by final irrevocable exclusion from the group."[1] All that may be said in favor of the above cited words is that they are not a bad description of a caste, though the use of some of the principal words, like "close corporation," might be questioned. Again, all castes do not have councils.
Nesfield defines a caste as "a class of the community which disowns any connection with any other class and can neither intermarry nor eat nor drink with any but persons of their own community." Here Nesfield has given only one essential of a caste.
Sir H. Risley defines a caste as follows: "A caste may be defined as a collection of families or groups of families bearing a common name which usually denotes or is associated with specific occupation, claiming common descent from a mythical ancestor, human or divine, professing to follow the same professional callings and are regarded by those who are competent to give an opinion as forming a single homogeneous community."
There are some statements farther on which may be regarded as a part of his definition of a caste, and which may be summarized as follows: A caste is almost invariably endogamous in the sense that a member of a large circle denoted by a common name may not marry outside the circle; but within the circle there are smaller circles, each of which is also endogamous. What I have said about the definition of Senart may be said about this definition.
- ↑ Report of the census of India for 1901, vol. 1. To my knowledge Senart in his book, Les Castes dans l'Inde, published at Paris, has brought for the first time to the attention of the European world the fact that a caste and a varna are not identical.
