भारतीय इतिहास के ६ स्वर्णिम पृष्ठ (वीर सावरकर - विदेशी आक्रान्ताओं पर विजय गाथा)

The caste-system based on birth and Parentage and the National
Penalty of Ostracism
383. Much earlier than the Muslim invasions of India, i.e. just after the
Hindus conquered the Huns completely, hundreds of Hindu leaders tried on
all sides all over India to restore political, religious and social stability in
the society and the nation. The Hindu leadership of the time naturally
devolved on them rising warrior class of the Rajput royalty, who were
staunch devotees of the Vedic Hindu religion. In this very attempt at
reconstruction, the vast Hindu community was being moulded with
meticulous care into the framework of the parentage-dominated caste
system. Slowly but surely, this caste system became an inherent and
essential feature of Hinduism. Not only in the four former classes (वर्ण),
but in more or less four thousand castes, born out of those four classes and
many other accidental sources, sanctioned by the religious law, was the
whole Hindu community everlastingly and almost unanimously divided
internally. In a sense, the social transition of the Hindu nation was
occosioned by the historical neccesity of the time.
384. The main principle underlying this caste-system was this: Only he
who was born in a particular caste, could remain in it. To have food or to
drink even water with or from one of another caste was considered liable
for penalty. Is it any wonder then that the inter-caste marriages of boys and
girls were strictly prohibited? To these very religious practices of the time,
we have ascribed, in our various articles on the caste-system, the names
‘Lotabandi (prohibition of drinking water), Rotibandi (prohibition of food),
Betibandi (prevention of inter-caste marriages), Sparshbandi
(untouchability) and the ones that we are going to discuss hereafter viz.,
Shuddhibandi (prevention of purification of religious converts),
Sindhubandi (ban on sea voyage) etc. These seven ‘bandis’—or bans—
which arrested not only the progress of the Hindus but also impaired their
normal way of life were, in fact, seven fetters. These fetters were not
forcibly fastened to the feet of the Hindu nation by any Muslim, Christian
or other foreign power; they were so fastened by the Hindus themselves, in
their extreme anxiety for the protection of their religion. That is why we
have been calling them through spoken as well as written words not foreign
shackles, but as ‘seven native fetters’.
385. It is not necessary here in this book to discuss fully the caste-system
of the Hindus, nor is this the place for it. Those desirous of getting