ABSTRACT
WE have seen in the last Book that the great Aryan population of India (except priests and kings) was still a united body in the Buddhist Period, and had not yet been disunited into the profession-castes of modern times. The tendency to disintegration was greater in the Puranic Period, and we have frequent allusions to different professions distinctly marked off from each other. But nevertheless an impartial examination of the evidence available will convince a candid reader that the profession-castes of the modern times were not completely formed even in the Puranic Period, and that the body of the people was still one united caste,—the Vaisya,-—engaged in various professions. The complete disintegration of the nation into numerous and distinct profession-castes was subsequent to the Moslem conquest of India and the national death of the Hindus.
