History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c19.409

v2.c19.409

Even among comparatively late works the total number of subcastes enumerated does not go beyond even two hundred. For example, Wilson in 'Indian castes' vol. I pp. 65-70 mentions only 134 castes with their Sanskrit and modern Marathi names as gathered from the Jātiviveka, Mādhava-kalpalatā, Paraśurāma-pratāpa and other works. It is only in the census reports prepared at great expense by the British Government after elaborate efforts and organization that the great complexity of the caste system in modern India is laid bare to the eye. But this work cannot, by reason of its limited scope, go into these varied and complex details of the hundreds of castes that exist in the several provinces of India.