South Indian Caste Research Articles

Polymorphic Alu Insertion/Deletion in Different Caste and Tribal Populations from South India.

Seven human-specific Alu markers were studied in 574 unrelated individuals from 10 endogamous groups and 2 hill tribes of Tamil Nadu and Kerala states. DNA was isolated, amplified by PCR-SSP, and subjected to agarose gel electrophoresis, and genotypes were assigned for various Alu loci. Average heterozygosity among caste populations was in the range of 0.292–0.468. Among tribes, the average heterozygosity was higher for Paliyan (0.3759) than for Kani (0.2915). Frequency differences were prominent in all loci studied except Alu CD4. For Alu CD4, the frequency was 0.0363 in Yadavas, a traditional pastoral and herd maintaining population, and 0.2439 in Narikuravars, a nomadic gypsy population. The overall genetic difference (Gst) of 12 populations (castes and tribes) studied was 3.6%, which corresponds to the Gst values of 3.6% recorded earlier for Western Asian populations. Thus, our study confirms the genetic similarities between West Asian populations and South Indian castes and tribes and supported the large scale coastal migrations from Africa into India through West Asia. However, the average genetic difference (Gst) of Kani and Paliyan tribes with other South Indian tribes studied earlier was 8.3%. The average Gst of combined South and North Indian Tribes (CSNIT) was 9.5%. Neighbor joining tree constructed showed close proximity of Kani and Paliyan tribal groups to the other two South Indian tribes, Toda and Irula of Nilgiri hills studied earlier. Further, the analysis revealed the affinities among populations and confirmed the presence of North and South India specific lineages. Our findings have documented the highly diverse (micro differentiated) nature of South Indian tribes, predominantly due to isolation, than the endogamous population groups of South India. Thus, our study firmly established the genetic relationship of South Indian castes and tribes and supported the proposed large scale ancestral migrations from Africa, particularly into South India through West Asian corridor.

Caste, Hierarchy and Race in a World-Historical Perspective: Louis Dumont and his Critique of Max Weber

This article examines a classical debate concerning intercultural comparisons of historical outcastes. It focuses on Louis Dumont's critical engagement with Max Weber's conceptualisation of caste and the definition of the Jews as a Pariah people. Dumont criticises Weber's influential discussion of caste and ethnic segregation in which a south Indian caste, the Pariyars, is linked with the Jews. He argues that Weber neglects hierarchy and undermines intercultural comparisons. Dumont's proposition is that racism emerged with the principle of equality. Based on the American transition from slavery to democracy, he speculates that the Western distinction between soul and body had reinvented the social order into a hierarchy of racial identities. Equality repressed its hierarchy, whereas India's caste system was explicitly hierarchical. This article concludes that Weber and Dumont represent a methodological contrast that is noteworthy for cross-cultural comparisons, while also emphasising the intellectualist inclination in Dumont's preoccupation with hierarchy in a world-historical perspective.

Brief communication: Allelic and haplotypic structure at the DRD2 locus among five North Indian caste populations

The dopamine D2 receptor (DRD2) gene, with its known human-specific derived alleles that can facilitate haplotype reconstruction, presents an important locus for anthropological studies. The three sites (TaqIA, TaqIB, and TaqID) of the DRD2 gene are widely studied in various world populations. However, no work has been previously published on DRD2 gene polymorphisms among North Indian populations. Thus, the present study attempts to understand the genetic structure of North Indian upper caste populations using the allele and haplotype frequencies and distribution patterns of the three TaqI sites of the DRD2 gene. Two hundred forty-six blood samples were collected from five upper caste populations of Himachal Pradesh (Brahmin, Rajput and Jat) and Delhi (Aggarwal and Sindhi), and analysis was performed using standard protocols. All three sites were found to be polymorphic in all five of the studied populations. Uniform allele frequency distribution patterns, low heterozygosity values, the sharing of five common haplotypes, and the absence of two of the eight possible haplotypes observed in this study suggest a genetic proximity among the selected populations. The results also indicate a major genetic contribution from Eurasia to North Indian upper castes, apart from the common genetic unity of Indian populations. The study also demonstrates a greater genetic inflow among North Indian caste populations than is observed among South Indian caste and tribal populations.

