Caste in India: The Facts and the System c8.s4.4

c8.s4.4

Risley, basing his argument upon the early use of the word *varṇa* and the meaning generally attributed to it in the more modern classical language, sees in the natural enmity between the conquering and conquered races, the white and the black, the germ of a distinction. The endogamous laws are the foundation of the system. He supposes that the Āryans, in face of a despised population, raised this rampart to protect the purity of blood on which they prided themselves. The caste is, for Nesfield, a matter of profession;