Caste in India

Abstract

THIS very important contribution to the study of caste consists of 174 folio pages of typescript, of which the last 85 constitute the bibliography proper, the first 89 constituting introductory matter, including an eassy on Some Aspects of Hindu Caste" which is perhaps more important even than the bibliography, and that in spite of a number of errors and omissions. FOr example, it is stated (p. 25) that there is no alphabetical index for the castes of Bombay on the lines laid down in the 1901 census, but Enthoven's (1920) "Tribes and Castes of Bombay" (No. 99 in the bibliography) was the outcome of the work of compilation started in 1901 ; meanwhile, the Baroda State issued in 1912 a glossary of "Castes, Tribes and Races in the Baroda State", compiled by G. H. Desai, which covers the bulk of the castes to be found in the Bombay Province, but does not seem to appear in the bibliography. In any event, the author does not seem to appreciate the extreme difficulty of preparing an accurate return of caste from people of whom a considerable proportion have a definite interest in misrepresenting their real status. Again, castes scarcely ever claim an origin in a common ancestor; to describe pravara as an extension of the lineage is in a sense correct but very inadequate ; 'caste-marks' painted on the forehead refer not to the caste of the individual wearing them but to his religious sect; the comparison with the United States and the interpretation of the rigidity of caste distinctions as based on the colour bar in India are extremely doubtful, as is the fanciful identification of different varna with different races. The Aryan-speaking invaders contained Kshatriya, Brahman and Vaishya within their Own ranks, though they doubtless recruited from indigenous invaders and incorporated later ones like the Scythians and Huns. An inadequate knowledge of India is glaringly betrayed by a writer who speaks of the monsoon as falling in the winter to the east of Benares and prevailing in the summer to the west of that town.

Caste in India

A Bibliography. Compiled by William H. Gilbert. Pp. 174. (Washington, D.C. : Government Printing office, 1948.)