Presence of three different paternal lineages among North Indians: A study of 560 Y chromosomes

Background: The genetic structure, affinities, and diversity of the 1 billion Indians hold important keys to numerous unanswered questions regarding the evolution of human populations and the forces shaping contemporary patterns of genetic variation. Although there have been several recent studies of South Indian caste groups, North Indian caste groups, and South Indian Muslims using Y-chromosomal markers, overall, the Indian population has still not been well studied compared to other geographical populations. In particular, no genetic study has been conducted on Shias and Sunnis from North India.Aim: This study aims to investigate genetic variation and the gene pool in North Indians.Subjects and methods: A total of 32 Y-chromosomal markers in 560 North Indian males collected from three higher caste groups (Brahmins, Chaturvedis and Bhargavas) and two Muslims groups (Shia and Sunni) were genotyped.Results: Three distinct lineages were revealed based upon 13 haplogroups. The first was a Central Asian lineage harbouring haplogroups R1 and R2. The second lineage was of Middle-Eastern origin represented by haplogroups J2*, Shia-specific E1b1b1, and to some extent G* and L*. The third was the indigenous Indian Y-lineage represented by haplogroups H1*, F*, C* and O*. Haplogroup E1b1b1 was observed in Shias only.Conclusion: The results revealed that a substantial part of today's North Indian paternal gene pool was contributed by Central Asian lineages who are Indo-European speakers, suggesting that extant Indian caste groups are primarily the descendants of Indo-European migrants. The presence of haplogroup E in Shias, first reported in this study, suggests a genetic distinction between the two Indo Muslim sects. The findings of the present study provide insights into prehistoric and early historic patterns of migration into India and the evolution of Indian populations in recent history.

Genetic variation in South Indian castes: evidence from Y-chromosome, mitochondrial, and autosomal polymorphisms

BackgroundMajor population movements, social structure, and caste endogamy have influenced the genetic structure of Indian populations. An understanding of these influences is increasingly important as gene mapping and case-control studies are initiated in South Indian populations.ResultsWe report new data on 155 individuals from four Tamil caste populations of South India and perform comparative analyses with caste populations from the neighboring state of Andhra Pradesh. Genetic differentiation among Tamil castes is low (RST = 0.96% for 45 autosomal short tandem repeat (STR) markers), reflecting a largely common origin. Nonetheless, caste- and continent-specific patterns are evident. For 32 lineage-defining Y-chromosome SNPs, Tamil castes show higher affinity to Europeans than to eastern Asians, and genetic distance estimates to the Europeans are ordered by caste rank. For 32 lineage-defining mitochondrial SNPs and hypervariable sequence (HVS) 1, Tamil castes have higher affinity to eastern Asians than to Europeans. For 45 autosomal STRs, upper and middle rank castes show higher affinity to Europeans than do lower rank castes from either Tamil Nadu or Andhra Pradesh. Local between-caste variation (Tamil Nadu RST = 0.96%, Andhra Pradesh RST = 0.77%) exceeds the estimate of variation between these geographically separated groups (RST = 0.12%). Low, but statistically significant, correlations between caste rank distance and genetic distance are demonstrated for Tamil castes using Y-chromosome, mtDNA, and autosomal data.ConclusionGenetic data from Y-chromosome, mtDNA, and autosomal STRs are in accord with historical accounts of northwest to southeast population movements in India. The influence of ancient and historical population movements and caste social structure can be detected and replicated in South Indian caste populations from two different geographic regions.

HLA DRB1* and DQB1* allelic diversity among nadars: A primitive South Indian Dravidian caste group

