Important as he is to the group, endogamy is still more important, and
the solution must assure both these ends. Under these circumstances he
may be forced, or I should say induced, after the manner of the widow,
to remain a widower for the rest of his life. This solution is not
altogether difficult, for without any compulsion some are so disposed as
to enjoy self-imposed celibacy, or even to take a further step of their
own accord and renounce the world and its joys. But, given human nature
as it is, this solution can hardly be expected to be realized. On the
other hand, as is very likely to be the case, if the _surplus man_
remains in the group as an active participator in group activities, he
is a danger to the morals of the group. Looked at from a different
point of view celibacy, though easy in cases where it succeeds, is not
so advantageous even then to the material prospects of the Caste. If he
observes genuine celibacy and renounces the world, he would not be a
menace to the preservation of Caste endogamy or Caste morals as he
undoubtedly would be if he remained a secular person. But as an ascetic
celibate he is as good as burned, so far as the material well-being of
his Caste is concerned. A Caste, in order that it may be large enough
to afford a vigorous communal life, must be maintained at a certain
numerical strength. But to hope for this and to proclaim celibacy is
the same as trying to cure atrophy by bleeding.
Imposing celibacy on the _surplus man_ in the group, therefore, fails
both theoretically and practically. It is in the interest of the Caste
to keep him as a _grahastha_ (one who raises a family), to use a
Sanskrit technical term. But the problem is to provide him with a wife
from within the Caste. At the outset this is not possible, for the
ruling ratio in a caste has to be one man to one woman and none can have
two chances of marriage, for in a Caste thoroughly self-enclosed there
are always just enough marriageable women to go round for the
marriageable men. Under these circumstances the _surplus man_ can be
provided with a wife only by recruiting a bride from the ranks of those
not yet marriageable in order to tie him down to the group. This is
certainly the best of the possible solutions in the case of the _surplus
man_. By this, he is kept within the Caste. By this means numerical
depletion through constant outflow is guarded against, and by this
endogamy and morals are preserved.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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