrel

watchdog, usually kept chained outside the house as a protection

against thieves. Now aspirants to elite status purchase expensive

thoroughbred dogs as decoration for their lawns.

For centuries the Rajas have been constructing temples and

religious pavilions. Temple building has become another means of

demonstrating elite status, and several wealthy town families have

constructed temples near their homes.

 

 

 

Idea

directly

enter the
western-:
portraits
ornate fc
chandelie

of llahisha

Calcutta a
a ritual 5‘.
furniture w
was totally
It is 1'
center for I
Where the Cu
Tradition.

telling reli

music and dr

sponsored cu

attendance f
The Lit

In 1969, Set

Tradition wp

\

Peasants 0f

 

279

Ideas about proper respectable life-style were transmitted

directly only to the few households whose members had occasion to

 

enter the Palaces. When the Rajas began to acquire ornate

western-style furniture, and to collect bric-a-brac and commission

 

portraits, the Upper Class elite followed suit. Paintings, chests,
ornate four-poster beds, desks, and dining tables, chairs, and If}: 1
chandeliers were seen more and more frequently in the larger homes I
of Mahishadal. The fact that such furniture had to be imported from *
Calcutta and was therefore very costly, added to its significance as A}

a ritual statement of social status, as did the fact that most of this

furniture was relegated to public rooms of elite houses because it

was totally unnecessary in everyday town life.

It is important to remember that the town was not the only
center for the transmission of Great Tradition ideas, but the place

where the outsider elites came into contact with the local Little

Tradition. The Raja sponsored classical music and dance and dramas

telling religious stories, and the Bengali Elites Sponsored Bengali

music and drama. At the same time the peasants of the locality

sponsored cultural events of their own, and these events attracted

attendance from townsmen as well as villagers.
The Little Tradition is still to be found in Mahishadal, although
it appears to be rapidly merging with the Bengali Great Tradition.

In 1969, several distinctively local cultural offerings of the Little

Tradition were observed. During the slack season of agriculture,

peas ants of the villages formed drama troupes and some of these
semi -professional village groups were hired to perform for special

occasions by wealthy individuals and neighborhoods of the town, and

 

other vi
1968 am

but the:
distinct
perform
their ea
Between t
female in.
Hindi filn
0n the cur:
One su
festival, Ct
longing 0f m
Celebrated a1
Rani in the 1
Palace teflfple
The divine 10
IEIUmed to t
the night Wit
Pacino” to w

"mittee. n

280

other villages. Most of the jatra (country Opera) performances in

1968 and 1969 were based on well known stories from Hindu mythology,

but they were performed in the local peasant dialect and in a

distinctive manner. No adult woman took part in the j atra

performances, female parts were played by young girls or boys in

their early teens. Bawdy embellishments were added as a filler.

Between the acts of the drama, which lasted far into the night,

female impersonators danced in imitation of the nautch girls of the

Hindi films and Moghul North India. Songs included caustic comments

on the current political situation in West Bengal.
One such Little Tradition drama was held in honor of the Ras
festival, celebrating the love between Radha and Krishna and the

longing of man for God. In Mahishadal this festival was always

celebrated at the Ras Mancha, a religious pavilion constructed by a

Rani in the last century. The Radha and Krishna images from the

Palace temple were carried to the Ras Mancha in a special palanguin.

The divine lovers spent the night together in the pavilion and were

returned to the Palace temple at dawn. The local population spent

the night with them, assembled in the open area in front of the

pavilion to watch a j atra performance sponsored by the Bazar

Committee. The drama told stories of Radha and Krishna.

Such overt manifestations of the local Little Tradition also

occur in a less formal manner. Much of the Little Tradition is

associated with religious practices. Twice during the fieldwork

period special singers were brought in to sing songs in honor of the

smallpox goddess. These performances were Sponsored by neighborhoods

and villages, and consisted of songs telling of the strength of the

 

 

 

goddess a
Duri
performar
after mic
The dance
of the GO!
Mahishya c
their role:
resemblance
was created
The exi
Ragional GT9;
If medical tr
“Presented,
Western mEdic;
er a graduate
Practices mEdi
d0Ct0r5 help,
KeithEr 0f the
but One Can ma

neighbors who

 

281

goddess and her exploits.

During the gajan festival honoring Siva, a special dance

performance was staged in a nearby village. Even though it began

after midnight and lasted until dawn, it attracted a large audience.

The dancers impersonated various gods in a ballet based on the tales

of the Goddess Kali and Lord Siva. The dancers were peasants of

 

Mahishya caste, who had undergone Special ritual preparation for

their roles, including fasting and prayer. The choreography bore no

resemblance to any of the classical dance traditions of India: it ' j

 

E;
was created by the dancers. ._

The existence of both the local Little Tradition and the
Regional Great Tradition remains clearly visable in the town bazar.

