CHAPTER I
The standard authority on the Hindu literary theory of Caste is M. Emile Senart's Les Castes dans l'lnde. Paris. Ernest Leroux. 1896.
Probably the best succinct account of Caste is Mr E. A. Gait's article in Dr Hastings' Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics. This will, of course, be brought up to date in the forthcoming Report on the Indian Census of 1911.
Sir A. C. Lyall's Asiatic Studies. London. John Murray. Contains a sympathetic and learned account of Hindu social life and of the workings of Caste in Upper India.
M. C. Bouglé's Essai sur le Régime des Castes. Paris. Felix Alcan. 1908. Contains much interesting matter taken from many sources, but sometimes, from want of local knowledge, does not sufficiently discriminate between different developments of the caste system.
There is an enormous literature on the races, tribes, and castes of India, but references to the most important books will be found in the above authorities.
Chapter I is, in the main, a summary of Sir H. H. Risley's views as expressed in Chapter VI of Vol. I of the Imperial Gazetteer. That is inevitable, since the Gazetteer contains necessarily the most authoritative summary of what is known on the subject, pending the appearance of Mr Gait's forthcoming Census Report.