Caste in India

There are religious, civil, and social distinctions among all peoples congregated into a community, whether it be a rural community, a village, town, city or nation. These distinctions are more clearly defined in India than elsewhere, and have become stereotyped by one word, "Caste." Yet "Caste" is not an Indian word, having been adopted from the Portuguese "casta," signifying race, kind, or quality.

The first trace of caste in India is purely ethnological. Ethnological caste arises wherever different races are brought into contact, and nowhere were races of men brought more strongly into contact than in India.

India was inhabited by numerous Turanian tribes before the Aryans took possession. The Aryan invaders drove the dark-skinned peoples to the South, and to-day all the languages spoken in the South of India are distinct from the Sanskrit. The word Dasyas, applied to the aborigines of India, means color, and in the caste-system of India we find that color is a distinguishing feature. The color of the Brahmans is white; of the Kshattriyas, red; of the Vaisyas, yellow; of the Sudras, black. These four colors, broadly speaking, represent the four original castes. According to ancient and traditional faith, all creatures in India are born of God. Brahma was the god of gods. From the head, or mouth, of Brahma, a Brahman was born. The Brahmans, the first or highest caste, represent the spoken will of the gods, and are the priestly and most intellectual class of the people.

The Kshattriyas were formed from the arms of Brahma; hence they are the defenders or warriors, represented now by large numbers of Rajputs in the British Army. From these nobles of the Second Caste the king was always chosen. The Vaisyas were formed from the trunk or body of Brahma; they minister to the physical needs of the Brahmans. Hence the farmers and the merchants form the Third Caste. All who belong to these three castes of the Aryan races are called the "twice born." The Sudras, or "once born," form the Fourth, or lowest Caste. These are the Taurians, or such of the aboriginal races as submitted to the Aryan yoke. The Sudras were born from the feet of Brahma, to be the servants of the "twice born." Numerous subdivisions have arisen, but the original Four Castes are the basis of all.

In all countries birth, position, education and wealth create caste. Marriages between high and low, educated and uneducated, rich and poor, black and white, have always been to a certain extent limited. But in India the lines have been more clearly defined than elsewhere, and intermarriages between the castes are forbidden under severest penalty. Thus caste in India has a serious aspect not met with elsewhere, and it is admitted by all intelligent people that if England is to maintain her Indian Empire it will be by respecting Indian Caste. But what law cannot accomplish the railroads are effecting. At every station there are crowds waiting. The stop is short, the natives run wildly along the platform looking for their caste-coach, the trainmaster calls "All aboard!" and they are hustled pell-mell into coaches and the train starts. When they have ridden a day or half-day with people of all castes and find themselves uninjured they begin to regard the railroad trains as neutral ground. Thus gradually it is thought the railroads may break down the iron caste-system of India.