Glossary
Note: The information provided does not claim to be complete or up-to-date.
Pages from Seventy-two Specimens of Castes in India according to Christian Missionaries in February 1837. They include Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Arabs as castes of India. | |||||
A
- Administrative divisions (Province or State) of India during the British Raj (in the time of the study of J. H. Hutton as used in his Caste in India, p. 199)
- Provinces: 1. Ajmer Merwara 2. Andamans and Nicobars 3. Assam 4. Baluchistan (Districts & Administered Territories) 5. Bengal 6. Bihar and Orissa 7. Bombay 8. Burma 9. Central Provinces and Berar 10. Coorg 11. Delhi 12. Madras 13. North-West Frontier Province 14. Punjab 15. United Provinces of Agra and Oudh
- States and Agencies: 16. Assam States 17. Baluchistan States 18. Baroda State 19. Bengal States 20. Bihar and Orissa States 21. Bombay States 22. Central India Agency 23. Central Provinces States 24. Gwalior State 25. Hyderabad State 26. Jammu and Kashmir State 27. Madras States Agency — Cochin State — Travancore State — Other Madras States 28. Mysore State 29. North-West Frontier Province (Agencies and Tribal Areas) 30. Punjab States 31. Punjab States Agency 32. Rajputana Agency 33. Sikkim State 34. United Provinces States 35. Western India States Agency
- M. Srinivasa Aiyangar (1874–1941); Tamil Studies (1914)
- B. R. Ambedkar (1891–1956), Indian jurist, social reformer, and politician; drafted the Constitution of India and criticized the caste system; Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development (1916, published 1917); Annihilation of Caste (speech, 1936).
- Année Sociologique (Paris), see Célestin Bouglé.
- Arjun Appadurai (born 4 February 1949), Indian-American anthropologist; Is Homo Hierarchicus? (Review article)
- Asiatic Researches, or, Transactions of the Society instituted in Bengal for inquiring into the history and antiquities, the arts, sciences and literature of Asia (journal), Calcutta 1788-1839
B
- François Bernier (1620–1688), French physician and traveller; Voyages de François Bernier Docteur en Médecine de la Faculté de Montpellier. Contenant la Description des Etats du Grand Mogol, de l'Hindoustan, du Royaume de Kachemire, &c. Où il est traitté des Richesses, des Forces, de la Justice & des causes principales de la decadence des Etats de l'Asie, & de plusieurs évenemens considérables. Paul Marret, Amsterdam 1699-1709
- André Béteille (1934–), Indian sociologist known for work on social hierarchies, inequality, and the caste system.
- Jogendra Nath Bhattacharya: Hindu castes and sects. An exposition of the origin of the Hindu caste system and the bearing of the sects toward each other and towards other religious systems. Calcutta 1896
- Edward Blunt (1877–1941), British civil servant; The Caste System of Northern India with Special Reference to the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh . London 1931
- Pramatha Nath Bose (1855–1934), Indian geologist and paleontologist; History of Hindu Civilisation during British Rule (4 vols.)
- Célestin Bouglé (1870–1940), French sociologist and student of Émile Durkheim; analyzed social hierarchies and classifications, including comparative studies of caste and racial theories; Essais sur le Régime des Castes (Travaux de l’Année Sociologique). Paris, 1908 (English Essays on the Caste System , translated with an introduction by D. F. Pocock)
- John Brough (1917–1984), Scottish scholar; The Early Brahmanical System of Gotra and Pravara (Cambridge University Press, 1953)
- Francis Buchanan (1762–1829), A Journey from Madras through the Countries of Mysore, Canara and Malabar (1807)
C
- Caste in India: Its Nature, Function and Origins (1946), book by J. H. Hutton, providing a detailed analysis of the caste system and discussing developments since earlier censuses.
- Castes and Tribes of Southern India (1909), by Edgar Thurston; early ethnographic survey including caste classifications and social practices.
- Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development (1916, published 1917), by B. R. Ambedkar ; sociological analysis of the ideology of the caste system.
| Census | Census administrator |
|---|---|
| 1871 | W. C. Plowden |
| 1881 | W. C. Plowden |
| 1891 | J. A. Baines |
| 1901 | H. H. Risley |
| 1911 | E. A. Gait |
| 1921 | J. T. Marten |
| 1931 | J. H. Hutton |
| 1941 | W. W. M. Yeatts |
- Census of India 1891, earlier British census that already collected caste information and formed the basis for later racial classifications.
- Census of India 1931, the census in British India that aimed to systematically record castes and ethnic groups; served as an important source for ethnographic and sociological studies.
- Ramprasad Chandra: The Indo Aryan Races: A Study of the Origin of Indo-Aryan People and Institutions , Rajshah 1916
- Simon Charsley: ‘Untouchable’: What is in a Name? (1996)
- Henry Thomas Colebrooke (1765–1837): Enumeration of Indian Classes (1798)
- Criminal Tribes Act (1871)
- William Crooke (1848–1923), British ethnographer and folklorist who published numerous detailed studies on castes and tribes in India; emphasized material and occupational aspects of caste as opposed to racial approaches; The Tribes and Castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh. 4 vols., Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, Calcutta 1896
- Alexander Cunningham (1814–1893), British archaeologist and civil servant; early observations of Indian social organization and historical context.
D
- Depressed Classes, see Dalit
- S. C. Dube (1922–1996), Indian anthropologist; contributions to rural society and caste structure in India.
- Abbé J. A. Dubois (1765–1848), French missionary; author of Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies , detailed ethnographic observations of Indian society, religion, and caste.
- Louis Dumont (1911–1998), French anthropologist known for his sociological interpretation of the Indian caste system; emphasized the ideology and hierarchy of purity and pollution; Homo Hierarchicus: The Caste System and Its Implications (French: Homo Hierarchicus: Essai sur le système des castes; 1966).
- Romesh Chunder Dutt (1848–1909), Indian historian and economist who examined India’s economic and social structure, addressing aspects of the caste system in his works; Origin and Growth of Caste in India
E
- Verrier Elwin (1902–1964), British-born Indian anthropologist, ethnologist and tribal activist
- Endogamy – Marriage restricted within a social group; widely documented in 19th-century ethnographic reports.
- R. E. Enthoven (1869–1952), administrator in the Indian Civil Service of the British Raj; author of The Tribes and Castes of Bombay (3 vols.) that formed a part of the Ethnographic Survey of India
- Ethnographic Survey of India project, formally instituted by the Government of British India.
- Ethnography / Ethnographic survey – Method of detailed study of social groups, particularly in British censuses.
- Exogamy – Marriage rules requiring partners from outside a specified social group; described in early studies of Indian kinship systems.
G
- Edward Albert Gait (1863–1950), British Indian administrator (Report on the Census of Bengal, 1901)
- G. S. Ghurye (1893–1983), Indian sociologist; studied caste, religion, and social structure in India, author of Caste and class in India (1957), Caste and Race in India (first published 1932)
- F. S. Growse (1847–1911), British administrator and writer; published travelogues and accounts of Indian rural and social life; Mathura: A District Memoir
H
- W. J. Hatch: The Land pirates of India: an account of the Kuravers a remarkable Tribe of hereditary criminals their extraordinary skill as thieves cattle-lifters and highwaymen and their manners and customs (1928)
- Hierarchical social structure – Organization of society by rank, purity, or prestige; central aspect of the caste system.
- Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies , by Abbé J. A. Dubois; classic ethnographic work on social and religious practices in India, including caste.
- Hobson-Jobson (1903 (edited by Crooke), first published in 1886), by Yule and Burnell, s.v. Caste
- A. M. Hocart (1883–1939), British anthropologist; The Basis of Caste in India (in Acta Orientalia, xiv. Leyden, 1936). Les Castes. Traduit de l'anglais par E. J. Lévy et J. Auboyer (P. Geuthner, 1938); Caste: A Comparative Study (London: Methuen & Co., 1950; reprinted by Taylor & Francis in Routledge Revivals series, 2018)
- T. C. Hodson (1871–1953), social anthropologist; The Meitheis (D. Nutt, 1908); The Naga Tribes of Manipur (Macmillan 1911)
- Homo hierarchicus: Essai sur le système des castes (1966; engl. 1970 [5] ), by Louis Dumont, criticized the functionalist and empiricist perspective of authors such as Hutton, Ghurye, and Srinivas.