If medical treatment is required, three schools of medicine are

represented. The sufferer might consult a physician trained in

Western medicine in Calcutta, a self-taught homeopathic practitioner,
or a graduate of a traditional Ayurvedic medical college who

practices medical treatment according to the vedas. If none of these

doctors help, it is possible to consult a sorcerer or an exorcist.
Neither of these maintain regular office hours in the town bazar,
but one can make contact with them through their relatives and
neighbors who are regularly in the bazar during business hours.

Much of the time and money Spent on health is Spent on religious
rituals designed to prevent the occurrence of illness or bring about
acnue, through propitiation of the proper deity. Town people,
inohxfing those of Sub-Regional and Micro-Regional Elite families,

regulanhrparticipate in rituals honoring the deities associated

with smallpox, cholera, snakebite, and various endemic fevers. But

 

 

they alsc
Health I‘.
emergenc
The
Traditio
Elites 01
the child
groun womc
little Tra
anthropolo;
that since
such ritual;
Village, HC
”aha“, Godd.
beginning of
the 10‘~"-1ying
habitation 51
in the hOUSe

Shake. HOWex

calabolic acic
Shakes hate .

the victim 0*,

with Sir.

into both Grc|

 

282

they also, with equal ease, receive smallpox vaccinations from the

Health Inspector's team, seek antibiotic treatment for typhoid, and

emergency treatment in case of accident or snakebite.
The ease which town families draw from both Great and Little

Traditions is sometimes disconcerting. My host family, Sub-Regional

Elites of Brahman caste, are a case in point. They plan to send all

the children to college, and even the grandmother can read. The

grown women of the household are unable to demonstrate any of the

Little Tradition women's rituals that are mentioned in several

anthropological articles in Indian folklore journals. They claim

that since they entered the town at marriage, they have not learned
such rituals, and direct me to neighbors who came from a nearby

village. However, they have adopted the local custom of worshipping

Mahasa, Goddess of Snakes. This ritual iS performed at the

beginning of the monsoon season, when snakes begin to move out of

the low-lying areas to the drier raised areas that constitute

habitation Sites. They point out that, after all, they have lived

in the house for three generations and no one has been bitten by a

snake. However, they also suggest that it is prudent to purchase

carbolic acid to Sprinkle around the verandah of the house, since

snakes hate the smell and are repelled by it. They also insist that

the victim of snakebite would be rushed to the town hospital.

With similar lack of concern the ladies of the host family dip

into both Great and Little Traditions in their attempt to keep their

children healthy. They faithfully practice the local religious

rituals designed to appease those deities causing illnesses of

specific types, but also have their children vaccinated against

 

xW

 

 

diptheria
struck on
treated w
The
activitie
elite fam:
Traditions
tend to ma

town reside

Mahisha
households t}
large when CC
Upper-Middle

‘iisable t0 th

Small enOugh

region,” Orie

Serial Circle

“hether they

{Ulthlatol‘s
a

of MahiShadall

life in the t

 

283

 

diptheria, measles, cholera, typhoid, and smallpox. When typhoid
struck one of the teenage boys in spite of their precautions, it was
treated with antibiotics.

The Strange mixture of cultural elements observable in the daily

activities of my host family appears to be fairly typical of most

 

elite families who are permanently settled in the town. Both
Traditions are present and both are used, although most families
tend to make more use of one Tradition more than the other. All

town residents have some contact with both Traditions. ‘ i
j

 

The Class System and the Interaction of Elites

Mahishadal today is still a very small town, yet the number of
households that can be classified as Upper or Upper-Middle Class is

large when compared to the population as a whole. The Upper and

 

Upper-Middle Classes of the town are large enough to be generally
visable to the rest of the population, both urban and rural, and yet
small enough to make it difficult for the elites of different
regional orientations to segregate themselves into mutually exclusive
social circles. Whether born in Calcutta or a nearby village,
whether they have been government officals for three generations or
cultivators and businessmen until the present generation, the elites
of Mahishadal are likely to come into intensive contact in daily
life in the town. Most meet in the course of work. If not, they
are likely to be drawn together in their search for recreation or
tflrrough their need for quality housing. The result is that there
will be constant informal transmission of variant cultural traditions.

The process of interaction between elites from different

r.

In

a “16
vill
const
tenan‘
the bu
Re

of the i
tuhewell
although
enclosure,
various te
course of
Of th

of Rarhi S
household
at the P01
He had coil
suitable J

‘I

A L

 

 

284

functional categories is illustrated by the patterns of family
interaction occurring in one small brick apartment building located
in the town bazar. The building contains four modern flats, and is
the most sought-after housing in the town. Residents live on the
second floor, and shops are located on the ground floor. Three flats
are rented out. The tenants include one Regional Elite family, one
Sub-Regional Elite family, and one Micro-Regional Elite family. The
fourth flat is occupied by the building owner on a part-time basis.
A member of the Micro-Regional Elite, he is on the verge of becoming
a member of the Sub-Regional Elite. He generally stays in his
village home two miles from the bazar. The building has been
constructed as a business enterprise, and the rent paid by the
tenants and shopkeepers provides a large part of the cash income of
the building owner's family.

