Caste in India: The Facts and the System c6.s2.9

c6.s2.9

The castes have often been compared—particularly by Hindus of English upbringing, who are very anxious at heart to lessen the distance between our races and theirs and to lower the barriers which separate India from Europe—with the social distinctions that exist amongst us. The gradations among the different castes, varying according to district, but clearly established in each by public feeling, furnish a natural excuse for this comparison. Caste, however, corresponds only very remotely to our social classes. Its constitution is far stronger and its implications far more precise. It is an institution, and an essential one.