Les commencements d’une histoire agraire : Implantation des castes dominantes dans un village de l’Inde centrale ou le défrichement date du XVIe s

Résumé 0

This is a study of the settlement of the two dominant castes in a village of Madhya Pradesh (Shivpuri District) where the clearing of the land over the forest and the cultivation started in the XVIth century. Thus having an agrarian history relatively short, it has been possible to trace with some precision the story of that settlement from existing records kept by professional genealogists as well as from memorized records from the informants.The case of the village studied is revealing in a way because it is exceptional: there are two dominant castes, the Kirars and the Brahmans, instead of the usual one dominant caste, the Kirars, found in most of the villages in the region around.The Kirars settled first in the early XVIth century, in succession to Rajputs who did not cultivate and were exterminated in a feud with other Rajputs. At the time of these Rajputs, a little land was cultivated around the village by Kachis (market-gardeners) who were dependents and could not pretend for that reason to become dominant caste by obtaining the rights on the land from the king of Narwar. The Kirars, being already dominant caste in the surrounding region, were granted these rights after their arrival in the village.The Brahmans, migrating southwards from Delhi after giving up their profession of priests, reached the village in 1575 and were granted by the Kirars half of their rights on the land by sharing a bread in two parts during a meal in common the implications of which are discussed in detail.The main conclusion emphasizes the fundamental importance of the granting by the king of the rights on the land. On the other hand, the status preconditions necessary to be granted these rights appear clearly from the case studied.