14. CASTE

The main rules of caste which a Hindu has to observe relate to marriage, food, occupation and foreign travel. No man may marry outside his caste, and usually he is restricted to certain sub-sections of his caste, while, in many parts of India, sectarian distinctions narrow the range of choice still farther. Certain kinds of food are absolutely proscribed in each caste; there are rules as to the caste of the person who may cook for the members of the caste; no man may eat with a person of lower caste than himself; and there are strict rules as to those from whose hands one may receive water. The occupation rule is in most cases very strict for low-caste people but very lax for the high castes. No Hindu may cross the ocean.1

3

The marriage rule is very strictly kept by all classes. There are very few, even among those who have had an English education, who dare to break the matrimonial rules; for they are the very foundation of caste observance. Not only the social reform organization but most of the sectarian unions 2 and the caste conferences 3 suggest that restrictions on marriage between members of subcastes should be given up, but very little progress has yet been made. It is only the most advanced reformers who propose that distinctions of caste should be altogether neglected in marriage.

The law as to what is legitimate or illegitimate in the matter of diet must always have been subject to minor changes. Educated men living in the large towns take large liberties nowadays outside their own homes in this matter, but they are usually strict at home. Mr. Shridhar Ketkar, in the second volume of his History of Caste in 2 See above, pp. 291 ff.

1 Crown of Hinduism, 163–166.

See above, pp. 308 ff.

India, gives a very illuminating account of the state of affairs in the matter of diet in the Bombay Presidency.1

Until recent times the rule that a man must not eat with a person of lower caste than himself was upheld with the extremest stringency. In past days, people have been outcasted because they had smelt beef! Even now in certain localities orthodoxy is very strict. Yet Western thought and common sense are gradually telling on educated men. The Brahmas are quite free in interdining, and most members of the Prarthanā Samāj are ready to dine not only with Hindus of any grade but with Christians, Muḥammadans and foreigners. Indeed social reformers all tend to seek liberty in this matter. The ordinary educated Hindu desires freedom, so that he may dine with old classmates and with Europeans who have been happily associated with him in public life, education or business. Yet many shrink back, and the mass of educated men still hold the orthodox position. There is much ground yet to be possessed.

What may perhaps be described as the boldest action taken by social reformers in recent years was carried out in Bombay in November, 1912. Under the auspices of a new organization, called the Aryan Brotherhood, a Conference of people opposed to caste was held from the 9th to the 12th of November, and closed with a dinner at which one hundred and fifty men and women dined together, openly setting at defiance the laws of caste. Those who were present at the dinner had come from many parts of Western India; and a considerable number of them found themselves outcasted, as soon as they returned to their homes. In several places, the orthodox party showed that they were determined to push things to the uttermost. It is well known that Brahmans of the highest rank who are counted orthodox take tea in

1 Chap. VI.

Irani shops in Bombay, and even occasionally dine quietly with Muḥammadans or Europeans. So long as this is done secretly, nothing is said; but a public defiance of all the rules of caste is another matter. Some of those outcasted yielded at once, and were reinstated after performing prāyaschitta (an atonement ceremony), but others are holding out. It seems clear that this piece of bold action will produce good results.1

The rule that no Hindu may cross the ocean was imposed because it is clear that no Hindu can go to another country by sea and keep caste rules about food. When Ram Mohan Ray went to England, he sought to preserve his caste by taking a Brahman cook with him. The desire to get an education in Europe or America has proved the most powerful motive leading to the breach of the rule; but the exigencies of business have also proved effective; and a few orthodox Hindu princes have yielded under the overwhelming desire to be present at some great state ceremonial in England. For a long time orthodoxy remained utterly implacable. The man who had crossed the ocean could not be received back into caste unless he underwent the prescribed atonement, prāyaschitta, a most disgusting and barbarous ceremony. Those who would not pay the penalty were outcasted. Hence there grew up in Calcutta a small but interesting and influential community who, for the sake of education, had suffered excommunication. Most of them found refuge in the Brahma Samāj. For long the battle was most serious, and in many parts of India it is so to the present day; but nationalism has triumphed in Calcutta. One of the most noticeable results of the unbounded excitement of 1905-1907 was the creation of a society in Calcutta for the sending of Bengali students to Europe, America or 2 Ranade, Essays, 161.

1

1 ISR., XXIII, 49, 133, 139, 176, 233.

Japan to receive a modern education. So popular has the movement been and so powerful its leaders, that, when students return to Calcutta, they are received back into caste without any fuss. Quite recently the Bhatias of Bombay have split into two sections over the problem.

The movement for the uplifting of the Outcaste is probably the most significant of all the facts that fall to be chronicled under the head of caste. But it has been already dealt with, so that we need not touch it here.

15. TEMPERANCE

Many a Hindu has been reckless enough to declare that Europeans brought drink to India, and debauched a teetotal nation. The facts are, however, that there has been a good deal of drinking in India since the very dawn of history. Priests and people in the time of the Rigveda were so fond of the drink called soma that they not only offered it to the gods as one of the best gifts they could give, but actually deified it. Soma is one of the leading gods of the Rigveda. From the Epics it is also evident that there was a good deal of drinking among the warlike tribes in the pre-Christian centuries. The laws of Manu show us that in settled Hindu life throughout North India various kinds of intoxicating liquor, drink shops, drinking parties and drunkards, were not uncommon; and the dramas corroborate this evidence.

It is perfectly true that Hindu law for many centuries has been seriously opposed to the use of alcoholic drink; and high-caste Hindus, as a class, have been practically total abstainers. Yet even this general statement requires to be qualified; for in Bengal, at the great festivals, every family gives siddhi to visitors; and in the Left1 Above, pp. 366 ff.

1

hand Sakta Sect intoxicating liquor is one of the five tattvas used as means of salvation. Many of the lower castes have been accustomed to drink from time immemorial.

Modern life, unfortunately, has done a good deal to introduce drink among the educated classes and to spread the drinking habit among the coolies on tea-gardens. It is probably true also that the planting of licensed liquor shops in the lower parts of the great cities of India has led to an extension of the drinking customs of the common people.

There was thus ample room for a temperance propaganda. A vigorous crusade was carried on for several years by Mr. W. S. Caine and a number of helpers, with the result that many Hindu castes were induced to give up drink altogether. The movement still continues to do good work, through the Churches, the Samājes, and Temperance Societies consisting of men of every faith. Besides using moral suasion with communities and individuals, these bodies do useful service by watching lest the action of the Excise Department lead to an increase in drink-shops and drinking, and by making suggestions to Government for the better control of the traffic. An Annual Temperance Conference is held in one of the great cities.

16. SOCIAL SERVICE

It was Keshab Chandra Sen who first suggested that the Brahma Samaj should copy Christians in the matter of philanthropy. All the Samājes have taken this up seriously. The Arya Samaj especially has done work of very great value in relieving the famine-stricken and those who suffered in the great Kangra earthquake. The Rāmakrishna Mission has several times done fine service in re