do stoutly maintain, that nearly
all modern castes have been created by interbreeding. Those caste laws
of twenty-five centuries ago taught that the offspring of the union
of a woman of higher with a man of lower caste could belong to the
caste of neither parent, and therefore formed a new and a separate
caste. The names of castes thus formed are given with much detail in
Manu's works. But it does not require much wisdom for one to perceive
the absurdity of the working out of such a system, and the
impossibility connected with it as an adequate basis for the caste
organization of the present day. Yet interbreeding has doubtless been
an important element in the elaboration of the stupendous caste
organization. We have abundant illustration of this very process and
its results in modern times. Among the Dravidians, especially, there
are many castes which trace their origin to miscegenation. Among the
Munda tribe we find nine such divisions; also five among the Mahilis,
who themselves claim their descent from the union of a Munda with a
Santhal woman.

This will not be unexpected when it is remembered that endogamy is the
prime law of most Hindu castes; and this, too, in a land where
immorality and adultery are so prevalent. Other sources of Hindu
castes are mentioned. Some, like the Mahrattas, have behind them
national traditions, and a history to which they refer and of which
they are proud. Others, still, have, by migrating from the home of the
mother caste, severed their connection from the parent stock and have
formed a separate and independent caste.

It is unnecessary to state that not one of the above theories is
adequate to account for all the existing castes of the land. These
forces have entered, with varying degrees of efficiency, into their
structure,--one being dominant as a causal power in one, and another
in another. And yet it may be stated that of all these caste-producing
forces religion and occupation have had marked preeminence; and they
are more influential to-day than ever before.

II

We shall next consider the various Characteristics or Manifestations
of Caste. The system is a very flexible one; and yet its
characteristics are practically the same in all parts of the country.
Perhaps the best way to clearly describe these to a western reader is
to quote at length what we may call Mr. Risley's capital western
paraphrase of the system in _Blackwood's Magazine_, a decade ago. "Let
us," he writ