INDIAN CASTES.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10598, 29 October 1910, Page 3 (Supplement)

INDIAN CASTES.

It is 'difficult for a European who j lias not lived long in India, and even ~ for one nho has, to realise tlio insuperable barriers winch separate these divisions. There is nothing to compare . with them, in the customs even of the...most exclusive European aristocracies. Neither does the sum of all the racial . . or religious distinctions which separate European nations from each other and .. divide them within themselves equal tho number of classes into which the Hindus -. are divided by what is known as ■ "caste." Tho 200,000,000 of Hindus riro .... made up of diverse racial * elements, speak about nineteen developed languages alid over 100 dialects. They are again divided into over 3000 castes, most of them with sub-castes. One or these castes, the Brahmans, is split up into more than. 800 sub-castes, ot which none will intermarry and few will eat together. The term "caste" includes so many things that it is difficult to define it. There are, however, two properties essential to a true caste: (1) There is no entry except by birth, (2) Marriage outside the caste is absolutely- forbidden. To preserve tho purity and maintain the 'cxclusivencss of the society many minute rules of conduct, many restrictions on food and many ceremonial observances arc imposed on tho members and enforced by penalties which.cannot be evaded, against which.

there is no appeal and which in extreme cases follow the offender beyond the ;'■■.' 'grave. ..But that is not all. 'The relations of castes to each other are as much a matter of religious observance is the rules for their internal regulator). The Brahmans are the highest, idmittedly'and undoubtedly superior to ill the rest. After them come ■ those i'ho are acknowledged to be twice born. i'ho less honored follow in a graduated fescent until the untouchable and uniponkablc arc reached at the lowest lopth. ' ' It may lie jirged that the separation )etwcen the JJrahman and, let us say, ,ho Kurmi market gardener is no wider :.haii that between the peer of the Jnitcd Kingdom and the coal miner. • fhera isi this essential difTcrcnor, that "-....' t is impossible for an Indian to chynge ', lis caste. The coal miner may bu electa ■d to Parliament, may become a Cabinet, Minister, and if he can -make money : ■Hough may marry hi;i son to .a. duke's; Ihright'er. The Kurmi must remain a... iiirmi. All the wealth of Croesus will lot enable him to make an alliance witli , i Brahman family or to touch a Bralrnan's hand. The members of a' caste, nay and in some cases'do raise "thorn-/-" iclves in the sight of other castes by . idoptitig more elaborate ceremonies and nore scrupulous observances. A half:ivilised Gond, for example, may find ' limsell" brought into contact with. IrLindus, as the plough encroaches "on ." ;ho. forest. Re tries to raise h:s posi;,ion and add to his scli'-rrsncct by idonting the excln'siveriess of ins Hindu. mighhor-.?. He will oven outdo them if ,■:.. .:s c'sn; and if the Hindu is scrupulous ibout liis food,- the convert, will wash the very wood with which hia dinner is .:ookcd. "■ No endeavors of thiu kind, , lowevcr, will avail to lesson by a hair's . ■ = uroadth the distance between him and the caste Hindu or even to induce the

