History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c19.2

v2.c19.2

The number of works dealing with the origin and characteristics of the caste system in India is legion. Most of them, however, concern themselves with the detailed description of the bewildering variety of castes and subdivisions of castes in modern times and their present religious and social customs and usages. The origin of caste has given rise to great speculation and several schools of thought have arisen. Generally individual authors lay undue emphasis on one element or attach far too much importance to one point in tracing the origin of the caste system and its ramifications, such as race (Risley), tribe (Ibbetson), occupation (Nesfield). The study of the origin and development of caste in India is one of deep and absorbing interest to all students of sociology. A complete and critical examination of the several theories of caste advanced by distinguished authors and a detailed description of the hundreds of castes and subcastes now found in India is far beyond the scope of the present work. For those who want to make a thorough study of the most important works on caste a modest list is given in the footnote below.⁵⁰