Caste in India: The Facts and the System c6.s2.11

c6.s2.11

In spite of the confusion which is due to inexactitude of speech, there are, properly speaking, no *outcasts* in India. Individuals, driven by various causes from their native caste, quickly form the nucleus of new groups. Two courses only are open to them : either to become members of the lower castes, or to join with companions in misfortune and form new castes. It is obvious that in the normal working of all these exclusive sets there is no possible life for the isolated individual. The Pariah, upon whom, since Bernadin de Saint-Pierre, so much sympathy has been lavished, is not the lonely, banished creature one generally imagines. He belongs to a group, though it may be very poor and much despised. There are Pariah castes which, in spite of the disdain of the Brahmans, are not deterred from holding a high opinion of themselves ; they find neighbours to look down upon.