DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.31218#0118
CHAPTER VI
THE SYSTEM OF CASTE GOVERNMENT
In every caste there is some authority charged with
the duty of compelling obedience to cus-
t. Caste govem- tomary laws. Among the ‘twice-born’—
ment Brahmans, Rajputs, and Vaisyas—that
authority is often nothing more concrete
than public opinion. But most castes possess a regular
system of government, of which the ruling body is a
council or assembly, known as a panchayat. The powers
of this body vary both in nature and extent. In all castes
it has some measure of judicial power, and investigates
and punishes offences against custom : in many, it is also
a licensing authority, authorizing acts or omissions which
by custom require such sanction.
It is possible to make certain general
statements that are true of all pan-
chayats.
(a) The group which a panchayat rules is not the
caste as such, but the endogamous group, whether it be
caste or subcaste. Just as a man may eat food prepared
by another if he can marrv that other’s daughter, so too
he may meet him in council.1 And the panchayat of one
endogamous group is completely independent of the pan-
chayats of other similar groups within the same caste.
If two or more panchayats meet to consider matters of
mutual interest, they meet as independent and equal
powers, which are not necessarily friends, let alone allies.2
The council of the caste as such is the sabha, which is
discussed in a later paragraph.
>. The caste
council
1 There are only two exceptions: the Nai (see par. 6), where the
panchayat is a caste one ; and the Rajput, where the unit is the exoga-
mous group (see par. 17).
2 Occasionally panchayats of two groups in different castes meet in
the same way. See Census Report, U.P., 1911, p. 333, note 1.
IO4
THE SYSTEM OF CASTE GOVERNMENT
In every caste there is some authority charged with
the duty of compelling obedience to cus-
t. Caste govem- tomary laws. Among the ‘twice-born’—
ment Brahmans, Rajputs, and Vaisyas—that
authority is often nothing more concrete
than public opinion. But most castes possess a regular
system of government, of which the ruling body is a
council or assembly, known as a panchayat. The powers
of this body vary both in nature and extent. In all castes
it has some measure of judicial power, and investigates
and punishes offences against custom : in many, it is also
a licensing authority, authorizing acts or omissions which
by custom require such sanction.
It is possible to make certain general
statements that are true of all pan-
chayats.
(a) The group which a panchayat rules is not the
caste as such, but the endogamous group, whether it be
caste or subcaste. Just as a man may eat food prepared
by another if he can marrv that other’s daughter, so too
he may meet him in council.1 And the panchayat of one
endogamous group is completely independent of the pan-
chayats of other similar groups within the same caste.
If two or more panchayats meet to consider matters of
mutual interest, they meet as independent and equal
powers, which are not necessarily friends, let alone allies.2
The council of the caste as such is the sabha, which is
discussed in a later paragraph.
>. The caste
council
1 There are only two exceptions: the Nai (see par. 6), where the
panchayat is a caste one ; and the Rajput, where the unit is the exoga-
mous group (see par. 17).
2 Occasionally panchayats of two groups in different castes meet in
the same way. See Census Report, U.P., 1911, p. 333, note 1.
IO4