Caste in India: The Facts and the System c8.s5.1

c8.s5.1

THE caste is the framework of the whole Brahmanic organization. In order to become Brahmans, the aboriginal peoples form themselves into castes and accept the strict caste-rules; this phenomenon goes back to very early times. Now Brahmanism may have adopted foreign elements, and it may, in the course of history, have been subject to external influences; but, generally speaking, it remains in India the representative of Āryan tradition. Without in any way excluding the possibility of subsidiary influences, we are justified in first seeking Āryan sources for an institution which appears to us so intimately bound up with Brahmanic doctrine and life.