CASTE ASSOCIATIONS AND THEIR ROLE IN THE AGE OF INDIAN NATIONALISM (A
STUDY OF ARYA MAHILA, BRAHMAN SARVASVA, CHATURVEDI, GAUR HITKARI AND
SHRI KANYAKUBJA HITKARI) U.P. (1920-30)
Author(s): Nishtha Srivastava
Source: Proceedings of the Indian History Congress , 2007, Vol. 68, Part One (2007), pp.
780-788
Published by: Indian History Congress
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CASTE ASSOCIATIONS AND THEIR ROLE
IN THE AGE OF INDIAN NATIONALISM (A
STUDY OF ARYA MAHILA, BRAHMAN
SARYASVA, CHATURVEDI, GAUR HITKARI
AND SHRI KANYAKUBJA HITKARI) U.P.
(1920-30)
Nishtha Srivastava
At the outset the Britishers had come to India as traders, but as and
when they started establishing their political hegemony in India, they
realized that the Indian society was an erstwhile alien society, which
needed to be understood on its own terms, in order to rule it in a better
way. One of the methods adopted by the colonial government to understand
Indian society better in the second half of the nineteenth century was
ethnological inquiry and speculation. One of the direct manifestations of
this inquiry were the gazetteers and census reports prepared by the
British officials from around the 1850s. "
taken locally although on a provincial rat
a census was taken in Punjab, and d
provincial censuses appeared, covering
The Government had committed itself in 1859 to an All-India census
scheduled for 1861. But the events of 1857-58 delayed the first all-India
census by a decade leaving the way open for a series of provincial
reports. Starting in 1871, the Government inaugurated the decennial census."1
By the middle of the nineteenth century, it was felt by many British
officials and policymakers that caste and religion were the sociologjcal
keys to understand the Indian people. They felt that such information
pertaining to caste and religion would be useful for the proper governance
of their 'classic colony*. "The asking of questions and the compiling of
information in categories provided an arena for Indians to ask questions
about themselves. The Indians utilized the fact that the British census
commissioners tried to order tables on caste in terms of social precedence"2
Thus, it is wrong to assume that caste was a static notion prévalent in India
from times immemorial. Infact, caste as a social category has experienced
pèrpetual shaping, coding, and decoding, incorporating inclusions and
exclusions according to the political and social developments around
which it has been constructed. It is also important to explore the varied
meanings which were attached to this concept and for what purposes,
especially during the nineteenth century, when every aspect of human life
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Modem India 781
was being contested in India.
It is ironical that for a very long tim
perceived caste and used it to fulfill
subject of great historical concern. Th
historians as to how categories like ca
good entry-point to understand an er
'obsolete* society, which was obsessed by
passage of time, historians have also foun
used such categories for proving that
acting as the Neo-Romans for their colo
60 years that the polemical use a cas
socio-political motives has been the focu
From the middle of the nineteenth and
century, when the anti-colonial move
India were also looking for categories
movement more and more socially a
viable concerns related to governm
appointments, and making oneself m
where everything was under immens
monographs produced by the colonial
by Indians
researches by Indians, who in turn drew upon the
result was the production of a highly interrel
histories'."3
Nationalism at an organized level had emerge
nineteenth century, and it was closely associate
which was a product of emerging 'industrialization
Some members of this emerging middle-class, by t
took the onus of carrying forward the national m
to the level of the people, for which they com
political activities. Caste and communal associations
the ventilation of grievances of a wide variety o
in colonial North India were constituted not by th
standing, but through public-sphere politics
power of this group of men and later wom
as the Indian middle class came from their claim to emulate an ideal -
typical modernity first appropriated to similar projects by their counterparts
in the west. But the Indian modernity they constructed also had to be
different."4
It would not be wrong to say that this newly emerging middle-class
was combining elements of tradition and modernity in contradictory ways
in colonial north India. This paper is an attempt to understand this nuanced
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782 IHC : Proceedings , 68th Session, 2007
process by looking at certain Brahman journals and what they had to say
about the caste associations which were coming up at those times. I have
limited my focus to journals like Ary a M ahila , Brahman Sarvasva,
Chaturvedi, Gaur Hitkari and Shri Kanyakubja Hitkari , which are some
of the important Brahman journals of U.P. in 1920-30. Ary a M ahila, a
journal of Shri Ary a Mahila Hitkarini Maha Parishad came out from
Bañaras. Brahman Sarvasva , published from Etawah was said to be the
' sarvopayogV monthly journal of Sanatan Dharma . Chaturvedi , a monthly
journal of Chaturvedi Mahasabha was published from Agra, Kanpur and
Lucknow. Gaur Hitkari was published from Mainpuri by the Narayan
Samiti. Shri Kanyakubja Hitkari was published from Kanpur with the resolve
that all proceeds would be spent for jati-sahayata.
