scispace - formally typeset
Search or ask a question

Showing papers in "Contributions to Indian Sociology in 1972"


Journal ArticleDOI
Hamza Alavi1
TL;DR: The kinship system, which is generally accorded a central place in social anthropological analyses is, in this case, relegated to the background as discussed by the authors in the Muslim rural society of West Punjab.
Abstract: Underlying much of the literature on South Asian rural societies is the assumption that these societies are structurally similar, if not identical in every detail, and that the distinguishing feature of the structure of social institutions in those societies is their focus on caste and the related jajmani system as bases of social organization. The kinship system, which is generally accorded a central place in social anthropological analyses is, in this case, relegated to the background. In the Muslim rural society of West Punjab, however, the contrary is true. There it is the kinship system rather than caste which embodies the primodial loyalties which structure its social organization.’ .

104 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focus on a region of this culture area where caste is not a major feature of rural community organization and suggest some of the ways in which highly diffuse and indeterminate forms of community organization interplay with the rural class system to produce what passes for the village and its extensions in this part of Bangladesh.
Abstract: study of South Asian social stratification systems by focusing on a region of this culture area where caste is not a major feature of rural community organization. Finally, I want to suggest some of the ways in which highly diffuse and indeterminate forms of community organization interplay with the rural class system to produce what passes for &dquo;the village&dquo; and its extensions in this part of Bangladesh. In the latter connection, I note the previous work of Marriott (1965), whose perceptive observations in the face of little available data find substantial, if not total, confirmation in my own work.

30 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors considered only the last group which has been associated for more than two centuries with the numerically, socially and politically dominant Nepali-speaking Hindu population who have created the institutions of the present kingdom of Nepal.
Abstract: tion of this kind of problem. It is a Hindu kingdom-the last one-where Hinduism is the state religion and where, until quite recently, Hindu law founded on the dharma-shastra applied to all subjects, including Muslims. It offers, therefore, a pure case of Hindu environment and institutions. According to the census of 1961, among the nine and a half million inhabitants of Nepal, there were 280,597 Muslims, i.e. 2.97 per cent of the total population. They are divided into three groups of unequal size : most of them are settled in the southern plain, the Tarai; 1,127 Indian Muslims live in the Kathmandu Valley; finally 6,656 Muslim bangle-makers, called Churaute, are scattered in 45 villages all over the hills of Central and Western Nepal. In this paper we shall consider only the last group which has been associated for more than two centuries with the numerically, socially and politically dominant Nepali-speaking Hindu population who have created the institutions of the present kingdom of Nepal. We shall further narrow the scope of the discussion by limiting ourselves to socio-religious aspects, posing the following questions : How do the Muslims identify themselves in relation to the Hindu majority? What is the status ascribed to Muslims in the caste society? In other words, we shall see how

19 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A feature of the still medieval character of contemporary Islam is that in theory even now Muslims are not prepared to make any distinction between different spheres of human activity, above all between the spheres of religion and of politics as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: &dquo;Islam, not only chronologically, is in its fourteenth century... &dquo; (Bernard Lewis 19’72 : 40). It is a feature of the still medieval character of contemporary Islam that in theory even now Muslims are not prepared to make any distinction between different spheres of human activity, above all between the spheres of religion and of politics. Nor would the believers concede that human pursuits have human ends in view. The medieval Islamic postulate that the true purpose of life was to serve God in this world and to prepare for the world to come still dominates the Muslim religious outlook. &dquo;No sphere&dquo;, says Grunebaum (1953: 108), &dquo;is left in which our doings are inconsequential for our fate in the hereafter.&dquo; An acute awareness of the everpresent and overwhelming supreme power of God permeates Muslim religious thought, and is the foundation of Muslim piety. It is He who

14 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper explored the general principles that may be shown to underlie what people believe in and what they do: they have looked for anddquo;structure in the model.
Abstract: situations observed in the course of fieldwork. To give historical depth to the materials obtained through interviews and observation, limited use has been made of selected published works. I have not burdened this essay with ethnographical and historical details, but have concentrated on exploring the general principles that may be shown to underlie what people believe in and what they do : I have looked for &dquo;structure&dquo; in the model.

13 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article found that studies on Hindus and their religious tradition are several times more than the studies on all the non-Hindus taken together, despite the fact that each of these groups would seem to claim attention in its own right on account of its influence upon Hinduism and its significance for constructing a complete picture of Indian social life in its diversity as well as unity.
Abstract: cultural and religious tradition. Ideally, a sociology of India should encompass all these groups and their traditions. It is, however, one of the characteristics of the discipline today that it has tended to emphasize the study of Hindus and their religious tradition; the study of non-Hindus and of their traditions has been sadly neglected by both Indians and foreigners. If we employ the criterion of the volume of available sociological literature, we find that studies on Hindus and their religious tradition are several times more than the studies on all the non-Hindus taken together. Even a casual perusal of the different bibliographies of sociological writings on India provides eloquent testimony of this disparity (see, for example, FurerHaimendorf 1958, and Patterson and Inden 1962). Other standard bibliographical works similarly reinforce this impression. This is so despite the fact that each of the different non-Hindu groups in Indian society would seem to claim attention in its own right on account of its influence upon Hinduism and its significance for constructing a complete picture of Indian social life in its diversity as well as unity. The volume of available sociological work on non-Hindu groups, by itself, would be a poor basis for asserting that their study has been neglected, or that it has not received adequate attention. On the strength of their numerical dominance and greater regional diversity, Hindus legitimately claim greater attention from the sociologist than any of the non-Hindu

9 citations