Residents of this building are forced into interaction because
of the necessity of Sharing "modern conveniences" -- a single
tubewell in the court-yard provides water for all the tenants, and
although each flat has a separate latrine, there is only one bathing
enclosure, located on the large tank behind the building. The
various tenants of the building come into contact in the normal
course of daily household routine.

Of the three rent-paying tenants, the Regional Elite family is
of Rarhi Sreni Brahman caste and of East Bengali origin. The
household head, a Sub-Inspector of Police, had formerly been posted
at the Police Station Headquarters in neighboring Sutahata town.

He had commuted to his office there because he had found no housing

suitable for his family in Sutahata. The Sub-Inspector is presently

 

 

 

‘F I.
v‘--~—.‘-—_

285

in the process of being transferred to a larger town and a more
important position within Police Service, and is currently undergoing
Special training for this new position in Calcutta. His wife and
young children continue to reside in their rented flat in Mahishadal,
where they have lived a total of Six months. A servant, who has been
with the family for several years, has remained in Mahishadal to
handle the daily marketing and heavy household work. The children
attend school in the town. The Sub-Inspector's wife spends most of
her time with the other ladies who live in the building. She has
become close friends with several of her neighbors and rarely has

the social need to venture far from her apartment building. Her
husband, when residing in the town, had led a more active social
life. He had frequently visited other friends from Police Service

in the evenings, and had belonged to one of the social clubs where
he occasionally went to play cards or chess. But the fact that he
commuted to work in another town left him little time for social life
in Mahishadal and had effectively limited his social contacts within
the town.

A family of Sub-Regional Elites lives in the flat next to the
Sub-Inspector's family. This family is of Mahishya caste and has
come to the town from a village further south, in Contai
sub-division. The household head is an English teacher at one of
the high schools located in an important village near the town. He
also Spends much of his time in transit, and the fact that both
husbands commuted and left their wives isolated for most of the day
had drawn the two ladies together. The English teacher has several

brothers who are also teaching, but the family continues to maintain

 

in?

 

286

a village home and holds agricultural land. The men of preCeding
generations had been cultivators, landholders, and small businessmen.
In contrast, the men of the Sub-Inspector's East Bengali Bhadralok
family had been engaged in government employment for several
generations.

The women of these two families, and in fact the women of all
the families in the building, are good friends. They address each
other as "sister" and children address all adult female residents as

"auntie.” However, despite the fact that there is an overt bond

 

between the three full-time resident families of the building, a

division clearly exists between the families of the English Teacher

 

and Sub-Inspector of Police and the family of the businessman that
occupies the third rented flat. This family is Mahishya by caste
and can be classified as Micro-Regional Elite. The household head
owns a drug store, which is located on the ground floor of the
building. He has had his business for about fifteen years, but has
only recently moved to the town from his family home in a nearvy
village. His shop stocks western drugs but also carries a line of
traditional herbal remedies. The business owner acts in the capacity
of manager and waits on customers, but employs a trained compounder
to make up Special prescriptions and give required injections. The
businessman himself did not attend college, but he and his wife have
a high school education. He plans to send his children to college
and wants his son to get a medical degree and open a practice in
Mahishadal.

The fourth flat in the building is occupied on a part-time basis

by the building owner, also a Mahishya. He maintains a flat in the

287

town for use when he wants to be available for Bazar Committee
meetings and social activities. His real residence is in a large
village near the town. His younger children are not yet in high
school, and he feels that the village atmosphere is better for

growing youngsters. He plans to make his town apartment a full-time

residence when his children are ready to attend the town high schools.

The building owner, although not a full-time resident of
Mahishadal, is well known in the town and surrounding micro-region.
He himself had little formal education, but is by far the wealthiest
of the residents of the building and is in fact one of the wealthiest
men of the town. His wealth is based on sizeable holdings of
agricultural land and on ownership of small plots of land located in
what is now the central bazar area. He has made a moderate fortune
through prudent investment in bazar property and business. It is
because of his unusual wealth that his network of kinship and
marriage stretches far beyond the immediate micro-region, linking
his family to well known families in all the nearby towns and
larger villages. He has planned a future that will ensure upward
mobility for his children and intends that they become firmly
established townsmen and members of the Sub-Regional Elite. His
eldest daughter has completed high school and is married to a young
physician with a medical degree from Calcutta University. Part of
her dowry had been given in cash and had been used to pay for
post-graduate training for her husband, now the holder of an M.D. in
'Tropical Medicine. He is the only physician in Mahishadal with
post-graduate training, and has a very successful practice in the

town. The son-in-law has constructed a large multi—purpose building

 

 

288

at the corner of Main Street and the Rath Tala, in the central bazar.
His family lives there, and he has his clinic there. Other parts of
the building serve as rented quarters for small Shops.

