Louis Dumont: Introduction: Pure or Superior Practices and Criticism
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Introduction
- French anthropologist
- Structural Indological perspective/approach
- Cognitive historical approach
- Ideology and tradition
- Ideology: unified set of ideas and values
- Ideology of caste in Indology
- Book view method
- Combined text with context
- Structural functional analysis
- Concept of Purity and Impurity/Pollution
- Homo Hierachicus: Caste System and its implications in the year 1966
- Features of caste system according to him:
- Hierarchy is the core of caste system
- And in society based on that Western society based on equality – Homo aquealis
- Purity and impurity denote superiority and inferiority respectively
- Ritual status and power are different in caste system
- There is no parallel of Indian caste system
- Ritual status is of utmost importance
- Inspired by Binary opposites view by Levi-Strauss
- Application in caste - Opposites of pure and polluted
- Cultural explanation of caste: Inspired by Bougle
- Division of labour and the caste system is not based on economic but on the cultural basis
- Position of caste is relative: Position of Brahmins is taken as the ideal reference
- Caste as an ideology of separation of pure and impure
- Dual focus on ideology and structure
- Caste system in terms of ideas and values
- Binary opposition with Western ideology: His focus was on ideology because it was also reflected in the ancient literature and text
- He used the examples of Jajmani system, Marriage, dining practices, socialization, and priests.
- Where the domination is by hierarchy and not economics.
- Caste as Binary opposition of pure and impure
- He said, “caste is not a form of stratification, but a special form of inequality and hierarchy is the central tenet of this system.”
- Principle of purity and pollution is universal in the Indian society
- He rejects Srinivas՚s idea that caste hierarchy has secular and ritual streams
- The overall framework of the caste has not changed with time there is change in society and not of society
- Substantialization of caste: Traditional independence has been replaced by competing interests with changing times
Pure or Superior Practices
- Endogamy
- Cleanliness
- Vegetarianism
Polluted or Inferior Practices
Impure occupations
Criticism
- Power and status are the two sides of the same coin- Gerald D Berrmen
- Indology-based inferences do not match with today՚s reality. Andre Beteille said his view is on ‘What caste ought to be and not what caste today is.’
- Ignores the conflicts view of caste
- Textual approach
Conclusion
- His study is helpful in summarizing cultural complexities of India.
- His cultural dimension approach was a different approach at that time when only field studies, structural functionalism and Marxist perspective were popular.
MCQ
Q.1. Who has opined that … . Indian civilization has a specific ideology whose components are in a binary opposition to that of the West: modern against traditional, holism against individualism, hierarchy against equality, purity against pollution, status against power etc. ?
(A) Louis Dumont
(B) David Hardiman
(C) N. K. Bose
(D) G. S. Ghurye
Answer: (A)
Q.2. The group of thinkers supported cultural view of caste were
(a) Weber, Barth, Bailey
(b) Srinivas Barth, Bailey
(c) Weber, Srinivas, Dumont
(d) Dumont, Weber, Bailey
Ans. (c)
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✍ Manishika