Caste in India: The Facts and the System c7.s2.32

c7.s2.32

The Epic is by its nature so closely connected with the nobility that it tends to attribute to kings the supremacy which is claimed by the law-books for the Brahmans.⁸ It is none the less explicit at times concerning the incomparable grandeur of the sacerdotal class.⁹ Take the story of Mataṅga. He thinks himself the son of a Brahman; as a matter of fact, he is a child of sin, his father having been a Śūdra; he is in reality only a miserable *outcast*. Informed of his shame by a miracle, he attempts to regain his lost dignity by undergoing great hardships. For centuries he labours in vain; for the space of a hundred years he piously balances himself on one foot, but without avail. Indra on his throne is moved and hastens to him; he lavishes on him the most desirable gifts and promises him exceptional favours. But the one which the penitent solicits is impossible! Thousands and millions of successive births are necessary to obtain the ascent from a lower to a higher caste. Rāma does not hesitate to cut off the head of a young Śūdra whose sole crime is to indulge in religious rites which are in theory forbidden to his caste.¹ Insolence such as this threatens to upset the whole equilibrium of public order, so essential is the maintenance of the prerogatives which belong exclusively to the various castes.