DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.31218#0222
CHAPTER XI
NEW CASTES, AND NEW INFORMATION ABOUT
OLD CASTES
In previous chapters there is ample proof that the
caste system is not rigid, but mutable,
/. Mutabiiity of an(I that its evolution is still proceeding :
caste new castes and subcastes come into
existence, old customs fall into abeyance.
One result of this is that no account of caste, however
complete and accurate it was at the time when it was
written, remains so for long. Such a book as Mr.
Crooke’s Tribes and Castes of the N.-W. P. and Oudh
requires periodical revision if it is to be kept up to date.1 2
This book is not an attempt to revise that great work :
indeed its plan is entirely different. None the less, it
will be useful to devote a chapter to the description of
new castes which were not in existence when Mr. Crooke
wrote, and to such fresh information about old castes as
has come to light since his time.3
It has already been stated that the average Indian,
whatever his religion or community,
2. lgnorance of knows little or nothing about anybody’s
indians about caste but his own. His knowledge of
caste his own caste is more extensive : but
even so, though he may know facts, he
is generally ignorant of principles, and also of the origin
and history of the caste itself. At the census of 1911 in
the United Provinces, there were 667 Hindu caste
entries, which on examination were reduced to something
under 300; and even of these a certain number wfere sub-
caste names which for various reasons3 could not be
1 The book was published in 1896 : it has not been revised since. It
is to be hoped that a revised edition will not rnuch longer be delayed.
2 Many of the facts given in this chapter have already been mentioned,
but as a rule only incidentally, by way of illustration of some discussion.
3 Usually because the same name was attached to subcastes in several
castes.
208
NEW CASTES, AND NEW INFORMATION ABOUT
OLD CASTES
In previous chapters there is ample proof that the
caste system is not rigid, but mutable,
/. Mutabiiity of an(I that its evolution is still proceeding :
caste new castes and subcastes come into
existence, old customs fall into abeyance.
One result of this is that no account of caste, however
complete and accurate it was at the time when it was
written, remains so for long. Such a book as Mr.
Crooke’s Tribes and Castes of the N.-W. P. and Oudh
requires periodical revision if it is to be kept up to date.1 2
This book is not an attempt to revise that great work :
indeed its plan is entirely different. None the less, it
will be useful to devote a chapter to the description of
new castes which were not in existence when Mr. Crooke
wrote, and to such fresh information about old castes as
has come to light since his time.3
It has already been stated that the average Indian,
whatever his religion or community,
2. lgnorance of knows little or nothing about anybody’s
indians about caste but his own. His knowledge of
caste his own caste is more extensive : but
even so, though he may know facts, he
is generally ignorant of principles, and also of the origin
and history of the caste itself. At the census of 1911 in
the United Provinces, there were 667 Hindu caste
entries, which on examination were reduced to something
under 300; and even of these a certain number wfere sub-
caste names which for various reasons3 could not be
1 The book was published in 1896 : it has not been revised since. It
is to be hoped that a revised edition will not rnuch longer be delayed.
2 Many of the facts given in this chapter have already been mentioned,
but as a rule only incidentally, by way of illustration of some discussion.
3 Usually because the same name was attached to subcastes in several
castes.
208