THE POLITICS OF CASTE IDENTITY IN LATE COLONIAL BENGAL: A STUDY OF MAHISYA SAMAJ

Abstract

The systematic study of caste in India was first undertaken by European administrators in the 1880s. Prominent figures in this early research included J.C. Nesfield and Denzil Ibbetson, who, in 1882 and 1883 respectively, documented the castes and occupations in the North-Western Provinces, Oudh, and Punjab. Similarly, Alfred C. Lyall's work on religion and society in India (1882) offered insights and commentary on the caste system. For Bengal specifically, Dr. James Wise’s work (1883) provided an extensive examination of caste-related distinctions of eastern Bengal. However, one of the most comprehensive studies on this subject was H. H. Risley’s The Tribes and Castes of Bengal (1892), which remains a prominent and exhaustive reference on the caste of this region. In 1896, Emile Senart critiqued the earlier works of Nesfield, Ibbetson, and Risley, offering his own interpretations of the caste system in India. That same year, nationalist scholar Jogendra Nath Bhattacharya published his influential book, Hindu Castes and Sects. Contrary to the perspectives of European anthropologists, Bhattacharya argued that caste was not an external imposition on Hindus; instead, he claimed it was a social structure they willingly embraced. Bhattacharya’s perspective marked the rise of indigenous scholarship on Indian society and identity.