Contents Preface ix Plates, Maps, Figures and Tables xiv Part I Khalapur 1 Living the Levirate: 3 The Mating of an Untouchable Chuhra Widow 2'Untouchable* Chuhras Through their Humor: 33 Equalizing Marital Kin Through Teasing, Pretence, and Farce 3Micro-Ideology and Micro-Utopia in Khalapur: 79 Changes in the Discourse on Caste over Thirty Years 4Fewer Deaths, Fewer Births: 103 Decline of Child Mortality in a UP Village Part II Kanyakumari 5Memories of a Brahman Agraharam in Travancore 125 6The Tamil Brahman Family as Affected by Chit-Migration 165 and Modern Occupations 7Grandsons of the Shastrigals: 174 Migration and Identity Transformation among Dharmika Brahmans of Travancore 8 Foxes, Lions and Bears: 212 The Circulation of Landownership in Southernmost Tamilnadu Part III Joint Families in Rajasthan 9 The Joint Family Household in Rural Rajasthan: 241 Ecological, Cultural and Demographic Conditions for its Occurrence Part IV ComparisonbetweenRegons of India 10 Woman as Tribute, Woman as Flower: 309 Images of Woman in Weddings in North and South India 11 Sibling Relations and Marriage Practices: 341 A Comparison of North, Central, and South India Part V Caste in India 12 Caste in India Since Independence 389 Part VI Inequality 13 How Should We Think About Inequality? 415 Or No Tears for Losers 14 Demonizing Dalits: Scouring the Sources on the Sikh Pogrom 432 Index 454