Page:The history of caste in India.pdf/96



We now come to the subject-matter, the treatment of caste in Manava dharma shāstra. Before giving the detailed precepts regarding different castes it is important to make every effort to understand the sense of the various terms which the writer used and which are supposed to have a bearing on caste. We should also take notice of certain theories about caste which the writer believed in and without proper knowledge of which, his detailed instructions would be unintelligible. In particular we must understand the two words varna and jāti. Our author emphatically says that there are only four varnas and there is no fifth varna (x, 4) while he admits over fifty jātis. Thus he uses varna as a comprehensive term which included several jātis. Varna according to him are four divisions into which these castes are grouped. But he often uses the word