Ritual Hierarchies, Land, and Labour: Economic Stratification Within Dalit Subcastes

This chapter examines economic stratification and the experience of discrimination within Dalits, focusing on subcaste differences among Chamars and Dharkars in rural India. The chapter investigates how landholding and occupational patterns, and labour arrangements, intersect with perceived ritual purity to create intra-Dalit hierarchies. Using household-level data, the study analyses primary and secondary occupations, active working members, income distribution, and land tenure system among selected Dalit households, including the effect of state-led affirmative action programmes such as the Ambedkar Gram Vikas Yojana. Findings reveal that while affirmative action initiatives have facilitated access to leased land for many Dalit households, structural inequalities persist, with ‘dominant’ subcastes securing more fertile and irrigated lands. The ‘lower’ Dalit subcastes, on the other hand, remain landless or dependent on forest-based and traditional occupations. These disparities not only shape economic opportunities and household income but also reinforce ritual boundaries of purity and pollution, where cultivators claim higher status relative to those engaged in hereditary or stigmatised work. By linking ritual hierarchies, land access patterns, and labour dynamics, this chapter challenges homogeneous narratives of Dalit marginalisation and argues that internal stratification and occupational discrimination are crucial to understanding the broader dynamics of caste-based inequality in rural India.