Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-09-13

| caStes to each other are as much q
matter of religious observance as the
rules for their internal regulation. The
| Brahmans are the highest admittedly
and undoubtedly superior to all the
rest. After them come those who are
acknowledged to he twice born. The
less honored follow in n graduated de-
scent until the untouchable and un-
speakablc are reached at the lowest
depth.
1t may be urged that the separation
| between the Brahman and, let us say,
the Kurmi market gardener is no wider
| than that between the peer of the
! United Kingdom and the coal miner
| There is this essential difference-that
| 1t is impossible for an Indian to
change his caste. The coal miner may
be elected to parliament, may become
a cabinet minister and If he can make
money enough may marry his son to q
dukes daughter
The Kurmi must remain a Kurmi.
All the wealth Of Croesus will not en-
able him to make an alliance with a
Brahman family or to touch a Brah-
mans hand. The members Of caste
may and in some cases do raise them
selves III the sight Of other castles by
adopting more elaborate ceremonies
and more scrupulous observances.
A half civilized Gond, for example,
may find himself brought into contact
with Hindus as the plow encroaches
on the forest. He tries to raise his pO-
sition and add to his self-respect by
| adopting the eXclusiveness of his Hin
du neighbors. He will even outdo
them il he can, and il the Hindu Is
scrupulous about his food the convert
will wash the very wood with which
his dinner Is cooked.
No endeavors of this kind, however
will avail to lessen by a hairs breadth
the distance between him and the
caste Hindu or even to induce the
Hindu barber to look upon him as a
client whose chin he may shave and
whose toe nails he may pare without
degradation.
Another point connected with caste
which has a very practical bearing
and must be taken into account Is the
power Of coercion which it gives to the
brotherhood. If a man is eXcommuni-
Gated by his caste fellows nobody in
the caste will marry him or will ac-
cept water from his hands or will eat
with him.
If he is married his wife will not
touch him or speak to him. He is
dead to his family. The priest will not
perform ceremonies for him. The VIII
lage barber will not shave him, and
the washerwoman will not wash his
clothes These are the methods Of
bringing pressure on the man. The
strctest boycott which Irishmen have
invented is mild compared to the final
sentence of caste punchayat.
A system like this is a stern fact
which has to be faced. There Is not
police case or a civil case or trial at
the sessions, there is hardly an ap-
whatever degree, in which the matter
of caste has not to be considered. 1t
forces itself into every assessment of
land revenue, into every adjudication
of rent. 1t affects the administration
Of justice, the proceedings Of munich
pal and district councils.
The influence and power Of the
Brahman and the idea that he is
above the law and is not to be pun
ished as other people. are still alive,
although a century Of British justice
has done something toward eradicat-
ing them. On the other hand, the sug-
gestion that a man of lower caste
might rise to an equality or nearer to
an equality with members of caste
above him is unthinkable. Where the
low caste men are, there they must
remain. If they behave themselves it
will be made up to them in future
existence.-London Spectator.