Caste in India: The Facts and the System c5.15

c5.15

Passing now from the hymns to sacerdotal prose, we find that the Brāhmaṇas and the writings around them reflect a situation *de facto* very similar to that which emerges in the Smṛiti. These are able by the use of certain terms to approximate a little more nearly to the usage of the hymns; they manifestly assume, as far as the castes are concerned, the Brahmanic system and the terminology which it has established. That they contain implicit allusions rather than explicit statements is sufficiently explained by by their nature and object, for they are derived from the esoteric literature of the Brahmans. This system, on the contrary, in the epic and the Dharmaśāstras, is addressed to the whole Brahmanized population; they are books intended for general use. From this point of view, at any rate, there is nothing to prevent our regarding the two series as contemporaneous, although meant for a different audience.