Los Angeles herald., 1909-07-17
THE EMPIRE OF INDIA
XTV-TYRANNY OF THE CASTE SYSTEM
By Frederic j. Haskin

hope of a rise in caste to any tribe or
caste which will abandon the remar-
riage of widows and which will insti-
tute the custom of infant marriage.
Hence whole sections of the country
where the twin enormities were not
known have adopted these terrible
practices within the last few years.
They have been rewarded by the Brah-
mans, who have moved the whole caste
up peg or two In the scale OF social
precedence.
There is reform movement among
the more highly educated followers of
the Hindu religion which deplores the
existence of caste and all its attendant
evils. But, queerly enough, that re-
form movement has now become a
caste by itself. More than hundred
great castles in India have been formed
i'm Just that way-by revolt against
the system. The reformers Were
Stunned by their fellows, were forced
to marry within their own circle and
in time became a new caste. Buddhism
was a reform movement in the Hindu
religion, but it refused to accept the
caste system, and hence was banished
entirely from the land which gave 1t
birth
The present race of Hindu reformers.
although they are already accounted
separate caste are loud in their denun-
Citations of the evils of the caste sys-
tenn. They declare that it has produced
disunion and discord that 1t has made
honest manual labor contemplate ana
therefore retarded industrial progress;
that it has brought on physical degen-
eracy by confining marriage TO a mar
row circle; that 1t has suppressed in
dividuality; and that, by affordlng op-
portunity of culture to only few Sc
lected people, 1t has caused the mental
degeneracy of the masses.
,.,,1as Of fba caste SVsten are as
numerous as the sands of the seas But
there is always a vein of practical
worldly wisdom in their constitution
which indicates that they are made or
the Brahman, by the Brahman, for the
Brahman. The noble twice born Is
polluted IL a mason or carpenter or
leather worker approaches within
twenty-four feet of his honorable per-
son. A maker of intoxicants pollutes
him at forty-eight feet, while man
who has committed the crownlng enor-
nifty of eating beef will pollute at
distance of siXty-four feet. Yet II any
of these unelean beings has money 20
nav to the twice born" the rule or
pollution is abrogated until after the
settlement.
The twice born" may not take water
from the hands of any but certain or
the selected castles, and food must
come from one of their own high rank
Rut this rule does not lnCluue colllSS-
TONERS. perfume venders, BARRIERS ana
betel nut sellers. Then, as crown
ing work of the practical code maker,
soda water. ice, patent medicines and
soda crackers are declared to be IN
capable of transmitting pollution.
Therefore the hungry and thlrsty
twice born" may permit anybody 10
serve him. But in all India there Is
no barber or laundryman who would
degrade himself by serving an outcast.
The preparation of food is a sacred
ceremonial for the twice born ana
for all but the lowest castes. II the
shadow of a person of lower caste falls
upon 1t, it must be thrown away ana
not eaten. If the shadow OF person
who eats beef falls upon 1t, not only
the food, but the vessels containing IL,
must be destroyed. 1t is curious that
these strict rules concerning cooked
food are still insisted upon, in spite or
the great latitude permitted the Bran
man in the use of cold drinks ana READY
made foods, as indicated by the list
of substances which will not transmit
pollution. ,,.,o.,
trade calling, upon which the origin or
the clan is based. The Brahmans are
all priests in theory. but many OF them
are cooks in the kitchens OF the de-
spised Christian. In one section or IN
dia only per cent or the BranmanS
engage in the priestly calling. There
Is a leather working caste, of which
only per cent work in leather Among
some OF the peculiar occupauonal
castles is that of the hail averters.'
village which employs one of this
caste will be protected from destruc-
tive hail storms. Naturally, the mem
bers of this caste stick to their calling.
More than fifty years ago the prisoners
in the jails of northern India were put
to work weaving carpets. The food
was good, the hours easy and there was
no danger of famine. So the sons OF
the iail weavers committed offenses
with the express purpose of getting
into iail. And now there is we'll de-
fined "jail caste" which gives the au-
thorities no little trouble.
At the present time the caste system
is the most formidable obstacle in the
path of the patriots, both Anglo-lndian
and native Indian, who are striving for
genuine reform in the Indian govern
ment 1t Is tyranny more cruel than
any despot could invent, and by dleaV-
ing to it the Hindus cut themselves or
from all hope of liberty.
TomorrOw-The Empire Of India. Ky
Christianity and Its Spread.