Page:The history of caste in India.pdf/130

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110
HISTORY OF CASTE.

fact different nationalities or tribes having pride and dignity. Such an acceptance hardly seems possible. To-day, if a Brāhmana is outcasted by his own caste-fellows, a caste which is lower in rank like Kayastha (clerk) or Sonar (goldsmith) will by no means receive him into its fold, at least in Mahārāshtra. This verse may mean if such a man is outcasted, he will marry any woman he can get of whatever caste she may be; and in that way he might beget a mixed progeny. But such would be the condition of those who would do the sins which cause loss of caste. I think this verse may simply be interpreted as a complement of the preceding verse and means nothing more than that the sins, like killing a horse, a donkey, a camel, or a deer, are sins which ought to degrade a man from his caste; but they are not so grave as those enumerated in the preceding verse, and they require less penance than those in the preceding verse.