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CASTE IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE

The final stage in the evolution of caste seems to have
been reached between the death of Harsha
6. The finai of Thanesar in 650 a.d. and the end of
the twelfth century. This was one of
the darkest periods of Indian history,
when the country was broken up into many petty king-
doms and states, that were constantly at war with each
other and with what was left of the aboriginal and foreign
tribes. Distances were, as always, great, communications
were bad, travelling was unsafe : each state was compelled
to be self-supporting, and so were evolved the numerous
local subdivisions of widespread castes. And because no
man dared go far afield in search of a bride or of cus-
tomers, these iocal groups became perforce endogamous,
and the custom of hereditary function was strengthened.
Nor did the advent of the Muhammadan power ameliorate
the situation, till the strong rule of Akbar and his succes-
sors brought comparative peace to the people. But
after Aurangzeb’s death, disorder broke out again, and
only came to an end, in this province, with Lord Lake’s
victories in 1803. Caste law, therefore, has been fixed
for the last seven centuries at least. There have been
many internal changes since that time. The process of
segmentation has never stopped, and still goes on; as
groups, for this reason or that, have risen or fallen in
the social scale, they have separated from the parent caste
and become endogamous. But all these changes have
taken place within the caste system, in obedience to caste
law. And though there have been minor modifications
in that law under the influence of modern conditions,
yet in all essential matters the caste system is still what
it was seven centuries ago.

For the past thirty years there has been manifest
among the better-educated classes of the
7. Educated community a certain feeling of resent-

opposition to ment against the trammels of the caste
system, which has grown stronger with
the progress of education, and has ied
on occasion to acts of open rebellion. Many Hindus,
especially if they have received a part of their education

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