History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v3.c39.8

v3.c39.8

But while Germany was never finally conquered and subjected to foreign domination, Northern India was laid prostrate for all time. We have, therefore, really to find out the reason why even after temporary conquest as the natural consequence of defeat in battle, Northern India could not regain its feet and make itself free. The cause of this, in our view, lay in the rigidification of caste which took place about this time. We will show in our General Survey Book how caste which was fluid in the beginning of this sub-period became rigid by the end of the 12th century and the modern rigid caste system of India with its intricacies and its numberless subsections inside the main castes was evolved. While Kshatriyas married in previous times Vaiśya wives and Brahmins married Kshatriya and Vaiśya wives and often vice versa, each caste and subcaste now confined marriage and even food to itself. The social sympathy which existed previously among the various sections of the Hindu people was gone and it was replaced by a feeling of aloofness and even aversion.