Suvira Jaiswal is an Indian historian. She is known for her research into the social history of ancient India, especially the evolution of the

caste system A caste is a fixed social group into which an individual is born within a particular system of social stratification: a caste system. Within such a system, individuals are expected to marry exclusively within the same caste (endogamy), foll ...

and the development and absorption of regional deities into the

Hindu pantheon Hindu deities are the gods and goddesses in Hinduism. Deities in Hinduism are as diverse as its traditions, and a Hindu can choose to be polytheistic, pantheistic, monotheistic, monistic, even agnostic, atheistic, or humanist. Julius J. L ...

Biography

Suvira Jaiswal obtained a master's degree in history from

Allahabad University The University of Allahabad is a Central University located in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. It was established on 23 September 1887 by an act of Parliament and is recognised as an Institute of National Importance (INI). It is the 4th oldest mode ...

. She received her doctorate under at the guidance of

Ram Sharan Sharma Ram Sharan Sharma (26 November 1919 – 20 August 2011) was an Indian Marxist historian and Indologist who specialised in the history of Ancient and early Medieval India. He taught at Patna University and Delhi University (1973–85) and was ...

Patna University Patna University is a public state university in Patna, Bihar, India. It was established on 1 October 1917 during the British Raj. It is the first university in Bihar and the seventh oldest university in the Indian subcontinent in the modern e ...

. Jaiswal taught at Patna University from 1962. She was a professor at the Centre for Historical Studies at

Jawaharlal Nehru University Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU; ISO: Javāharalāla Neharū Viśvavidyālaya) is a public research university located in Delhi, India. It was established in 1969 and named after Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister. The university ...

from 1971 until her retirement in 1999. In 2007, Jaiswal was the General President of the

Indian History Congress Indian History Congress is the largest professional and academic body of Indian historians with over 35,000 members. It was established in 1935. The name of any new applicant for membership needs to be proposed and seconded by existing Ordinary or ...

Research

Jaiswal has researched the evolution of the

in India, its origins and functions. She showed that in the period of the

Rig Veda The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' (, , from wikt:ऋच्, ऋच्, "praise" and wikt:वेद, वेद, "knowledge") is an ancient Indian Miscellany, collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canoni ...

, the caste system hadn't yet become the complex hierarchy of later periods. She showed that the ''grihapati'', previously thought to be a head of a family, was in fact the leader of an extended kin-group, and that the transition from a pastoral to a sedentary mode of production led to increased social stratification with the grihapati becoming an archetype of the patriarchal principle. Jaiswal showed that neither skin colour and notions of race were the basis of caste (''varna'') differentiation. Rather, it was the unequal access to economic and political power that entrenched status distinctions and crystallised the hierarchy. She also determined that there were consequences to specialist economic roles, endogamy and hierarchical society: the systematic suppression of women as a class. In particular, she pointed out that there was insufficient surplus production of goods in the Rig Vedic period to allow any section of society to withdraw from economic activity. This meant that women were more or less autonomous in their agency, having access to education and free movement.

Selected works

Articles

* * * * * * * 'Caste in the Socio-Economic Framework of Early India', Presidential Address, Section 1, in Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, 38th Session, Bhubaneswar, 1977, pp. 23–48. * 'Semitising Hinduism: Changing Paradigms of Brahmanical Integration', Social Scientist, vol. 19, no. 12, 1991, pp. 20–32. * 'The Changing Concept of Gahapati', in D. N. Jha, ed., Society and Ideology in India: Essays in Honour of Professor R. S. Sharma, Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1996: 29–37. * 'Tribe-Caste interaction: A Re-examination of certain Issues', in Dev Nathan, ed., From Tribe to Caste, Shimla: IIAS, 1997: 167–75.

Books

* * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaiswal, Suvira Living people Indian women academics Indian women historians 20th-century Indian historians Academic staff of Jawaharlal Nehru University Historians of South Asia Historians of India 21st-century Indian historians University of Allahabad alumni Patna University alumni 20th-century Indian women writers 20th-century Indian writers 21st-century Indian women writers 21st-century Indian writers Year of birth missing (living people)