The organic linkages between caste and gender are a sociological fact. Despite this, there have not been many sustained attempts – either from professional sociologists or well-meaning feminists – to understand the linkages between the two.One could argue that this is because sociologists have been so immersed in issues of caste, stratification, village studies etc. that they have had little time to spare for gender. Or, to put it a little uncharitably, they simply have had no interest in problematising the relationship between gender and caste. As far as feminist scholars are concerned, they have perhaps not tried to appreciate the true nature of caste and its implications for gender. Even if some of them have understood this link, they realised that caste has a great potential to create sharp divisions among feminists and therefore it is best to avoid that. The issues that are of deep concern to women from the ‘lower’ castes are qualitatively different from the issues which concern ‘upper’ caste women. For example, it is well known that a Dalit woman suffers from three kinds of oppression – as a woman at the hands of men, as a Dalit at the hands of ‘upper’ castes and as a landless labourer at the hands of landlords. Women from the ‘upper’ castes, on the other hand, have certain privileges which they wish to protect, even as they suffer patriarchal oppression. It is only recently that there have been serious and committed efforts by some feminist scholars to bring out these diversities.Caste system and the control of female sexualityOne of the structural principles of the caste system, endogamy or marriage within one’s own caste, ensures that the “purity” of the caste system is maintained by prescribing rules of marriage and controlling female sexuality. If female sexuality is not controlled, the whole ideological edifice of the caste system would simply collapse. The caste system has been primarily viewed as an ideological system, predicated on the purity-pollution binary, in the language of influential French sociologist Louis Dumont. If the ideological purity of the caste system is to be maintained, it is indispensable that the principle of endogamy has to be strictly followed and female sexuality tamed.It is through certain well-defined rules of marriage that endogamy is maintained, and in this crucial linkage, the control of female sexuality is a well-recognised aspect. In general, marriage is done to ensure the “immortality, continuity and purity of the male descent line – vansa – and the social group – the caste or sub caste-for which the line is the organising principle”, as Uma Chakravarti, a noted feminist scholar, argues. The whole ideological function of marriage is to ensure the continuity of the male line and the purity of the caste. Women are mere instruments in this. This fact underlines the hegemonic role of patriarchy and the complete subordination of women in the caste social order. Their subjectivity and agency are hardly recognised in this ideological project.Caste endogamy is a compelling ‘social fact’, to use French sociologist Durkheim’s celebrated idea. Endogamy as a structural principle is so uncritically internalised by us that any questioning of it would invite social ridicule and possibly ostracism. It has become an unquestioning aspect of our collective conscience.Let me invite attention to one incident referred to by Chakravarti. During the protests in the 1990s against the implementation of Mandal Committee recommendations, which created a new class of beneficiaries called the Other Backward Classes (27% seats were reserved for them in government jobs and educational institutions), a group of women from the University of Delhi were seen carrying a placard which read: “We do not want unemployed husbands.” This implies three important things. First, these women belonged to the upper castes. Second, they feared that men from the upper castes would not be able to get government jobs once 27% reservation was implemented for OBC groups. Third, and very importantly from a sociological perspective, they internalised the principle of endogamy so uncritically. It was clear that the only men available for them to marry are those from the upper castes who were in danger of losing jobs because of fresh reservation for the OBCs. There was no way they could marry men from the other castes including OBCs who were potential civil service officers. This tells us a lot about the inextricable connection between caste and gender.The burden of maintaining the purity of caste falls unequally on women. It is they who are expected to follow all traditions without fail, and to perfection, lest the sanctity of the caste is compromised. Rural India has seen innumerable cases of upper caste women eloping with men of lower castes and getting severely punished – to the point of even being killed by their kinsmen (fathers, uncles etc.). It is unthinkable for the men of upper castes that somebody from their caste could marry a lower caste person and in the process destroy the “honour” of the family and caste. Murder then becomes the logical culmination, to restore the honour of the caste/community.In matters of food preparation, which is a critical element in the maintenance of the caste system, women have a crucial role to play. In the words of Leela Dube, a noted feminist anthropologist, “Food constitutes a critical element in the ritual idiom of purity and pollution…Women, key players in the process of socialisation, are also principal protagonists in this arena. The task of safeguarding food, averting danger, and in a broad sense , attending to the grammatical rules which govern the relational idiom of food fall upon women.”Thus, as one can see, there are organic and inextricable links between caste and gender which need to be taken note of in any study around these subjects. Feminist scholarship needs to do more to problematise the relationship between the two, as issues of gender can not be seen independently of the caste system in India. Gender inequalities in India have their roots in the ideological underpinnings of the caste system, apart from class and patriarchal bases. Though for many feminists, patriarchy is the oppositional category, they need to understand that patriarchy itself gets substantive weight from the ideology of the caste system. Without attacking the basic ideological structure of the caste system, one cannot attack the structure of patriarchy in the context of India. And without attacking the structure of patriarchy, one cannot hope for gender justice.D. V. Kumar is Professor, Department of Sociology, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong.