How Honoured Communities Were Reduced to Shudras and Avarnas
(A Suppressed History of Identity Theft in India)
Introduction
The caste system in India is often blamed on religion, particularly Hinduism. Yet, this popular belief fails to account for the real rupture in caste dynamics that occurred during British colonial rule. While caste existed before the British, it was a fluid, occupational, and regionally nuanced system — not the rigid, birth-based pyramid we see today. The Colonial Caste Census (1871–1931) was not merely a demographic exercise; it was a tool of social engineering, which froze living traditions, broke ancestral dignities, and reduced honourable communities to labels like Shudra, Avarna, or Backward Caste.
Among the worst affected were the Vishwakarmas, Ezhavas, Kammalars, Nadars, Kurmis, Yadavs, and many others — once proud, productive, and spiritually significant communities. Their fall wasn’t natural; it was a manufactured crime — designed by colonial ethnographers and enforced through bureaucratic classification.
The Pre-Colonial Truth: Caste Was Functional, Not Oppressive
No Proof of Superiority or Untouchability in Early India
Prior to the British, caste was neither absolute nor exclusionary. In Tamil Sangam literature (2nd century BCE – 3rd century CE), there is no mention of untouchability or a strict varna system. Social respect was based on skill, knowledge, bravery, or spiritual merit. Many lower castes even held lands, temple rights, and positions of influence.
The Bhakti movement (7th–12th century) across Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Maharashtra elevated saints from all walks of life — such as Nandanar (Pulayan), Ravidas (Chamar), and Namdev (Shimpi). They were venerated for their devotion, not their birth.
Even in Chola-era temple inscriptions, communities like Kammalars, Vishwakarmas, and Ezhavas are listed as donors, architects, and ritual functionaries, not untouchables or subordinates. Untouchability, as a structured exclusion, emerged late — mostly in North India by the 16th century, and in South India only by the 18th century, often linked to Brahminical centralization and foreign theological influence.
The Colonial Caste Census: A Weapon of Classification
The British encountered a complex and organic Indian social fabric they couldn’t control. Their response? Classify and freeze. The 1901 Census, led by Herbert Risley, became the turning point. Guided by pseudo-scientific racial theories and Victorian obsession with order, the British classified people based on:
Physical features (e.g., skull measurements, nasal index),
Occupation,
And selectively interpreted Brahmanical texts, especially the Manusmriti.
This distorted system introduced permanent caste identities. Once classified, a person’s caste became official and inescapable, regardless of actual history or function. The British reshaped caste as hereditary hierarchy, disconnecting it from India’s functional and spiritual diversity.
The Vishwakarmas – From Cosmic Creators to Caste Laborers
In Rigveda 10.81–82, Vishwakarma is not a mortal caste figure — he is the cosmic architect who created the heavens, earth, gods, and the entire fabric of existence. He is the first cause, a divine engineer who shaped reality itself. His five divine sons — Manu (blacksmith), Maya (carpenter), Tvashta (metal craftsman), Shilpi (sculptor), and Vishvajna (goldsmith) — were the founders of civilized life, constructing cities, idols, weapons, and temples.
Historical Status
Ancient inscriptions show Vishwakarmas as temple priests, Stapathis, and Vigraha Shilpis, commanding reverence and patronage.
In South India, they were ritual priests within their own traditions, performing consecrations, idol installations, and architectural ceremonies.
However, during the later Puranic era, Indo-Iranian-Judaic priesthood influence introduced exclusivist theology. Purity-pollution codes grew dominant. Over time, the artisan priesthood was de-spiritualized, their Vedic roles erased from memory.
The British census finalized this fall by labeling them as Shudras or backward castes, ignoring their scriptural origins and historical evidence. This broke their collective identity, split them into regional jatis (Acharyas, Kammalars, Moosaris), and stripped them of spiritual legitimacy.
Today, the descendants of the universe’s architect are classified as backward, seeking reservation in a system they once architected.
Ezhavas – Warrior Healers Rebranded as Toddy Tappers
Ezhavas of Kerala were never a menial caste in pre-modern society. They were:
Landowners,
Practitioners of Ayurveda,
Martial artists (Kalari warriors),
And temple caretakers in regional Siva traditions.
Missionary writings and local palm-leaf records show Ezhavas participated in temple life before Brahminic exclusion began in the late 18th century. The Channar Revolt and temple entry movements were led by Ezhava leaders who remembered their ancient dignity.
The British census, aided by Brahmin informants, labeled them as toddy-tappers and denied their warrior-healer heritage. Their ritual knowledge and landholdings were systemically eroded through legal categories.
Other Communities Destroyed by Census
Kammalars – Sacred Technicians to Shudras
Ancient Panchaloka sculptors and architects of temples.
Received royal land grants and performed rituals.
Census reduced them to occupational laborers, ignoring spiritual dimensions.
Nadars – Palaiyakkarar Chieftains to “Shanar” Laborers
Ruled small kingdoms and controlled salt trade in Tamil Nadu.
Demoted as “toddy tappers” in colonial documents.
Stigma led to mass social exclusion and forced name changes.
Kurmis, Yadavs, Koeris – Peasant Kings to Backward Castes
Dominated agriculture, cattle, and village governance in North India.
Mentioned with respect in Mughal records and Ain-i-Akbari.
British racial hierarchy denied them Kshatriya status and classified them as Shudras or OBC.
Kayasthas – Royal Scribes to Ambiguous Others
Administered states, held education monopoly, and interpreted law.
Colonial ethnographers failed to classify them, leading to identity confusion.
Often excluded from both Brahmin and Vaishya status in official schemes.
Freeze and Fragment: The Criminal Strategy
1. Freezing Identity – A dynamic occupational identity was turned into a rigid, unchangeable birth-mark.
2. Fragmenting Communities – Related jatis were broken into smaller units, weakening collective strength.
Weaponized Texts: How Manusmriti Became the Law
The British Orientalists gave disproportionate importance to the Manusmriti, a fringe text with limited real-life implementation. They ignored centuries of Buddhist, Tantric, Bhakti, and folk traditions that practiced equality, syncretism, and social mobility.
By enshrining Manusmriti logic into governance, the British officially empowered casteist logic as law, while falsely presenting it as ancient and natural.
Post-Independence Tragedy: A Lie Becomes a System
Instead of revising these colonial errors, independent India adopted the same caste data to define SC/ST/OBC lists. This institutionalized the lie, locking once-dignified communities into identities they never chose.
Today, communities like Vishwakarmas, Ezhavas, and Kammalars, once divine artisans and spiritual custodians, must prove their backwardness to survive. The cosmic turned servile, the spiritual turned subaltern.
A Crime Without a Trial
The Colonial Caste Census was not a record — it was a reprogramming of Indian society. It took cosmic creators and made them clerks. It took chieftains and turned them into coolies. It took warrior healers and labeled them toddy tappers.
This is not just history. It's an ongoing injustice, buried under false categories, reservation politics, and national silence. The untold story of caste is not just about religion — it’s about colonial sabotage of India’s ancestral memory.
To heal, we must remember. To rise, we must restore. The truth of the Vishwakarmas, the honour of the Ezhavas, and the legacy of all fragmented jatis must be reclaimed — not to divide, but to dismantle the original lie.