Caste in India: The Facts and the System c6.s8.6

c6.s8.6

Even these sections are subdivided and their names diversified. Thus it is that, among the Brahman, Vaidya, and Kāyasth castes in Bengal little groups called *dals*, *samājas*, sometimes *melās*, are formed, which soon close for their members the horizon of the caste, whether it be mere proximity which has first brought them together or whether they are distinguished by some usages which a man of exceptional influence has induced them to adopt.¹ It is in these same little groups that there exists the element of innovation, through the medium of which, thanks to the gradual infiltration of new practices, a more general change of ideas and habits may be developed. Meanwhile the first result is to multiply the subdivisions and castes. Sections are formed which are very small in numbers; the admission of modifications of every kind is more free because the agreement of a small group is sufficient to institute them. A particular usage can give birth to a new caste, but there are other factors also.