Why Bengal Has a Caste “System” and Japan Doesn’t

The mibunsei, the complex caste system in Tokugawa Japan (1600–1868), was headed by the samurai, who had then held the position of the de facto ruling caste. The 19th century saw the swift abolishment of this rigid system of ranks and status hierarchies following the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Conversely, Brahmins established their presence and domination in Bengal during the 12th century, and their authority over lower social strata in Bengali society has persisted into the 21st century. In this chapter, the argument is that the varied processes of state formation in Bengal and Japan yielded stark contrasts in the institutionalization of status, which created differing outcomes regarding the persistence or abolition of caste hierarchies. Access to land and power through inheritance is the central issue causing this split. In the early modern period, the samurai were deprived of land and significant monetary assets, while the Brahmins and other dominant castes in Bengal continued to possess land and held positions of power and wealth. The decentralized manner in which Brahmins settled in Bengal sharply contrasted with the forced urbanization of samurai in the early modern period. Even under the regime of the British East India Company, Brahmins and other dominant castes maintained their control over lower-status groups in rural Bengal, whereas the samurai lost their patrimonial authority in the countryside of Japan. Consequently, Japan eliminated its caste system, whereas Bengal could not.