Caste in India: The Facts and the System c8.s5.37

c8.s5.37

The meaning of the common meal and its correlated prohibitions is so strongly marked in the life of the people that it strikes the contemporary observer who is free from all archaeological bias. ‘Community of food,’ says Ibbetson, ‘is formally used as an outward and visible token of community of blood.’² Kinsmen gather around the same table.