The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-08-09

its members are found everywhere
throughout the peninsula.
The fourth Md last caste was the
Sudra. condemned TO do the dirty
work of the community. 1t was the
serVile or slave class and such IL is to-
day. II sweeps the streets and does
the Scavenger work. have a Sudra
at my hotel to keep my room clean.
He Is so humble and servile that he
never looks up as he creeps about
busting the floor. He carries the wa
ter and does the work which the other
servants despise. Others Of the Sudras
are cowskinners and corps bearers
and some are employed as BARRIERS.
In addition there are thousands Of
subcastes, so that every one has his
place and his own special job.
The Power of Caste.
1t is impossible for q stranger to un-
derstand how the Hindus look at caste
matters. They accept their positions
IN society as a matter of religion. and
do not hope to alter ii. All castles are
hereditary. The son of a Rrahman is
bound to be a priest and the son of a
Sudra a Sudra- The poorest BrahInan
always considers himself at the top of
the heap. and he would spuru a mil
Honaire Of any lower class than his
own. What is more. the millionaire
would stay Spurned. was talking
the other day with one Of the chief
officers Of the british army in India
about this matter. Said he:
\ matter how rich or how power-
ful a native becomes. he cannot rise
above his caste. Take the Maharaiah
of GWalior, he is one ofthe richest Of
the native rulers. and vast sums flow
INTO his Golfers. He has q big country
to govern, and his subjects are mill
mons. Nevertheless. the poorest Brah-
man among them would not give him
ms daughter in marriage, and zen
ture the rajah would give al he had If
he could raise his caste. He would
pay untold fortunes to be made n
Brahman. but that cannot be bought.
We have other rajahs of such high
caste that the majority of their sub
Jects dare not come near them. ! an
not describe caste: it has existed for
ages and it is strong today
The Marriage OF B~rahnans.
me rules OF caste are strict rs to
marriage. and this is especially so as
to the BrahmanS. The daughter Of a
p~orh-packing millionaire could never
marry q duke in this country. The
Frahman thinks he condescends if he
looks upon a woman of a caste below
his and as a rule marriages are made
only in the caste and in the divisions
O. the castles to which one belongs.
This leads to the union Of cousins, and
the consequent degeneration of tho
race.
As to marriages, the code Of Manu-
- tSoio oSiSIidilH dS u llt StIbttiOt1
Of a wife by the twice-born. There
: are certain families which the Irah-
, mans must VOID no matter how rich
they may be. The code advises him
: to wed a female free from bodily de-
fects, one with small teeth ana soft
limbs, q moderate quantity of hair
. and the gait Of an elephant. Let him
beware of the maiden with reddish
hair or who has no hair at all or who
is sickly or ~red-eyed. He must marry
in his own caste, but not one If the
same family on the fathers side. Re
lation on the part of the mother does
not seem to matter.
The code of Manu- declares that a
SEdra woman alone can be the wife
Of a Sudra; in other words, a dish
washer must marry a dishWasher and
a slopcarrier a slopcarrier. 1t is the
same with the Vaisyas and the kshat-
ryas.
Some Caste PTciudiccS.
The laws also provide that only per-
sons of the same caste may eat TO-
!, gether. and for a person of one caste
to touch the food of another defi}es
it. / stopped today before an itincTant
s~weetmeat peddler and began to finger
some Of the candies OF his table. He
grew angry and told me to keep my
hands off, as the Hindus would not
buy anything a foreigner has touched.
4 This is especially so of the natives Of
the higher castles. In the jails Of India
the cook is always a Brahman, for
otherwise the prisoners of the lower
castles would not eat the food. | am
told ths-t prisoners have been logged
and have starved to death rather than
eat victuals cooked by a low-caste
man.
During my travels in the far east, [
have frequently been upon steamers
with Hindus of one grade or another.
Those of the higher castles carry their
cooks with them. They bring their
own water ON board and never come
to the general tables. When the Rajah
of Jeypore went to England not long
ago. he had a full retinue of servants
and his own kitchen, hich could be
entered by none but his own people.
The other day, in visiting q temple
Fl Iora ~ p6noraC T mot a Hindu wifi