The families who reside in this small apartment building come
from vastly different backgrounds. In a larger, more established
town they might have had little contact. If there had not been a éfl
Shortage of quality housing in Mahishadal, elites with differing
regional orientations might have been able to segregate themselves

into distinct residential enclaves. In a minimal urban center such ‘ 3

 

 

as Mahishadal, however, circumstances prevent this from occurring.
It is the housing Shortage, a common feature of any small developing
rural town, that made these people neighbors, but it is the

"backward" nature of the town that made them friends. The need to

 

Share rather primitive facilities increases the amount of interaction
between co-residents of the apartment building, and provides a
setting in which they get to know each other well.

Repeated interaction and the development of new friendships is
accompanied by the exchange of variant cultural information. The
actors themselves are unaware that cultural transmission is in
process. The Middle Class Calcutta orientation of the
Sub-Inspector's wife, for instance, is evident in her choice of
saris and jewelry, the daily routine She follows, the diet of the
family, and the manner in which she decorates her flat. When the
English Teacher's wife visits, She comes into contact with these
new ideas and objects characteristic of a cultural variant. The
English Teacher may be aware of her admiration for her Calcutta-born

friend's taste in clothing and furniture, and her general life-style.

289

But the Sub-Inspector's wife is also learning cultural variantstfrom
her contact with Mahishadal friends. Because the families of the
building share an orientation to the Bhadralok ethos and because in
family history and caste status the Sub-Inspector is clearly more
Bhadralok than the English Teacher, it is unlikely that the
Sub-Inspector's wife is conscious that she, too, is learning cultural TE‘
variants from her neighbor. Nonetheless, variant cultural traditions ‘

are being assimilated, largely through the constant companionship of t

 

the children of both families. When it was time for her Mahishya . a

ti

friends to begin a four year cycle of a religious ritual designed to

ensure a good husband, the Sub-InSpector's daughter joined them. She

 

thus began to practice a local Little Tradition ritual which she
would later teach to other friends in other towns elsewhere in Bengal.
Her brother had developed a passion for one variety of sweets for
which Mahishadal confectioners are renowned. Later his sister would
learn how to prepare these sweets. When the two girls studied the
Tagore songs of the Bengali Great Tradition with a local teacher,

the druggist's wife decided that her daughter, several years younger,
would learn to sing those songs. Meanwhile she demanded that her
husband provide 'proper' clothing for her school-age son. He
dressed like his cousin in the village and She wanted him to dress
like the Sub-Inspector's children. She also started thinking about
sending her son to a private school in Calcutta. The Doctor, her
landlord's son-in-law, said that the local schools were not fit
preparation for Calcutta colleges. Meanwhile, as her values and
golas changed through contact with her neighbors, she communicated

her new ideas to her village family during her frequent visits home.

290

It appears likely that the pattern of interaction observed in
this small apartment building is characteristic of elite interaction
in the town. Given time, the tenants of the building will share a
common culture, one containing elements from both the Great and
Little Traditions. The culture of the Regional Elite Sub-Inspector's
family will be affected as much as that of their Micro-Regional Elite

neighbors.

SUMMARY

Contact between the Regional Great Tradition and the local
Little Tradition occurs primarily through the interaction of elites
of different orientations who share a common class status in town
society. The constantly changing content of the Great Tradition is
brought to the town by the transient Regional Elites, and is
maintained in the town by the resident body of Sub-Regional Elites
and upwardly mobile Micro-Regional Elites. The latter are the
cultural brokers who carry the Great Tradition of the town and city
to the villages, and who bring elements of the Little Tradition into
the town. They are the only elites with the ability to act as
mediators between the two cultural traditions because they alone are
people of the rural locality. Members of the locally dominant
Mahishya cultivator caste, their networks of kinship and marriage

are solidly concentrated in the Mahishadal micro-region.

