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CHAPTER XI.
痴础搁峁喣赌艢搁础惭础顿贬础搁惭础.
(A) Castes, their Relations and Occupations.
The institution known variously as var峁嘺, j膩ti or
caste is peculiar to India and was of indigenous origin,
There is a difference of opinion among scholars as to
whether distinctions based on varma preceded those based
on j膩ti or vice versa. Mr. C. V. Vaidya holds that before
the Aryans settled in the Punjab there were two j膩tis, viz.,
the Br膩hma峁嘺s and the Ksatriyas, among them; those that
took to agriculture formed into Vai艣yas; then after the
Aryans settled in India and extended eastwards, the
aborigines who were black-coloured came into the social
system of the Aryans, and they were placed at the foot of
the system as S奴dras. Thus varna or colour came in after
jati, and was incorporated into the caste system, being
later taken as the characteristic of a j膩ti. Some, on the
contrary, hold that the Aryans had no distinctions when
they came to India, and the Aryas and Dasyus or the
D膩sas (non-Aryans) were the first distinctions based on
colour. The Aryans then formed themselves into three
different classes according to the natures of their works.
and included Dasyus or D膩sas among their structure as
the fourth class. Thus came into being the Caturvarnya
or the four-fold caste system in India. According to
Megasthenes, "No one is allowed to marry out of his own
caste or to exchange one profession or trade for another ".2
In other words, endogamy and rigidity as to particular
uties
or occupations were the two principal
characteristics of the caste system in India.
1 Upasa峁僪膩ra, pp. 171-172. 2 Fragment XXXIII, McCrindle's translation.