Caste in India: The Facts and the System c7.s3.5

c7.s3.5

The four castes appear there as already established in their respective individualities and privileges. The rights and duties of the Brahmans in particular are in complete accord with more modern descriptions ; ² the necessary purity of the race is duly inculcated.³ Members of the three high castes are bound to take a first wife of equal rank, without prejudice, of course, to other secondary unions.⁴ The caste is destroyed by persistent neglect of initiation ; ⁵ it would be destroyed by many other offences if graduated expiations did not open a way of escape from this supreme penalty.⁶ All intercourse with the excluded members, *patitas* (the fallen), is forbidden ; ⁷ no union with them is allowed ; no food may be taken from their hands. The preoccupation with impure contacts is ever present; it is forbidden to eat with people of low origin,¹ or to use the vessels of Śūdras,² and a Brahman may not be a doctor³ on account of the pollutions rendered inevitable by the profession. The use of liquors is disapproved;⁴ the use of meat is, in certain cases at least, prohibited; while the flesh of various animals is forbidden.⁵ The mixed castes themselves find a place here, in fact, if not in theory. A considerable number are enumerated by name.⁶