Whatever the cause of the genesis and development of the caste
associations, Brahman caste journals painted a very glorified picture of
these bodies. The journals emphasized that caste associations were voluntary
organizations, which, according to Vasudha Dalmia, "were organized
according to British models, had presidents, executive boards and
secretaries and often functioned in strict accordance with British
parliamentary procedure."5 Invariably, every issue of the Brahman journals
contained several pages on specific caste associations. The rules of these
journals specified the association to which the journal was associated. Many
of the issues of the Brahman caste journals (which, on the whole, were
slim in size) contained lengthy articles on the proceedings of the
associations. The dates of the functions to be held by the caste associations
were advertised well in advance alongwith an open invitation for all to
attend these meetings. Lengthy editorials, lauding the activities of caste
associations were a regular feature of these journals. Articles giving a
preview as well as a postview of the functions of caste associations also
formed a major part of the journals from time to time. Application forms
and other advertisements, pertaining to the offer of employment as
extended by the caste associations, also found a prominent place in these
journals. Undoubtedly, these journals were acting as active spokesmen of
the respective caste associations.
In many articles of the Brahman journals, there was a strong
emphasis on the ever-increasing popularity and appeal of the caste
associations Referring to the success of the third annual meeting of the
Akhil Bharatvarshiya Gaur Mahasammelan, it was said that "the
third annual meeting of the Akhil Bharatvarshiya Gaur Mahasammelan ,
was a great success . Because of the tremendous rush at the railway
' junction', and pouring rain which led to delay in arrival of trains , not
all who were expected could make it to the venue . But there was no
province which was not represented therein. Punjab, U.P., C.P., Haryana ,
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Modem India 783
Shekhawati, Rajputana, Bombay, brethren
An editorial elaborating on the Àk
Mahasammelan's proceedings said that
quite ceremoniously, where the main a
Ballabh communities alongwith 1500 Sa
It went on to say that, this was the fi
scholars of various communities had
taken all the decisions unanimously.7
Such articles and editorials tried to por
bodies by displaying statistics of increas
made in these articles to paint the ca
liberal outlook by mentioning the fact
learned men of all 'sampradayas '
Activities as carried out during the p
and as laid down in the articles of th
certain kind of exclusivity for the
Brahmans in particular. The accepted p
advised the Hindus to speak in Hindi,
(unity) among the Hindu jati and mu
increase.8 Printing the rules of th
Mahasammelan Examination, the jo
information, "(1) Annual 'religious* ex
country ; all Brahmans , and candidates
therein. (3)Those who would be success
ratnď .(4) Candidates successful in th
certificate . "9 All activities of the caste
dichotomy between the 'self' (always the
the Muslims) were mentioned at lengt
Musalman leaders would not allow a f
' namaz VM0
During the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the issue of
numerical strength had achieved a novel centrality. Groups, especially
caste groups, had clearly realized, that while making claims on the
colonial government, numerical strength, which had anyway been officially
recorded, had a distinct advantage. Caste associations tried to include as
many people within their organization in the name of ' Sangh-Shakti' ã
term which in this context could be translated as 'unity in strength*. To
increase their numbers, all strata of people were appeased by the caste
associations, and such efforts got full publicity in the journals. At the
third day of the 19th Annual Function of Sanadhya Mahamandal, there
was a heated discussion on the re-inclusion of Malkana Rajputs within
the fold of the Brahman 'jati'. 11 While writing about the Malkana Rajputs,
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784 I HC: Proceedings , 68th Session , 2007
the emphasis was on the point that the Malkana Rajputs were originally
from the Brahman jati and, thus, what was required was their re-inclusion
within the Brahman fold after a certain degree of penance by them.
