Caste in India: The Facts and the System c6.s8.41

c6.s8.41

The converse process is still more frequent. The illegitimate children of the Karana caste in Orissa have formed themselves into a special group.² In the same province a caste of Chattarkhais has been recruited from all sorts of people who have lost their social status by being fed in ‘relief-kitchens’ during the last famine. It has even been rapidly subdivided into two sections according to the former rank of the new-comers.³ Whilst preserving their title and the use of the sacred thread, the Brahmans themselves, who officiate for the despised classes, fall into disrepute which isolates them strictly from their fellows. The handling of the plough is not less fatal to them. We see among the Thāvīs, the Dhūnsars, and the Dharūkrā, Brahmans ¹ who, by breaking these and other laws, have not long since given up the right even to the title which formerly secured to them a remnant of superiority and respect. Although they lay claim to a Brahmanic origin, seclude their women, and wear the thread, the Tagas in the Panjab are no more than a criminal caste of robbers.² It can be imagined that the same degradation occurs still more easily in the humbler castes—Rajputs, Banias, and others. It is useless to add to the list.