Los Angeles herald., 1909-07-17

81
M T&l industrial and partly tribal
the Hindu system of caste
III El is the most cruelty tyranni-
e6ozASN cal and absolutely powerful
form of discipline to which
human beings are subject. When
Hindu baby is born its status
in life is already fixed. He Knows
as soon as he knows anything
what occupation he will follow,
what food he will eat. what clothes
he will wear, what girl he will
marry, and how every detail of his
life will be ordered until death. OF
course there are numerous instances
of individual escape from the rules
thus laid down, but for all but the
thousandth man the 07,000,00O Hindus
of India came into the world with their
lives arranged and their rank or
dained.
The system Is so complex and intri-
cate that volumes are necessary to
explain it's workings in detail. There
are more than 2400 recognized castes'
and each one has it's distinguishing
and peculiar features. According TO
the Indian theory the whole system
had Nts beginning in the establishment
of four great castes-the Brahmans, or
priests; the Kshattriya, or WARRIORS
the Vaisya, or merchants and farmers
and the Sudra, or servants. The three
higher castles were called twice born,
and were originally Aryan stock. Their
race. pride and superior strength
caused them to put the aboriginal In
habitants in the lowest class of menial
| service.
The word caste" is from the Latin
through the Portuguese caste mean
! ing pure of race" and was apphed
first because of the fact that the Varl-
Gus classes Of Hindu society generally
forbid intermarrlage. The Hindu word
for caste means literally color ana
| it was along the color line that the
| first divisions in Hindu society were
marked out. Through countless ages
the process of evolving new castles
has blotted out the sharper distinc-
tions of color. but there are still ap-
parent gradations. The naughty
Brahman of Benares is proud OF his
| light yellow skin, not nearly so dark
as that of a Japanese. And the Parlan
of Southern India is in no wise proud
of his blackness, which is that of the
blackest African intensified. The
Brahman is at the top Of the system,
and 1t is he who benefits by its rigid
discipline. The Pariah is at the bot
tom. or almost at the bottom, for even
below this lowest caste there are out
cast people upon whom even the
Pariah looks down with ineffable scorn.
Caste is the keystone of Hindu so
Getty. India has never been unlted
under one government; 1t has never
had less than hundred different IAN
guages; it has never had common
religion: 1t has never had national
ideal. But it has always had caste,
and the system is as powerful in one
part of the country as in another, al
though the people may belong to diff
ferent races and speak entirely differ
ent tongues.
The influence of the railroad and
postal system upon caste Is one or the
most striking features of the indian
life of today. In one way the intro
duction of modern civilization has
served to break down the caste lines.
A Brahman has found that he may
ride in the same third-class railway
carriage with a Parah without being
any the worse for wear at the end OF
the journey. And the Pariah has
found that he has not been struck
dumb or carried off bodily to hell be-
cause of his daring approach to the
heavenly "twice-born' yellow man
and his sacred thread. Hindus of all
castles have learned that 1t is possible
to cross the "black water" as they
call the ocean, without great danger
That discovery has given rise to the
Hindu emigration prODlen. Inc SpIedu
of English education has tempered the
fanaticism of the high-caste Hindu,
and he sometimes will deign to sit at
table with his English lords and mas
ters. Some of the younger generation
will go so far as to eat the unclean
food prepared in the unholy Christian
kitchen, provided they are quite sure
no account of their transgression Will
reach the ears of the lower castles.
But among the uneducated the eff
feet of the cheap railway transporta-
tion, cheap postage and free education
has been to strengthen and buttress
the whole caste system. The Hindus
of scores of widely separated sections
of the country have been brought in
to communication for the first time in
history. The crafty Brahman has not
failed to take advantage of the op-
portunity
The strictest rules of caste have been
selected as a model and communities
living under standards of greater lax
ity have been brought up sharp with
threats of loss of caste. The British
government has been eXerting itself for
years to induce the Hindus to permit
the remarriage of widows But now the
Brahmans through their newspapers
and religious journals, hold out the
Whatsoever things are honest, whatso-