Caste in India: The Facts and the System c4.1

c4.1

THIS essay is more than thirty years old : a great age for so modest an investigation. It appeared at an auspicious moment : for a general census of India had just made available vast stores of information, and had prompted a number of those high officials who had contributed to that work to study closely the social organization of India. Many new theories were thus propounded. At that time, also, new district *Gazetteers*, throwing much light on local conditions, were constantly appearing. Time will no doubt show that the end of the last century was the ideal moment in which to take stock of the social life of India in its traditional aspect. For at this period was to be seen the full development of British rule and administration unaffected by the nationalist evolution which was destined to change the outward face of the country.