'Caste as a Social Construct in Indira Goswami's The Moth ... - JPCS

Journal of Postcolonial Cultures and Societies 

ISSN No. 1948-1845 (Print); 1948-1853 (Electronic) 

Caste as a Social Construct in Indira Goswami’s The Moth-Eaten Howdah of the Tusker 

and “The Offspring” 

Kumar Sankar Bhattacharya 

Abstract: Using Indira Goswami’s literary works like The Moth-Eaten Howdah of the Tusker 

and “The Offspring,” this essay explores the disabilities and functionalities of region-specific 

caste system in India. As it analyzes the complex nuances of marginality in terms of caste, it also 

reveals the complementary nature of caste and class in certain cases as Goswami has 

demonstrated, that leads to unique identity formation at multiple levels. 

Keywords: caste, India, Indira Goswami, untouchability, marginality 

‘Caste as a Social Construct in Indira Goswami’s The Moth-Eaten Howdah of the Tusker and 

“The Offspring”, Kumar Sankar Bhattacharya. 

JPCS Vol. 3, No. 2, 2012. 

www.jpcs.in 

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Caste as a Social Construct in Indira Goswami’s The Moth-Eaten Howdah of the Tusker 

and “The Offspring” 

Kumar Sankar Bhattacharya 

Storyteller, novelist, winner of the Jnanpith award and the Sahitya Akademi award, Indira 

Goswami (also known as Mamoni Raisom Goswami) is one of the most eminent writers from 

North-East India. A versatile writer over the last several years, she has received numerous 

accolades all over the world. Her contributions are much more than mere literary achievements. 

She incorporates in her writings her hope for justice and equality that reflects her deep 

connections with society. 

Indira Goswami’s writings, while narrating simple anecdotes, show her deep empathy for 

the marginals of society. Although Goswami was born in a Brahmin family, as a woman, she has 

experienced the restrictions and constrictions of her conservative society. Her widowhood after 

only two years of marriage, and her subsequent sufferings, intensify her sensitivity towards the 

victims of social and individual oppression. Due to her personal sufferings, Goswami 

understands the plight of those living in the periphery and her sympathy for such victims 

translates into touching sagas of the people in and around her life. 

However, while retelling the stories of the suffering marginals, Goswami consciously 

avoids the risk of stereotyping and homogenizing such isolated characters. Her writings reflect 

the awareness that, because of the tremendous diversity of the population and the complexity of 

survival, marginalization in India takes place at different levels and cannot be rigidly 

compartmentalized into fixed categories and simple binaries such as the “dominant” and the 

“marginal.” These attributes, as Goswami demonstrates, are interchangeable in different social 





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settings. This essay explores how Indira Goswami depicts the complex nuances of marginality in 

terms of caste through her writings. While delving on Goswami’s exploration of the identities, 

disabilities and functionalities of region-specific caste system, attention is also drawn to specific 

cases where both class and caste become complementary and intertwine closely to make up 

unique social identities. 

Caste in the Indian context is always very complicated and distinct as it functions 

diversely among different groups in different regions. Like its theory of origin, caste is definitely 

plural in nature in India for it depends broadly on local aspects. While discussing the origin of 

caste, A. P. Barnabas and Subhash C. Mehta in Caste in Changing India aptly comment on the 

plurality of the caste theories: 

. . . there are so many theories on the origin of the caste system in India—some 

seeking its roots primarily in the racial and ethnic differences, some in the socio- 

spiritual evolution of the tribal characteristics of India in ancient times, some only 

in the occupational differences, some merely in the spiritual beliefs of the pre- 

Aryans and Aryans in India and so forth. It is likely that several factors working 

jointly led in course of time to the emergence of the Indian caste system, its 

social, economic and ideological facets being specifically influenced by several 

factors. (10) 

Similar to Barnabas and Mehta, Andre Beteille in “Race, Caste and Ethnic Identity” observes the 

plurality and the complexity of the Indian caste structure: 

In India it is not at all uncommon for a single village to have as many as twenty or 

thirty castes. Each linguistic region in the country has between 200 and 300 





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castes. Many of these are divided into sub-castes which might in turn be further 

subdivided. If we leave the village and take a larger territorial unit, it becomes 

impossible even to determine the exact number of castes in it. The distinctions 

between caste, sub-caste and sub-sub-caste become blurred. The same caste might 

be called by different names and different castes by the same name. (133) 

From the theories mentioned above, it can be concluded that the caste system in India 

operates at a very local level with each region having its own way of forming and sustaining 

caste-based societies. Class also plays an important role in further complicating such distinctive 

and localized forms of the caste system. While traditionally and historically Indian societies are 

seen to be more representative of the caste system, the important role of class in shaping India’s 

social fabric usually remains unacknowledged. More importance is generally given to caste as 

the primary agent in defining identities within Indian communities and the role of class structure 

within them is almost always ignored. In certain cases, as Goswami shows, class and caste 

combine to form more complex identities at multiple levels. 

