HISTORY OF CASTE.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
The Problem.— The mystery of caste is a hard problem for a foreigner to understand. I doubt whether a man who has not stayed a long time in India would be able to understand this problem even if he reads my book. Even the man who stays in India for a long time does not understand what caste is. He thinks that this strange people who are called Hindus must have some very peculiar constitution of mind which a stranger should not pretend to understand. Some feel that the unscrupulous priesthood have led their countrymen into this snare of folly to maintain their own supremacy.
Whatever may be the case, an Englishman says that caste in India is an interesting institution. It is quite natural that no other feeling than that of amusement should occur to the English mind. He can afford to laugh at the absurdities and contradictions in such an antiquated and complicated institution. The greater the folly in the institutions of the strangers, the greater is the enjoyment felt. The Englishman frames a nice little table-talk, with caste as his topic. An American missionary finds the subject very useful to induce his countrymen to subscribe money to save the souls of two hundred millions of people from heathenism.