With the intention of winning the support of the large community of
students, caste associations included in their proceedings proposals
pertaining to the grant of scholarships to students. Such efforts were
discussed in the caste journals at length. At the Gaur Brahman
Mahasabha's Managing Committee meeting, a proposal was passed, that
the treasurer would disburse scholarships to students, and as soon as old
scholarships had been granted, new application forms were to be
considered.12 The point being made by the journals was that Hindi language
offered very specific advantages to each member of the caste.
Many articles in the Brahman journals, highlighting the working of
caste associations, tried to construct a very specific and neatly demarcated
image of the Hindu 'woman'. As already mentioned, the rules of each
and every journal were printed on the inside cover of the journals. The
rules of the 'Ary a Mahila ' were as follows:
" For Customers (l)Arya Mahila was the chief monthly magazine(with
pictures) of Shri Aryamahila Hitkarini Mahaparishad.
For wrìters(l) As we know that Arya Mahila is the chief magazine of
Shri Aryamahila Hitkarini Mahaparishad , therefore writers should take
care that their articles are beneficial to the females, and their language
is considerably simple ."
Talking about the association of Arya Mahilat it was said by the
Memorandum of the association that
/. The Association shall be called the 'Sri Arya Mahila Hitkarini
MahaParishad. . .
Ill The objects of the Association are
(i) The protecting of the interests of Hindu woman following Varnashram
Dharma.
(a) helping in certain cases friendless and helpless zenana ladies ,
who otherwise would continue to suffer a great wrong
of Hindu society.
(b) Endeavouring to reform unshastrik local practices
harmful to the cause of women.
(c) Providing for the religious education of girls
maintain a journal named Arya Mahila or such o
society... 13
Thus one can clearly make out that the caste associations, which were
said to be working for the betterment of women, worked with a specific
agenda in mud. Helpless 1 zenana ' ladies as contained in the above
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Modem India 785
extract seems an interesting phrase. ' Zen
women. Does this mean that Muslim ladies i.e. ' zenana ' was used as a
symbol for a female, who is pitiable and in a wretched condition and
thus worthy of sympathy! In yet another editorial, it was said that the
degeneration of the female society was mainly responsible for the
degeneration of 'Bharať. With deep nostalgia were remembered the days,
when mothers like Kaushalaya, Sita , Savitri , Damayanti , Kunti , Subhadra
were a part of the Indian society.14 It was repeatedly emphasized that
dichotomy between the man and the woman existed in reality. In the
process of talking about the caste associations, the Brahman journals
actively aided in the construction of the image of the 'ideal' Hindu
woman, whose strictly demarcated sphere was the domain of the łhome'
the 'religious' and 'progenitor'.
