1 CASTE IN THE PAN JAB. 5
2 (
3 less true that this is the case in the present day ; though under caste restrictions
4 as they now stand the change, in an upward diiection at least; is infinitely
5 slower and more difficult than then, and is painfully effected by the family
6 or tribe in the course of generations instead of l^y the individual in the
7 course of years. The following pages will contain numerous instances of the
8 tmth of this assertion, and the whole body of tribal and caste tradition in
9 the Panjab supports it. I have not always thought it necessary to state their
10 traditions in di-cussing- the various castes ; and I have seldom stopped to com-
11 ment on the facts. But the evidence, imperfect as it is, will be found to
12 possess no inconsiderable weight ; while the very fact of the general currency of
13 a set of traditions, groundless as they may be in individual instances, shows
14 that the theory of society upon which they are based is at least not repugnant
15 to the ideas and feelings and even^ practice of the people who Ijelieve them.
16 Indeed, for the purposes of the present enquiry it would almost be allowable to
17 accept traditional origin ; for though the tradition may not Ije true, it might
18 have been, or it would never have arisen. Instances of fall in the social scale
19 are natm'ally more often rnet with than instances of rise, for he who has
20 sunk recalls with pride his ancestral origin, while he who has risen hastens to
21 forgt^t it.
22 ^ 337. The political and artificial basis of caste. — But before proceeding to
23 give specific instances of recent change of caste, I must adopt a somewhat
24 extended definition of occupation, and must take a somewhat wider
25 basis than that afforded by mere occupation, even so defined, as the foundation
26 of caste.
27 ■^ In India the occupation of the great mass of what may be called the
28 upper or yeoman classes is the same. Setting aside the priests and traders on i
29 the one hand and the artisans and menials on the other, we have left the great
30 body of agriculturists who constitute by far the larger portion of the
31 population. This great body of people subsists by husbandry and cattle-farm-
32 iug, and so far their occupation is one and the same. But they are also the
33 owners and occupiers of the land, the holders of more or less compact
34 tribal territories ; they are overlords as well as villains; and hence springs the
35 cardinal distinction between the occupation of ruling and the occupation of
36 being ruled. Where the actual calling of every-day life is the same, social
37 standing, which is all that caste means, depends very largely upon political
38 importance, whether present or belonging to the recent past. There is the
39 widest distinction between the dominant and the subject tribes; and a tribe
40 which has acquired political independence in one part of the countiy, will there
41 enjoy a position in the ranks of caste which is denied it in tracts where it
42 occupies a subordinate position. -*
43 Again, the features of the caste system which are peculiar to Brahmiuical
44 Hinduism, and which has already been alluded to, have operated to create a
45 curiously artificial standard of social rank. There are certain rules which
46 must be observed by all at the risk of sinking in the scale. They are, broadly
47 speaking, that widow marriage shall not be practised ; that niamages shall
48 be contracted only with those of equal or nearly equal standing ; that "
49 certain occupations shall be abstained from which are arbitrarily declared to be
50 impure, such as growing or selling vegetables, handicrafts in general, and
51 especially working or trading in leather and weaving ; that impure food
52 shall be avoided ; and that no communion shall be held with outcasts.