fallen into the hands of "casteless barbarians," and only formal precedence has remained.
The ways in which this precedence is manifested are worthy of notice, especially because, if we want to understand de facto and not de jure precedence, these ways are the only means to understand it.
How is the precedence manifested? As Brahmin is at the head of society holiness is the standard. A caste is pure or impure as much as it is high or low. This purity is not the outside purity, which is apparent to the "bodily eye," but it is some mystic, innate purity. If the pure and impure are brought together, the pure become impure. For this reason the holy and pure castes should keep as little connection with impure castes as possible. The purer the substance, the more easily it is soiled. So a caste should define its relation with another caste, in so far as the latter is pure or impure.
It should be remembered that there is a wide range of substances which are polluted by the touch of low castes. The higher caste may not take them when polluted. What substances are pure and what are impure, what substances are easily polluted and what are not, depends on the local customs. In the Maratha country, a Brahmin will regard water touched by any other caste but his own as polluted. In Gujarath and Bengal, a Brahmin may take water touched by a Shūdra. In the Maratha country, it is only the touch of the lower castes which pollutes food. But soldiers from many northern castes are known to throw away their food simply because the shadow of an English officer falls on it. The pretensions of Madras Brahmins go farther than that: their food is polluted if a man of low caste looks at it.
