Fluidity

Intro

Hindu legal/ behavioral/ social system is not at all static. [See here.] It has adjusted to the abolition of jAti-privileges relatively smoothly.

  • Factors in favor of rigidity: Self interest, Standards etc.. are considered in the Motivation section in the theory-page.
  • Social fluidity in the far ancient times is considered here.
  • Non examples
    • satyakAma jAbAla - G17.
  • Related notes

Ascendency to brAhmaNa-ship

  • Influx of magha-brAhmaNa from the proto-Iranian haumavarga shAka-s. [HH]
  • Early inclusion into the brAhmaNa-varNa tends to be enmeshed in myth. (eg: chitpAvana-s, Śākadvīpīya-s).
  • Arya samAja, ISKCON etc.. conferring the saMskAra-s irrespective of family of birth.
  • “For example, the Koliyans, who are weavers, and the Valluvans, who are medicine men and priests and wear the sacred thread, will not intermarry or eat with the others, and are now practically distinct castes.” [CT06]
  • “As early as 1705 A.D. the Brahmans of Madura called in question the Patnulkarans’ right to perform the annual upakarma (or renewal of the sacred thread) in the Brahman fashion. [Eighteen members of the community were arrested by the Governor of Madura for performing this ceremony.] The matter was taken to the notice of the Queen Mangammal, and she directed her State pandits to convene meetings of learned men, and to examine into it. On their advice, she issued a cadjan (palm leaf) sasanam (grant) which permitted them to follow the Brahmanical rites.”

Descent from V1

Kadambas descendended to V2 (mayUrasharman → mayUravarman), and thence to V4 in later days (“kadam” in MH).

Additional ossification due to British policies

  • Starting with the 19th-century, the British colonial government passed a series of laws that applied to Indians based on their religion and caste identification.
  • … The British colonial government, for instance, enacted the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871. … the criminal-by-birth castes under this Act included initially Ahirs, Gujars and Jats, but its enforcement expanded by late 19th century to include most Shudras and untouchables such as Chamars,[176] as well as Sanyassis and hill tribes. Castes suspected of rebelling against colonial laws and seeking self rule for India, such as the previously ruling families Kallars and the Maravars in south India and non-loyal castes in north India such as Ahirs, Gujars and Jats, were called “predatory and barbarian” and added to the criminal castes list.
  • The British colonial officials, for instance, enacted laws such as the Land Alienation Act in 1900 and Punjab Pre-Emption Act in 1913, listing castes that could legally own land and denying equivalent property rights to other census-determined castes. These acts prohibited the inter-generational and intra-generational transfer of land from land-owning castes to any non-agricultural castes, thereby preventing economic mobility of property and creating consequent caste barriers in India. [W]
  • So, the British altered the hierarchy of castes- and may have contributed to further ossification by making marital and other intercourse between the castes affected by these changes less likely.

Increased fluidity due to Hindu activism

  • Many people and movements in the past two centuries (Vivekananda, Dayanand sarasvatI, nArAyaNa guru), for example, have advocated moving to a more fluid social system.
    • Revolutionary birsa muNDa was taught vAlmIki-rAmAyaNa, bhagavadgItA, and initiated with the yajJNOpavIta. [YTClip]

In modern times: See here.