Caste in India: The Facts and the System c6.s8.16

c6.s8.16

In the very heart of Hinduism several castes or sub-castes owe their individuality to religious schisms. The Lingayats of the Deccan ² clearly form a special class founded on their attachment to the Sivaite cult of the *lingam*. Whatever may be the particular reasons which have split them up into five castes, it is again by virtue of a religious consideration, of the sacerdotal role which has devolved upon it, that the first, that of the Jangamas, has separated and secured for itself the most important position.