Page:The history of caste in India.pdf/97

 "jati" in a very comprehensive sense. For example he calls Brāhmana a jāti, and Shūdra a jāti. Thus, though many jātis together form one varna, the whole varna may be a jāti. This use clearly shows the fact, that the use of the word "jāti" to denote both smaller and larger groups prevailed at the period of our writer as it prevails now, and I suppose that this confusion existed at a period still more remote.

But what did he mean by the word "jāti." Jäti means the form of existence as it is determined by birth. Use of the word "jāti" in a sense very similar to this belongs to a much older date and can be traced in Vedic literature. In Nyaya and Vaishieshika philosophy it developed the meaning of "species." In popular usage Brāhmana was a jāti, Chandāla was a jāti, horse was a jāti, and man was a jāti.

Whether our writer used the word "varna" in that sense in which the Americans use the word "color," is a question which must be settled. Our writer used the words "ārya varna" and Shūdra varna" and if we really wish to understand him and not misunderstand him we should try to translate these words, not with