Caste in India: The Facts and the System c8.s7.22

c8.s7.22

In the beginning they were the same groups, governed by the same beliefs and usages. In Greece and Italy these little societies joined together and organized themselves into an ordered system. Each group preserved its complete autonomy in its own sphere of action, but the higher federation which constituted the city upheld common interests and co-ordinated common action. Chaos took shape under the touch of the Greeks; isolated organisms were resolved into a wider unity, and as it was perfected, the new idea which was its latent soul, the political idea, began to take shape. Like the caste, the city sprang from the common primitive constitution. Moulded on the same religious rules and traditions, but inspired by new necessities, it evolved a new principle of organization. It showed itself capable of expansion and of leaping the barriers which had supported but also confined its first steps. Later, it was to suffice in modified form for the needs of the most profound revolutions in life and government.