India, who keep themselves socially distinct. Darwin[1] has applied this word to different classes of social insects. The Portuguese used this word to denote the Indian institution, as they thought such a system was intended to keep purity of blood. We thus see that derivation of the word does not help us to understand what caste is.
Definitions of a caste by other writers.— Before giving my own definition of a caste, I shall give the definitions by other writers. They may be found in the various volumes of the Report of the Census of India for 1901. M. Senart has written an admirable book in French. In his book, "after reminding his readers that no statement that can be made on the subject can be considered as absolutely true, that the apparent relations of the facts admit of numerous shades of distinction, and that only the most general characteristics cover the whole of the subject, he goes on to describe a caste as a close corporation, in theory at any rate rigorously hereditary; equipped with a certain traditional and independent organization including a chief and a council, meeting on occasion in assemblies of more or less plenary authority and joining together at certain festivals; bound together by common occupations, which relate more particularly to marriage and to food and to questions of ceremonial pollution, and ruling its members by the exercise of jurisdiction the extent of which varies, but which succeeds in making the authority of the community more felt by the sanction of certain penalties and, above all,
- ↑ The castes are connected together by finely graduated varieties. Darwin's Origin of Species, ii, 36 (1836 A. D.).
