{"id":1230,"date":"2025-11-25T06:10:49","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T06:10:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/?p=1230"},"modified":"2025-12-10T10:38:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T10:38:13","slug":"how-caste-pervades-southasian-languages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/how-caste-pervades-southasian-languages\/","title":{"rendered":"How caste pervades Southasian languages"},"content":{"rendered":"
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CASTE as a<\/strong>\u00a0socio-cultural phenomenon is both pervasive and enduring across Southasia, shaping institutions, practices and everyday interactions. As caste is such an integral aspect of society in the Subcontinent, it is imperative to understand how it interacts with the multitude of languages spoken in the region. Sociolinguists speak of social dialects or sociolects, referring to non-regional variations in language shaped by factors such as occupation, place of residence, education, income, \u201cnew\u201d versus \u201cold\u201d money, racial or ethnic category, cultural background, religion and so on. When these linguistic variations are determined by caste affiliation, they are often referred to as caste dialects, or castelects.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a widespread belief among many Southasian communities that a person\u2019s caste can be identified, to some extent, by their speech. That languages are indeed shaped by caste and social stratification becomes clear when looking at linguistic research across much of the Subcontinent \u2013 including the Hindi dialects of \u201ctouchable\u201d versus \u201cuntouchable\u201d villagers, Brahmin and non-Brahmin Tamil, and the social dialects of Tulu and Kannada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The practice of associating speech with social position has deep historical roots in Southasia. Classical Sanskrit dramas are known for adhering to conventions in which characters speak different dialects according to their social positions. For example, in Shudraka\u2019s Mrcchakatika<\/em> (The Little Clay Cart<\/em>), believed to have been written between the 3rd and 5th centuries CE, this convention is followed quite rigidly. High-status characters speak Sanskrit, while those of lower status invariably use Prakrit \u2013 the ancient vernacular dialects of northern and central India, which existed alongside and were derived from Sanskrit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The play primarily employs two major Prakrits: Sauraseni and Magadhi. Sauraseni is the dominant dialect, spoken consistently by characters such as the stage manager, certain domestic workers and merchants, while the jester speaks Pracya, which is nearly identical to Sauraseni. Women characters of high or respectable status \u2013 including the hero\u2019s wife and the courtesan \u2013 along with female attendants, speak Avanti, a dialect largely based on Sauraseni but slightly influenced by Maharastri. Magadhi is reserved for characters of lower social status, such as the shampooer, the monk, young boys and various low-ranking attendants. Several sub-dialects also appear: Sakari is used by the antagonist (the royal brother-in-law), and Candali by the executioners, both linguistically close to Magadhi. The constables speak Daksinatya (southern dialect), and the gamblers speak Dhakki, a distinctive mixed sub-dialect incorporating elements of Sanskrit, Sauraseni, Magadhi and Apabhramsa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colonial-era historians produced important early documentation of caste-linked linguistic variation. For example, while describing towns, villages, dwellings and rural organisation in the Malabar district of the Madras Presidency (in present-day Kerala), the Scottish bureaucrat William Logan provides a description of house-related words in Malayalam. His Malabar Manual<\/em>, published circa 1887, reads:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The house itself is called by different names according to the occupant\u2019s caste. The house of a pariah is a ce\u1e5bi<\/em>, while the agrestic slave\u2014the Cheraman\u2014lives in a cha\u1e37a<\/em>. The blacksmith, the goldsmith, the carpenter, the weaver, and the toddy-drawer (Tiyan) inhabit houses styled pura<\/em> or kudi<\/em>; the temple servant resides in a variyam<\/em> or pisharam<\/em> or puma\u1e6dham<\/em>, the ordinary Nayar in a vi\u1e0du<\/em> or bhavanam<\/em>, while the man in authority of this caste dwells in an i\u1e0dam<\/em>; the Raja (king) lives in a kovilakam<\/em> or kottaram<\/em>, the indigenous Brahman (Nambutiri) in an illam<\/em>, while his fellow of higher rank calls his house a mana<\/em> or manakkal<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This shows that caste identity embeds itself even in the everyday vocabulary of a language, with entirely different words used across caste lines for basic concepts like \u201chouse\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contemporary literary scholarship has continued to document this phenomenon. The noted Hindi Dalit writer Sheoraj Singh Bechain, in his 2017 poetry anthology\u00a0Chamar ki Chay<\/em>\u00a0(Cobbler<\/em>\u2019s Tea<\/em>), observes that in Braj Bhasha \u2013 the vernacular language in the west of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh \u2013\u00a0even songs are divided along caste lines. For example,\u00a0jaddu mari<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0hupanga<\/em>\u00a0are songs of the potter community;\u00a0bajjarag<\/em>\u00a0is sung by cowherds;\u00a0bahri<\/em>\u00a0is associated with the Khatiks (butchers); while the Chamar community sings\u00a0siriya<\/em>\u00a0songs during the rainy season. Bechain further writes: \u201csi\u1e5biya is not merely a song, it is an oppressed person, it is an ostracized society.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read Full Article at : Himalmag<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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