Collective consciousness and caste: dynamics of social groups in Maharashtra, India

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K12782
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Area studies
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo (2017); Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (2015-2016)
• Principal Investigator: Kyosuke Adachi 東京大学, 附属図書館, 特任研究員 (70626324)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 小川 道大 金沢大学, 国際基幹教育院, 准教授 (30712567) ; 井田 克征 金沢大学, 国際文化資源学研究センター, 客員研究員 (60595437) ; 松尾 瑞穂 国立民族学博物館, 超域フィールド科学研究部, 准教授 (80583608)
• Research Collaborator: KOISO Chihiro ; IIDA Reiko ; YAMAZAKI Toshio ; NAITO Masao ; KOTANI Hiroyuki ; Kumbhojkar Shraddha Savitribai Phule Pune University, Associate Professor
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: インド / カースト / マハーラーシュトラ / マラーティー語 / インド学・宗教学 / 歴史学(社会経済史） / 歴史学(社会思想史） / 文化人類学

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Social customs, matrimonial relationships, hereditary memberships and hierarchical structure in the local communities had been defined as 'caste' which was a self-consistent system peculiar to Indian society. The purpose of this project was to reconsider aspects of what has been called 'caste' in Marathi region. Kinship, vocational, fraternal, religious and stratified groups were uniformly treated under the name of 'caste'; nonetheless the principles of social cohesion actually inter-weaved with each other.
This research project shows that in the terms of modern Marathi discursive space, the narrative of caste was multifaceted per se.The grounds for their argument were their mythological lineage, social customs maintained by the group and historical records of the family property. The notion of 'caste' will be reconsidered from a multi-dimensional perspective. We hereafter are required to disentangle the composite nature of social cohesion in the local society.

Free Research Field

南アジア地域研究・歴史学・ヒンディー語・マラーティー語