Caste in India: The Facts and the System c6.s7.39

c6.s7.39

We must add that we have only vague information as to detail. For a man to lay his own hand to the plough or to cultivate vegetables is, for example, throughout the high castes, considered to entail derogation. Can such offences as these, in certain groups, be made the subject of formal condemnation? I think so, but I would not venture to affirm it. What is clear is that the punishment of the caste falls essentially upon irregularities which, bearing either on questions of marriage and heredity, on observances of purity, or on customs peculiar to the group, directly affect its reputation.