Caste and Race in India c8.6

c8.6

The four castes were even supposed to be distinguished by their origin and particular sacraments.⁴ When officers were chosen from all castes, their positions were to be so adjusted as not to disturb the caste-order of precedence.⁵ A number of major and minor offences are also enumerated as leading to loss of caste.¹ Social intercourse, eating, and intermarriage seem to have been the visible marks of an individual's assimilation in his group.² Clearly these groups and subdivisions must have had each its own internal organization to carry out effectively the avoidance of social intercourse, eating and intermarriage with their defaulting members. Adherence to prescribed duties was not wholly left to the sweet will of the individual, nor was it only to be enforced by the group. It was the duty of the king to see that the prescribed duties were performed by the proper individuals. If a man always neglected his prescribed duty and did what was forbidden, his property, with the exception of what was required for food and raiment, would be attached till he reformed his ways.³