History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c19.4.2

v2.c19.4.2

and I am well convinced that, if the people of India never sunk into a state of barbarism, and if, when almost all Europe was plunged in that dreary gulf, India kept up her head, preserved and extended the sciences, the arts and civilization, it is wholly to the distinction of castes that she is indebted for that high celebrity’ (p. 14) and he devotes several pages to the justification of this remark. Maine in his ‘Ancient Law' (new edition of 1930 p. 17) characterises it as 'the most disastrous and blighting of all human institutions.' Sherring in 'Hindu tribes and castes' vol. III p. 293 says 'it is the most baneful, hard-hearted and cruel social system that could possibly be invented for damning the human race'. On the other hand Meredith Townsend in 'Europe and Asia' (edition of 1901 p. 72) wrote 'I firmly believe caste to be a marvellous discovery, a form of socialism which through ages protected Hindu Society from anarchy and from the worst evils of industrial and competitive life—it is an automatic poor law to begin with and the strongest form known of Trades Union'. There are others,⁵¹ though their number is small, that believe that the caste system was an invention, an artificial product, due to the machinations of crafty brāhmaṇas. Every great institution has its extremes of good or evil.