Analyzing the interaction between factors that are stable and factors that initiate change re: promotion of social mobility or crystalization of existing social stratification, this paper presents a case study of Mahi, a rural village in Gujarat, India. Utilizing data derived from two field studies (1961-1962 and March 1967-June 1967), the stable factors are analyzed in terms of the regional ethnolinguistic setting, the sub-regional ecology, and the caste composition of community settlements; the variables which initiate change are analyzed in terms of governmental measures, voluntary association enterprise, and government aided voluntary assistance. Mahi's socioeconomic characteristics are presented in narrative and tabular form and include: caste distribution of adult and student population and occupations; landed and landless households of agriculturalist and non-agriculturalist castes; and land distribution by size of holding and by class category. The political scene in Mahi, before and after introduction of the three tier rural local self-government known as Panchayati Raj (1963), is analyzed in terms of caste and class influence upon the three Mahi cooperatives and the seats filled in the seven Panchayats. In general, this paper indicates that India's established social stratification system has been altered somewhat by governmental policy but that poverty is manifest across all caste lines. (JC)