me an inferior section
of the Bania caste. Other similar subcastes are the Ahir-Sunars or
herdsmen-goldsmiths, the Kayasth-Darzis or tailors, the Kori-Chamars
or weaver-tanners, the Gondi Lohars and Barhais, being Gonds who have
become carpenters and blacksmiths and been admitted to these castes;
the Mahar Mhalis or barbers, and so on.

7. Tests of what a caste is.

It would appear, then, that no precise definition of a caste can
well be formulated to meet all difficulties. In classification, each
doubtful case must be taken by itself, and it must be determined, on
the information available, whether any body of persons, consisting
of one or more endogamous groups, and distinguished by one or more
separate names, can be recognised as holding, either on account of its
traditional occupation or descent, such a distinctive position in the
social system, that it should be classified as a caste. But not even
the condition of endogamy can be accepted as of universal application;
for Vidurs, who are considered to be descended from Brahman fathers and
women of other castes, will, though marrying among themselves, still
receive the offspring of such mixed alliances into the community; in
the case of Gosains and Bairagis, who, from being religious orders,
have become castes, admission is obtained by initiation as well
as by birth, and the same is the case with several other orders;
some of the lower castes will freely admit outsiders; and in parts
of Chhattisgarh social ties are of the laxest description, and the
intermarriage of Gonds, Chamars and other low castes are by no means
infrequent. But notwithstanding these instances, the principle of
the restriction of marriage to members of the caste is so nearly
universal as to be capable of being adopted as a definition.

8. The four traditional castes.

The well-known traditional theory of caste is that the Aryans were
divided from the beginning of time into four castes: Brahmans or
priests, Kshatriyas or warriors, Vaishyas or merchants and cultivators,
and Sudras or menials and labourers, all of whom had a divine origin,
being born from the body of Brahma--the Brahmans from his mouth,
the Kshatriyas from his arms, the Vaishyas from his thighs, and the
Sudras from his feet. Intermarriage between the four castes was not
at first entirely prohibited, and a man of any of the three higher
ones, provided that for his first wife he took a woman of his own
caste, could su