Caste in India: The Facts and the System c8.s3.38

c8.s3.38

In certain Slavonic countries, in Russia and elsewhere,² there exist—or at least there still existed down to a recent date—village-communities devoted exclusively to a single occupation: villages of shoemakers and of blacksmiths or curriers, communities of joiners and of potters, even of fowlers and beggars. Now these villages are not assemblies of artisans who have merged themselves into a community, but communities which pursue a single industry. It is not occupation which results in grouping, but grouping which results in community of occupation, and has suggested it. Why should it not be the same in India?