Introductory - Global Sikh Studies

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hocus-pocus and subterfuge was needed to invest them with faked
caste-status and geneologies. The abrupt conquest by Muslims left
little time for this kind of manouvre. The failure of Hindus to stand
up against Muslim domination was not so much a failure of the people;
it was a failure of the caste system.
The caste ideology or the caste system was not only incapable
of giving rise to movements requiring united action, it had also a strong
potentiality for dragging such movements into its old ruts to the extent
these came under its perverse influence. The Maratha leaders do not
appear to have grasped the lesson that their movement owned its
existence to their being comparatively free from the shackles of the
caste. Had they been conscious of this fact, they should have worked
for further loosening its bonds, instead of, as they did, deliberately
strengthening them. Jadunath Sarkar has clinched the issue: ‘A Hindu
revival like the empire of the Peshwas, instead of uniting them
(Hindus) only embittered caste bickering by intensifying orthodoxy,
leading to a stricter repression of the lower castes by the forces of the
States, and provoking more widespread and organised caste feuds,
like those between the different subdivisions of the Deccani Brahmins
or between the only two literate and well-to-do castes of Maharashtra,
viz., the Brahmins and the Prabhus.’ 13 He comes to the further
conclusion that ‘the separatist tendency is as strong in their religion as
in their society’, and ‘reform was possible only outside the regular
Hindu Church followed by the masses, i.e. among the small nonconforming
sects, where men were prepared to leave all things and
follow truth,…’ 14 But, Sarkar misses another vital factor. The caste
helped Hindu feudalism to consolidate its hold on the masses.
Therefore, it was in the interests of the Hindu feudel system to uphold
caste. It was a vicious circle. It was, therefore, essential not only to
keep liberal movements outside the ‘regular Hindu Church’ and the
caste society, but also to keep clear of the feudal track.
In this background, the masses could be led on to the path of
achieving plebian political objectives gradually and step by step.