Dominant Caste

Colonialism had drastically changed the nature of society and the polity of India. Orissa one of the eastern states comes under colonial supervision in 1803. Due to British intervention power dynamics was gradually changed over a period of time. With the changing nature of power dynamics, different groups have responded differently to this change. There were signs of revolt against the colonial dominance as well as the dominance of local elites in colonial Orissa. In this context, Bhima Bhoi (1850-1895) a leader of the ‘depressed classes’ in late nineteenth Century Orissa, started his campaign against the domination of such local elites and dominant culture. His teaching was widespread and accepted by all the communities. Today in contemporary Orissa his followers mostly from the Dalits and Adivasi background in the western part of Odisha. Before Bhima Bhoi in the middle of the 19th century, there was a protestant, religion called Mahima Dharma. It was started in the eastern part of Orissa. The founder of the religion was Mahima Goswami who was born as an untouchable community in the eastern part of Orissa. This religion basically preached humanity, believe in one god, anti-caste, and anti idol worship in nature. Followers of this religion were from all castes except Brahmins. Coming of the Bhima Bhoi after Mahima Goswami radicalized this movement since the leaders from an Adivasi background. Bhima Bhoi ruthlessly attacked the caste system, Vedas, Idol worship, superstition, and so on. He and including his followers attacked Jagannath Temple thrice. After the demise of Bhima Bhoi, this movement gradually loses its authenticity and the process of appropriation took place. This paper will deal with four different important aspects. The first part tries to deal with the politics of anthropology and colonial power with the connection of the ruling elites of Orissa. The second part tries to engage with the questions of change with the connection of the British and the upper caste and the other ruling elite of the Odisha. Thirdly how Adivasis and lower castes responded to the changing nature of the dynamics of power and growing dominance of local elites, caste system, and inequality in Orissa. Here I have tried to show Bhima Bhoi as the historical agent who not only saw the growing emergence of the dominance of upper caste, changing nature of power relations in colonial Orissa but also challenged the different processes which were taking place. And lastly paper will deal with how the radical movement led by Bhima Bhoi over a period of time appropriated by Brahmanism through different processes. In the question of appropriation, I have taken Biswanath Baba one of the most important leaders of the Mahima Dharma after Bhima Bhoi as an example, as a historical agent who not only misrepresent the teaching of Bhima Bhoi but also linked it with Hinduism, Veda, Upanashida, Geeta and all of others things which were opposed by Bhima Bhoi.

The post-liberalisation era in India has witnessed mobilisations among socially superior castes for reservation/affirmative action. I examine why Marathas have intensified their mobilisation in the past few years by using qualitative and quantitative data gathered over a period of 14 months in 2008-2009 and several visits during 2010-2019 in Mumbai and Maharashtra. I argue that a crisis of dominance explains the Maratha's mobilisation for reservation. Understanding this crisis involves paying attention to the link between two crises-'urban' and 'rural'. The former arises from the rapid disappearance of wellpaid jobs since the late 1990s in large-scale manufacturing and other industries in urban areas. The latter refers to the return of retrenched factory workers to their villages and the loss of their social status. It also refers to the inability of the rural youths with low or vernacular education to migrate to urban areas for well-paid employment, and the disturbance of caste hierarchy norms in rural settings. I conclude that the Maratha crisis of dominance will persist under the neoliberal Indian state due to the privatisation of higher education and absence of well-paid, secured jobs for individuals with low level or vernacular education. The price of this crisis will be paid by Dalits, who have been the victims of brutal atrocities carried out by the Marathas.

In recent years, the Maratha community has mobilised
for reservations in employment and higher education,
claiming that the lack of reservations has resulted in
socio-economic backwardness. Their opponents have
largely highlighted the political and economic
dominance of the community. This paper examines the
income, education and occupational status of the
Marathas vis-à-vis non-Marathas while scrutinising the
statistical limitations of the Gaikwad Committee report
(2018). Compared to other castes and communities in
Maharashtra, the Marathas have a higher proportion of
the rich and wealthy and the lowest share among the
poorest and poor. It is only in comparison to the
Brahmins and other upper castes that the Marathas lag
behind in education and employment.