Caste in India: The Facts and the System c6.s6.9

c6.s6.9

It is of little interest here to note that certain Brahmans eat meat while others abstain from it, or that certain classes allow or do not allow pork or chicken on their table. What is important to observe is that the caste as such accepts a series of prescriptions or rather of prohibitions concerning food to which, however odd they may seem to us, it attaches a high importance, and which sometimes involves severe penalties when evaded. And let it be well noted that it is not merely a question of a somewhat flimsy casuistry confined to the fastidious classes. Many tribes of an exceedingly coarse, primitive character feed without scruple upon any dead animal they may happen to come across; but the exclusion of certain wild or particularly repugnant animals will be enough to form the basis of a new caste-section whose members will look down on the others and soon proudly refuse them the *connubium*. This fact is instructive: it shows the caste to be bound concerning food by customs which are a part of its traditional constitution—one of the elements which strengthen its power and unity.