M. K. Gandhi, N. K. Bose, and Bengali Village Society

Abstract N. K. Bose, a close disciple of Gandhi, was the author’s Indian mentor in anthropology and with respect to Gandhi’s social thought as well. Gandhi visualised a village society integrated by mutual interdependence but freed from the inequality of caste. The author’s fieldwork in West Bengal villages found two opposed ritual postures that were struck during the two most important community rituals of the year, that is, Gajan in the spring and Durga Puja in the autumn. During Gajan, the ordinary people became temporary ascetics (sannyasi) and gave up distinctions of caste and rank among themselves, like the disciples of Gandhi, who were expected to free themselves of such differences. During Durga Puja, the traditional caste occupations of the dependents of the former zamindars were mobilised to play differentiated roles in the ritual even when those occupations no longer provided their livelihoods; the jajmani system still prevailed during the puja. Gandhi’s social theory aspired to elements of both ritual postures: the radical equality and ‘communitas’ of the Gajan ascetics, and the mutual contributions to the community of occupationally specialised castes, which, however, have not escaped inequality.