The Rise of Rice - State, Class, and Caste in the Rice Bowls of India
BY ANNAPOORNA MARIAM FATHIMA/ JULY 8, 2024
“Rice is vitality, rice is vigor too and rice is indeed the means of fulfillment of all ends of life. Gods, demons, and humans all subsist on rice”
–Sage Parasara.
One of the most important grains of the Indian subcontinent, the cultural history of rice has layers of caste and class, which influence its production, consumption, and role in the global markets.
erhaps the oldest domesticated and cultivated crop, rice, or Oryza sativa, is closely woven into the fabric of Asian society. It is an indispensable part of religious rites, rituals and festivals, and its crop cycle often dictates India’s cultural calendar. Sowing festivals such as Akshaya Tritya mark the beginning of the year, and harvest festivals like Onam mark the end. The day begins with ‘morning rice’ and ends with ‘evening rice’, in different forms. Rice transcends sustenance in India: cooked, it nourishes deities and mendicants; raw, it marks marriages and funerals. Sleep too, comes on rice straw mats.
P
The earliest archaeological evidence for rice in India has been found in Uttar Pradesh dating back to 7000 BCE. Several wild cereals, including rice, grew in the Vindhyan Hills, and the Ganges valley regions of Northern India. (Sweeney and McCouch, 2007). Rice was cultivated in the Indus Valley civilization (third millennium BCE), and in Kashmir and Harappan regions during the second millennium BCE. (Bates, et al. 2017).
Today, India’s rice cultivation thrives in river deltas, especially the Ganga-Brahmaputra (West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh) and the Kaveri (Tamil Nadu) deltas along with the fertile plains of Bihar and Telangana. Additionally, upland rice cultivation flourishes in the hilly terraced fields of Assam and Kashmir. Modern innovations in irrigation, fueled by the Green Revolution of the 1960s have allowed states like Punjab and Haryana also to grow the crop. The region of Kuttanad in Kerala stands apart as a prime example of coastal backwater reclaimed land being converted into rice fields, where cultivation happens below sea level.
The history of rice cultivation in India is stained by caste and marked by disruptions caused by 19th-century colonialism. As British India was integrated into the global market, cash crops like indigo were prioritised for export. This disrupted rice production and led to regional shortages, forcing some areas to rely on imports from surplus regions, such as Burma (modern-day Myanmar) and Siam (modern-day Thailand). With the laying of the transatlantic cable from Britain to North America and submarine cables connecting Bombay with London, and Singapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and Shanghai being linked soon after, an international communication network was in place. Consequently, rice-peasants located in the remotest villages of Asia were brought into the world-market.
One such example of vested colonial interest is Travancore (modern-day Thiruvananthapuram), which was drafted into the world economy. Production began to be oriented primarily for the world market, reflected in the commodity structure of export:
Earlier, export from Travancore was mostly confined to spices and timber. From the mid-19th century, a wide range of commodities like coffee, tea, rubber, coir mats, and salted fish began filling the export basket. The new export economy impacted the supply of rice, as plantations were developed by opening up the state-owned forests, which were important sites of tribal rice production. (Rammohan, 2006).
To feed this export economy in such a situation of dwindling supply and rising demand, the state of Travancore adopted three methods. To combat famine from the shortage of rice, the Portuguese cassava (or tapioca) was promoted as a wonder food for the common people, as it was a cheap, rich source of carbohydrates. The State of Travancore also imported rice from the Asian trading system – Burma, Siam and Vietnam; and brought new lands under cultivation.
Pictured: Vintage Map of the British Empire Showing the Commercial Trade Routes of the World and Ocean Currents -1890 (XIX th c.), Walker Art Library via Alamy (Note 1)
In 1874, the first prince of Travancore spoke “the home-grown paddy does not suffice to feed our people ... Yet, no attempt worth the name is made to increase the area of this cultivation by reclaiming wastelands” (Tirunal, 1874: 4). From the 1880s, the State actively encouraged and assisted in the reclamation of backwaters (the so called “wasteland”) for growing rice. Paddy fields were created by draining the coastal backwaters of Alappuzha – and thus was created the rice bowl, Kuttanad.
Lauded as a “miracle” (Braudel, 1992), the reclamation process involved brutal systemic exploitation of non-dominant “Untouchable” castes, such as Pulayas. In the early days, human sacrifice was occasionally performed in rituals wherein workers were buried alive under the clay ‘for good luck’; the dykes and bunds [1] ‘reinforced’ by their blood.
Despite developing the technology of draining the
backwaters (going out onto the treacherous waters in
canoes, building dykes, diving to dredge up clay from
the lake-bed, and using wooden pedal operated
water-wheels to drain the water),Pulayas remained landless while dominant caste communities like Nayars and Brahmins became landowners, in close liaison with the State, which often gifted them tracts of land in exchange for services. The hegemonic relationship between the castes remained in place till the mid-20th century. New British technologies emerged (such as the water pump, that replaced the water-wheel), which were operated by the company’s men (mostly Anglo-Indians), redefining the social geography of labour. Furthermore, popular Marxist social movements led to an emerging class-consciousness among the workers, and the worker-landlord dynamic began to shift.
