A Cruel Hierarchy

Picture of the week

My homestay family has a servant named Parvesh. He is 5’3, with a tiny frame which holds no more than 90 pounds. He spends his days cooking, cleaning, running errands, and doing whatever Auntie asks of him. He is only sixteen years old, and has been working for the family since he was seven. This is his life, and the chances of him ever getting an education are slim to none.

At a camel rehabilitation center
in the Thar Desert

Parvesh’s family is from West Bengal, on the other side of the country from Rajasthan. He has not had the opportunity to get an education as he is forced to work so he can send money home. I can not help but think back to when I was sixteen… I was in my sophomore year at a boarding school in Canada with every opportunity laid out in front of me. I would attend class during the day, and afternoons were filled with rowing practice and guitar class, weekends with regattas and social events. Though I was also living far from home, I never worried about whether my family was getting enough to eat, and I certainly never sent any money home. As much as I would like to finance Parvesh’s education (high school costs no more than $0.50/month), I realize that there is more than just poverty working against him. India’s caste system is so rigid and deeply rooted in the culture, that there is simply no hope for its degeneration.

India’s caste system divides society into four main orders: Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Shudra. A fifth caste which is considered the lowest strata of Indian society and constitutes 16% of the population are the untouchables (also referred to as the Scheduled Castes, or Dalits, to be politically correct). These categorizations are further divided into hundreds of hierarchal sub-castes which are hereditary, and, unlike in the Western world’s class system, there is no opportunity for mobility. You carry your caste with you your entire life; there is no escaping it. It is revealed in the clothes you wear, in your last name, and how you compose yourself. Though some people belonging to lower castes attempt to rid themselves of the system by mimicking the upper castes (a process termed “sanskritization”, or “brahminization”), most accept their status in the caste system as a religious duty which they are required to fulfill.

Me with one of Jaipur's
lovely elephants!

What the Western world tends to dismiss when critiquing India’s caste system, is that it is more than just a hierarchy. The caste system was created to establish order within society, allotting certain jobs to certain people. The Brahmins are the priests and scholars, the Kshatryias the rulers and warriors, the Vaishyas the merchants, and the Shudras the servants. The “polluting” jobs are reserved for the Dalits, such as collecting garbage, cleaning bathrooms, sweeping the streets, etc… The reason so many lower castes do not even bother trying to improve their status in the caste system lies in their belief in reincarnation. Many Hindus believe that the caste they are born into is a result of their karma and the extent to which they fulfilled their religious duties in their previous life. Many Dalits and Shudras think that they deserve to be members of the lower castes, believing that they must have done something immoral or failed to follow the religious scriptures closely enough in a past life. This sort of mentality is of course convenient for the upper castes as it allows them to have access to all the power and resources.

Though India’s government has established a sort of American equivalent to affirmative action, allotting 40% of government jobs to the Scheduled Castes, unfortunately these regulations are poorly implemented and apply only to the public sector. The general consensus regarding these laws is that they have done nothing but anger the upper castes and given Dalits the opportunity to become corrupt leaders, causing even more resentment towards the lower castes. Passing laws is not sufficient to end this kind of discrimination. So long as Hinduism’s religious texts promote the caste system, this cruel hierarchy will continue to dictate the social structure of society, and people like Parvesh will never have the chance to pursue any opportunities beyond the boundaries of his caste.

In other news…

I attended my first Indian wedding last week. It was a traditional Muslim wedding, and the groom was a relative of my homestay mother’s sister’s husband. (Over a decade ago, my homestay mother’s sister made the controversial decision to not only have a love marriage, but to marry a Muslim, a sworn enemy of the Sikhs. Her parents disowned her, and it took four years before they ever spoke to her again). The women were dressed in their most colorful sarees, and every limb was adorned with as many diamonds and jewels it could possibly hold. Even the men wore long robes lined with sequins paired with their shiniest leather shoes. Despite the discomfort of being the only white person at the wedding (and American, nonetheless), I truly enjoyed the experience and realized how much I take my freedom of choice for granted.

Some adorable water buffalo cooling off in a lake

Not only had the bride and groom never met, but they were in separate rooms during the actual ceremony. Even during the reception, the bride remained in a separate room, while the groom was outside enjoying the festivities. When she did finally emerge from the room, she was completely veiled, and sat directly on the other side of the long table where her husband was eating. Neither of them even glanced at the other. They are not allowed to see each other until later that night when they meet privately at a hotel, where they are expected to consummate the marriage. *

This snake charmer isn't as brave
as he looks... they rip out their
fangs beforehand

I had a chance to meet both the groom and bride, and, interestingly enough, neither seemed particularly bothered by this arrangement. In fact, every single Indian I have talked to has expressed a positive attitude towards arranged marriages. It insures that people marry within their religion and caste, allowing them to preserve their culture and traditions. (Even advertisements looking for spouses in the newspaper are divided into sections by caste). Many Indians prefer this system to that of the Western world’s, and have gone so far as to tell me that it is a gesture of love for parents to find their children a spouse. This of course implies that if parents leave their children to find their own husband or wife, as is the case in America, that they do not care very much about their well being. It is difficult for Indians to conceptualize the American family system, seeing as with this kind of logic they tend to assume a sort of distant, impersonal dynamic between parents and children. And since the closest thing to arranged marriages in America is MTV’s “Parental Control”, I have found it difficult to convince them otherwise.

* Note that this type of arrangement where the bride and groom have absolutely no say in whom they marry is an extremely rare situation in both the Hindu and Muslim traditions. It is more common for the prospective spouses to meet each other a few times beforehand, allowing them to make the final decision.

I also finally made it to the Majestic Taj Mahal, here are some close-ups: