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Social Institutions: Continuity and Change each caste has its own place in the system which cannot Savitri Bai Phule be taken by any other caste. Since caste is also linked with occupation, the system functions as the social division of (1831–1897) labour, except that, in principle, it allows no mobility. C olonialism and C aste Compared to the ancient past, we know a lot more about caste in our recent history. If modern history is taken to beginwiththenineteenthcentury,thenIndianIndependence in 1947 offers a natural dividing line between the colonial period (roughly 150 years from around 1800 to 1947) and the post-Independence or post-colonial period (the seven decades from 1947 to the present day). The present form of caste as a social institution has been shaped very strongly by both the colonial period as well as the rapid changes that have come about in independent India. Savitri Bai Phule was the first Scholars have agreed that all major social institutions headmistress of the country’s and specially the institution of caste underwent major first school for girls in Pune. She changes during the colonial period. In fact, some scholars argue that what we know today as caste is more a product devoted her life to educating Shudras and Ati-Shudras. She of colonialism than of ancient Indian tradition. Not all of the started a night school for changes brought about were intended or deliberate. Initially, agriculturists and labourers. the British administrators began by trying to understand She died while serving plague the complexities of caste in an effort to learn how to govern patients. the country efficiently. Some of these efforts took the shape of very methodical and intensive surveys and reports on the ‘customs and manners’ of various tribes and castes all over the country. Many British administrative officials were also amateur ethnologists and took great interest in pursuing such surveys and studies. But by far the most important official effort to collect information on caste was through the census. First begun in the 1860s, the census became a regular ten-yearly exercise conducted by the British Indian government from 1881 onwards. The 1901 Census under the direction of Herbert Risley was particularly important as it sought to collect information on the social hierarchy of caste – i.e., the social order of precedence in particular regions, as to the position of each caste in the rank order. This effort had a huge impact on social perceptions of caste and hundreds of petitions were addressed to the Census Commissioner by representatives of different castes claiming a higher position in the social scale and offering historical and scriptural evidence for their claims. Overall, scholars feel that this kind of direct attempt to count caste and to officially record caste status changed the institution itself. Before this 39 kind of intervention, caste identities had been much more fluid and less rigid; once they began to be counted and recorded, caste began to take on a new life. Reprint 2026-27