Page:An Essay On Hinduism.pdf/155

Caste system is an inevitable condition of a society in which there are a number of endogamous tribes occupying the same territory, and which tribes as a natural result of their endogamy become grouped in a hierarchy.

When many tribes are subordinated to one political power; and where the political power does not reduce the various tribes; speaking many languages and following various religions; to the condition of a social unit, then the society so constructed may be called an empire.

Sometimes the ruling tribe in an empire becomes less exclusive, then the ruling tribe may become a hereditary class.

But when the various tribes are reduced to a uniformity and become one tribe, then they may be considered as a perfectly integrated body.

In biology the term integration is applied to a process by which the manifold is compacted into relatively simple and permanent? In sociology the word may be used in the same sense. This term does not in fact belong to any particular science; but to the evolutionary philosophy in general. In social development the function of integration means simply the creation of one uniform tribe out of the federation of several tribes. Various tribes may have various languages, cultures, habits and manners, and to integrate them means to unify them. This integration is aided by a number of factors.

Political conquests and federations, propaganda of religions, development of a larger social consciousness, production of a similarity of civilization by intercourse; intermarriage between races and classes, unified language, economic adjustment among tribes, races and nations – all these promote social integration. It is impossible