Caste in India: The Facts and the System c7.s4.37

c7.s4.37

No one has delved into the Veda with more expert knowledge than Ludwig, nor with a stronger predisposition to unearth in it a caste-system. He has allowed no negative conclusions, not even the most authoritative, to deter him. His search has, on the whole, been fruitless; he has indeed discovered classes, but not castes. No one can doubt but that the very intricacies of the rites and songs bound the priesthood firmly together, even in the Vedic epoch, and that its functions were often, even habitually, hereditary. Ludwig has proved no more than that a class was formed of rich chiefs, powerful by force of arms, and that this nobility in India, as elsewhere, depended essentially on birth. He has met with none of the positive limitations which caste implies, neither has he proved that those Maghavans, whom he likens to the Kshatriyas, belonged to an exclusive group.