Caste Ranking and the Exchange of Food and Water in a North Indian Village

The ranks of the castes of a north Indian village were investigated by two methods. First, 26 randomly selected male respondents were asked questions about the castes from which they would accept food and water. Analysis of the responses led to a caste hierarchy based upon food exchanges. This was compared to a caste hierarchy developed from an analysis of opinions about caste rank as reported in Freed (1963). The two hierarchies agree so closely that, in effect, there is a single caste hierarchy that can be revealed through an analysis of either opinion or food transfers. Other culture patterns do not correlate well with this hierarchy throughout its entire range. Wealth and power, for example, are attributes of one or a few castes at the top of the hierarchy but they do not systematically explain the distinctions customarily made in the middle and bottom of the hierarchy.