Caste in India: The Facts and the System c8.s7.9

c8.s7.9

In time two facts emerged: admixture, only half acknowledged, occurred between the races, and the Āryan ideas of purity gained more and more ground amongst this hybrid population and even amongst the purely aboriginal peoples. From thence arose two categories of scruples, the subdivisions of which were multiplied according to the varying degrees of impurity either of descent or occupation. While the ancient principles of family life were perpetuated, the grouping factors were diversified—that is to say, function, religion, vicinity, and so forth, side by side with the primitive principle of consanguinity, behind which they more or less conceal themselves. The groups grew and overlapped. Under the double influence of their own traditions and of the ideas which they borrowed from Āryan civilization, the aboriginal tribes themselves, in proportion as they renounced an isolated and savage life, accelerated the influx of new sections. Caste came into existence from that time onwards. We have seen how in its various degrees it was slowly substituted for the family government from which it is derived.