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The encounter between colonial rule and Indian society brought about significant transformations not only in material and administrative structures but also in the ways social categories were perceived, classified, and understood. Among these, caste emerged as a central category through which colonial administrators, scholars, and missionaries interpreted Indian society. While caste as a social institution predated colonialism by centuries, the colonial experience undeniably shaped its perception, codification, and articulation in profound ways. Before colonial intervention, caste functioned as a complex, localized, and dynamic system of social organization. It was not a monolithic or rigid pan-Indian structure but varied significantly across regions, communities, and contexts. Identities were often fluid, with mobility possible through processes such as Sanskritization, occupational shifts, and political patronage. The hierarchical ordering existed, but it was negotiated and context-dependent rather than universally fixed. Social relations were governed as much by local customs and power structures as by scriptural injunctions. Colonialism introduced a new epistemological framework that sought to categorize, classify, and systematize Indian society in ways that were legible to the colonial state. British administrators, influenced by Enlightenment ideals of rationality and order, attempted to map Indian society through surveys, censuses, and ethnographic studies. The decennial census operations, beginning in the late nineteenth century, played a crucial role in this process. By compelling individuals to identify themselves within fixed caste categories, the census transformed fluid identities into rigid and enumerated entities. __________ _____ ___ __________ _______ _________ ___.
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