Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s1.2.2

c48.s1.2.2

Added to these are the Gurjara of the west, who, curiously enough, though grouped amongst the southerners, are all northern in their origin. Except in the case of the three first mentioned, these divisions are of little practical significance in the everyday life of the present time, since they are severally partitioned into numerous main subdivisions, each of which is in turn, again, minutely split up into a still greater number of separate endogamous communities. The majority of the larger castes thus constituted have a territorial origin, generally well to the north of where they are now settled, except, of course, amongst those still occupying the traditional centres of Brāhmanism, such as the Gauṛ, Kanaujia and Sārasvata. Subordinate to these are the local offshoots, which are very generally attributable to schism on points of ceremonial or food, and, in the Drāviḍa country, to sectarian or doctrinal disagreement. From time to time, too, the scheme has to be expanded to admit some new recruits from outside the fold, who are usually placed low down on the scale, though not irrevocably doomed to remain there, if circumstances turn out favourable to their advancement. Throughout the local community, the rank of each subdivision relatively to the rest is fixed by a convention effectively backed by the public verdict; but this graduation is not necessarily recognised at a distance or where a different language is spoken.