 

1‘ l“ ,

CHAPTER VIII

CONCLUSIONS

This thesis has attempted to analyze the social and culture

 

rule of the various kinds of elites living in a small rural town 73

that constitutes the minimal urban center serving a micro-region I

containing many peasant villages. Although this has been an analysis

of the situation found in a particular town in Bengal, it is likely l E
E;

that the conclusions will prove useful in the analysis of the "
functions of minimal urban centers in peasant societies in general.
Mahishadal is to some extent unique, because of its history and
because of its location. Its history as a Rajas' town has shaped
its development: despite its small size, it has been a cosmopolitan
community for several centuries. Its location has contributed to the
ease with which the town has accepted outsiders. Southeastern
Midnapore, an area in which the low-ranking Mahishya cultivator
caste forms the bulk of the population, has long been characterized
by minimal concern with caste stratification in daily life
(Nicholas: 1961,1963,1968).
A survey of 500 town families has Shown that social interaction
in everyday town life is determined by a local variant of a
regionally-recognized system of social classes. Analysis has
revealed that the social class status of a family is evaluated on
multiple ranking gradients, of which caste is one. The principles
underlying the social class system of Mahishadal appear to be
Similar to those found by Harris (1971) in his study of a rural

291

292

town in Brazil. If a rough numerical system of gradepoints is used
to score status on the various ranking gradients, making use of the
townsmens' values concerning 'good' and 'bad' or 'pr0per' and

'improper' occupation, caste status, and life-style (as measured by

housing and residential neighborhood), the 500 town households can

W. j

be divided into broadly defined social classes which fall within
distinct numerical ranges on a 400 point scale. As demonstrated in
Chapter V, it is possible to predict which group of townsmen a new

family will gravitate to if numerical scores on most of the ranking

 

If. r‘ a v
“.1
g _

gradients can be ascertained. The ranking gradients are not of
equal value, as they were found to be in Harris' study of Minas
Velhas: occupation, in Mahishadal, is the primary determinant of
social class. Caste rank is at best a secondary determinant

of class status.

The role of history in the development of Mahishadal has been
discussed in Chapter 11. Although the community did not meet the
formal census requirements for designation as an urban center
until 1961, Mahishadal has served as "city” for several centuries.
As a royal headquarters it has always had a relatively large
population of elites of high caste and high class status, and
despite its small size it has functioned as an administrative,
cultural, and marketing center. Because of its historical importance
as headquarters for the Mahishadal Raj Estate, the town attracted
a population from far outside the local micro-region. The present
diversity of castes found among the 500 households interviewed
shows that the town has served simultaneously as a regional,

sub—regional, and micro-regional center. Today the elites of the

 

293

town come from three distinct ethnic groups which are related to

its royal history. The Bengali Bhadralok population represents the
Regional Elites of Bengal, who gravitated to all the towns within the
linguistic region and the border areas of nearby States because of

their Special qualifications for jobs in administration and the

 

professions. The Pascima Brahmans are an elite population who owe
their presence in the town to the foreign status of the Mahishadal

Rajas, who came to the locality from North India and who favored

a i.-

 

North Indians for administrative positions. A third group of j J
elites comes from the locally-dominant Mahishya cultivator caste,

and represents the development of a middle class Bazar-oriented

 

elite who have steadily increased in size and importance as the
marketing functions of the town have expanded with time.

The contemporary town, described in Chapter III, remains a
small community with a high proportion of elite households, since
the administrative offices and educational institutions founded by
the Rajas in the past continue in existence under the State of West
Bengal today. The contemporary town also shows a very intensive
orientation to its immediate micro-region, which contains the
ancestral homes of most of the town population and contains the
village homes of the Bazar businessmen, most of whom are commuters.
The dramatic increase in the number of Mahishya Elite households
permanently residing in the town reflects the location of the town
in an area slated for rapid development as part of the Haldia Port
construction project, which is to provide a new port for the city
of Calcutta some twenty miles south of Mahishadal town.

The elites of different historical backgrounds and the nature

294

of their interaction within the town has been described in Chapter

VI. Today the relative importance of these elite groups is undergoing
change. The Pascima Brahmans are fading in importance as a power
group: this reflects Zamindari Abolition and the loss of power by

the North Indian Rajas with whom they were affiliated. Another

 

observable change is the increasing tendency for high caste Bengali
outsiders to settle permanently in the town: this reflects economic

pressure on a region-wide basis, since these outsiders are part of

 

a large group of East Bengalis who lost ancestral homes and property {J

.!‘a

at Partition in 1947. Formerly a landed gentry group, they are

now completely dependent on their salary from employment. A third
observable change is the rapid influx of Mahishyas from the villages
into the business arena of the town. A low-ranking cultivating

caste, they have been venturing into small businesses for several

 

generations. Lacking the negative view of manual labor characteristic
of the highest castes in Bengali society, they have proved
themselves admirably suited to the development of business and
industry. Several Mahishya families have made sizeable fortunes
through investment in business concerns and in bazar property. The
sons of successful Mahishya businessmen are now achieving the
education that will enable them to compete with the high caste
outsiders for the most prestigious occupations in the town -—
white-collar salaried office employment, government positions, and
employment in the professions.

The final chapter has been devoted to an analysis of the town
elite population in terms of its function in the rural micro-region.

Three functional categories of elites exist within Mahishadal town.

