Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924024153987).pdf/36

 XXVI

"INTRODUOTION.

Vaisya he immediately becomes a Vaisya himself, if with a Chamar a Chamar, with a Muhammadan a Muhammadan and if he were to sit at meals with an English officer he would become a Christian, even though his host were a pagan in belief and he Avas himself ignorant of the first doctrines of the faith, because the Hindu mind cannot conceive of any one being out of a •caste, and the Englishman, having been born in the caste of Christians, must remain a member of that caste, whatever faith he may adopt, until he forfeits it by the non-observance of caste rules. For the maintenance of his position it is not in the least necessary that a man should observe any of the a-



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higher laws of morality. Brahman may be virtuous or vicious like* the member of any other caste or any animal, but the soul that was born with him can only be affected in its nature by that essential contact with a member of some other caste which occasions a complete natural change. And it is not every kind of contact which conveys such a change. Brahman cohabits with a Chamdr woman he is polluted indeed, but he remains a Brahman and she a Chamar he smokes her pipe, and he immediately by the law of nature becomes a Chamar himself, and must seek a livelihood by cutting leather or tending horses. As a rule the prohibitions to which most importance is attached .are those which involve a constant watchfulness, but do not lay a strain on the stronger passions of humanity. The above is a mere sketch of an institution whose effects are of the highest consequence politically in a focus of Hindu life such as Oudh is. complete picture would require many modifications, but it has only been thought worth while here to dwell on the main lines as they affect the character of the people and their political future. One of the first results is the extraordinary stability given to the social system of which it is the foundation. man cannot rise in caste, and society is to a great extent secured from the convulsions with which individual ambition might threaten it. By friendly intercourse with any caste except his own a man must incur the penalty of separation from his own people and the loss of all that is dear to him. So men of one trade live entirely together they have no opportunity of learning another. An art can hardly be lost, and the worst misfortunes which can befall the society still leave it with all its component parts intact. The isolation of the different ranks makes it very difficult for any new impulse to run through all from the highest to the lowest, and change from within is almost an impossibility. The pride of race which is common to all humanity combines with the belief in caste to

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