Caste and Race in India c12.21

c12.21

Regarding the most important aspect, and almost the only surviving one, viz. that of prohibition against marriage outside the caste, the practice of the British courts has varied. In some early cases it was held that marriages between persons belonging to different divisions of the Brahmins or the Śūdras were invalid unless specially sanctioned by custom; but recent decisions decree otherwise. In a Madras case when a Hindu, belonging to the Śūdra class, married a Christian woman, turned into a Hindu, the marriage was accepted as one between members of different divisions of the Śūdra class and therefore valid. Integrity of caste was so far recognized that the Court held that where a caste regards marriage as valid and treats the parties as its members, the court cannot declare it null and void.²