As stated at the beginning of this essay, caste as a system of inequality has no fixed 

pattern of operation in India. It is a highly localized phenomenon and varies from region to 

region. However, there are certain basic features that are common to any caste system operating 

at any local level. Pauline Kolenda, in Caste in Contemporary India: Beyond Organic Solidarity 

elaborates some of the characteristics and the operation of an intrinsically localized caste system 

within limited boundaries of a single place or a few linked places. Kolenda notices that almost in 

all cases, “a dominant caste, or a dominant family, or a set of families, typically has preponderant 

political and economic power over everyone else in the locality” (40). Such dominance rises 





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from the family’s “monopolistic control over arable land and in physical force” (40) and gives 

that family absolute power to get maximum benefit from the system. Although the castes are 

interdependent in providing service to each other, the system functions in such a way that the 

“purity” of the higher castes is always maintained: 

Each caste has an occupational specialty, and offers this to other castes in 

exchange for food, products or services. Especially important is the food grain 

provided by the land-controlling caste or families to the landless servant, artisan, 

and mendicant castes. This exchange of food, goods and services is a ritual 

system concerned with purity and pollution as well as an economic system. Called 

the jajmani system it functions so that the higher castes remain pure while the 

lower castes absorb pollution for them. (40-41) 

Goswami’s novel, The Moth-Eaten Howdah of the Tusker (2004) incorporates such caste 

features at a local level and operates along similar caste dynamics. 

This novel has multiple themes. Among them, one of the strongest is its dealing with the 

caste hierarchy. Goswami’s portrayal of the Gossain family demonstrates the operations of caste 

theories within the Gossain sattra 1 where steps are taken to maintain the “purity” vis-à-vis the 

“polluted” lower castes. As the spiritual head of the sattra, Gossain is undoubtedly very powerful 

within the community. To supplement his superior spiritual standing, he has “extensive feudal 

landed property” (The Moth-Eaten 349) that also gives him economic and social authority over 

the people of the sattra. The operation and sustenance of the Gossain family form typical 

examples of Kolenda’s local caste theory; the lower caste people within the sattra are subservient 

to the Gossain family and offer services in exchange for food and spiritual guidance. 





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Traditionally the Gossains, for generations, have played the role of patrons by bringing lower 

caste people from different areas and helping them to settle in their sattra. Because these people 

have different occupations, they ensure that the Gossain family has its needs fulfilled all the 

time. Goswami gives an idea of various lower caste people within the sattra as she describes 

Indranath’s journey to Marabhitha. As Indranath, the future Adhikar (ruler) of the sattra goes to 

Marabhitha to assert his feudal rights and power over the communists, his procession passes by a 

cheering group of people of different castes lining the street. They are people who mostly belong 

to the lower castes—kahars (makers of brass and copper utensils), kamars (blacksmiths), badhais 

(carpenters), napits (barbers), dhubis (washermen), and dhulias (palanquin bearers). They live on 

the periphery of the sattra and serve the Gossain family in one capacity or other. 

Despite all the services that the lower caste people provide to the Gossains and other 

higher castes, the lower castes are never treated with respect. Goswami shows in the course of 

the novel that the higher castes steadfastly maintain distance from the lower castes to avoid being 

polluted by touch. She gives frequent descriptions of incidents where the upper castes’ obsession 

with their purity dehumanizes and stigmatizes the lower castes. For instance, Goswami describes 

how all the Gossain family servants and the workers in the fields do not have access inside the 

Gossain household as they belong to the lower castes. Likewise, people belonging to a different 

religion or foreigners are considered impure in the caste hierarchy within the Gossain sattra and 

are also not allowed to enter the inner chambers of the house. In the novel, the upper castes are in 

perpetual fear of being contaminated and the Gossains, along with other Brahmins belonging to 

higher castes, make conscious efforts to maintain their purity by avoiding the touch of lower 

caste people. 





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Goswami portrays several incidents in the novel where this fear of contamination is so 

extreme on the part of the upper caste people that it almost seems comic in the end. In one such 

case, Goswami describes the visit of Mark Sahib to the Gossain family house. Mark Sahib comes 

to do research work on Assamese sattra and needs a place to stay. He is aware of his othered 

stature as a “firingi” (literally translated as a white man) and is happy that the Gossain family lets 

him stay in a small hut in the elephants’ grazing ground. When he enters the Gossain house, he is 

made to sit on a wooden chair in the verandah as women of the house, Durga and Giribala, come 

out to meet him. Suddenly Durga finds to her horror that “Mark Sahib’s shadow . . . [has] . . . 

fallen on her body” (The Moth-Eaten 65). Goswami writes in a mock serious tone, that it is 

indeed dangerous for a “firingi’s shadow” (The Moth-Eaten 65) to fall on a Gossain widow as it 

makes Durga polluted. She has to take a second bath to make herself clean once again. Later 

also, Mark Sahib faces such discrimination in the Gossain household. As an “unclean” foreigner, 

Mark Sahib has separate utensils in the Gossain house for eating and drinking. While visiting the 

sattra on another occasion, Mark is offered food and drink by Durga. He observes how Durga 

avoids his shadow while serving him in a separate set of tumblers and bowls that are kept aside 

in the dhekal room. 2 

Like Durga, the other members of the Gossain family with the exception of Indranath, are 

also proponents of strict caste hierarchy. Gossainee, Indranath’s mother, supports Durga as she 

cautions Indranath, the future Adhikar for mixing freely with lower caste people at Bolo’s den. 

