anations and
_Puranic_ legends concerning this subject, and endeavour to trace the
present system to its sources and primal causes through patient
historic research and through a most elaborate system of
anthropometric and ethnographic examinations conducted all over the
land. The subject, however, is so vast and complicated that
authorities upon the subject are still considerably at variance in
their theories of origin. We may conveniently classify the prevailing
theories, according to their emphasis, as follows:--

(_a_) _The Religious Theory._--This gives emphasis to the religious
influence as the dominant one in the formation of the social order of
the land. It is maintained that the clever and unscrupulous Brahman
has, to a large extent, originated it and nursed it into its present
wonderful proportions, in order to create and perpetuate his own
supremacy among the people of India. As the spiritual head of
Hinduism, and the recognized source of religious power among its
devotees, he required and devised this organization, with himself as
its undisputed head, and with a distinct recognition by all others of
his supremacy in the Hindu faith as a _conditio sine qua non_ of their
admission as castes into the Hindu system. Up to the present day, the
public acceptance of the supreme religious authority of the Brahman is
one of the two conditions which qualify any people to admission into
the sisterhood of Hindu castes. The other condition is separation from
all other peoples in matters which will be hereafter mentioned.

There are potent reasons for accepting this theory; for the strongly
entrenched position which religion still holds in the system, both as
a basis and as a regulator, notwithstanding other antagonizing
influences, is a testimony to its original place and power therein.
Any social order whose direction is regulated by social injunctions
and whose forms and ritual are enforced by religious penalties must be
recognized as a mighty religious system.

(_b_) _The Tribal Theory._--Moreover, there were many aboriginal
tribes which entered the ranks of Hinduism through the formation of
new castes. Mr. Risley, in the Census of 1901, refers to such. (See
Vol. I, p. 521). They gradually abandoned their old tribal customs and
entered upon new paths which brought them into conformity with Hindu
usages. Or in some cases they preserved tribal habits and even their
tribal _totems_, and baptized them into the new faith