South India is one of the oldest geophysical regions occupied mainly by Dravidian language-speaking people. In the present study, 84 unrelated healthy Nadar individuals from Tamil Nadu State were analyzed for human leukocyte antigen (HLA) DRB1* and DQB1* allele frequencies and their haplotype frequencies were analyzed by high resolution polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-typing of genomic DNA. Results revealed that Nadars possessed >0.1 allele frequencies of HLA DRB1*15011, 03, 04, 1404, 0701, 1001, and DQB1*0201, 03, 0501, and 0503. The highest frequencies of DRB1*0317 (0.048), DRB1*1317 (0.012), and DRB1*1404 (0.107) in the world were found among the Nadar caste. The most frequent two-locus haplotypes identified among the Nadars were DRB1*0701–DQB1*0201 and DRB1*1000–DQB1*0501, and DRB1*1404–DQB1*0503 and DRB1*15011–DQB1*0601. When compared with world populations, HLA DRB1*1322, DRB1*1434, and DQB1*0614 were identified exclusively among Nadars. The heterozygosity and Watterson's homozygosity tests indicated that balancing selection still operates among the South Indian caste groups. The hierarchical cluster analysis for DRB1 data from the Indian caste and population groups showed that the Nadars cluster with Kashmir Brahmins and North Indians. The present study shows that the Nadar caste has several unique alleles and haplotypes at high frequency that are rare or absent in other populations of India and the world.

Y-STR Haplotypes from Eight South Indian Groups Based on Five Loci

Five Y-chromosome short tandem repeat (STR) loci (DYS389I, DYS389II, DYS390, DYS391, and DYS393) were typed in 81 males from seven tribal populations of south India, including 30 Koragas, 23 Yeravas, 5 Mullukurunan, 2 Mullukurumba, 4 Paniya, 3 Kuruchian and 3 Bettakurumba; and 11 south Indian caste individuals of mixed origins.

Genetic serum protein markers in eight South Indian caste and tribal populations

A total of n = 769 unrelated male and female individuals from eight endogamous caste (Brahmin, Kapu, Yadava, Relli) and tribal (Bagatha, Kotia, Manne Dora, Konda Dora) populations living in various districts of Andhra Pradesh (India) have been typed for haptoglobin (HP) types and transferrin (TF), group specific component (GC) and alpha 1-antitrypsin (PI) subtypes. The genetic heterogeneity among these population groups is considerable. This can be explained by lacking or at least only minimal gene flow among these caste and tribal groups, by which differences in their genetic profiles caused by locally acting genetic differentiation factors such as drift could be preserved.

Genetic serum protein markers (PH, GC, PI) in two South Indian caste populations

The results of HP, GC and PI typings on two caste populations (Relli-I: fruit vendors, Relli-II: scavengers) from Andhra Pradesh (South India) are reported and compared with data obtained on other Indian population samples.

Consanguineous marriages and marriage payment: a study among three south Indian caste groups.

The present study aims at understanding the interrelations between consanguineous marriages and marriage payment. The data are collected from three castes inhabiting two regions of Nellore district, Andhra Pradesh, South India. It is evident from the study that the dowry system is more prevalent among higher castes, while the bride wealth system is more common among the lower castes in the hierarchy. Further, it can be seen that the dowry system is more prevalent in developed regions, while bride-wealth is more common in backward regions. Marriage payment is found to be less common in close kin marriages than in unrelated marriages. Most of the uncle-niece marriages are without any marriage payment, in all the castes. However, most of the matrilateral cross-cousin and patrilateral cross-cousin marriages are also without any marriage payment in the Devanga.

A Christian Caste in Hindu Society: Religious Leadership and Social Conflict among the Paravas of Southern Tamilnadu

Since the nineteenth century scholars have depicted Indian castes as timeless, fixed communities whose customs, rituals, and occupational specialities evolved at an unidentifiable point in the distant past. It has now been shown, however, that manyjatisare of relatively recent origin, and historians have been able to trace the economic, political, and religious changes which acted to form individual caste groups during the colonial period. Several recent works on south India have argued that the agglomerations of artisans and cultivators described as castes in British ethnographies and Census reports had no real cohesion and were often no more than unstable political alliances or ‘administrative fictions’. In this view it was the misconceived European notion of castes as rigid, competing corporations which stimulated the formation of many south Indian castes after 1880.

Nature, amount and extent of consanguinity among two South-Indian castes.

Nature, amount and extent of consanguinity among two South-Indian castes.