They complain that such intermixing is unbecoming of Indranath’s position as the future Adhikar 

of the sattra, for it undermines his superior caste status. Even Indranath’s aunt Saru Gossainee, 

who is portrayed as somewhat progressive by Goswami, is no exception to this superior caste 





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complex. Though Saru Gossainee is a Gossain widow, she takes liberty in certain things which 

others of similar background will never undertake. However, she is equally rigid like her other 

family members when it comes to caste. Goswami describes an incident where Durga quarrels 

with the Gossainee regarding her pilgrimage. She wants her life’s savings from the Gossainee so 

that she can go to pilgrimage with other people. As both the women fight it out in the open, all 

lower caste women from the neighborhood gather in the courtyard to see what appears unusual to 

them. Saru Gossainee is aware that such occurrences do not go well with the family’s prestige 

and status outside. When she tells the lower caste women to leave, her contempt for them comes 

out. As she leads them out, she gets a “whiff of bad odor, like that of a rotten jack-fruit from the 

bodies of the women” (The Moth-Eaten 99) and quickly covers her nose with her dress. 

The concept of pollution is so deeply ingrained within the Gossain sattra that even a 

small, innocent child cannot escape it. While describing Indranath’s childhood days, Goswami 

reveals how the caste constantly determines and distinguishes social boundaries within the sattra. 

During his childhood days, Indranath is unaware of his higher caste status and mixes freely with 

lower caste children. He is chased and caught by his aunt Durga only to be purified from the 

touch of lower caste people: 

Many times, he would dodge the rigid routine of a Gossain’s son, and run away to 

play with the children of fishermen, potters, cobblers, and the like, clad only in a 

gamucha 3 tied round his waist. Durga would run after him, to catch him, with 

scolding words. (The Moth-Eaten 337) 

After catching Indranath, Durga hurriedly takes him to a well and washes him. The same 

happens to Giribala, Indranath’s sister. Giribala, as a child plays in the lap of their cart driver. As 





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the cart driver belongs to the potter caste, Giribala’s mother drags her away to “force the child to 

take a bath to purify her of the touch of a low-caste man” (The Moth-Eaten 190). 

However, as Goswami shows, the caste discrimination and untouchability go beyond 

simple purification rituals and become rigid in many cases that result in a sharp decline in basic 

human compassion. She describes an incident when Indranath has to take a bath for saving a 

lower caste child from imminent death. It is during the time when Indranath is staying with his 

friend Devdutt and other high caste Brahmin boys in the city of Guahati while pursuing higher 

studies. The Gossains, because of their caste, do not take food prepared by other lowly castes. So 

they cook their own food. On a December morning, a small boy from a fisherman’s caste stops 

by to sell “kaoimach”, a small fresh water fish with bones and spikes. As the boy pours the live 

fishes on the floor, one of them manages to get into the boy’s mouth and gets stuck in his throat. 

The boy is in intense pain and soon “start[s] vomiting blood” (The Moth-Eaten 312). But nobody 

comes to his help as the high caste people in the room have to take a second bath in cold 

December weather if they touch a low caste person. Indranath, despite suffering from malaria 

and bedridden, jumps out of his bed, puts his hand inside the boy’s mouth and pulls the fish from 

his throat. The boy is saved, but, Indranath has to take a bath to be purified after that. Through 

this incident, Goswami takes a dig at the irrational caste distinction. She questions the rigidity of 

the caste system and shows its futility. While nothing could be more precious than a human life, 

these so-called upper castes are obsessed with the vanity and rigidity of their superior caste status 

and fail utterly as human beings. 

The above incident shows that the paranoia of getting polluted from the lower castes is 

not an exclusive feature within the Gossain household as the majority of the so called upper caste 





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people in the novel demonstrate this obsession in their interaction with the lower castes. 

Goswami further reveals how the other Brahmins also behave like the Gossain family members 

to save themselves from being polluted by the lower castes. One such character is the Gossain 

family priest, Purshottam Bhagwati, a Brahmin who is excessively aware of his upper caste 

identity. Even in social gatherings, he proactively maintains his superior position. Thus, in a 

meeting at Bolo’s den Bhagwati shifts his chair to avoid the shadow of a low caste person when 

he is informed that the teacher sitting beside him belongs to the lowly Dom community. Such 

behavior shows contempt on Bhagwati’s part towards the lower castes that is also emulated by 

many other Brahmins. During the shraddha ceremony 4 for the older Gossain, Giribala, the 

widowed daughter of the Gossain family, almost comically notices the “pitiable state of the old 

Brahmin servers” (The Moth-Eaten 137-8) serving food to the lower caste poor people who have 

gathered for the feast. These Brahmin servers while giving out food awkwardly run around 

taking all precautions so that they can avoid the touch of “the excited hands of the children” (The 

Moth-Eaten 138). 

