....However the Jajmans owned the land so they owned all the food in the village. Those who tilled their land and those who provided the labor were paid in the form of grains and other agriculture produce itself. However this was not sufficient to dress them well though enough for survival. The village community included Brahmanas and Shudra artisans also. The provision for the food of Shudra artisans was also to be made so that they did not die of hunger. With all servility they had to look up to the Jajmans to fill their hungry bellies or obtain their sustenance. We know that the dignity was reserved for the upper castes by the dharma. The Shudras and those below them were born undignified. The Shudra artisans those who were not connected with land as either tillers or labor got the food for them by permanently connecting themselves with the Jajmans. The Jajmans on their own needed servants to do all their menial non-agriculture jobs. When they did not do the agriculture then it was unrealistic for them to do other menial jobs especially when a full community of heredity servants was available to perform such jobs. If the Shudra artisans did the work for each other they could not pay each other because they did not have land or resources. So the only alternatively was to perform the jobs for the upper castes. So the upper caste Jajmans lived a comfortable life while Shudras did all their menial jobs. Thus the Shudras gave their services to Jajmans to get their undignified sustenance. It was a really merciful system; all the Shudras lived at the mercy of Jajman. The richer was the Jajman the better off were his clients or workers. A richer Jajman performed many more ceremonies which all needed the services of the Shudra artisans like barbers, potters, carpenter, ironsmith, goldsmith, weavers, construction workers, actors, the washer men and others. All the ceremonies related to marriage, birth, death, festivals and social functions were performed smoothly and everybody got his share barely enough for sustenance. More surplus with them could have made them to forget their dharma of serving upper castes. Everybody left in happiness after the function or ceremony; now they had something to eat. Then they blessed the Jajmans. They showed their reverence by prostrating on the land. The helplessness and indignities in their lives were a normal part of their lives; a fait accompli since birth.
Many consider the Jajmani system as a socially amicable system where the relations between Jajmans and Shudra artisans and others (or between independent patrons and dependent clients) were amicable. These clients were known as Kaamwale – the work doers (or Kammens). There was an understanding in the dependent Shudra clients that they would not encroach upon each other’s Jajmans. It had become a relationship, which neither patron nor dependent clients could relinquish. They were almost bound to each other. The Jajman would not get another Kaamwale and Kaamwale would not get any other patrons. The Kaamwale almost had an exclusive right to work to the exclusion of any right of other Kaamwale. It was a kind of agreement of non-competition between all the Kaamwale. The Jajman was virtual social and local government. His authority was limitless but he also believed that it was necessary to give grains and other things to work doers so that they could survive and serve him. The dead man serves nobody. If the Jajman neglected the Kaamwale then they were bound to suffer. In Jajmani, the links of generations developed familiarity between the two partie. But the bonding did not develop to the point of nurturing the aspirations of Shudras and untouchables. They knew their undignified limits and thus in the absence of rebels the system was stable. It was a matter of survival. The Jajmani system was one of dependence of Shudra work-doers on the powerful Jajmans. And as usual the Shudra work-doers had to walk, talk, wear and work their caste. And all of these were fractured and torn up. The Jajmani system maintained status quo in a rigid caste system. No Shudra work-doer ever became a landlord due to Jajmani system. No Shudra or untouchable became a Sahukar or moneylender under a Jajman. It was not designed for that. It was designed to maintain the servile dependence of lower castes on higher castes. In the Jajmani system, the Chamarins did the job of midwives. The scavengers beat the drum in front of Jajmans’ house. There was no possibility of happening it other way round....
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