Page:The history of caste in India.pdf/36

 sense. The only uniting tie between these sharply differentiated bodies is a certain amount of common tradition, and common language for a number of them, and for all a common religion which consists in being disciples of the Brahmins.

There is a very strong feeling of caste-patriotism amongst all castes, even where patriotism in its larger sense exists. A Maratha Brahmin feels as strong a pride in being a Brahmin as he feels in being a Maratha; while in other parts of India a Brahmin feels pride in being a Brahmini, and in nothing else.

When I say that Hindu society is divided into so many castes it should not be understood that so many thousand castes have split out of one united body. A united body of people large enough to produce so many castes by subdivision never existed in India. Numerous tribes which were living in different parts of India existed as different units, and after the custom of endogamy was introduced they did not fuse, though scattered all over the country.

In Europe the tribes were as numerous as in India, but they have fused together, European nations and the white Americans might be compared to a chemical compound, while the people of India may be said to be a mechanical mixture, Reasons for this assertion will be evident from the history of caste later on.

But it should not be understood that castes are made only out of tribes. Originally united bodies were also divided into many castes. The principles of division were class, occupation, religious denomination or brotherhood, nationality, locality, allegiance to a trade-guild, schools of Vedic literature, and many others.