marriage and conduct, and have consequently merged into barbarism, and caste among them is destroyed by indiscreet intermixture (fusion of varnas).
The caste system does not decide the position of the Hindus only; it decides the position of non-Hindus in society, e.g., the Mohammedans and Christians have a certain definite status according to Hindu social theory.
Caste is due to the occupation which a man's forefathers were in.
Nobody can raise his caste in the Kali age, the age of discord, while it was possible to do this in the good old Krita age, the age of virtue.
The precedence given to a caste is not given by man; it is absolute, and the order is supposed to be known and fixed, and it ought not to be otherwise.
Though no man can raise his caste, he can degrade it by neglect of the ceremonials or by connection with the "low and barbarous." In such case he may either degrade himself completely or hold an intermediate position.
As a man may lose his position in the caste, so a caste may lose its position in the society. Taking to low trades is one of the things which may cause such a degradation.
There are certain occupations considered higher than others. Among the occupations assigned to the people, the occupation of a writer is superior to that of a merchant; that of a goldsmith superior to that of a coppersmith, and so on.
Certain animals also have several degrees of status, varying from sacred and clean to unclean and foul. And
