Caste in India: The Facts and the System c6.s2.15

c6.s2.15

Of such tales those most deserving of belief are undoubtedly the traditions which refer to more or less remote migrations, which are commemorated in the name of the caste. They show that these migrations were very frequent, especially among the higher castes, and are not the less significant for that. National feeling exists hardly at all; life is much more narrowly focused. The community of the caste or the tribe is strong enough in its solidarity and tradition to fulfil all needs. This society constitutes the true fatherland. Under its protection there is little stability, and in the past there was even less. Individuals carried about with them the household gods which they prized most highly; the swarming groups were re-established without difficulty in new surroundings under the permanent influence of the same instincts. India thus appears to us more than ever as an immense complexity of mobile organisms. They are united by widely different factors, amongst which it is at once evident that varieties of origin and race occupy an important position.