ABSTRACT
CASTE IN THE PURANAS 45 unceasing obligation as the Hindus are to respect its usages,. new and strange customs are things unheard of in their country. Any person who attempted to introduce such innovations would excite universal resentment and opposition, and would be branded as a dangerous person. The
46 ANTIQUITY OF CASTE CEREMONIES task, however, would be such a difficult one that I can
. hardly believe that any proposal of the kind would ever enter an intelligent person's head. Everything is always done in exactly the same way; even the minutest details are invested with a solemn importance of their own, because a Hindu is convinced that it is only by paying rigorous attention to small details that more momentous concerns are safeguarded. Indeed, there is not anot,her nation on earth which can pride itself on having so long preserved intact its social customs and regulations.
