Caste in India: The Facts and the System c8.s6.40

c8.s6.40

Various ascetic sects likewise practically abolish the caste. All postulants are admitted to their religious order, where they mingle freely. With several this equality is symbolized at the time of consecration of the adepts by the solemn destruction of the sacred thread. How can the abolition of all family ties, and the renunciation of the world, be better expressed? It is the equivalent of those funeral ceremonies which, as I have said, signify exclusion from the caste. It is not a question of overthrowing a system which is the very foundation of national life, but of the creation within this immense circle of a fairly extensive group of saints who escape from the world and break all its ties. For the bulk of adherents the caste remains unquestioned, and in a number of cases the new community of faith helps to create new sections.