P E R C E P T I O N S OF T H E PAST

since India was seen as a Hindu civilization. Curiously, the contribution of

colonialism to the emergence of capitalism in Europe was given no attention
in this analysis. The intention was to depict a situation in contrast to the
European, even if the depiction had to be exaggerated.
Weber's study of Indian society in terms of its caste components and its
interface with religious activity was not an isolated interest. This was an
area in which a number of philologists, sociologists and specialists of
religious studies of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries had
developed an interest, often seeing the Indian evidence as indicative of a
different system from those now familiar to European scholars. Emile
Durkheim's studies helped to recognize survivals from earlier societies in
the rituals of later historical periods. His demarcation between beliefs and
rituals was significant to later studies of Vedic sacrifice, and the centrality
of deity to religion and its absence in Buddhism was also a matter of
considerable debate in defining religion. Marcel Mauss and H. Hubert
analysed the ritual of sacrifice in some detail, particularly in attempts to
separate the sacred from the profane. Mauss's work on gift-giving was
pathbreaking in examining the links between social and religious relationships, and early Indian texts were central to these studies. Celestin Bougie
raised the question of whether caste was characteristic of Hindu society
alone, or whether it could be found in other societies. This led him to define
caste as more pertinent to jatis - hereditary groups arranged hierarchically,
with unequal rights, a separation based on taboos of marriage rules, food
and custom, and a resistance to unification with others. This was a different
analysis from that of many Indologists, for whom the definition of caste
was restricted to varna or ritual status and viewed in terms of brahmanical
culture. Jati and varna did not annul each other, but had different origins
and functions.

'Discovering' the Indian Past

When European scholars in the late eighteenth century first became curious
about the past of India their sources of information were largely brahmans,
who maintained that the ancient tradition was preserved in Sanskrit works
about which they alone were knowledgeable. Thus, much of the early history
of India was reconstructed almost entirely from Sanskrit texts, and reflected
views associated with their authors. Many of these works were texts on
religion or manuals of ritual, which coloured the interpretation of early
Indian culture. Even texts with other concerns often had brahman authors
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