295

Each functional elite group plays a part in maintaining a regular
system of social and cultural contact that links the major urban

centers of Bengal with the tiny peasant villages in the vicinity

of Mahishadal town. It is suggeSted that the three functional

categories of elites distinguished in this particular study may

‘71

serve functions that are met in the minimal urban center in all

peasant societies. Regional Elites of Mahishadal town are urban

elites who have long been resident in the major cities of Bengal and

 

are culturally oriented toward a regionally-defined Bengali Great
Tradition. Most of the Regional Elites in the town are transients,
but a growing number are becoming permanent residents of the
community. The Sub-Regional Elites are permanent residents of

Mahishadal, of families well known in the town, who have been

 

interacting with the major urban centers of southern West Bengal

for several generations. They are also oriented to the Bengali
Great Tradition, but because they have had more limited and indirect
contact with the Great Tradition, they tend to be less cosmopolitan
and more provincial in outlook than the Regional Elite who they
emulate. The third functional category, the Micro—Regional Elites,
is an indigenous elite group that has developed from the prosperous
peasantry of the locality. Most townsmen in this category are
intensively oriented to Mahishadal town in particular and the
business opportunities that town offers. Few have any regular
contact with outside urban centers, although such contact will occur
with increasing frequency as the educated sons of the town
Micro-Regional Elites go outside in their search for suitable

employment.

296

This thesis has attempted to analyze the social and cultural
functions of the particular town of Mahishadal in rural Bengali
social structure. As a minimal urban center the town serves as
"city" to the peasants of the surrounding villages and as "village"
to the urbanites who are posted there from Calcutta. Such
communities are of vital importance in the transmission of cultural r1
material between the Great and Little Traditions characteristic
of peasant society. The rural town is the major point of contact

between the two variant cultural traditions, the place where the

 

IF
i-__,_.=,

transmission termed "parochialization" and "universalization" by
Marriottt occurs. Marriott defines "parochialization” as "the
downward devolution of great-traditional elements and their
integration with little-tradition elements" (1955:200). The Great
Tradition of Bengali culture is brought into the town of Mahishadal

by the predominantly transient Regional Elites and is manifested there
on a permanent basis by the more provincial Sub-Regional Elite
families who are permanent residents of the town. "Universalization,"
the opposite process, Marriott defines as "the carrying forward of
materials which are already present in the little traditions which

it (the great tradition) encompasses" (1955:197). It is the
Micro-Regional Elites who bring the Little Tradition to the town,

and who transmit its contents to the other elites in the course of
their daily interaction in town life. It is also the

Micro-Regional Elites who complete the process of "parochialization"
by transmitting the Great Tradition ideas they meet in the town to
their relatives and friends in the villages.

This thesis has endeavored to analyze the interaction of town

 

297

elites that is vital to both "universalization" and "parochialization"

in rural Bengali society. It appears likely that the historically
distinct elite groups found in Mahishadal are unique to that town,
but the functionally distinct categories of elites may be present

in other minimal urban centers, both in India and in other peasant

societies.

Two areas for future research are suggested by this study. One
would involve continued research in the Mahishadal micro-region.
Such a study might focus on the role of the Micro-Regional Elites in
their home villages, and on the patterns of interaction between such
elites and the peasant population. Since this initial study views
elite interaction from the town vantage point, a second village—based
Study would provide complementary information.

Other pertinent research suggested by this initial study would
be the analysis of elite interaction in rural towns on a
cross-cultural basis, to determine whether the particular pattern
characteristic of Mahishadal is indicative of a general pattern
serving to maintain peasant social Structure generally. Kroeber
said that peasants seen in the context of their larger societies
"constitute part-societies with part-cultures" (1948:284). This
study suggests that it is the rural town, constituting the minimal
urban center in a peasant society, that unites the part-societies

and part-cultures into a functioning whole.

V
g!” _

tw-

 

 

FOOTNOTES

 

 

FOOTNOTES

1
Local people refer to the head of the Mahashadal Estate as Raja.

In British India they are entitled to be addressed as ”Honorary
Raja." The official Estate History (Aitch 1942) has as one goal -

British recognition of the right of the Mahishadal rulers to the

title "Raja." T1
The boundaries of the town encompass four revenue villages (mauza), \Jw

which will be designated "town-villages."

3 This period of time is viewed by some as a sentence of hardship --

that must be endured. j

4 :-

 

It is likely that the 1971 Census figures will show some change in
the age and sex distribution of the town population. First, an
increasing number of young nuclear-base families are settling in the
town. Second, 3 Girls' college was established in Mahishadal in
1969, and the number of young females in the town population began
to Show an immediate increase. Female college students from outside
the town of ten join the households of relatives already in the
town. Few reside in boarding facilities. A third factor that may
lead to a more even balance between males and females in the
Mahishadal population is the rapid expansion going on at Haldia.