As Goswami reveals an inherent discrimination in the caste system that is exploited to the 

fullest by the upper caste members of society, she also demonstrates the inability of the lower 

castes to fight against this apartheid. The lower castes, in many cases, take caste hierarchy as the 

natural order of things and remain subservient to the upper caste people without questioning the 

inequity. All social agencies work in tandem also to uphold the caste hierarchy and train the 

lower castes to accept their inferior position in society automatically. Ghanshyam Shah in 

Movements in India: A Review of Literature, while explaining how this process of subservience 

works with the lower castes, comments: 





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In the caste system, the individual’s duty to the caste system was emphasized, not 

his rights within the society. The lower castes were taught to accept their place in 

the social order, so as to obtain a better position in the next life through religious 

ceremonies and rituals. (37) 

Thus, the lower castes are made to feel that they are responsible for their inferior and 

disadvantaged positions in society. As they are born into their castes and this cannot be undone, 

they have to accept it. However, if they continue to do good works by serving the upper castes 

and their needs, rigidly following social rituals and customs regarding pollution, then there are 

chances of rewards in their next life when they can be born into higher castes. 

In explaining the behavior of the lower caste people in the novel, Goswami indirectly 

refers to this powerful ideology of caste hierarchy mentioned above. As the Gossain sattra uses 

its set of rules and regulations to effectively control and manipulate lower rung people in caste 

hierarchy, the lower castes seldom have any other option but to respond to the demands and 

whims of socially superior people. Braj Ranjan Mani terms this controlling set of rules and 

regulations as “Brahmanism” (15) in a different context. In Debrahmanising History: 

Dominance and Resistance in Indian Society, Mani describes it as an ideology that “stands for 

the aggregate of sacerdotal literature, social structure and religio-political institutions that have 

been masterminded by the elite with the primary aim of keeping the masses ignorant, servile and 

disunited” (15). The influence of this “Brahmanism” is deep, as Goswami shows, within the 

majority of lower caste people in the novel. They take their positions within society as 

preordained and inadvertently help to maintain a strong hierarchy. In many cases, the lower 

castes internalize the nuances of caste system to such an extent that they become vanguards of 





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this discriminatory practice and condemn any deviation from the norm. Giribala experiences this 

in one instance. Once while returning from her friend’s house, Giribala stops mid-way and visits 

a long abandoned, dilapidated house with Mark Sahib. The cart driver is very disturbed by 

Giribala’s behavior as, for him, it is extremely unusual for “a highly respected Gossain family’s 

widow . . . [to] . . . venture out alone with an unclean low-caste Christian” (The Moth-Eaten 

190). Ironically, the cart driver belongs to the potter caste, who was discriminated against for his 

low caste earlier. He remembers how baby Giribala, the Gossain daughter was given a 

purification bath by her mother when he picked her up as a child. But he still fails to understand 

how Giribala can give up her family prestige and mixes freely with the “firingi” Mark. Like 

Giribala, her brother Indranath encounters similar incidents. As a child, Indranath visits Kowria’s 

house and goes “running right up to the cooking stove of Kowria’s ramshackle hut” (The Moth- 

Eaten 338). Kowria’s wife cries out in horror that the Gossain’s son has come right inside 

without thinking about their low caste and what will other people think about this untoward 

incident. In the same way, Indranath’s visit as a child to the potter’s place in a locality called 

Tallapara creates uneasiness among the potter’s family members. Indranath loves to see the 

potter at work and sometimes playfully “fling[s] his arms round the potter’s neck and climb[s] on 

to his back” (338). The potter exclaims in disgust that Indranath has to take a bath for touching 

him. 

While the internalization of the caste hierarchy by lower caste people and scriptural 

sanctions along with the ideology of “Brahmanism” help the upper castes to enforce caste 

discrimination, Goswami shows how the upper castes control and manipulate caste dynamics by 

deliberately maintaining a distance from the lower castes and discouraging any free inter-caste 





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mixing whatsoever. The upper castes consciously cultivate a “hard-to-get” image that 

accentuates their standing among the common masses and imposes an aura around them that is 

difficult to explain. They are revered and given superhuman status by lower castes, who feel 

fortunate if they have a member of an upper caste visiting them. Indranath’s visit to the potter’s 

village as a child bears testimony to this culture of veneration among the lower castes. His visit 

evokes a sense of awe and reverence, even among children: 

The rickety, pot-bellied, half-naked children of the potter’s village used to gather 

round him and stare at him silently. Normally when they were by themselves, 

there would be a noise scuffle for getting hold of the cucumber. But in the 

presence of Indranath, they stood quietly as if they would give up their everything 

to this son of the Gossain. They were struck dumb by the sight of this fair boy, 

with an undefined feeling of utter amazement that they could not fathom. (The 

Moth-Eaten 338) 

Indranath also gets the same kind of super-hero treatment among the ramshackle huts of shuris, 

another low caste. In spite of their “debilitating poverty” (The Moth-Eaten 339), these 

“untouchables” (The Moth-Eaten 339) treat Indranath as a god during his occasional visits: “Yes, 

they really thought that the Gossains had descended from heaven. They dared not touch a 

Gossain, even a mere boy like him. And when they were on the threshold of death, they had a 

keen desire to touch a Gossain’s feet” (The Moth-Eaten 339). 

Goswami portrays caste discrimination and the concept of pollution and untouchability in 

the novel as deplorable social malaises; but such prejudices slide further and reach an extreme 

point in her short story “The Offspring” from the collection titled The Shadow of Kamakhya: 





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Stories by Indira Goswami (2001). Apparently the taboo of untouchability is broken in this story 

through the union between an upper and a lower caste person; however, the union is for a 

utilitarian purpose only and the caste dictum that separates the upper caste and lower caste gets 

reinforced in the end. The story involves the trader Pitambar Mahajan and a Brahmin widow 

named Damayanti coming together regardless of their different caste standings, out of their 

needs. Despite his material success, Pitambar is unhappy as he remains childless even after his 

second marriage. Damayanti, on the other hand, is a virtual destitute with two little daughters 

after her husband’s premature death, and lives “on the outer edge of the village” (The Shadow 

23). Although she belongs to the Bangara Brahmins, known for their austerity and high caste 

standing, she resorts to prostitution to get food for herself and her daughters after her 

widowhood. 

