Indian Peasantry: Anthropological Essays on Peasantry

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The Six essays-Ritual Circles in a Peasant Village, A Peasant Movement of Central Karnataka, Fertility Festivals and Unity in a Peasant Village, Depth of Gratitude and Political Life among the Peasants, Level of Class Consciousness among the Peasants, and Devadasi Custom in a Peasant Context--which make up the book are based on the field work undertaken by the author to explore the rich world of Indian peasants from the point of view of a Cultural anthropologist, and as there are a few books on this theme this book will be welcome to the students of Indian peasantry whether they are anthropologists or sociologists.

The changing aspects of social, economic, and political lives of Indian peasants are complex in nature and, therefore, difficult to grasp, and, consequently, many of the reforms and legislation which the planners implement to change their lot do not bear the desired fruit. The author is of the opinion that much of our difficulties in understanding the complex lives of Indian peasantry may be resolved should we approach the problem from the standpoint of Cultural anthropology.

Festivals and rituals of peasants therefore offer a rich field of investigation. By studying them the author has shown how these act us strong cohesive force in the lives of Indian peasants, and how disunity and unrest prevail in their community if the forces of modernization obstruct their cyclical functioning.

Dr. K. G. Gurumurthy (b.1938) is an M. A. from both Karnataka University and the University of the philippines in social anthropology and socio-cultural anthropology Also a Ph. D. from Karnataka University. Dr. Gurumurthy was reader in the Department of Anthropology Karnataka University.

As a researcher of fifteen years standing Dr. Gurumurthy has kept himself intellectually alive by undertaking research works and also acting as a research guide.

Studies in Indian peasantry by the Indian scholars are few. It may be due to the availability of rich field material in Indian society on caste system, village and tribal communities. However, we come across articles published in periodicals, and papers presented in conferences occasionally, on peasantry. Books exclusively on peasants, are still a few in number. Probably it is because of this that the Xth International Conference of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences held recently (1978) at New Delhi devoted one full session on Peasantry. India being predominantly peasant, provides ample scope for studies on peasantry, especially about the changing aspects of social, economic, and political lives of the peasants which indeed is worth studying before a change is in view.

In this book an attempt is being made to bring together my recent essays on peasantry. Of these essays, five were already published in the professional journals, and the others presented in conferences. All these essays are based on my field work in different peasant communities. The first essay-Ritual Circles in a Peasant Village-deals with the settlement arrangements in an Indian village, where the ritually higher castes as well as the original settlers who have higher social and ethnic statuses and who have lived in the inner circles, and the ritually low castes and the later immigrants lived in the outer circle. The essay also deals with the socio- economic and ritual importance attached to the land such as village settlement, threshing ground, ancestral fields and the ordinary fields. The study of these areas will not only reveal the statuses and roles of the people who live on it but also the rights and duties they have towards the community and their fellow residents.

It is rather difficult to differentiate a peasant group from that of the rural. Consequently it becomes difficult to distinguish a rural study from that of a peasant. According to Redfield (1965) a peasant group lives close to nature and depends on nature for all its activities. But we come across villagers living equally close to nature and at the same time depending on nature for their food, occupation, religion, etc. However, we have to keep one thing in mind that living close to nature does not necessarily mean dependence on nature. We also know that not all the village folks depend totally on nature. A few groups within the village may belong to other groups such as elite or urbanized category. Here we can name the landlords, teachers, priests, businessmen, petty government officials, who may live in rural communities but not necessarily depending much on nature and especially not in the manner the peasants do.

Peasants have their own way of life and the sphere of their activities are different. For example the cultivation of land is the main stay of peasants and for them it is not only an occupation but also a way of life. Their economy, moral order, religion, social life, recreation etc., are all styled according to the profession they follow. The elite groups may also depend on land and agriculture but for them agriculture is not a way of life. Therefore their life style is different from that of the peasants. Thus we can say that all village studies are not peasant studies. However, most of the village studies touch upon the life of peasants since they dominate the village life and activities. In the same way there are no exclusive studies on peasants. Because it is not possible to have an ideal peasant society and in fact it is no more than a mental concept. Thus they have to be studied in relation with other polar societies-folk and urban. Another important aspect of peasant studies is that they were initiated by foreigners, mostly British and American. Later native scholars trained in these two countries under the direction of foreign scholars, studied the Indian peasantry.

The studies on peasantry can be divided into-general, social, economic, religious and political. There are also studies on the lines of folk-urban continuum. Further, we can also include the latest aspects such as city bound peasants and peasant revolutions and rebellions. Each of these can be again studied under three stages -Formulative studies, recent and developed studies, studies during the independence struggle and post-independence studies.

During the colonial rule in India the British wanted to know the natives they ruled so as to administer them better. Their other interest was to rule the colony with least expenditure and also disturbances so that their exploitation of natural resources was not disturbed. They concentrated on the customs, manners, custom law and other general things of the natives so that they could avoid antagonizing the natives. Here studies of Main (1870), Dey (1874). Bedan-Powell (1896,1898), Griorson (1926), Wiser (1930, 1933 and 1936), etc., throw good light on the subject matter. These were followed by studies by Indian scholars like Aiyyer (date not known), Ranade (1926) and Monn (1917).

Then came the studies on economic life of peasants inorder to understand their agricultural activity, land holding pattern, labour groups, artisan castes, so that the colonial government could have an idea about the local resources and the manpower available in their colony. Studies by Jack (1916), Ranade (1926) and Wiser (1936) etc., deal with this aspect. With the intensification of Indian struggle for Independence and accusing the British administration for all economic ills of colonial India, many more studies by Indian and foreign scholars were made, mainly to study the life and living condition of rural artisans, labour groups and so on. Brayne (1927) and Strickland (1936) tried to understand these ills from Western point of view. Stress was given also for the life and living condition of rural poor under the marginal peasants and elite groups-the zamindars and village officials.