The plans for the Port include oil refineries, an associated
industrial complex, and a residential city. The Port Project is
already beginning to attract unemployed males from the Mahishadal
area.

 

5 The fourth village included in the geographical boundaries of the
town, a distant and predominantly agricultural village, was not
covered in the survey. The most distant neighborhoods of a second
village were excluded for lack of time.

6 Landholdings are extremely fragmented, and the three bighas that
a man owns may be scattered over five different locations. If a
land exchange can be arranged, considerable nonproductive tranSit
time can be saved.

7 The reliability of the landholding information given by zamindar

families Should be viewed with great Skepticism, since they are well
aware of all legal loopholes which might enable them to hold land in
amounts vastly greater than the ceiling set by land reform measures.

8 The exact number of intercaste marriages in Mahishadal families
has not been completely tabulated, due to the fact that some of
these marriages involve Mahishadal girls who are no longer members
of their natal households. About thirty intercaste marriages exist.

298

299

9 The technique used to arrive at the 'collective caste hierarchy' is
described in Marriott (1968).

10At present, those young men who move into Calcutta circles of
education and employment do so through networks of kinship, affinal
ties, and friendship based in Mahishadal. AS students in the town
Raj College dorms tend to segregate themselves on the basis of
micro-regional area of origin in terms of living arrangements, so
those Mahishadal students who leave for Calcutta tend to stick
together in the big city and restrict their social life to friends
from their home town and the surrounding region. It is true that

the increasing number of Mahishadal youths going to Calcutta, Burdwan,
Bisnupur, Santiniketan University, and even Benaras for higher
education has increased the amount of contact with other students
from other parts of Bengal; the effects of such increased contact
with outsiders is still minimal. Most Mahishadal youths seeking
entry into the Regional or Sub-Regional Elite continue to concentrate
their friendship ties on other youths from their home town. The

vast majority of Mahishadal youths seeking college education continue
to attend the town colleges, leaving Mahishadal upon graduation to
enter employment. Most prefer employment in Calcutta, but failing
that seek jobs in Mahishadal or within the sub-region of southern
West Bengal, within easy reach of home. Although the number of
Mahishadal students leaving the town for higher education is
increasing rapidly, especially among the wealthier families of the
town; this does not mean that they will engage in a complete break
with their home town. Within Calcutta, Mahishadal youths who have
grown up together tend to remain together, and every attempt is made
for long-term friends to remain together after college education is
ended and youths enter the employment market. While resident in
Calcutta or other important educational centers, Mahishadal youths
tend to stick together as roommates in college hostels and later as
coemployees in jobs that are available. This is a variation on the
pattern observed among college students who come to Mahishadal for
higher education from smaller towns and villages within the
sub-region. They also show a marked preference for sticking together
in an alien setting, in this case Mahishadal. Therefore one Should
not assume that the fact that Mahishadal youths go to Calcutta for
education is in itself an indication of shift from Sub—Regional to
Regional orientation.

11Clothing is clearly perceived as a cultural indicator among young
people, and they will go to extreme lengths to avoid appearing in
public in what they consider "village" dress.

2 . .
Personal communication.

 

 

APPENDICES

 

VF

‘ "_ "'1

HI
a

“uni; _-..

 

300

APPENDIX A

Tables

Table l

*
Police Station Mahishadal: Population Characteristics

Population Characteristics

 

 

 

Total Rural Urban
1. Area
Square Miles 124.9 123.5 1.4
2. Population
Density
per Square Mile 1,438 1,412 3,669
3. Number of
Villages
Inhabited 167 167
Uninhabited 5 5 (4)
4. Number of Towns 1 l
5. Number of
Occupied Residences 37,099 36,112 987
6. Number of Households 32,911 31,922 989
7. Average Size
of Household 5.5 5.5 5.3
8. Population
Total 179,596 174,386 5,210
Male 91,637 88,692 2,945
Female 87,959 85,694 2,265

*
(from B. Ray, District Census Handbook, Midnapore District.

Vol. I (Part 2):22 Table A-1)

 

301

Table 2

*
Population Distribution by Age and Sex

1. Rural Mahishadal P.S.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Age_ Persons Percent of Total Males Females
0-9 55,016 31.55 27,115 27,901
10-19 32,107 18.41 16,429 15,678
20-29 28,888 16.57 14,150 11,738
30—39 21,109 12.10 11,275 9,834
40-49 15,691 9.00 8,282 7,409
50-59 10,992 6.30 5,959 5,033
60-69 6,904 3.96 3,642 3,262
70+ 3,672 2.11 1,833 1,839
Age Not
Stated 7 7
174,386 100.00
2. Mahishadal Town
Age Persons Percent of Total Males Females
0-9 1,348 25.87 676 672
10-19 1,190 22.84 674 516
20-29 1,005 19.29 630 375
30-39 692 13.28 447 245
40-49 477 9.16 272 205
50-59 264 5.07 139 125
60-69 164 3.15 70 94
70+ 70 1.34 37 33
5,210 100.00