Brahman journals published from UP during 1920s and 1930s played
a vital role in popularizing the issue of Hindi language. Vigorous attempts
were made to establish Hindi language as the language of the Hindus by
the caste journals, and all such proceedings got extensive space in the
journals. The journal Gaur Hitkari, while talking about the Akhil
Bharatvarshiya Gaur Mahasammelan 's Pariksha said that, inkeeping with
the motive of Gaur Mahasammelan, a religious examination would be
performed annually. The examination was to be in the Devnagari script
and Sanskrit or pure Hindi language.15 As part of the editorial comments
at yet another place, information of two examinations in the Hindi
language were given. These examinations were to be held with the help
of the Shri Arya Mahila Hitkarini Mahaparishad. In both these
examinations, significantly titled ' Rashtra Bhasha Visharad Pariksha '
and ' Dharma Vinodini Pariksha' women were allowed to appear as
candidates. Information regarding religious examinations (in the Hindi
medium or pure Sanskrit) and editorials containing advertisements regarding
the opening of Sanskrit universities and so on put in front of the readers,
again and again, the advantage which knowledge of Sanskrit and Hindi
held in store for its users. As Krishna Kumar says,
"the teaching of Hindi at college level and the subsequent starting of
Hindi departments in universities, in the first quarter of this century
made a major contribution towards the success of the Hindi literati's
cultural agenda".16
It was with the help of these articles that the writers associated with the
Brahman journals tried to forward themselves and their journals as being
the repository of the innate goodness of Hindi, which was seen as the
language of the 'people' and the ' rashtra '
Late nineteenth and early twentieth century was a time when it was
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786 IHC : Proceedings , 68th Session , 2007
essential for the existence of any organization to abstain from incurring
the wrath of the colonial government. Journals were aware of this and
took care to include all such speeches of caste associations, which
professed loyalty towards the colonial government.
"It is God's unlimited grace that we have been showered with the joys
of the British Raj, which allows us to carry forward the progress of our
jati in multifarious ways, and it is our 'dharma* to pray to God that
he keeps the shadow of His Majesty George Vth over us for eternity,
and may he be victorious in this major war."17
Attempts at professing deep loyalty towards the British Empire (by
including an element of loyalty towards the 'raj' in the rules itself) can
also be seen as efforts by the journals towards the path of obstruction-
free self propagation, with the hope of winning some advantages from
the colonial government.
Late nineteenth and early twentieth century was a period when there
was a great upsurge of feelings towards becoming 'modern', which
included notions like being broadminded, democratic in functioning and
self-critical. In an advertisement popularizing the Eighteenth Annual
Function of Shri Kanyakubja Sabha , Kanpur, an invitation was circulated
which welcomed all the people to attend the annual function.1* At another
place, it was said that the Third Annual Function of the Akhil
Bharatvarshiya Gaur Mahasammelan was to be held on the 8lh , 9lh and
10h August, 1919. Though all preliminary arrangements had been finalized
on a specific date, some Gaur brethren were unable to attend the
discussion due to rains. Thus, all Gaurs had reassembled on 16lh July
1919, in order to discuss all the issues once again and get a majority
consensus on all issues.19 It is quite evident that the Brahman journals
wanted to portray the caste associations as being organizations working
very democratically. They were posed as liberal bodies, working for the
general welfare and according to the verdict of the people. Politics was
supposed to be made subservient to a well defined and predetermined
religion, i.e. the Hindu religion. On the whole, caste associations were
given the image of very democratic political institutions, which were very
responsive to the needs of the people. Therefore all this talk about
elections, required quorum and defining of agenda to be taken up during
the proceedings of the associations.
The preceding discussion shows that Brahman journals were
contributing in the construction of a specific kind of image of the caste
associations discussed therein. As the journals were invariably a creation
of specific caste associations, one can hardly be surprised that the image
constructed by the journals was a very positive one. Journals quiet
vividly reflected the fact emphasized by Rudolphs that caste association
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Modem India 787
was "no longer an ascriptive association
as jati was and is".20 It had taken on "fea
It is difficult to accept that the work
going on as smoothly and democratically
not even a trace of disagreement exp
ever made it to the pages of the jour
accounts of the proposals accepted du
associations, no mention was made of
accepted during their proceedings, th
been quite helpful in reflecting the d
caste associations. The proceedings of
they were significant political actors,
being solely preoccupied with the cause
their chief concern being general welfa
that caste organizations as presented i
as "neither bureaucratic offices, nor tra
competitive economic interest grouping
social welfare bodies. Diversity of aim an
require that the Sabhas behave as all o
If one thinks about the time period in
made available for the general popula
called Brahman journals were not just r
journals in a neutral way. These were ef
a lot of debate and was an effort with
the decade when a specific historical dyn
the middle class in India. Such processes
that our nationalism was to take. It is
decade, the image of caste associations
was a constant one, that of glorified m
the nationalist cause in a profound way
is the fact that such activities worke
inclusions as well as exclusions. If we do not take note of such
developments, every study of Indian nationalism would remain incomplete.
