The theory of purity and pollution would require a whole volume to treat at length; but what I have already said will enable the reader to understand the justice of some of the rules which can be inferred, in order to understand the status of the caste. The rules are as follows:
(a) Where a certain caste cannot eat food cooked by another caste, while the latter permits food to be eaten which was cooked by the first caste, then the first caste is superior to the second.
(b) If a Brahmin or other high-caste Hindu keeps more connection with one caste than another, then the former is superior to the latter. For example:
i. If a Brahmin accepts water from another caste, that caste is considered as clean in Bengal.
ii. If he accepts food cooked in oil, then the caste is better.
iii. If he accepts food cooked in water, then the caste is still better.
(c) The amount of pollution that a caste carries with it makes the caste low or high. If a caste pollutes some substances, but not the rest, that caste is better than one which pollutes all substances. All three classes of castes stated under (b) are clean castes, which do not pollute water; but below them are castes who pollute water, and below them there are the following castes in the descending order of status:
i. Castes which pollute an earthen vessel.
ii. Castes which pollute a brass vessel.
iii. Castes which pollute the courtyard of the temple if they enter.
iv. The castes which pollute the town if they live in it, and are consequently required to live outside.
