Caste in India: The Facts and the System c6.s8.4

c6.s8.4

The large castes with a generic name—the Brahmans, the Rajputs, the Jats—are, properly speaking, only collections of castes; the real unity is in the subdivisions, sub-castes, clans, or whatever one may choose to call them. I have already said this, and it is important to bear it in mind. The name of Rajput is only an honorific title, the unity of which embraces a multitude of tribes and castes, differing in origin, profession, and custom. The Jats of the Panjab are, beyond all doubt, a mixture of exceedingly diverse populations, and the Jat is not far wrong when, questioned as to his caste, he gives the name of a clan which is his true corporative homeland.²