Caste in India: The Facts and the System c6.s5.10

c6.s5.10

There remains to be indicated at least one very characteristic and general distinction, that which, in the greater part of India—in the whole of India, it is said, except in Madras¹—separates the castes into two categories : those from whom water may be taken and those whose touch pollutes it. The categories are very variable ; for, according to Guru Proshad Sen, all the Bengalis, including the Brahmans, are in this regard, with rare exceptions, proscribed by the rest of the Hindus. The division is therefore all the more remarkable. It obviously arises from some special importance attached to water.