The story unfolds with Krishnakanta, the village priest visiting Pitambar and 

sympathizing with him. During the course of the conversation, they see Damayanti coming back 

from the Marwari merchants, a trader class known for their business acumen. Krishnakanta 

suggests that since Damayanti needs money and security, Pitambar can offer to marry her and get 

a child from her. He is assured of a child from Damayanti as she has earlier gone through four 

abortions indicating her ability to bear a child unlike Pitambar’s two wives. Pitambar, however, 

is not sure whether Damayanti will agree to this proposal since she belongs to the higher caste. 

But Krishnakanta is quite confident because in recent times Brahmin girls are even marrying 

fishermen and “the daughter of the Gossain on the Dhaneshwari riverbank married a Muslim 

boy” (The Shadow 17). He takes responsibility of acting as a go-between in lieu of money. 





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However, as Goswami shows, that it is not easy in the beginning, for Damayanti is 

conscious about her caste standing in spite of her poverty and does not want to “pollute” herself 

by means of a relationship with Pitambar. Once, while she is plucking green vegetables, 

Pitambar gathers all his courage and offers his help. But Damayanti gives him a look and 

Pitambar’s “eyes . . . [can] . . . not meet the intense, disdainful stare” (The Shadow 19). He 

hurriedly leaves the place. Even Krishnakanta’s first overtures have the same result. When 

Krishnakanta first tells Damayanti about Pitambar, she is “infuriated” (The Shadow 21). She 

spits out in anger and says that she will never have any relationship with the low caste Pitambar: 

“That Pariah! How dare he send this proposal to me! Doesn’t he know that I am from the 

Jajamani Brahmin caste and, he the vermin, is a low-caste Mahajan?” (The Shadow 21). 

Damayanti cannot fathom how Krishnakanta, despite his high caste standing, encourages and 

brings in that proposal. Goswami here reveals the false pride and ego of the widow regarding her 

superior caste standing. She can stoop low to prostitute herself, but she still thinks that she is 

superior to the so-called lower caste people. 

However, things change altogether when Krishnakanta, threatens Damayanti and cajoles 

her with prospects of money and a secure life. She agrees to his proposal and Pitambar starts 

visiting Damayanti regularly. Damayanti is giving herself to Pitambar for money, but she is still 

aware of her superior caste standing and feels “unclean” after every encounter with Pitambar. 

The concept of being polluted drives her all the time and whenever they copulate, Damayanti 

will invariably take a bath to get purified from the touch of a lower caste man. 

Damayanti’s egotistic sense of superiority is further demonstrated as she becomes 

pregnant. When Krishnakanta finds this out he immediately informs Pitambar about it and vows 





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to protect Damayanti’s pregnancy by making sure that she can never go for an abortion. But, 

Damayanti in spite of all precautions taken by Krishnakanta gets “rid of the unborn child” (The 

Shadow 29). She is a “Brahmin of Shandilyagotra” and, is not ready to “carry the seed of a low- 

caste” (The Shadow 29). Whatever she has agreed to, she has to for pure economic reasons. But 

she cannot, and will not, violate her caste standing by begetting a child from a low caste person 

like Pitambar. 

While until now caste discrimination in Goswami’s novel and short story has been the 

focus of this essay, no observation regarding her depiction of caste is complete without referring 

to her portrayal of the upper caste people in these works. In spite of being victims of social 

oppressions, lower caste people are shown to be hardworking and honest. For Goswami, from 

moral and ethical perspectives, upper castes stand opposite to lower castes; often they are found 

to be manipulative and deceiving, and are seen to be constantly scheming to make quick money. 

Though the caste system is varied and complicated in the Indian context as mentioned 

above, it has common grounding and assumption. The most universal and powerful assumption 

perhaps is the superior status of the Brahmins in the caste hierarchy. They occupy the central 

position and are in almost all cases, the deciding social and moral authority in a particular social 

setting. To justify their superior standing, they often refer to two “complex, philosophical 

notions” (Beteille 132)—dharma and karma. Beteille describes them as: 

Dharma implies right conduct in accordance with one’s station in life, defined 

largely by one’s caste: karma explains and justifies, one’s birth in a particular 

station in terms of one’s actions in a previous life. In other words, moral rules and 

standards would differ from one caste to another. (132) 





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To perpetuate caste hierarchy, the Brahmins propagate that it is through their noble deeds 

(karma) in the previous births that they have secured advantageous positions in their current 

lives. They are preordained and society must accept their superiority without any question. 

Hence, they justify the rigidity of caste hierarchy, untouchability and pollution that they maintain 

as a necessity on their part. They are only following their “dharma” that enables them to perform 

rightful conduct suitable to their social positions. 

