Theoretically, the distance between a Brāhmaṇa and a Paria is not different in kind írom the distance between a Brāhmaṇa and a Kāyastha.' Similarly the distance between a Brāhmaṇa and a.caste like that of carpenters or goldsmiths is not different in kind from the distance between a Brāhmaņa and a Christian or Mohamedan. All these are separated from each other only in a degree, and not in kind, The cause which keeps the different groups distant is the amount of purity or pollution which is supposed to be attached to each of the groups. According to Hindu notions, then, the whole world is a single community grouped in a hierarchy with the Brāhmanas at the head.
Why then should there be any line between Hindus on one hand and Christians and Mohamedans on the other ? The fact is that this line has not been drawn by the Hindus, but by the followers of Mohamedanism, Christianity, Zorastrianism, and Judaism. Religious opinion was not and is not a matter which would separate a man from his social group, or would admit a foreigner to any social group. Only when a number of persons who believe similarly form a sect with a separate social existence, and when that sect would make a convert a member socially, then only would a man who should join that sect be separated from his own social group ; that is, he would go out of his own caste, and would join that caste which would open its doors to him. Thus when a man becomes a Christian
drink water from their hands, though these Brāhmaṇas show an objection to drink water touched by such high castes as Kunbimaratha, Goldsmith, Kayastha Prabhu, and even Sarasvata Brāhmana. The reason for this attitude is merely this: the Jains, like the Brāhmaṇas of Maharashtra, abstain from the use of animal food, while the other high castes named above do not abstain from it.
