[416] At these sacrifices there is no elaborate ritual or suggestion of symbolism. The animal is beheaded and the inference is that Kâlî likes it. Similarly simple is the offering of coco-nuts to Kâlî. The worshipper gives a nut to the pujâri who splits it in two with an axe, spills the milk and hands back half the nut to the worshipper. This is the sort of primitive offering that might be made to an African fetish.
[417] See especially the Ambaṭṭha Sûtta (Dig. Nik. 3) and Rhys Davids's introduction.
[418] See Weber, Die Vajrasuchi and Nanjio, Catal. No. 1303. In Ceylon at the present day only members of the higher castes can become Bhikkhus.
[419] But it is said that in Southern India serious questions of caste are reported to the abbot of the Sringeri monastery for his decision.
[420] The modern Lingâyats demur to the statement that their founder rejected caste.
[421] So too in the cakras of the Śâktists all castes are equal during the performance of the ceremony.
[422] Some (Khandelwals, Dasa Srimalis and Palliwals) include both Jains and Vaishnavas: the Agarwals are mostly Vaishnavas but some of them are Jains and some worship Śiva and Kâlî. Jogendra Nath Bhattacharya, Hindu Castes and Sects, pp. 205 ff.
[423] The names used are not the same. The four Vedic castes are called Varṇa: the hundreds of modern castes are called Jâti.
[424] Sampradâya seems to be the ordinary Sanskrit word for sectarian doctrine. It means traditional teaching transmitted from one teacher to another.
[425] I am discussing elsewhere the possible debt which Christianity and Hinduism may owe to one another.