Hindu barber to look uii;.,n,him as a client whose ehin be may shave and whoso toenails he mi'.y pre without degradation. Another point connected ./ with caste which has a very practical'.' ."■••■ bearing and must be taken into account. , is the power of coercion vrliicii it gives'; to. the brotherhood. If a man is ex- //., communicated, by his caste-follows nobody i;i the-caste will marry him or will accept'water 'from his hands or will _. touch him or speak to! him. He is dead ~'.'~.l |to his family. The priest will not perform ceremonies'for him. The vilhge ; barber, will not shave him and the waslier.vDnian will not wash hi'.- clothes. These are the methods of bringing pressure on the man. The strictest hoy- ... "•' cott .which Irishmen have invented is '■"■-•..'!■■ mild compared to the final sentence of a caste pvmchayat. * '-,;' A system like this is a stern- fact which hao to be faced. There is not a ' police ease or a civil case or a trial at the Sessions, there is hardly an appointment to an office in India of whatever degree in which the matter of caste . has not to be considered. It forces itce'.f into every .assessment of land rove- "..." nue, into every adjudication of rent. It affects the administration of justice, the proceedings of municipal and district councils. The influence, and power of \ the Brahman and the idea that he is above t'hs law and is not to be punished as other people are still alive, although a century of British justice has done F-omcthing toward eradicating them.. On the other hand the suggestion that a man of a lower caste might rice to an equality or nearer to an cnifality with member:; (,'i a., caste above him -is. unthinkable. Whore the low canto men are there they must' remain. If they behave, themselves it will be made u.) to them in a future existence. Another aspect of the case is that the divi- . Fiona of caste have no territorial basis, t'ci'.e'.' there- is no patriotism in India . in tiie proper sense of the word'. Hin-dus-as sach may. have sonic common nm-bitior.-s. especially when they conflict with Mohammedans or Europeans! but the only, .bond of .union which has strength is the caste spirit. Caste "J patriotism, it has been called, and this ;-' is incomparably stronger in Brahmans than in other castes. • "We are all Brahmans,".'said the Bengali agitators '.-'■". to.the. Mahratta politicians. "We -are . „.'-.;, all Brahmans together." The anarchic, conspiracy in _ India is so difficult to •''"-:-,,/. me-et because it is essentially if.nilt'eri- - ;; tirely a Brahman conspiracy. To talk ..•,'-' of introducing self-government or re- •-." preventative government or even local i ."-elf-government, except under severe re- .;;'■-; sfrictinus, into a country• thus divided ;'.'■; against itself is not far from ridicu- - v lons. The advanced Indians, who are - "v " pressing for measures of ''reform" ad!- . .. • v mit this. Hence we find: sonic of, them '.' proclaiming that the caste system is in .; ;'; its death throes. Others, more honest, ,"/"•;' admit that.lndia- -is still bald by casta ' .and see that as a first stop, towards the -'■.-..,''■'-; attainment of their political desires..the system must be abolished and set thein- .'../; selves honestly to work in that direc- <;x tion. No amount of abstract reasoning, ~ J however,.as explaining away of the pro- ,;.-£;';'-iv nouncenients of writers liko Mamrwill, /,:''-■;'/; it is to be feared, loosen the grip'.of ; ',-; caste/.' '.■'. -•, .- ■ ■ 'v-'":;';:^

It is moio hkeh that :i new casto will lie foimed b\ Indians who have roiciwd .i "Westoi'l education ;ind' have \i-itel Eipope than that the cxtraordiivil\ eliboiato.n I deeply caned linos \>i"<'i li.ue divided Indian society for tlni.si.ids ot \e.us will be erased. In ■ --. ex'sti if, < lcumstaiKcs no system of election oi Lopresentation can be de- • ■ vised which will not end in giving the powei to a class of whom the lirahmans " ' will bo the piomuient leaders. For the masses ot the people the sole hope not meicl\ ol inising their status and impioving their condition but even of seeming oidin,ir\ justice and lair play ■ - lies in the maintenance of the bene'lolent and impartial rule of an external Ipowci The present writer does not agree with those who denounce caste as an evil ot tho gieatcst magnitude, uuleheved by a smgb merit. The m'issionaiv ikjV call it ".i monstrous engino ot pude, dissension and shame, which ' - could only have been invented' in nn utteily diseased condition of human society." He may declare his intense l '■ , conviction that "next to the universal prevalence of the Christian faith the • greatest boon to India would bo the • absolute and complete renunciation of caste." It may be doubted, however, whether such a change is to be de- . ~ sued until the Indians as a body shall have adopted some common religion of a purified type. It is at least possible that the rules and restrictions of caste and the self-Tespect to. which they lead » have conduced to the purity of tho /> - family, as they certainly have to ,tlie ' ( cleanliness and health of the. people. But this much is certain, that so long , .„'-. as -caste exists the "attempt to treat .. ' „ India as if it weio inhabited by a homo- ■ geneous people who ran be educated up •■• y tQ self-government as understood in this;. ,\'... , country must" end in calatuitc.;j' .ail- ■ ' f ure. , . ' U'i"-' \* ,]