Caste in India: The Facts and the System c8.s5.25

c8.s5.25

The invited Brahmans must be chosen with a care which recalls the law of purity imposed on primitive guests. If Brahmans are substituted for relations, the novelty is sufficiently explained by the encroachment of sacerdotal power.¹ Commentators similarly assert that even the acquittal of a murder case, shall be turned to the profit of the Brahmans.² In the Āryan past, however, it was undoubtedly paid to the family of the deceased. The insistence shown by the law-books on reserving the śrāddhas for the Brahmans³ betrays the tendency which they follow. But there is always a place reserved for the relations.⁴ What clearly emerges from these very restrictions is that in current practice the śrāddhas were the occasion of actual common meals. The Hindus hold various kinds which are in no way connected with funerals.⁵