ABSTRACT
Sociologists, social anthropologists, political scientists, historians and others have much more knowledge about caste than did their predecessors before 1947. Usually members of a caste are spread over a wide area, sometimes covering more than one state. So many migrations have taken place that almost every caste is much more dispersed than before. The task of aggregating caste data is much more difficult than it was at the censuses during the colonial time. A caste which appears to be strictly endogamous at the top of its internal hierarchy may be loose at its bottom. Anthropologists have also known tribe–caste hypergamy in many parts of India. Caste endogamy is also being negated increasingly by inter-caste, inter-religious, inter-regional and international marriages. If the Census of India decides to count castes and their members, it will not be collecting facts as such but will be intervening in social processes at various levels.
