170 Journ. of the Asiat. Soc. of Bengal. {May & June, 1915. 
to the old names of recognized subdivisions. 
ne of the important questions that are required to be 
answered relates to the origin of castes. How or why a parti- 
cular caste arose, or why distinctions which are merely social 
or transient in all the other countries of the world became 
stereotyped and unalterable in India, is a large question which 
an ethnographist who is concerned more with facts and beliefs 
than with theories, can hardly be expected to answer. But 
the answers generally elicited in the course of such investiga- 
tion are sufficiently curious to deserve a passing notice. There 
is hardly a caste that if it does not claim direct divine descent, 
is satisfied without some divine intervention at its birth. 
When the Lord of the Universe found it necessary to light the 
and commissioned it to provide oil to theinhabitants. Another 
caste sprung out of a sacrificial fire to provide bangles and 
other articles of feminine adornment, to satisfy the longings of 
a divine lady. The need to clothe mankind brought another 
caste; and the wish of the gods for exhilarating drinks gavé 
rise to another, of which the fall into this mundane sphere was 
caused by the sin of covetousness, as the members took t0 
claim to be connected with a Rishi at their origin, and say 
that their low state is due to the partiality of their progenitor 
or beef. The caste of barbers was born from the eye of Siva, 
uch accounts of fanciful origin merely point to a com 
Me grr or to distinguish their tribal or local origin from that 
the general population of the province in which they d 
emselves, There are indeed stories which are even moje 
was originally not indigenous. Thus the Dombar caste cam? 
t or Vaisyas from Ayodhye — 
in Northern India; and Kadugollas from he. neighbourhood of 
