Caste and Race in India c7.33

c7.33

We have seen that the three classes of the early portion of the Rigveda were later solidified into four groups, more or less compact, with three or four other groups. Though these groups were very nearly exclusive units, upward or downward march of individuals was not altogether an impossibility, though it must have been an infrequent occurrence. Only the first three orders may be said to have been recognized as far as religious and ritualistic life was concerned. The Śūdra, though he was received within the precincts of the Aryan fold, was systematically debarred from following the religious practices of the Aryans. Nay, the ideas of untouchability were first given literary expression in connection with the Śūdras and the sacrifice. There were also various inequalities in the matter of religious practices between the other three classes. The impression is clearly gained that only the Brahmin and the Kshatriya were the two important orders in the society. The former was steadily gaining exclusive influence with the increasing complexity of the sacrificial ritual, while the latter produced, only off and on, individuals capable of keeping themselves abreast of the former. It was in keeping with this that the third order, Vaiśya, was spoken of as the taxable group, and the fourth order, Śūdra, was denied any justice. Each order seems to have been habitually endogamous though occasionally Brahmins married Kshatriya females, and all the three higher orders now and then might have kept Śūdra mistresses. There was a variety of specialized occupations about which we have no means of ascertaining whether they were included in one or the other of the four orders. They seem to have been hereditary rather by custom than by regulation. The prohibition of dining in the company of others is not laid down in connection with these orders, though the general idea is there. It is only those who were performing a certain rite or who believed in a certain doctrine that were forbidden to dine in the company of others.¹