ilson states, [1] is not of Indian origin,
but is derived from the Portuguese _casta_, signifying race, mould
or quality. The Indian word for caste is _jat_ or _jati_, which has
the original meaning of birth or production of a child, and hence
denotes good birth or lineage, respectability and rank. _Jatha_
means well-born. Thus _jat_ now signifies a caste, as every Hindu
is born into a caste, and his caste determines his social position
through life.

4. The meaning of the term 'Caste.'

The two main ideas denoted by a caste are a community or persons
following a common occupation, and a community whose members marry
only among themselves. A third distinctive feature is that the
members of a caste do not as a rule eat with outsiders with the
exception of other Hindu castes of a much higher social position
than their own. None of these will, however, serve as a definition
of a caste. In a number of castes the majority of members have
abandoned their traditional occupation and taken to others. Less
than a fifth of the Brahmans of the Central Provinces are performing
any priestly or religious functions, and the remaining four-fifths
are landholders or engaged in Government service as magistrates,
clerks of public offices, constables and orderlies, or in railway
service in different grades, or in the professions as barristers and
pleaders, doctors, engineers and so on. The Rajputs and Marathas
were originally soldiers, but only an infinitely small proportion
belong to the Indian Army, and the remainder are ruling chiefs,
landholders, cultivators, labourers or in the various grades of
Government service and the police. Of the Telis or oil-pressers
only 9 per cent are engaged in their traditional occupation, and
the remainder are landholders, cultivators and shopkeepers. Of
the Ahirs or graziers only 20 per cent tend and breed cattle. Only
12 per cent of the Chamars are supported by the tanning industry,
and so on. The Bahnas or cotton-cleaners have entirely lost their
occupation, as cotton is now cleaned in factories; they are cartmen
or cultivators, but retain their caste name and organisation. Since
the introduction of machine-made cloth has reduced the profits of
hand-loom weaving, large numbers of the weaving castes have been
reduced to manual labour as a means of subsistence. The abandonment
of the traditional occupation has become a most marked feature of
Hindu society as a result of the equal opportunity and