The Dhaarmik Traditions - Indic Studies Foundation

introduction in this census report, not seen in the previous census reports, was
the study of the "anthropometric" readings of racial characteristics which is
introduced into its discussion of "Caste, Tribe, and Race" in chapter eleven of
the work. There is also a very extensive discussion of the origins of caste in the
census report which has provoked much controversy 7 .
Sir Herbert Risley also wrote a major work on Indian Castes called The People
of India which he published in 1908.
No indigenous equivalent to the word Caste in India. The
English word Caste was derived from Portuguese word
Casta which meant race, breed or lineage. Quite distinct
from Varna
The Brits institutionalized the word Caste, using the
decennial Census of India as a tool for ethnographic
mapping and conjured up 100’s of new castes
the Census acted as a catalyst for an increased
consciousness of caste as caste status became an
increasingly significant factor in attaining material status.
See for instance Nicholas Dirks ‘Castes of Mind’
7 “In any case, the British administrators were, understandably overwhelmed by these figures and felt obliged to find a way
to compartmentalize chunks of population into manageable groups. The most obvious way to do so was through the use of
India's unique caste system “Ethnographic Mapping and the Construction of the British Census in India Kevin
Hobson
This is a relatively charitable explanation. The more plausible one is that they needed an idea of the diversity of India in
order to exploit it for the prolongation of their rule by use of an important dictum that went back to Roman times and to
Julius Caesar, namely Divide et Impera (divide and rule).
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