ABSTRACT
In this book I have presented 10 of my essays published in various journals and symposia during 1982-2007 on several of the structural features of Indian society, those groups, institutions and processes which have endured for a long time. There are fi ve essays on caste (including Dalit caste) and one each on tribe, sect, sanskritization, the cultural complex of purity, impurity and untouchabilty, and ruralurban relations.1 Although each essay is concerned with a particular theme, certain threads run through the essays.