Pictured: Men operating water-wheels, Kuttanad by Unknown via Kerala Tourism. (Note 2)
“Flattened rice, fried rice; but nothing like boiled rice. Mother paternal, mother maternal; but nothing like one’s own mother” goes a Bangla proverb. An integral part of Bengali culture, thousands of folk rice varieties were developed by indigenous farmers in forested areas, many of whom were ancestors of Bengal’s indigenous Santhal, Ho, and Munda communities. The Bengal delta, prior to British colonialism, was one of the most fertile, rich, and oldest regions of human settlement in South Asia. Colonial prioritisation of cash crops (jute, indigo, and opium), and policies such as British Land Revenue, Forest Law, and Permanent Land Settlements robbed tribal communities of their land, and therefore, their means of sustenance.
Monopolisation of forest wealth, commercialisation, and exploitation of forest produce displaced the tribals from their generational homes. This led to rebellions among the ousted population, notably the Santhal rebellion of 1855. The Government responded by dispatching military regiments and declaring Martial Law to suppress the rebels. The Santhals were pitted against the sophisticated weapons of the British army, and more than 15,000 were killed and their leaders either arrested or killed in cold blood (Johari, 2012).
Pictured: Troops in Bengal by Unknown via Aljazeera (Note 3 )
The Second World War saw the Raj employ ‘scorched earth’, or ‘denial’ policy – confiscating rice from vulnerable coastal districts and hoarding it in corporate godowns in urban centers to deter advancing Japanese troops. British officials, aided by their Indian middlemen, confiscated the rice that farmers saved to sow in the following season. The resulting famine that began in 1943, termed the “Bengal Holocaust” by many due to the compounding role of the British imperial government and the wealthy upper-caste Hindus, lingered well into the following year, and echoes of this loss persist to date.
Starvation “is not the characteristic of there being not enough food to eat,” economist Amartya Sen wrote in Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation (1983), “but of some people not having enough food to eat.” In his study, Sen shows that the Famine caused the starvation of agricultural labourers, fishermen, and husk gatherers — most frequently from Dalit communities, and most often, women.
Pictured: A family of semi-starved Indians who have arrived in Calcutta in search of food in 1943, via Keystone/Getty {Images} (Note 4)
Similarly, after the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1974, as many as a million people or more starved in refugee camps (Deepak, 2020). In 1979, countless Namasudras (one of the many communities ostracised from the Hindu caste order in Bengal) were starved by the West Bengal government in Marichjhapi (Sundarbans, West Bengal) through a blockade. After generations of impoverishment through direct human action, today, the changing climatic conditions in the Bay of Bengal – erratic monsoons, rising sea levels, and depleting water tables – threaten the food economies of the Bengal delta, which has sustained human settlements across south and southeast Asia.
British (and other) colonial policies had strangled India’s agricultural landscape, leaving a legacy of vulnerability that sowed the seeds for famine and stagnant productivity in the newly independent nation.
British (and other) colonial policies had strangled India’s agricultural landscape, leaving a legacy of vulnerability that sowed the seeds for famine and stagnant productivity in the newly independent nation. The ensuing Green Revolution of the 1960s radically changed Indian agriculture. Genetically modified rice strains were introduced, its disease resistance and high yield promised a potential solution, but at a hidden cost. The expensive new varieties demanded excessive water, leading to soil degradation from aggressive irrigation along with heavy reliance on chemical and synthetic fertilisers and pesticides. Increasing cultivation costs pushed several farmers into a vicious cycle of debt. The dependence on these few strains led to a loss of biodiversity and multiple tribal species of rice were lost. India’s liberalised economy further worsened farmers’ economic conditions. Environmentalist Vandana Shiva argues in The Violence of the Green Revolution: Third World Agriculture, Ecology, and Politics (1989) that the Green Revolution, ruled by private interests and MNCs led to foreign ownership of farmlands, undermining farmer interests.
Perhaps as a revolt against the environmental and social concerns caused by increasing industrialisation of farming, efforts are underway to promote sustainable practices. This includes exploring alternatives like organic farming, and emphasising ethical water consumption. Present-day India is the world’s second-largest producer of rice and the largest exporter. The rice-export ban of 2023, issued in order to keep domestic prices down, has had an adverse effect on the global rice market, primarily for African countries.
Food security remains a dream for many, with more than 50% of the population living in extreme poverty (World Bank, 2018) most of whom belong to non-dominant castes. Acknowledging caste and class structures in food and agriculture is a way of recognising the generations of institutionalised suffering upon which our economy and our nation stands.