- William W. Hunter (1840–1900), British civil servant and historian; wrote on India’s administration, society, and ethnography.
- John Henry Hutton (1885–1968), British ethnographer and civil servant; author of Caste in India: Its Nature, Function and Origins, a comprehensive study of the Indian caste system.
I
- Denzil Ibbetson (1847-1908), administrator in British India; Panjab castes . 1916
- Indian Antiquities, early compilations of social, religious, and ethnographic descriptions of Indian communities.
- Charles Alexander Innes (1874–1959), British civil servant and colonial administrator; Gazetteer of the Malabar and Anjengo Districts. Edited by F. B. Evans. Madras 1908
J
- A. M. T. Jackson (1866–1909), British officer in Indian Civil Services; "Note on the History of the Caste System" (Journal of ... the Asiatic Society of Bengal, N. S. 3, 1907, pp. 509-515)
- Jāti – Subcaste or endogamous social group; in practice forms the basis of the caste system.
K
- Shivaram Vithal Karandikar: Hindu Exogamy. D. B. Taraporevala, 1929
- Irawati Karve (1905–1970), Indian anthropologist and social scientist, known for ethnographic studies on caste.
- Shridhar Venkatesh Ketkar (1884-1937): The history of caste in India: evidence of the laws of Manu on the social conditions in India during the third century A.D. Taylor & Carpenter, Ithaca, N.Y. 1909-1911 (2 vols.)
L
- Laws of Manu , see Manusmrti
M
- D. N. Majumdar (1903–1960), Indian anthropologist; Caste and Communication in an Indian Village. Asia Publishing House 1958
- Manusmriti , translated by Georg Bühler (1837-1898) with The laws of Manu ( SBE ), used by the British to rule Hindus by relying on seemingly religiously justified laws
- McKim Marriott (1924–2024), American anthropologist who studied social organization and caste categorization, especially in North India, and their role in religious and economic practices.
- Samuel Mateer (1835-1893): “The Land of Charity”: A Descriptive Account of Travancore and Its People, with Especial Reference to Missionary Labour (1871); Native life in Travancore . 1883
- Adrian C. Mayer: (1922-): Caste and Kinship in Central India: A Village and Its Region. London: Routledge; Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press 1960.
- James Philip Mills (1890–1960), member of the Indian Civil Service and ethnographer, author of an ethnological study of the Ao people of Nagaland; The Ao Nagas (1926)
- J. C. Molony (1877–1948), administrator and civil servant of the Indian civil service; A book of South India (Methuen, London 1926)
- C. S. Mullan, Census Superintendent of Assam during the Census of India 1931, British administrator responsible for recording caste information.
N
- John Collinson Nesfield (1836–1919), British civil servant and ethnographer; authored works on social and religious structures in India, including caste classification; Brief view on the caste system of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh (1882)
O
- Occupation-based hierarchy – Early ethnographers documented the link between profession and social rank, particularly in caste contexts.
- Pasfield Oliver (1838–1907) (editor): Madagascar: Or, Robert Drury's Journal During Fifteen Years' Captivity On That Island. And a Further Description of Madagascar by the Abbé Alexis Rochon . 1890
- L. S. S. O'Malley (1874-1941): Indian Caste Customs . 1932
P
- The People of India (1908), under the direction of Herbert Hope Risley; extensive ethnographic documentation of India’s population. The 2nd edtion was edited by William Crooke (Thacker, Spink & Co, Calcutta & Simla, 1915).
R
- Racial theory / Race classification – Colonial concepts that interpreted castes and groups as biologically or genetically determined (e.g., H. H. Risley).
