Caste in India: The Facts and the System c6.s7.19

c6.s7.19

The caste intervenes on the majority of solemn occasions, which, in our view, concern family life alone. I am speaking only of solemn festivals which bring the caste, or at any rate its chief representatives, together on occasion of births ²—sometimes even at a certain period of pregnancy—weddings, and funerals.³ These gatherings are not, however, so trivial as they may appear; they must not be regarded as ordinary diversions attended voluntarily; indeed, in certain classes we are assured that their omission entails even exclusion from the caste.¹ But I am thinking especially of the intervention of the caste in marriages; its authority in this matter is practically uncontested.² It manifests itself in several singular customs. Among the Ghisadis,³ for example, the father of a marriageable son gathers his caste-companions together for the purpose of finding him a wife, and among the Kanoji Brahmans of Poona,⁴ an assembly of the caste arranges the marriages of its people. Where divorce and second marriage are allowed it is with the assent and sanction of the caste,⁵ despite the efforts of English judges to-day to limit its power on this head.⁶ Its role in the procedure of adoption is perfectly natural and logically indicated. In fact, the caste’s consent to adoption is generally considered necessary. Not only does it sometimes intervene to facilitate it, but an adoption of which it has not been duly informed is generally regarded as null and void. Still more necessary is its consent in the case of adoption by a childless widow.⁷ In all such cases the caste associates itself with the relatives, whose presence is necessary in token of acquiescence. In this light it appears strictly as an extension of the family; it typifies the general family-council. By this right also, if need be, it makes the necessary arrangements for the guardianship of orphans; in default of relations this guardianship devolves upon the chief.¹