[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Reference works](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference) › [Vedic Index of Names and Subjects](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912) › v2.c4.s7.383 # Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v2.c4.s7.383 Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v2.c4.s7.383 - **Language:** English ### [v2.c4.s7.383](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v2.c4.s7.383) Caste, once created, naturally developed in different directions. Nesfield¹⁶⁶ was inclined to see in occupation the one ground of caste. It is hardly necessary seriously to criticize this view considered as an ultimate explanation of caste, but it is perfectly certain that gilds of workers tend to become castes. The carpenters (Takṣan), the chariot-makers (Rathakāra), the fishermen (Dhaivara) and others are clearly of the type of caste, and the number extends itself as time goes on. But this is not to say that caste is founded on occupation pure and simple in its first origin, or that mere difference of occupation would have produced the system of caste without the interposition of the fundamental difference between Āryan and Dāsa or Śūdra blood and colour. This difference rendered increasingly important what the history of the Āryan peoples shows us to be declining, the distinction between the noble and the non-noble freemen, a distinction not of course ultimate, but one which seems to have been developed in the Āryan people before the separation of its various branches. - [Previous: v2.c4.s7.382](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v2.c4.s7.382) - [Next: v2.c4.s7.384](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v2.c4.s7.384) - [Up: v2.c4.s7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v2.c4.s7) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v2.c4.s7.383](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v2.c4.s7.383) · Pramāṇa