Contrary to this powerful assumption of the superior standing of the Brahmins, Goswami 

depicts them quite cynically in her writings. While her portrayals of lower castes show their 

debilitating social status and sufferings, her depictions of upper castes, especially the Brahmins 

are interspersed with satire and anger. The Brahmins are socially superior; but the behaviors that 

Goswami exposes through her writings certainly do not fit with their superior social standing. 

Goswami portrays them in general as opportunists, greedy and full of vices, miles apart from the 

poor and hardworking lower castes. Although they invoke scriptures all the time to validate their 

social position and power, Goswami shows how these Brahmins repeatedly fail in their 

responsibilities towards society. Their personal actions do not match with what they preach to 

others, and, hence they turn out to be deceitful and cunning in the end. 

Goswami’s description of the Brahmins in her novel is so full of their scheming and 

greedy nature, that sometimes the description seems almost comic. Giribala, the widowed 

daughter of the Gossain family recalls once how the Brahmins fought over bhojan dakshina 5 at 

the first shraddha (memorial service for the dead) for her grandfather. As is the local custom, the 

Brahmins are invited, given due honor and fed to satiety. However, when it is time to offer gifts, 

the Brahmins seem to forget their social status and begin to fight among themselves: 





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At the time of the first shraddha of the old Gossain, when land, urium wood cots, 

rice baskets, endi chaddar were distributed, the Brahmins had started quarrelling 

among themselves. After some time, it ended in fisticuffs and complete chaos! An 

arm of a Brahmin was fractured and he had to be admitted to a hospital in 

Gauhati. (The Moth-Eaten 139) 

Again, when Giribala is caught eating mutton curry 6 Brahmins from places like Haramdo and 

Bangara immediately divide into two warring groups that want to do the expiation rituals. It is 

important for both parties to get this responsibility, as whoever performs this, will get “a mukcha 

and a sidha 7 with a basket of rice, some potatoes, turmeric, salt and pure ghee in sufficient 

quantity to last for a few days, and also a pair of sacred threads” (The Moth-Eaten 146). 

If this is the general nature of the Brahmins in the novel, Goswami goes further to give 

more specific examples of knavery of the so-called upper castes. Purshottam Bhagwati, the 

family priest of the Gossains is a powerful example. He is an utterly corrupt Brahmin who does 

anything for money. He often bends rules to suit his jajmans 8 if they give him enough gifts in 

cash or kind. Once he goes to Bangara to perform expiation on behalf of his jajman, a local 

moujadar. 9 The moujadar is married but he is having an affair with a nurse from a hospital in the 

local village of Khatiamari. The nurse visits his home which leads to a quarrel with his wife who 

is later found dead from drowning in a well. Rumors go around that the moujadar pushed his 

wife into the well. Expiation for such a crime, according to scriptures is harsh. But Bhagwati 

makes it “simple” (The Moth-Eaten 61) in exchange for lavish gifts. When Indranath, the future 

ruler of the sattra confronts him about the incident, Bhagwati in a matter-of-fact tone tells him 

that it is necessary to bend scriptural rules with time: 





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Listen Indranath! Yagyavalkya has laid down a most terrible act of atonement for 

this crime! . . . If all those terrible rules are strictly observed, then there won’t be 

such evil deeds in this world. But nowadays everything has to be made simple! I, 

myself, with these two hands, have compromised on these ancient rules. (The 

Moth-Eaten 61) 

Through Bhagwati’s declaration, Goswami shows the irony here. Brahmins like Bhagwati, who 

readily invoke scriptures to show their racial superiority and perpetuate untouchability, do not 

stop to think twice about manipulating scriptural instructions to serve their gains. Similar 

manipulative characteristics are seen in another Brahmin named Jokram Bhagwati in the novel. 

He belongs to that Brahminical group who fiercely and steadfastly believes in untouchability of 

the lower castes or foreigners due to their inferior status and generally does his best to avoid 

being “polluted” by the lower castes. However, for Jokram Bhagwati, these laws of purity and 

social superiority seem less important in matters relating to money. In spite of publicly 

supporting the lower caste status of foreigners that results in their untouchability, he makes his 

money by serving the “white-skinned soldiers” (The Moth-Eaten 122). He is a contractor of the 

foreign soldiers and supplies them with leeches and ducks and makes huge profits. His 

unscrupulousness is later revealed when he gives refuge to another Brahmin from Coochbehar 

who smuggles opium and sells it in the locality. He continues to give him shelter for money, in 

spite of knowing that selling opium is illegal. He remains a villain until the end, when police 

catch the opium ring arresting both the opium seller and Bhagwati for their crime. 

Goswami portrays both Purushottam and Jokram as mercenaries in their attitudes toward 

life. Purshottam once claimed that “one should have a crane’s perseverance and a fox’s 





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craftiness” (The Moth-Eaten 58) to survive in a difficult world. The two Bhagwatis firmly cling 

to this mantra for their survival. Another Brahmin character who closely follows this advice is 

Krishnakanta, the priest in her short story titled “The Offspring.” In the story, Krishnakanta loses 

his priestly duties and powers to younger Brahmins as he gets older. His jajmans stop coming to 

him and he has a tough time in making both ends meet. His needs have driven him to Pitambar 

and quite identical to the Bhagwatis, Krishnakanta has no qualms in receiving money from a 

“low-caste” like Pitambar. But, just like the Bhagwatis, he is also afraid of being polluted by 

low-castes and strives to avoid Pitambar’s touch at any cost. After he proposes to Pitambar that 

he will arrange a meeting of him with Damayanti, as Pitambar, “overwhelmed with gratitude” 

goes up to him “to grasp his hand” (18), Krishnakanta cringes back “to avoid his touch” (The 

Shadow 18). He is on his way to bathe the idol of Muralidhar Krishna in Gossain’s house and “if 

this man touched him, he would have to take a second bath” (The Shadow18). 

