Caste in India: The Facts and the System c7.s2.18

c7.s2.18

Despite the divine authority behind which it shelters, tradition is not inviolable. Its formulae appear to be absolute, but in a dozen places it warns us that the true rule resides in custom, that it is the usage proper to each region and caste which is law. It is in accordance with this usage that a king who is careful of his duty must regulate his acts and decrees.¹ To a great extent this is still true to-day. It is a trait which characterizes the whole past of India, and on which the most experienced authorities have rightly insisted.² There are texts which show that lofty descent is most easily recognized by purity of conduct—to such a degree has the intermixture of castes obscured all lineal descent.³ Others ascribe to an earlier and more perfect terrestrial age the time when the ordinance of castes was strictly maintained,⁴ thus recognizing that the rules of theory are in fact strangely elastic.