Caste in India: The Facts and the System c7.s3.2

c7.s3.2

From ancient times the teachings proper to the sacerdotal schools were condensed into a species of aphorisms called Sūtras, of which we possess numerous collections. It is from this source that the law-books were drawn. Each is ultimately connected, in a manner more or less direct, with one or other of the schools. This technical literature itself crowns a long preparation represented by the Brāhmaṇas, the most remote testimony of religious reflection applied to the acts of sacrifice : singular books, where in the course of describing successive ceremonies the most rash etymological tricks and the most profound mysticism, childish deductions, and daring speculations jostle one another. Nowhere do they treat of set purpose the subject which we are considering. We find only accidental indications, which are all the more valuable as they are few and far between.