Caste in India: The Facts and the System c7.s2.42

c7.s2.42

Actuality, moreover, lent colour to this attempt. There was the case, doubtless often noticed, where the local grouping of people excluded from the paternal caste by their irregular birth and relegated to a lower rung of the social ladder, gave rise to a new subdivision. On this basis, with the deceptive mental discipline of the Hindu mind, more than dubious hypotheses were converted into positive assertions. They offered a twofold advantage: that of creating an appearance of symmetry, which is irresistibly attractive to Indian theorists, and that of eliminating from the principle laid down as the root of the social organization the very confusion which seemed likely to compromise it.