510 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, [July, 1907. 



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either a general meeting of the caste, or the decree of a committee of 

 elders, or of an hereditary headman, or the^ai of a spiritual teacher. 

 The existence and action of these authorities is practically ignored 

 hy our Government, as it was also by the Muhammadan kings for 

 the most part. But when we go back to the days of independent 

 Hindu rule, we find a very different state of things. In those 

 days, Indian society consisted of a hierarchy of castes, at the 

 head of which stood the Brahmans and the king, and the royal 

 authority was constantly called in to keep each caste to its proper 

 functions, and to prevent what the lawbooks technically call 

 Varnasankara or confusion of castes. In other words, the power 

 of the king was the ultimate sanction for the enforcement of caste 

 rules. Thus we find in the Vishnu Smyiti (^III. 1-3) : *' Now the dutie 

 '' of a king are to protect his people, and to keep the four 

 '' castes and the four orders in the practice of their several duties. 

 Likewise Vasishtha says (XIX. 7-8, Oldenberg's translation) : 

 " Let the king, paying attention to all the laws of countries (sub- 

 " divisions of) castes (joti) and families, make the four castes 

 {Varna) fulfil their (respective) particular duties. Let him 

 *^ punish those who stray from (the path of duty ) " ; and again 

 (lb. I. 39-41) : *' The three (lower) castes shall live according to 

 "the teachino^ of the Brahmana. The Brahmana shall declare 

 " their duties and the king shall govern them accordingly." So 

 "also Gautama says (VIII. 1. Oldenbeig's translation) : "A king 

 '* and a Brahmana deeply versed in the Vedas, these two uphold 

 " the moral order in the world" ; and again (lb. XI. 9-10) : "He 

 " (the king) shall protect the castes and orders in accordance with 

 "justice; and those who leave (the path of) duty, he shall lead 

 " back (to it) *' ; and also (lb. XI. 31) : " The advice of the spiri- 

 tual teacher and the punishment (inflicted by the king) gnard 

 "them." The passage last quoted has a close parallel in Manii (VII. 

 15, Bfihler's translation) who sajs : " Through fear of him (pun- 

 " ishment), all created beings, both the immovable and the movable 

 " allow themselves to be enjoyed and swerve not from their duties. 

 The parts allotted to the spiritual guide and to the kinor in the 

 enforcement of caste rules are explained by Apastamba [II. V. (10) 

 12 fE], who says that if those who have broken caste rules fail to 

 perform the penance prescribed by their spiritual guide, he shall 

 take them before the king. The king shall " send them to his 

 "domestic priest, who should be learned in the kw and the science 

 " of governing. He shall order (them to perform the proper penan- 

 " ces if they are) Brahmanas. He shall reduce them {to reason) by 

 " forcible means, excepting corporal punishment and servitude. 

 "In the case of (men of) other cj»stes, the kino:, after having ex- 

 "amined their actions, may punish them even by death." 



The natural result of this exercise of the royal jurisdiction in 

 caste questions would be the gradual establishment of a body of 

 caste customs ; and if a caste lived in an area so extensive as to be 

 subject to more than one political jurisdiction, it would tend to 

 split up into sections whose customs differed in detail, owing to the 

 divergent decisions of the kings to whom it was subject. Thus- 



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