ABSTRACT
Chapters 4 and 5 look at social transformations under colonialism. Colonial rule brought about major changes in two stages. Chapter 4 depicts early colonial transformation. During the early colonial encounter, the structure of the ‘sacrificer state and sacrificial community’ began to fragment. The intricate system of totality that connected the local system of entitlements, kingship and the Jagannātha cult was broken down and their depoliticised and ritualised forms were created. The villagers had to seek their ‘traditional’ identity in the limited sphere of ‘community rituals’ and ‘ritual kingship’. The introduction of private landownership some decades after colonisation led to the collapse of the system of entitlements, and the formation of the dominant caste–centred jajmani relationships based on unequal landownership. The introduction of land proprietorship also delinked everyday productive activity from traditional identity. The colonially constructed land tenure structure privileged the local elite of brāhmaṇas and karaṇas (scribes) and the dominant caste of khaṇḍāyatas (peasant-militia), thus creating a ‘unitary caste hierarchy’ where brahmanical ritual hierarchy overlapped with the economic landholding hierarchy. Early colonialism thus ‘traditionalised’ hierarchy and dominance in local society. The sacrificial idea of the cooperation of ontologically equal parts and duty as a devotional service to god came to be confined to the religio-ritual sphere and cut off from socio-economic relationships.
