Gold, Sport, and Coffee Planting in Mysore: With chapters on coffee planting in Coorg, the Mysore representative assembly, the Indian congress, caste and the Indian silver question, being the 38 years' experiences of a Mysore planterElliot, Robert H. (Robert Henry)
History
Gold, Sport, and Coffee Planting in Mysore: With chapters on coffee planting in Coorg, the Mysore representative assembly, the Indian congress, caste and the Indian silver question, being the 38 years' experiences of a Mysore planter
Elliot, Robert H. (Robert Henry)
Caste -- India; Coffee; Karnataka (India) -- Description and travel; Karnataka (India) -- Politics and government
It would be impossible, I think, to furnish two better instances of the
evils of caste to people desirous of shaking off in any way the habits of
their forefathers; and a more melancholy picture than that of this
unfortunate man setting out with his dead child without a single friend
to accompany him it would indeed be difficult to find. Many other
illustrations might, of course, be given; but enough has been said
already, and we may safely consider it as a settled question that, as far
as the people of the towns are concerned, the sooner caste is abolished
the better.
I may here be permitted to remind the reader that we have considered the
effects of caste, as regards the country population, in two very important
particulars: first of all, as to the morality of the sexes, which is
controlled to such a large extent by caste law; and secondly, we have
looted at the effects of caste as controlling the use of alcohol, and
consequently limiting the crimes and evils that can in most countries be
traced to drinking. On both of these points we have compared an Indian
county with any county in Great Britain, and saw reason to think that
morality, as regards the points under consideration, is better in
Manjarabad than in any British county. And, by facts which may be brought
from many quarters of the globe, we have seen that it is a universal law
that inferior races have a tendency to adopt the vices rather than the
virtues of superior races, and that, therefore, caste laws which enjoin
social separation are of the highest value. We have seen, too, the value
of caste in keeping up feelings of superiority and self-respect. We have
also seen that these caste laws can exist without retarding the progress
of the people, or their desire for education. And, finally, taking all
these points into consideration, we concluded that there were no
drawbacks, and many striking advantages, connected with caste as far as
the country populations are concerned.
In the next place, we looked at the circumstances of the people of the
towns, inquired as to how caste has affected them for good or evil, and
came to the conclusion that not only does no good arise from caste, but
that it is plainly and unmistakably an unmitigated evil.
Keeping these conclusions firmly in mind, let us now advance to the
consideration of a third question, which naturally arises out of those
facts which I assume to have been established.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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