Top 30 Scholars on Indian Caste System: Contributions, Works, and Themes
| S.No | Name | Discipline | Key Work(s) (Bold + Year) | Themes / Contributions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | G.S. Ghurye | Sociologist | Caste and Race in India (1932) | Historical and racial view of caste |
| 2 | M.N. Srinivas | Sociologist | Social Change in Modern India (1966) | Sanskritization, Dominant Caste, Westernization |
| 3 | B.R. Ambedkar | Jurist / Sociologist | Annihilation of Caste (1936) | Caste as inequality; critique of Hinduism |
| 4 | Louis Dumont | Anthropologist | Homo Hierarchicus (1966) | Hierarchy, purity-pollution model |
| 5 | Andre Béteille | Sociologist | Caste, Class and Power (1965) | Empirical study of caste-class intersections |
| 6 | Rajni Kothari | Political Sociologist | Caste in Indian Politics (1970) | Political mobilization and caste dynamics |
| 7 | Nicholas Dirks | Historian / Anthropologist | Castes of Mind (2001) | Colonial construction of caste categories |
| 8 | S.C. Dube | Anthropologist | Indian Society (1955) | Caste in rural transformation and modernization |
| 9 | Irawati Karve | Anthropologist | Kinship Organization in India (1953) | Kinship patterns and caste |
| 10 | T.N. Madan | Sociologist | Family and Kinship in Rural India (1965) | Family structure and caste norms |
| 11 | D.N. Majumdar | Anthropologist | Races and Cultures of India (1944) | Tribal-caste continuum and ethnography |
| 12 | Y.B. Damle | Sociologist | The Untouchable Class in India (1969) | Dalit conditions and caste exclusion |
| 13 | J.H. Hutton | Anthropologist | Caste in India: Its Nature, Function and Origins (1946) | Colonial administrator’s view of caste |
| 14 | Mckim Marriott | Anthropologist | Caste Ranking and Community Structure (1955) | Value system and behavioral models |
| 15 | Christophe Jaffrelot | Political Scientist | India’s Silent Revolution (2003) | Dalit-Bahujan rise through democracy |
| 16 | Gail Omvedt | Sociologist | Dalits and the Democratic Revolution (1994) | Dalit feminism and social movements |
| 17 | Vina Mazumdar | Feminist Scholar | Emergence of the Women’s Question in India (1985) | Caste-gender intersectionality |
| 18 | Nandu Ram | Sociologist | Dalits in Contemporary India (1988) | Empirical Dalit studies and exclusion |
| 19 | Satish Deshpande | Sociologist | Contemporary India: A Sociological View (2003) | New caste identities, reservation, and merit debates |
| 20 | Surinder S. Jodhka | Sociologist | Caste in Contemporary India (2012) | Caste in modern economy and rural spaces |
| 21 | Dipankar Gupta | Sociologist | Interrogating Caste (2000) | Modern reinterpretations and critiques of caste |
| 22 | Shailaja Paik | Historian | Dalit Women’s Education in Modern India (2014) | Gender, caste, and education |
| 23 | Suraj Yengde | Scholar-Activist | Caste Matters (2019) | Global anti-caste discourse |
| 24 | Meena Dhanda | Philosopher | Caste in Britain: Socio-Legal Review (2012) | Caste discrimination in diaspora |
| 25 | Brahma Prakash | Cultural Theorist | Cultural Labour (2020) | Folk culture, subaltern performance and caste |
| 26 | Wandana Sonalkar | Economist / Translator | Why I am Not a Hindu Woman (2018) | Translation of Dalit-feminist narratives |
| 27 | Anand Teltumbde | Scholar / Activist | The Radical in Ambedkar (2018) | Ambedkarism and critique of capitalism |
| 28 | Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd | Political Theorist | Why I am Not a Hindu (1996) | Bahujan empowerment and anti-Brahminical critique |
| 29 | Ashwini Deshpande | Economist | Affirmative Action in India (2013) | Data-driven analysis of caste-based policies |
| 30 | S.N. Balagangadhara | Philosopher / Indologist | The Heathen in His Blindness (1994) | Critique of caste as a colonial construct |
Author: Admin
Anthropology Faculty
