Hist 4538
Feb 24, 2004
Caste and Class in British India
• Final Paper: opportunity to submit rough draft (preferably by April 1)
The Census
• India-wide census began 1871
• Made caste official by forcing people to identify themselves in terms of caste
• Also ranked jati
• Required people to identify their religion
• Contributed to hardening of previously flexible/overlapping categories
Discussion of Bayly, “Everyday Experience of Caste”
• Peasant-landlord relationships and the position of commercial groups
• What changes occur?
• How do these changes manifest themselves?
• What are the larger implications of these changes?
The Rise of the Middle Class(es)
• Emerging Indian middle class differentiating itself from those beneath them
• Also middle class Anglo-Indians (Britons in India) seeking upper class privileges
• 1877: Victoria crowned Empress of India, raising prestige of Anglo-Indian hierarchy
• David Cannadine’s Ornamentalism:
◦ British empire less about race than class, more about similarity than difference
◦ British interest in caste due partly to similarity to British hierarchy
◦ Indian princes seen as analogous to British rulers
• A means of tying “natural leaders” to British rulers
• Based on assumption that “all orientals think highly of a lord”
• Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George
◦ CMG: Companion of Order of St Michael and St George
◦ KCMG: Knight Commander of St Michael and St George
◦ GCMG: Knight Grand Cross of St Michael and St George
• After 1857, specifically Indian honors created
◦ Most Exalted Order of Star of India (est. 1861)
◦ Most Eminent Order of Indian Empire (est. 1878)
◦ Imperial Order of Crown of India (est. 1878)
• Rudyard Kipling, “A Legend of the Foreign Office”:
Rustum Beg of Kolazai—slightly backward Native State—
Lusted for a CSI—so began to sanitate
Built a Gaol and Hospital—nearby built a City drain
Till his faithful subjects all thought their ruler was insane . . .
. . . Then the birthday honours came. Sad to state and sad to see
Stood against the Rajah’s name nothing more than CIE.