Caste in India: The Facts and the System c7.s2.7

c7.s2.7

The conformity of the data with those which can be collected by an observer at the present day is striking. There is, however, one important difference: if there is one fact which obtrudes itself in the real life of India, it is the enormous number of castes, their overlapping, and the confusion in which they are involved. In theory there are only four castes, *varṇas*: the Brahmans, priests, and learned man; the Kshatriyas, warriors and nobles; the Vaiśyas, agriculturists and merchants; and the Śūdras, the servant-class, on whom devolve all the menial offices. The Brahmans' only duties are to study and teach the Vedas, to offer sacrifices, and to offer, and above all to receive, gifts. It is the duty of the Kshatriyas to give orders, to protect the people, to offer sacrifices through the medium of the Brahmans and to study the Vedas; the Vaiśyas must raise livestock, cultivate the soil, engage in trade, and give alms, not neglecting either the sacred rites or the study of the written word; the Śūdras have only one essential task—to serve the higher castes. Outside this system there are only barbarous or despised peoples who have no access to the religious and social life of the Brahmanic world, that is to say, foreigners or Mlechchhas.