The Brahmin’s debates can’t bring down the Brahmins

Abstract

This article is about how caste undergoes conceptual transformation in academic and popular discourses from a structure of hierarchical stratification organised by the brahmins to a set of mere pre-modern cultural practices with no link to material realities. Brahmin supremacy sustains itself by converting the hierarchy of unequally placed groups in the caste system into a horizontal social space of equal individuals with sublated differences. The brahmin mobilises this transformation through his unaltered leadership position in society and the active collaboration of individuals from the oppressed groups.