Encompassing of the Contrary
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Encompassing of the Contrary
Those lacking a deeper understanding of the Indian caste system perceive it as base and morally flawed. At times it has drawn comparisons with the institution of slavery. However, such titles and comparisons are unfounded insofar as its critics lacked a complete understanding of the system. The beauty of the caste system lies not in its ability to exclude and discredit certain elements, but rather its complete encompassment of all its parts within the whole.
A better understanding of the hierarchical caste system may be reached by examining our most basic relatives – Adam and Eve. As the first man, Adam is “the representative of the species mankind and the prototype of the male individuals of this species”(Dumont 240). Let us call these two distinctions “levels”(Dumont 240.) If we consider these two “levels” we can come to the conclusion that “on a second level, woman is opposite or the contrary of man”(Dumont 240). Dumont believes hierarchy is characterized by these two distinctions. More clearly, man and woman are both components of the human species, yet they are opposites in reference to sex. Further, Eve sprung from Adam thus Adam inhabits the top of the hierarchy. “This hierarchical relation is, very generally, that between a whole (or a set) and an element of this whole (or set): the element belongs to the set and is in the sense consubstantial or identical with it; at the same time… it stands in opposition to it”(Dumont 240). This allows us to understand Dumont’s titling of hierarchy as ‘the encompassing of the contrary’, for it is the inclusion of all parts and their opposites which comprises the whole.
Dumont’s approach to understanding hierarchy deviated from that of his predecessors. “In the hierarchical case, according to Apthorpe, one category (the superior) includes the other (the inferior), which in turn excludes the first”(Dumont 241). This understanding encompasses all the parts only at the superior level,...
Those lacking a deeper understanding of the Indian caste system perceive it as base and morally flawed. At times it has drawn comparisons with the institution of slavery. However, such titles and comparisons are unfounded insofar as its critics lacked a complete understanding of the system. The beauty of the caste system lies not in its ability to exclude and discredit certain elements, but rather its complete encompassment of all its parts within the whole.
A better understanding of the hierarchical caste system may be reached by examining our most basic relatives – Adam and Eve. As the first man, Adam is “the representative of the species mankind and the prototype of the male individuals of this species”(Dumont 240). Let us call these two distinctions “levels”(Dumont 240.) If we consider these two “levels” we can come to the conclusion that “on a second level, woman is opposite or the contrary of man”(Dumont 240). Dumont believes hierarchy is characterized by these two distinctions. More clearly, man and woman are both components of the human species, yet they are opposites in reference to sex. Further, Eve sprung from Adam thus Adam inhabits the top of the hierarchy. “This hierarchical relation is, very generally, that between a whole (or a set) and an element of this whole (or set): the element belongs to the set and is in the sense consubstantial or identical with it; at the same time… it stands in opposition to it”(Dumont 240). This allows us to understand Dumont’s titling of hierarchy as ‘the encompassing of the contrary’, for it is the inclusion of all parts and their opposites which comprises the whole.
Dumont’s approach to understanding hierarchy deviated from that of his predecessors. “In the hierarchical case, according to Apthorpe, one category (the superior) includes the other (the inferior), which in turn excludes the first”(Dumont 241). This understanding encompasses all the parts only at the superior level,...