Coconuts and gold: relational identity in a south Indian caste

Coconuts and gold: relational identity in a south Indian caste

The Right-Left Division of South Indian Society

What were the reasons for the development of a right-left division of South Indian castes? Why has this division become less of a focus of rivalry in modern times? This article uses observations collected in the Coimbatore region of Madras State between 1964 and 1966 to suggest that this earlier opposition expressed a fundamental economic principle: the distinction between castes who held direct or indirect rights in land and those who were primarily dependent on renumeration for specific professional services. This contrast was expressed symbolically by the use of the terms “right” and “left,” and in day-to-day activity by the opposition of instrumental to ritualistic values in the evaluation of social status. Use of the terms right and left had gradually become outmoded, due to substantial changes in economic organization. The social correlates of this earlier opposition, however, have continued to endure in certain regions. It is hypothesized that this persistence of social contrasts is related to the absence of Brahmans as an important land-owning group in such areas.

The Right-Left Division of South Indian Society

AbstractWhat were the reasons for the development of a right-left division of South Indian castes? Why has this division become less of a focus of rivalry in modern times? This article uses observations collected in the Coimbatore region of Madras State between 1964 and 1966 to suggest that this earlier opposition expressed a fundamental economic principle: the distinction between castes who held direct or indirect rights in land and those who were primarily dependent on renumeration for specific professional services. This contrast was expressed symbolically by the use of the terms “right” and “left,” and in day-to-day activity by the opposition of instrumental to ritualistic values in the evaluation of social status. Use of the terms right and left had gradually become outmoded, due to substantial changes in economic organization. The social correlates of this earlier opposition, however, have continued to endure in certain regions. It is hypothesized that this persistence of social contrasts is related to the absence of Brahmans as an important land-owning group in such areas.

2. India and Central Asia

CHAKRABORTY explores the nature of paranoid symptoms in Indian schizo phrenics and relates variations to the background of the patients studied. Salient features of spirit possession in a village near Delhi are described by STANLEY A. FREED and RUTH S. FREED; according to their findings spirit possession may be thought of as a means of controlling relatives. Based on his data HARPER attributes spirit possession in women of the South Indian caste of Havik Brahmins to their need for attention, prestige and preferential treat ment which they could not attain otherwise. A case-history presented by E. HOCH demonstrates that the Hindu tradition of the four "āśramas" (stages of life) offers the old person a better guide to the acceptance of his age limita tions than do most Western teachings. A hypnotherapeutic technique of a mystical group in Afghanistan is described by JA'FAR HALLAJI.

Kerala in Crisis

T HE PRESENT POLITICAL CRISIS in the tiny state of Kerala may well affect the entire political development of India and also influence Communist international strategy throughout the Middle and Far East. Kerala, located on India's southwest coast and embracing the former princely states of Travancore and Cochin, and the Malabar coast, is the smallest of the fourteen states of Indiaand has the distinction of being the only one in which the Communist Party controls the state government. In 1957 after the last election, Kerala's fifteen million people gave the Communist Party a substantial plurality (some thirty-five percent of the total votes cast) which its leaders were able to convert into a legislative majority by forming an alliance with independents and several Communist followers in the state parliament. Kerala is in many ways a unique state in India. Heavily populated (about a thousand persons per square mile), approximately fifty-three percent of its people are Hindu, one third Christian, and the balance principally Muslim. Its Christian population includes a Catholic community dating back many centuries, as well as more recently established Protestant groups converted by missionaries from Great Britain, Germany, Canada and the United States during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The liberal outlook of the Maharajas of Travancore and Cochin permitted the Roman Catholic, Syrian Christian, Nestorian Christian and various Protestant sects to flourish in the area. Moreover, Jews migrating to the Malabar region of Kerala found a religious haven there. The Hindus in Kerala have followed traditional South Indian caste lines, the Brahmin group being noted for its conservative orthodoxy in religion and the Nairs for their emphasis upon commerce, education, tolerance and social service. As a result, a significant percentage of the population have either followed or been exposed to the liberal traditions of a JudeoChristian set of cultural values and have fought with zeal to protect what they conceived to be their rightful heritage. Kerala is also different from all other parts of India (with the possible exception of West Bengal) in its marked emphasis on education by the various communities. Approximately seventy percent of the people are literate and newspapers abound. The people, even including those in the lowest rungs of the social and economic ladder, are relatively well informed on the political happenings in the nation. They have decided opinions on political issues and personalities. It is not at all unusual to find the lowly sweeper reading a daily