As of 2024, India’s rice economy is estimated to be worth USD 51.58 billion.Food security remains a dream for many, with more than 50% of the population living in extreme poverty (World Bank, 2018); most of whom belong to non-dominant castes. Acknowledging caste and class structures in food and agriculture is a way of recognising the generations of institutionalised suffering upon which our economy and our nation stands A study of rice, the simple grain, reveals layers of oppression dynamics, the trauma of which seeps into generations like a blight. As Ambedkar wrote, “….turn in any direction you like, caste is the monster that crosses your path. You cannot have political reform, you cannot have economic reform, unless you kill this monster.” (Annihilation of Caste, 1936)
Keywords
west Bengal, Green revolution, British, travancore, santhals, Brahmins, rice cultivation, Akshaya trtiya, onam Uttar pradesh, onam, vidya hills, Rice history, Oryza sativa, Cultural calendar, Sowing/harvest festivals, Indus Valley, Ganga-Brahmaputra, Upland rice, Green Revolution, Coastal reclamation, Caste dynamics, British colonialism, Global market, Travancore economy, Pulayas exploitation, Bengal delta, Santhal rebellion, Bengal famine 1943, Amartya Sen, Bangladesh, Marichjhapi blockade, Climate change, Sustainable farming, Vandana Shiva, Rice economy 2024,Food security, Caste oppression, Ambedkar.
References
Ahuja, S. C. (2006). Rice in Religion and Tradition. 2nd International Rice Conference. (Ret. via Researchgate, 2017).
Bardhan, A. R. (2024). Leveraging the Rice Export Ban for Crop Substitution in India. Observer Research Foundation.
https://www.orfonline.org/research/leveraging-the-rice-export-ban-for-crop-substitution-in-india
Bates, J., Petrie, C., & Singh, R. (2017). Approaching rice domestication in South Asia: New evidence from Indus settlements in northern India. Journal of Archaeological Science. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2016.04.018
Deepak, S. (2020). A Forgotten Holocaust. Atlas Obscura. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/indian-food-writing
Johari, S. (2012). Tribal Dissatisfaction Under the Colonial Economy of the 19th Century. Vidyasagar University Journal of History. http://inet.vidyasagar.ac.in:8080/jspui/bitstream/123456789/1234/2/6.pdf
Kuttanad: The Rice Bowl of Kerala. Kerala Tourism. https://www.keralatourism.org/destination/chavara-bhavan/65
Kuchay, B. (2019). Churchill’s policies to blame for the 1943 Bengal famine. Al Jazeera. https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2019/4/1/churchills-policies-to-blame-for-1943-bengal-famine-study
Mazumdar, J. (2018). Bengal Famine of 1943: Apology for this Holocaust is Long Overdue from London. Swarajya.
Özder, Gül. (2020). The Need for an Integrative Approach for the Promotion of Heritage Tourism in the Ancient Territories and the Zone of Influence of the Ottoman Empire. Current Researches in Humanities and Social Sciences. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/341980793_The_Need_for_an_Integrative_Approach_for_the_Promotion_of_Heritage_Tourism_in_the_Ancient_Territories_and_the_Zone_of_Influence_of_the_Ottoman_Empire
Ramesh, A. (2021). Deltas after Rice: Agrarian Pasts, Environmental Futures. Institute of Historical Research.
https://blog.history.ac.uk/2021/03/deltas-after-rice-agrarian-pasts-environmental-futures/
Rammohan, (2006). Tales of Rice. Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram.
Sarkar, S. (2023). An Emerging Rice Renaissance in India. Sourced Journeys. https://www.sourcedjourneys.com/post/an-emerging-rice-renaissance-in-india
Sen, Amartya, Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation (Oxford, 1983; online edn, Oxford Academic, 1 Nov. 2003).
https://doi.org/10.1093/0198284632.001.0001
Shiva, V. (2016). The Violence of the Green Revolution: Third World Agriculture, Ecology, and Politics. University Press of Kentucky.
https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt19dzdcp
Sweeney, M., & McCouch, S. (2007). The complex history of the domestication of rice. Annals of Botany.
https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcm128
End notes
1.Source: Walker Art Library. (1890). Vintage Map of the British Empire Showing the Commercial Trade Routes of the World and Ocean Currents -1890 (XIX th c.). [Map]. Alamy. https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/Vintage-Map-of-the-British-Empire-Showing-the-Commercial-Trade-Routes-of-the-World-and-Ocean-Currents--1890.html?sortBy=relevant
2.Source: Unknown. (n.d.). Men operating water-wheels, Kuttanad. [Image]. Kerala Tourism. https://www.keralatourism.org/destination/kuttanad-alappuzha/59.
3.Source: Unknown. (2019, April 1). Troops in Bengal. [Image]. Aljazeera. https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2019/4/1/churchills-policies-to-blame-for-1943-bengal-famine-study
4.Source: Getty Images. (2018, October 27). A family of semi-starved Indians who have arrived in Calcutta in search of food in 1943. [Image]. Keystone/GettyImages. https://swarajyamag.com/politics/bengal-famine-of-1943-an-apology-for-this-holocaust-is-long-overdue-from-london
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