'We are Kshatriyas but we behave like Vaishyas': Diet and Muscular Politics Among a Community of Yadavs in North India

摘要

Using the political ethnography of a powerful northern India caste (the Yadavs) this article illustrates how vegetarianon-vegetarian food and particular drinks such as whisky and milk enter the nexus of caste and politics in a neighbourhood of Mathura town, western Uttar Pradesh. Being vegetarian and worshipping vegetarian deities are important aspects of the formation of an all-India Yadav community. Yet, central to the Yadavs' political culture is on the one hand their claim to be Kshatriyas and to be natural democratic politicians, and on the other their martial outlook and muscular political strategies. Drinking milk and organising chicken and whisky picnics on the banks of the Yamuna River and consuming meat and alcohol at political meetings are part of this macho/secular political culture. The ethnography of Yadav food caste culture shows how 'food' defines different levels of the Yadav process of community formation and offers a window to unravel the nature of political force in contemporary India.