Caste in India: The Facts and the System c7.s2.40

c7.s2.40

In the presence of a number of groups whose multiplicity completely destroyed the exclusive principle of the four castes it became necessary to justify their existence, and the idea was conceived of deriving them from the very principle which they invalidated. The system itself could logically serve but once to explain the first origin of these groups. Also the number of sections which it was possible to explain in this way was certainly inadequate; the geographical names that many of them bore gave the lie at once to the genesis attributed to them. This was of little moment;