Krishnakanta’s scheming and deceptive nature is exposed in his advice to Pitambar to 

have a child through Damayanti even though Pitambar is married and his wife is alive. It 

continues through the course of the story where he personally manipulates situations to serve his 

interest. Though he previously blamed Damayanti for her prostitution and not maintaining the 

proper diet of a Brahmin widow, he later forces her into the affair with Pitambar. He threatens 

Damayanti with social isolation for her immorality through the panchayat, the local body elected 

for performing day-to-day affairs in the village. He explains that she can later marry Pitambar 

and regain her social acceptance. Also, it is a one-time opportunity for her to atone for her sin 

and, if she does not grab this opportunity, she will undoubtedly “burn in hell” (The Shadow 25). 

Surely, Krishnakanta is conveniently using his moral dicta on Damayanti to serve his own 





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purpose. After Damayanti gets pregnant, he goes to Pitambar and assures him that he will guard 

her constantly “like the vulture keeping vigil over a corpse” (The Shadow 26) to make sure that 

she cannot abort the foetus. And for this he takes more money from Pitambar. Ironically, 

Krishnakanta stoops so low for money that he can hardly be proud of his social standing 

anymore. Later, when he fails to stop Damayanti from aborting, he refuses to take any blame for 

it. He interprets scriptures to suit his circumstances and conveniently passes it as the effect of the 

“inauspicious” death of Pitambar’s first wife: 

Your first wife died under inauspicious star, Pitambar. That must be the reason for 

what has happened now . . . It is said in the Shastras (scriptures) that when a 

person dies under this inauspicious star even the shortest grass in the courtyard 

burns to ashes. For you, now everything has burned to ashes! (The Shadow 29) 

He remains a manipulator and a villain until the very end and few can match his cunningness and 

deceit. 

The only Brahmin character that Goswami describes who can supersede Krishnakanta 

and the Bhagwatis in their sly and shrewd nature is perhaps Mahidhar, a character from her 

novel. Mahidhar is the Brahmin who helps Saru Gossainee, the widow of the Gossain family 

with her land and tenants. Since it is virtually impossible for Saru Gossainee as a widow to keep 

track of her land and income, Mahidhar’s involvement, she thinks, is a blessing in disguise for 

her. Through his hard work, Mahidhar gains her trust. Besides, Mahidhar, the Brahmin has in 

him the necessary background and caste affiliation to hold an important position in Saru 

Gossainee’s household: 





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He comes from a family of high class Brahmins. They migrated from 

Coochbehar, and had received land along Jagalia in donation from the old 

Gossain. They have worked as jajmani Brahmins for the Gossain’s family for a 

long time . . . those Kanyakubjee 10 Brahmins were adored by the Koch kings, 

Prana Narain and Bir Narain. They translated the Drona Parva and the Kirat 

Parva 11 of the Mahabharata during their time. (The Moth-Eaten 231-32) 

In spite of his high social standing, Mahidhar is extremely dishonest. Taking advantage 

of Saru Gossainee’s trust and her lack of time to manage her own land, he makes shady deals 

without her knowledge. As Mahidhar spends night after night working hard on the accounts of 

all her lands, he claims that he has cleared all the “mess” (The Moth-Eaten 240) and wants Saru 

Gossainee to sign the paperwork that he has prepared. Saru Gossainee, busy with her chores, 

does not even think of verifying the documents before signing. She signs a blank paper which 

Mahidhar later forges to make him the executer of Saru Gossainee’s land deals. To prospective 

buyers, he gives the impression that he has the authority to take “baina” 12 to sell Saru 

Gossainee’s lands. 

Mahidhar is caught in the end. He is nabbed while he tries “to cross the river and run 

away with the money he has collected from baina” (The Moth-Eaten 251) and brought in tied up 

with a fishing net. A search leads to the discovery of a bag that contains Durga’s ornaments. 13 

Saru Gossainee cannot believe how Mahidhar has broken her trust: “that man lying on the 

ground look[s] like a python caught in a net” (The Moth-Eaten 251). The villainy that other high 

caste people have committed before in Goswami’s works seems trivial compared to what 





30



Mahidhar does to Saru Gossainee. Mahidhar, whom she trusts and perhaps loves, leaves her 

“naked” (The Moth-Eaten 252) in public by his actions. 