 

*(from B. Ray, District Census Handbook, Midnapore District.
Vol. I (Part 2):280 Table C-II)

 

302

Table 3
Occupations of Male Workers In

Rural and Urban Mahishadal Police Station*

 

 

 

 

 

Occupation The Villages The Town
Number of Percent of Number of Percent of
Workers Workers Workers Workers

Cultivation 28,961 61.51 96 7.42

Agricultural

Labor 5,502 11.69 63 4.87

Animal Husbandry

and Fishing 1,134 2.41 17 1.31

Household

Industry 2,325 4.94 74 5.72

Manufacturing 1,023 2.17 130 10.05

Construction 1,215 2.58 52 4.02

Trade and

Commerce 1,463 3.11 185 14.30

Transportation

and

Communication 955 2.03 78 6.03

Other Services 4,504 9.57 599 46.29

Total Workers 47,082 1,294

*(from B. Ray, District Census Handbook, Midnapore District.

V0. I (Part A):48-49 Table B-III, (Part B):58-59 Tab1e B-III)

 

 

 

 

303

APPENDIX B

Glossary of Important Bengali Words Appearing in Text

Word in Text

 

alta

 

anchal panchayat

 

ayah
ayurvedic

bari

 

basa

 

bigha

biri

 

bhadralok

brammottar

 

chakran

chaukidar

dafadar

devottar

dhuti

Transliteration

 

(Elta)
(anchal panchéyat)
(fiy‘é')

(ayurbed)
(bari)

(bis 5)
(bigha)
(biri)
(bhadralok)
(brammottar)
(cakran)

(chaukidar)

(dafadfir)

(debottar)

(dhuti)

Translation

 

red dye used as cosmetic
multi-village council
maidservant, nurse

Hindu science of
medicine

homestead, ancestral
home

lodging, temporary
residence

a measure of land,
generally one-third of
an acre

a kind of cigarette

"gentleman," member of
the Bengali middle class

rent-free grant of land
trade to a Brahman

land grant given in
return for service

village watchman

officer in charge of
chaukidars

 

rent-free land
endowment in the name
of a deity

white cloth worn as
formal dress by Bengali
males

 

I.
1W

Tl ,_

'e.~n_

 

Word in Text

 

a'an

ghar
ghar jamai

gram

Gram Sevak

 

est

hat

jagir
jagirdar

jajmani

karta

kichuri

304

Transliteration

(sfijan)

(ghar)

(ghar jamai)

(gram)
(gram sebak)

(guy)
(hit)
(jaygir)

(jaygirdfir)

(jajmani)

(iati)
(jatra)

(kicca)

(Karta)

(khicuri)

Translation

 

a Hindu festival in
honor of Siva,
occurring during the
dry season

house, room

resident son-in-law,
man living with his
wife's parents (against
traditional custom)

village

village level social
worker

molasses
itinerant peasant market
grant of rent-free land

holder of grant of
rent-free land

a system of patron-
client relationships
linking families of
different castes.
Traditionally, a
hereditary relationship.

caste (also race,
nation and ethnic group)

dramatic entertainment,
opera

raw, uncooked,
unfinished, of low
quality -

head of a coparcenary
joint family under the
Mitakshara property
rules of North India

a mixture of cooked dal
and rice

 

'Efltl .

1.7.-
,_ .

 

Word in Text

 

luci

 

l5

 

mauza
pakka
pan

panchayat
pandit

ara

ranam

prasad

E.

purda

sitar

subrahar

thana

veda

 

zamindar

zamindari

305

Transliteration

(luci)

(lungi)

(mauja)

(p akké)

(pan)
(panchayat)

(paeeit)
(page)
(prae'ém)
(prasad)
(pass)
(pardé)

(sitar)
(subrahar)

(Thana)

(bed)

(j amidar)

(jamidari)

Translation

pancake fried in hi
(clarified butter§——

colored cloth commonly
worn by peasant men, of
Muslim origin

revenue village

Hun-(1W
I

ripe, cooked, finished,
of high quality

betel leaf

 

'fl.
Qua)»

council

a Brahman learned in
Sanskrit

neighborhood
prostration, bow

food that has been
offered to a god

worship

social seclusion of
women

North Indian stringed
instrument used in
classical music

a bass Sitar

Police Station

Sanskrit scriptures of
Hinduism

landlord, landholder

a landlord's estate

 

---IIIIII..-IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIA?
.

qu 4.4 .... .r..fl~r. 5.9. 31.69%"

a.

 

my

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