Caste in India: The Facts and the System c6.s4.4

c6.s4.4

On the other hand, members of the same caste may earn their living in very different ways, the most notable instance being the low and despised castes, reputed to be of non-Aryan origin. Condemned to perform all the menial tasks, they follow to some extent any and every kind of inferior occupation. The Baris, in the North-West Provinces, make torches and act as barbers,² the Banjaras³ comprise merchants, bards, shepherds and agriculturists. Elsewhere cotton-beaters, oil-pressers, and butchers rub elbows in a single caste.⁴ Examples could be multiplied *ad infinitum*. They are not confined to the lowlier castes. Nesfield⁵ himself explains that among the merchants the professional distinction is practically nil, and that all their castes may engage in trade without possessing prescriptive rights to any one branch. He states⁶ that numbers of people change their occupations without leaving their caste. That is quite evident.