Caste in India: The Facts and the System c7.s2.5

c7.s2.5

The theory which emerges shows us a society divided into strictly isolated castes governed by rules very similar to those which are in force to-day. The occupations assigned to each caste are distinct and limited. Marriage is carefully regulated. Only a wife of the same caste can assist her husband in family and sacrificial rites; she alone secures to the son a status equal to that of his father. Born of a woman of a lower caste, the son sinks to his mother’s caste, and his position in the partition of the father’s property is greatly weakened. At the very least the first wife must therefore be of the same caste as the man. He is, moreover, forbidden to marry either within the *gotra* of his father or among his mother’s near relations. As regards food, the distinction between foods allowed and disallowed is set forth with profuse detail; and the use of fermented liquors is condemned as one of the most inexpiable of crimes. The mere glance of a man of low caste is sufficient to pollute a meal, and it is only by exceptional authorizations that food is sometimes allowed to be received from his hands. His very gifts—frankly, I fear this rule has been strained more than once—must be rigorously refused by the Brahman. Several of the most peculiar customs are here established: the marriage of girls before puberty is enjoined, and widows are forbidden to contract a second marriage.