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Book No. – 22 (Sociology)
Book Name – Indian Society & Culture (Nadeem Hasnain)
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1. Rural Cosmopolitanism
2. Traditional Culture
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LANGUAGE
Some Aspects of Rural Society in India
Chapter – 5
Table of Contents
- India is a nation of villages, with around six lakh villages, and more than 70% of its population living in rural areas.
- Villages in India can be classified into different types:
- Nucleated villages: A tight cluster of houses surrounded by fields, the most common in India.
- Linear settlements: Houses are strung out, each surrounded by its own compound, with no clear physical boundary between villages.
- Scattered homesteads: Small clusters of two or three houses, with unclear physical demarcation between villages.
- The size and density of the population in villages also represent important types.
- Indian villages show a significant diversity in form, style, custom, and ritual, shaped by a long evolution of separate peoples and cultures over thousands of years.
- Contemporary Village India reflects its past, preserving traditional components such as family, kinship, caste, class, and the village community.
- Family (usually joint family) is a key unit in the economic, socio-cultural, political, and religious domains of rural India.
- Social institutions like caste, family, and village structure form a trinity in rural society, influencing all spheres of life, including social norms, values, roles, rights, and obligations.
- Village autonomy has been a controversial issue, with early scholars like Henry Maine (1881), Charles Metcalfe (1833), and Badon Powell (1896) emphasizing exaggerated notions of village autonomy, portraying villages as isolated and self-sufficient.
- Later research by historians, sociologists, and social anthropologists debunked this myth, showing that Indian villages were never self-sufficient.
- Indian villages maintained links with larger society through migration, work, trade, village exogamy, administrative linkages, markets, caste networks, pilgrimages, fairs, and festivals.
- Modern forces have further expanded rural-urban interaction and inter-village connections, a phenomenon called ‘Rural Cosmopolitanism’ by Oscar Lewis (1955).
- Despite these external linkages, the village remains a fundamental social unit, with a sense of common identity and loyalty among its residents.