Articles

Ritual foundations of the Jajmani System in Indian villages

Vostok/Oriens '2017, №4

DOI: 10.7868/S0869190817040021

 
The author argues that the ‘jajmani system’ in traditional Indian village communities, i.e. the system of non-commodity exchange of products and services between members of different castes did emerge and has developed for millenniums not according to the economic process of division of labour, but as a manifestation of the concept of ritual purity/impurity, being a form of reciprocal sacrifices and mutual ritual purifying. A question is raised if ideological or spiritual factors could be the structure-determining ones in a social formation.

Keywords: India, jajman, jajmani, kamin, village community, caste, ritual purity

Pages: С. 14–23