Conceptualising Brahmanical Patriarchy in Early India: Gender, Caste, Class and State

Uma Chakravarti’s “Conceptualising Brahmanical Patriarchy in Early India” provides a powerful historical framework for understanding gender and caste in Indian society. Rather than asking a broad question about “women’s status in tradition,” the essay asks a more precise one: how does caste order require the control of women’s sexuality, marriage, and reproduction in order to sustain itself?

The concept of Brahmanical patriarchy matters because it disrupts the habit of treating patriarchy as a single universal structure. Chakravarti shows that in caste society women’s bodies become central to boundary management: who may marry whom, how lineage is kept “pure,” how inheritance is organized, and how families serve the reproduction of social hierarchy. These are not merely private matters; they are produced through state power, religious normativity, and class relations.

The essay also clarifies why feminist work against gender violence cannot be separated from anti-caste analysis. If we speak only of “women’s oppression,” we miss how risk, stigma, and control differ across caste locations. For FemRes, this text anchors the caste/gender coverage pillar and connects directly to Dalit feminism, decolonial feminism, intersectionality, and feminist history.