Synopsis The books studies the changing patterns of stratification in Indian caste system. It recounts the gradual transformation of a social system that, till the end of the nineteenth century, was structured primarily on distinctions of caste--between the Brahmins, the middle-level non-Brahmins and the Sudra. The book shows how the forces of modernization had rendered some areas of village life caste-free, while others were still governed by considerations of caste. The locus of power had shifted from the caste structure to more differentiated institutions such as the Panchayats and political parties. With land coming into the market, the distribution of property was dissociated from caste.