NOTES AND REFERENCES
1. Kenneth Jones: Religious Identity and the Indian Census, in N.GBarner eds, T
Census in British India : New Perspectives, (Manohar, 1981), p. 77.
2. Bernard Cohn: Census, Social Structure and Objectification in South Asia , in
Bernard Cohn, An Anthropologist among the Historians and Other Essays (OUP
1987), p.230.
3. Lucy Carroll, Colonial Perceptions of Indian Society and the Emergence of Caste
Associations , in Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. XXXVII, No.2, Feb. 1978, p.236.
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788 MC: Proceedings , 68th Session , 2007
4. Sanjay Joshi, Fractured Modernity : Making of a Middle Class in Colonial North India.
(OUR 2001), p.2.
5. Vasudha Dal mia, The Nationalization of Hindu Traditions : Bharatendu Harischandra
and Nineteenth Century Bañaras. (Delhi, 1997), p.4.
6. Pi. Pyare Lai Gaur 'Mantu', Akhil Bharatvarshiya Gaur Mahasammelan Ka Tritya
Varshikotsav, in Gaur Hitkari,7,8(Aug 1919), p.4.
7. ł Sampadkiye Vichar' in Brahman Sarvasva,25,9 (Sept. 1928), p.324.
8. Hindu Mahasabha ke Swekrit Prastav, in Brahman Sarvasva, 20,7 (July 1923),
pp.396-8.
9. Akhil Bharatvarshiya Gaur Mahasamelan ki Pariksha in Gaur Hitkari, 7,10(0ct
1919), pp.27-8.
10. Hindu Mahasabha ke swekrit prastav' in Brahman Sarvasva,20,7,(July. 1923),
p.398.
11. 'Vtvidh Vishay : Sanadhyay Mahamandal ka Varshikotsav', in Brahman Sarvasva,
20,4 (April 1923), p.237.
12. 'Akhil Bharatvarshiya Gaur Brahman Mahasabha, Mathura, I9k Aug J 929, Managing
Committee ke Karyavahi', in Gaur Hitkari, 17, 9 (Sept. 1929), p.27.
13. ł Sampadakiye : Mahaparishad' in Arya .Mahila (Kartik-Paush 1976), pp.235-6.
14. Sampadkiye Tippaniyan, in Arya Mahila, (May 1929), p.89.
15. Akhil Bharatvarshiya Gaur Mahasammelan ki Pariksha, in Gaur Hitkari, 7. 10 (Oct
1919), p.27.
16. Krishna Kumar, Political Agenda of Education - A Study of Colonialist and Nationalist
Ideas.( New Delhi, 1991), p. 129-30.
17. Chaturvedi Sammelan , Sabhapati ka Bhashan, in Chaturvedi, 1,9 (Kartik Samvat,
1972), p.ll.
18. Shri Kanya-kubja Hitkari, 18,1 (April 1916), p.25.
19. Gaur Hitkari, 7,7 (July 1919), p.2.
20. Lloyd I Rudolph and Susanne Hoeber Rudolph, The Modernity of Tradition- Political
Development of India . (Chicago and London, 1967), p.33.
21. Ibid.
22. R.S.Khare, The Changing Brahmans: Associations and Elites among the Kanyakubj
of North /m/ifl. (Chicago and London, 1970), p. 198.
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