This paper proposes that India's caste system and involuntary labor were joint responses by a nonworking landowning class to a low labor/land ratio in which the rules of the caste system supported the institution of involuntary labor. The hypothesis is tested in two ways: longitudinally, with...

Papers presented at the Workshop: Labour in South Asia : Labour Relationships, Identities and Bondage , held at Pondicherry during 7-9 February 2006 and Workshop: Debt Bondage : Issues and Perspectives, held at New Delhi during 19-20 April 2007