Question

Describe the interdependence of castes in the context of jajmani system in villages

Answer 1

In the jajmani system in villages in the early days, landless people who belonged to lower castes worked for land owning people belonging to upper/higher castes. In return, they received grain for the services rendered. In some cases, they also received cash. The lower caste serving people were called kamins whereas the upper caste served people were called jajmans.

Answer 2

Jajmani system is a socio-economic institution of the pre-industrial self-subsistent village economy. The term ‘jajmani’ is derived from a Vedic term ‘Yajman’ which means a patron, who employs the services of a Brahmin for the performance of sacrifices or other religious ceremonies? The jajmani system is essentially based on caste system.

A jajman is usually under an obligation to pay the customary fees even when the Brahmin does not perform the ceremony. Religiously, it is an institutional arrangement that makes the Brahmin dependent for subsistence on the jajmans, who constitute his clients. From religious, the term passed onto socio-economic relations.