Page:The history of caste in India.pdf/133

 of a period when confusion of castes took place (ix, 67),but probably did not have any idea of such a condition. To see Brāhmanas and Shūdras mixed was something the very thought of which they abhorred.

The dharma writers wanted order in the society. If people who are meant for servitude be allowed to give it up, then there would be no servants left, and who then would perform their functions ? Shūdras will begin to rule, who are unfit to rule, and this social order would be completely destroyed. They quite thoroughly believed that castes and varna are natural things associated invariably with specific qualities. A Shūdra cannot be of noble quality; servitude is his nature. If there be any doubt regarding the varna of any individual it would at once be revealed by his nature or by actions which are due to his nature (x, 57).

But a question will be asked, "Why is it that one man should be compelled to be a servant all his life, and another man be a Brāhmana all his life, simply because his father was a servant or a Brāhmana ? This is sheer injustice."

Our writer would say "No!" for he firmly believed in the theory of Karma, three gunas, and transmigration of soul. All these three theories, as they applied them, justified the entire system. In the concluding chapter our author has given all those theories. There he says to the following effect:

By Karma (action) are caused the various conditions of men, the highest, the middling, and the lowest. In consequence of many sinful acts committed by one's body, voice, or mind, that individual in the next birth