ABSTRACT
Readers familiar with the background literature will have noted that I use the terms ‘status’ and ‘standing’ in an apparently promiscuous way; and do not follow Pocock (1972) in drawing a sharp distinction between ‘standing’ within the caste and ‘status’ between castes. For Pocock status is of a religious nature and derives from Hindu purity values; standing is much more flexible and is largely a product of wealth judiciously invested in prestigious marriage alliances. If we speak of differences of status within the caste we imply that the relationship between different levels within the caste is homologous with the relationship between different castes, a position which he dismisses as ‘absurd’ (p. 65).
