ABSTRACT
Chapter 9 discusses transformations in inter-caste relationships in local society from the 1990s onwards. Caste in today’s rural Orissa is at the crossroads of formal rejection in the politico-economic sphere and reformulated continuity in the socio-cultural sphere. Caste is spurned in the official discursive sphere due to the ideals of ‘civil society’. The discourse of freedom, equality and democracy is indeed prevalent and influential even in rural Orissa. The reservation policy represents the paradoxical concern of a state committed to the ideal of equality which denies the value of caste but, which, in implementing affirmative action, also admits to its continued existence. In the economic sphere, market principles have largely replaced customary inter-caste exchanges as a result of the initiatives taken by the ‘service castes’, where prices for the work were negotiated and in some cases replaced by piecework business transactions. Although caste associations have played a vital role in such negotiations, they are now largely defunct due to increasing heterogenisation within castes. On the other hand, there are negotiations from below to redefine and recast caste identity in the pursuit of interests and dignity. This chapter takes up several instances where we witness contestations between the hegemonic caste structure, based on status and power, and its critique and resistance from below, based on the principle of ontological equality. Lower castes not only negotiated with the dominant castes to dispose of patron–client relationships, introducing market principles in economic transactions. They also tried to reformulate the contents of their caste roles to enhance the dignity of their caste identity. For example, cowherds refused to carry palanquins at the marriages of the dominant castes as they deemed this work degraded, while they agree to continue carrying the palanquins of the gods in rituals as their honourable duty. Also, sweepers are reluctant to do the cleaning of the village, while they take pride in acting as the drum-beaters for the goddess in the community ritual. Here we see an attempt at the reformulation of the form and semantics of caste from below. It shows people’s agency and efforts to mediate their sense of ontological identity with a new sense of community. Here the notions of sacrifice, service and duty mediate role between the ontology of caste and the idea of democratic community.
