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Census of India . . .
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Historical SummaryInternal migrations result in new castes, which may be lower or higher in rank than their antecedents. Usually the immigrant group is at a disadvantage, is obliged to marry opportunistically, and a low-rank subcaste is formed. But there are cases where low-caste immigrants gain superior status by misrepresenting their history. Thus a certain caste which reported itself in the census returns as Rajput is thought by Russell and Risley to be an immigrant branch of the
helot weavers and basket makers who perform a variety of servile functions for the organized Dravidian tribes and used to live in a kind of ghetto in the villages of the Kandhs (Khonds), for whom they purveyed children destined for human sacrifice. Mr. Russell observes that "though it is possible that the coincidence may be accidental, still there seems good reason to fear that it is from these humble beginnings that the Barwaik sect of Rajputs in Chanda must trace its extraction. And it is clear that before the days of railways and the half-anna post an inposture of this sort must have been practically impossible of detection." The conjecture seems a plausible one, and the fact that Baraik is a title actually in use among the Jadubansi Rajputs may have helped the Pans to establish their fictitious rank.1
The numerous religious sects are being transformed into castes—for example, the Jains, who are vegetarians, take no life, wear veils to avoid the danger of swallowing insects, abhor the word "cutting" because of its connotation of killing, and abandon a meal if the word is inadvertently mentioned. Converts to Christianity tend to form castes, higher and lower according to the Brahmanical code of purity, as determined, for example, by whether a Brahman will take water from them or not. If the young intellectuals of a caste feel rebellious they do not withdraw individually but form a caste, and thus preserve their corporate existence.
1Risleyn/an/an/an/an/an/a, , 528.
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Chicago: "Census of India . . .," Census of India . . . in Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, ed. Thomas, William I. (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1937), Original Sources, accessed May 11, 2025, http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=6GD4HUP5AJ4RKJ6.
MLA: . "Census of India . . ." Census of India . . ., in Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, edited by Thomas, William I., New York, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1937, Original Sources. 11 May. 2025. http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=6GD4HUP5AJ4RKJ6.
Harvard: , 'Census of India . . .' in Census of India . . .. cited in 1937, Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, ed. , McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York. Original Sources, retrieved 11 May 2025, from http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=6GD4HUP5AJ4RKJ6.
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