Caste and Race in India c8.10

c8.10

The rules and regulations governing social life and individual conduct differed according to the caste, only the four castes being taken into account. Others, like the mixed castes and the outcasts, are mentioned, but their status in the eye of law and morals is not clearly defined. Even the Dharma was apportioned according to caste. The Brahmin was entitled to the practice of the whole of it, the Kshatriya to three-fourths of it, the Vaiśya to half, and the Śūdra only to a quarter.⁴ A Brahmin was to be initiated in his eighth year, a Kshatriya in the eleventh, and a Vaiśya in the twelfth.⁵ A student, while begging alms, must use different formulæ varying with his caste.⁶ Of the eight forms of marriage only specific ones are enjoined for each caste. Where water is drunk for purification it must reach the heart, the throat, and the interior of the mouth in the case of the first three orders respectively. In the case of the Śūdra it need touch only the extremity of the lips.⁷ The higher the caste the shorter was the period of impurity to be observed at birth and death.⁸ If a man of a lower varṇa carried the corpse of one of a higher caste or vice versa, the period of impurity was determined by the caste of the deceased. The higher castes had their cremation-grounds in different localities from those of the lower castes.¹ While asking a guest about his health, the terms to be used, according to the caste of the guest, were "kuśala" in the case of a Brahmin, "anāmaya" in the case of a Kshatriya, and "ārogya" in that of a Vaiśya and a Śūdra. A Brahmin must feed his Kshatriya guest after his Brahmin guests have had their meals. Other guests were to be fed together with one's servants.² In certain cases where a woman's husband had emigrated, the period of waiting prescribed for her varied according to her caste, being the shortest for a Śūdra and the longest for a Brahmin female.³ The rate of interest chargeable to a Brahmin debtor was 2 per cent, to a Kshatriya 3 per cent, to a Vaiśya 4 per cent, and to a Śūdra 5 per cent per month. Abusing the habits of a member of a higher caste was punished with fines, commencing from the lowest caste, of three "paṇas" and rising higher. If a person of a higher caste abused one of the lower caste, fines commenced from two "paṇas" and proceeded in the descending order.⁴