Conclusion 

Although this essay deals with caste in Indira Goswami’s works, it reveals how in many 

cases the social categories of caste and class become so intertwined and mutually inclusive, that 

they remind one of Beteille’s observation on caste and class. While giving a general description 

of the caste system, Beteille comments on the complementary nature of caste and class in 

traditional Indian societies: 

Caste systems may be described as systems of cumulative inequality. Advantages 

of status tend to be combined with the advantages of wealth and power, and those 

who are socially under-privileged also tend to be at the bottom of the economic 

and political scale. (129) 

Goswami’s description of higher and lower caste people pretty much conforms to this idea. In 

her works, the higher castes in almost all the cases have more economic power making them the 

higher class also. For them caste is infrastructural, and they enjoy the benefits as the elite of the 

given social structure by controlling all the money-making resources in a given area. Thus the 

higher caste status of Gossain family and other Brahmins in caste hierarchy in the novel, ensures 

a greater control of economic resources for them within the sattra, thereby simultaneously 

making them members of the higher class also. Compared to them, the workers, peasants and 

common people in the novel belong to low castes and are also placed in the bottom rung in class 

hierarchy for their lack of economic power. As the novel reveals the coalition of caste and class, 





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the resulting dynamics that arise from this caste and class collaboration shape social life in 

general. They influence the local culture, economy, religion, business and marriage. 

However, Goswami goes beyond showing this complimentary nature of caste and class in 

her works. There are instances when she writes about the confrontation of caste and class within 

a specific situation. The case of Damayanti and Pitambar in the short story serves as a good 

example where caste is seen to be in direct conflict with class. Pitambar, a low-caste, has money 

that he uses to “buy” Damayanti, the Brahmin widow. Though Damayanti destroys their 

offspring as she is not willing to bear the child of a low caste, this story gives more social power 

to Pitambar because of his purchasing power. The story reveals a complex social machination 

through a clash between caste and class where a caste-oriented society is seen to gradually shift 

towards a more class-oriented setup. 

Thus, through the representation of the marginals in terms of caste, Goswami has opened 

up several possibilities of seeing caste-class dynamics in her works. As she captures the implicit 

and more explicit tensions and conflicts arising from class-caste interaction, she uses caste as a 

social construct and powerful tool to analyze and comprehend the societies that she creates in 

these two works. 





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Works Cited 



Barnabas, A. P., and Subhash C. Mehta.Caste in Changing India. New Delhi: The Indian 

Institute of Public Administration, 1967. Print. 

Beteille, Andre. “Race, Caste, and Ethnic Identity.” Communal Identity in India: Its 

Construction and Articulation in the Twentieth Century. Ed. Bidyut Chakrabarty. New 

Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2003. 128-149. Print. 

Goswami, Indira. The Moth-Eaten Howdah of the Tusker. Trans. Indira Goswami. New Delhi: 

Rupa & Co, 2004. Print. 

---. The Shadow of Kamakhya: Stories by Indira Goswami. New Delhi: Rupa & Co, 2001. Print. 

Kolenda, Pauline. Caste in Contemporary India: Beyond Organic Solidarity. California: The 

Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Company, Inc, 1978. Print. 

Mani, Braj Ranjan. DeBrahmanising History: Dominance and Resistance in Indian Society. New 

Delhi: Manohar Publishers and Distributors, 2005. Print. 

Shah, Ghanshyam. Social Movements in India: A Review of Literature. New Delhi: Sage 

Publications India Pvt. Ltd, 2004. Print. 





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1 Sattra is a Vaishnavite “monastery” with a patriarchal head who functions both as a spiritual head and a feudal 

chief. In many remote areas, a Sattra is unofficially the official administrative center with undisputed power and 

prestige. 

2 Dhekal room is in the outer house where grains are husked. As lower castes have no direct access to the inner 

house, all their utensils for daily use are kept in this room. 

3 A hand woven towel. 

4 Memorial service for the dead according to Hindu custom. In several houses, this is performed yearly where the 

family members gather to perform rituals commemorating the dead member. 

5 “It is a part of the memorial service for the dead after the prayers and rituals. The house holder washes the feet of 

the Brahmins. They are then given a feast and afterwards gifts of money or household articles. Later the Brahmins 

sell or exchange their gifts among themselves. Sometimes it leads to a bitter quarrel and scuffle among them” (The 


6 Giribala as a widow is not supposed to eat any non-vegetarian food. By eating mutton curry, she has apparently 

transgressed and has to go through expiation. Goswami comically describes how the warring groups of Brahmin 

fought for the material rewards from this expiation ceremony. 

7 Alms consisting of rice, cloth and similar things. 

8 Employers of a priest for performing rituals and sacrifices. 

9 A title for a local landowner. 

10 “Brahmins brought to Assam by Ahom kings from a place called Kanyakubja (Kanauj) in Uttar Pradesh” (The 


11 Drona Parva and Kirat Parva are the two chapters from the Indian epic the Mahabharata. 

12 Money initially paid to secure a land sale. 

13 Durga, the poor widow, has set aside her ornaments to pay for her pilgrimage. The ornaments are kept in the 

custody of Saru Gossainee. They are stolen from her house and cannot be traced. Durga never has the chance to 

fulfill her desire to go for a pilgrimage. 

Biography 

Kumar Sankar Bhattacharya has done his PhD in English Literature from Drew University, 

New Jersey in 2011. His research and teaching interests include Transnational and Global 

Literature, Postcolonial Theory and Literature, and British Literature from the English 

Renaissance to Post-Modernism. Currently he is an Assistant Professor in the Department of 

Languages at BITS PILANI, Rajasthan (India). 





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'Caste as a Social Construct in Indira Goswami's The Moth ... - JPCS

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