Caste in India: The Facts and the System c6.s7.45

c6.s7.45

‘ This expulsion from the caste, which occurs in cases of breach of customary usage or of some public offence which would dishonour the whole caste if it remained unpunished, is a kind of civil excommunication, which deprives the person who has the misfortune to incur it of all intercourse with his fellows. It renders him, so to speak, dead to the world. . . . With the loss of caste, he loses not only his relations and friends, but sometimes even his wife and children, who prefer to abandon him entirely rather than share his ill-fortune. No one dare eat with him nor even offer him a drop of water. . . . He must expect wherever he is recognized, to be avoided, pointed at with the finger of scorn, and looked upon as a reprobate. . . . A mere Śūdra, provided he has some trace of honour and scrupulousness, would never join company nor even communicate with a Brahman thus degraded.’