- Conjeeveram Hayavadana Rao (1865–1946): Indian Caste System: A Study . Bangalore 1931
- Benudhar Rajkhowa (1872-1955), writer, poet and dramatist from Assam; Short Accounts of Assam (1915)
- Herbert Hope Risley (1851–1911), British civil servant in the Indian Civil Service and ethnographer; considered castes as biologically and racially determined; author of The People of India , in which he discusses 'physical types', social types, 'caste in proverbs and popular sayings', caste and marriage, religion, and the origins of the caste system. The author was Director of Ethnography for India, Officer D'Academie, France, Corresponding Member of the Anthropological Societies of Rome and Berlin, and of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland; The Tribes and Castes of Bengal (Calcutta, 1891–1892. V. 1–9)
- Horace Arthur Rose (1867–1933), administrator in the Indian Civil Service, author of works related to India in the time of the British Raj; A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province
- Sarat Chandra Roy (1871-1942): Caste, Race and Religion in India.
- R. V. Russell (1873-1915): The tribes and castes of the Central Provinces of India. 1916 (4 vols.)
- Bryce Ryan: Caste in Modern Ceylon: The Sinhalese System in Transition , New Brunswick 1953
S
- Sanskritisation (or Sanskritization) – Process in which lower castes adopt the cultural practices of higher castes to improve social status (M. N. Srinivas).
- Émile Senart (1847–1928), French Indologist, Sanskritist, and historian; known for his studies on religion, society, and ethnography of India; provided theoretical foundations for classifying castes and social groups; Les Castes dans l'Inde. Les Faits et le Système (Librairie Orientaliste Paul Geuthner, Paris, 1927, first published in 1896, Annales du Musée Guimet ).
- M. A. Sherring (1826-1880): Hindu Tribes and Castes, Calcutta: Thacker, Spink, & Co., 1872–1881. 3 volumes, as follows: Vol. 1: Hindu tribes and castes, as represented in Benares; Vol. 2: Hindu tribes and castes; together with an account of the Mahomedan tribes of the North-West Frontier and of the aboriginal tribes of the Central Provinces; Vol. 3: Hindu tribes and castes; together with three dissertations: on the natural history of Hindu caste; the unity of the Hindu race; and the prospects of Indian caste; and including a general index of the three volumes.
- William Henry Sleeman (1788-1856): Rambles and recollections of an Indian official . 1844
- Pierre Sonnerat (1748–1814): Voyage aux Indes orientales et à la Chine, fait depuis 1774 jusqu'à 1781
- M. N. Srinivas (1916–1999), Indian sociologist known for studies on social mobility and caste; developed the concept of „Sanskritisation“, whereby lower castes adopt cultural practices of higher castes to gain social status.
- Status group – Term by Max Weber for analyzing social hierarchies, applicable to caste.
- Arthur Steele: The law and custom of Hindoo Castes . W. H. Allen, London 1868
- James Fitzjames Stephen (1829–1894); The Indian evidence act (I. of 1872): With an Introduction on the Principles of Judicial Evidence. London: Macmillan and Co., 1872
T
- N. A. Thoothi: The Vaishnavas of Gujarat: Being a Study in Methods of Investigation of Social Phenomena. Longmans, Green, 1935
- Edgar Thurston (1855–1935), British ethnographer; author of Castes and Tribes of Southern India (1875), documenting caste structures and occupations; Omens and Superstitions of Southern India (1912)
U
- Untouchability / Dalit – Social exclusion of groups at the bottom of the hierarchy, often synonymous with “untouchables.”
- The Untouchables , by B. R. Ambedkar; critical analysis of discrimination against “untouchables.”
V
- Varna – Classical Vedic division of society into four main groups: Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, Shudras.
- Village communities – Observed as basic units of rural social organization in India; analyzed in travel accounts and colonial reports.
W
- A. W. T. Webb (1899-1968); These Ten Years. A Short Account of the 1941 Census Operations in Rajputana and Ajmer-Merwara Written Specially for the General Public. (Appendix B. The Gadiya Lohars of Rajputana.) (1941)
- Max Weber (1864–1920), German sociologist who analyzed India’s caste system as a form of social order and integrated it into his theories of status groups and social structure.
- John Wilson (1804-1875), Scottish Christian missionary and orientalist; History of the Suppression of Infanticide in Western India, under the Government of Bombay: Including Notices of the Provinces and Tribes in which the Practice has Prevailed. 1855
- James Wise (died 1886), British civil surgeon; Notes on the Races, Castes, and Trades of Eastern Bengal . Harrison and Sons, 1883