Caste in India: The Facts and the System c7.s3.33

c7.s3.33

In our own time the Rajputs, the military class of Western India, claim to correspond—as they do in fact in rank and profession—to the Kshatriyas of the system. Does this mean that they form only one caste, or that they are merely the progressive subdivision of a single caste? We have observed, on the contrary, that under our very eyes castes assume without any right a name which offers them social advantages. Why, therefore, should this be regarded as new?