Report on the Census of Cochin, 1891 A.D. - 1066 M.E. (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1893 Excerpt: ...four iiicttvrv caste system of Manu and its innumerable subsequent remifications had difference of occupation for their original basis; but, though their connection is still discernible among most classes of the community, "the lines of occupation and of caste no longer enclose identical spaces. The waves of innovation have not broken through the inner barriers, but they are sapping them and they have swept away many old hindrances to a free choice of occupation. The higher Sudra does not yet work in leather, nor are Brahmins frequently seen at the plough. Brahmins are still Priests and Clerks. But some of them are Sepoys, Police Constables, Cultivators, while educated Sudras compete with them in every literate employment. Kaikolars weave still, but their industry, long threatened, will soon be moribund and Kaikolars must live. In the Army and the Police there are many hundred Kaikolars There are more Idaiyars than cattle for them to tend, and these and other castes, invading the Vellala and the Vanniya, have driven the latter from their hereditary tillage to other toil. The Chetti is no longer the only merchant or shop-keeper. On the contrary, the potter and the fisherman turned trader merely add Chetti to their names." (Madras Census Report of 1881. p 104). Thus a classification based on occupation cannot prove satisfactory in these days, as it fails to show the distinctive position, which each caste occupies in the system. A glance at the Table will show that several of the castes are so jumbled together in groups as to shock the feelings of Orthodox Hindus. 243-It is, however, doubtful if any system of classification can bo adopted, . uniformly for all India, which will ensure better results. The Perhaps the only possible i j.., - n...