Part 40

CAST (from the verb meaning "to throw"; the word is Scand. in origin, cf. Dan. _kaste_, and Swed. _kasta_; "cast" in Middle Eng. took the place of the A.S. _weorpan_, cf. Ger. _werfen_), a throw, or that which is thrown, or that into which something is thrown. From these three meanings come the main uses of the word; for the throwing of dice, with the figurative sense of a chance or opportunity, as in "at the last cast"; for the throwing of a fisherman's line in fly-fishing; for hounds spreading out in search of a lost scent; or, with the further meaning of a twisted throw or turn, for a slight squint in the eye. "Cast" is applied to a measure of herrings or other fish, being the amount taken in two hands to be thrown into a vessel, and similarly to a potter's measure for a certain quantity of clay; in fishing, to the casting line of gut with fly attached; to the hard refuse thrown out of the crop of a bird of prey, and to the coils of earth thrown up by earth-worms. From the old method, in making calculations, of using counters, which were thus "thrown" up into a heap, is probably derived the meaning of "cast" for the "casting up" of figures in an account. Further, the word is found for a mould for the casting of metals, and more particularly for the copy of an original statue or relief taken from a mould; similarly, of fossils, for the mineral filling of the empty mould left by the organism. Special uses of the word are also found in the theatrical term for the assignment of particular parts to the actors and actresses in a play, and in the many figurative senses of a type or stamp, as of features or characters.

CASTAGNO, ANDREA DEL (1390-1457), Italian painter of the Florentine school, was born in 1390, probably at Castagno, in the district of Mugello, and died in August 1457. He imitated Masaccio and the naturalists of his time in boldness of attitude, but was deficient in grace and colouring. His name was for about four centuries burdened with the heinous charge of murder; it was said that he treacherously assassinated his colleague, Domenico Veneziano, in order to monopolize the then recent secret of oil painting as practised in Flanders by the Van Eycks. This charge has, however, been proved to be an untruth; Domenico died four years after Andrea. The latter is commonly called "Andrea (or Andreino) degl' Impiccati" (of the Hanged Men); this was in consequence of his being commissioned in 1435 to paint, in the Palazzo del Podesta in Florence, the fallen leaders of the Peruzzi and Albizzi--not (as currently said) the men of the Pazzi conspiracy, an event which did not occur until 1478, long after this painter's death. One of his principal works now extant (most of them have perished) is the equestrian figure of Nicola di Tolentino, in the cathedral of Florence.

CASTALIA, or FONS CASTALIUS, a celebrated fountain in Greece, now called the Fountain of St John, which rises in a chasm of Mount Parnassus, in the neighbourhood of Delphi. It was sacred to Apollo and the Muses, and its water was used in the religious purifications of the "Pythian Pilgrims." From its connexion with the Muses it is sometimes referred to by late Greek writers (e.g. Lucian, _Jup. Trag._ 30) and Latin poets (e.g. Ovid, _Am._ i. 15. 36) as a source of inspiration, and this has passed into a commonplace of modern literature. According to some authorities the nymph Castalia was the daughter of Achelous; according to others the water of the spring was derived from the Boeotian Cephissus.

CASTANETS (Fr. _castagnettes_, Ger. _Kastagnetten_, Span. _castanuelas_), instruments of percussion, introduced through the Moors by way of Spain into Europe from the East, used for marking the rhythm in dancing. Castanets, always used in pairs, one in each hand, consist of two pear or mussel-shaped bowls of hard wood, hinged together by a silk cord, the loop being passed over the thumb and first finger. The two halves are then struck against each other by the other fingers in single, double or triple beats, giving out series of hollow clicks of indefinite musical pitch. When intended for use in the orchestra the pair of castanets is mounted one at each end of a wooden stick about 8 in. long, which facilitates the playing. Castanets are also sometimes used in military bands and are then specially constructed. The two halves are kept open by a slight spring fixed to a frame attached to the hoop of a side drum, and the instrument is worked by the drummer with an ordinary drum-stick. An instance of the use of castanets in opera occurs in the Habanera in _Carmen_. A quaint description of _castinatts_ is given in Harleian MS. 2034 (f. 208) at the British Museum (before 1688) with a pencil sketch which tallies very well with the above. The MS. is by Randle Holme and forms part of the _Academy of Armoury_. Castanets ([Greek: krotala]) were used by the ancient Greeks, and also by the Romans (Lat. _crotalum, crotala_) to accompany the dances in the Dionysiac and Bacchanalian rites.

CASTE (through the Fr. from Span, and Port, _casta_, lineage, Lat. _castus_, pure). There are not many forms of social organization on a large scale to which the name "caste" has not been applied in a good or in a bad sense. Its Portuguese origin simply suggests the idea of family; but before the word came to be extensively used in modern European languages, it had been for some time identified with the Brahmanic division of Hindu society into classes. The corresponding Hindu word is _varna_, or colour, and the words _gati, kula, gotra, pravara_ and _karana_ are also used with different shades of meaning. Wherever, therefore, a writer has seen something which reminds him of any part of the extremely indeterminate notion, Indian caste, he has used the word, without regard to any particular age, race, locality or set of social institutions. Thus Palgrave[1] maintains that the colleges of operatives, which inscriptions prove to have existed in Britain during the Roman period, were practically castes, because by the Theodosian code the son was compelled to follow the father's employment, and marriage into a family involved adoption of the family employment. But these _collegia opificum_ seem to be just the forerunners of the voluntary associations for the regulation of industry and trade, the frith-gilds, and craft-gilds of later times, in which, no doubt, sons had great advantages as apprentices, but which admitted qualified strangers, and for which intermarriage was a matter of social feeling. The history of the formation of gilds shows, in fact, that they were really protests against the authoritative regulation of life from without and above. In the Saxon period, at any rate, there was nothing resembling caste in the strict sense. "The ceorl who had thriven so well as to have five hides of land rose to the rank of a thegn; his wergild became 1200 shillings; the value of his oath and the penalty of trespass against him increased in proportion; his descendants in the third generation became gesithcund. Nor was the character of the thriving defined; it might, so far as the terms of the custom went, be either purchase, or inheritance, or the receipt of royal bounty. The successful merchant might also thrive to thegn-right. The thegn himself might also rise to the rank, the estimation and status of an earl."[2] It has been said that early German history is, as regards this matter, in contrast with English, and that true castes are to be found in the military associations (_Genossenschaften_) which arose from the older class of Dienstmannen, and in which every member--page, squire or knight--must prove his knightly descent; the Bauernstand, or rural non-military population; the Burgerstand, or merchant-class. The ministry of the Catholic Church in the West, was, however, never restricted by blood relation. There is no doubt that at some time or other professions were in most countries hereditary. Thus Prescott[3] tells us that in Peru, notwithstanding the general rule that every man should make himself acquainted with the various arts, "there were certain individuals carefully trained to those occupations which minister to the wants of the more opulent classes. These occupations, like every other calling and office in Peru, always descended from father to son. The division of castes was in this particular as precise as that which existed in Hindustan or Egypt." Again, Zurita[4] says that in Mexico no one could carry on trade except by right of inheritance, or by public permission. The Fiji carpenters form a separate caste, and in the Tonga Islands all the trades, except tattoo-markers, barbers and club-carvers are hereditary,--the separate classes being named matabooles, mooas and tooas. Nothing is more natural than that a father should teach his son his handicraft, especially if there be no organized system of public instruction; it gives the father help at a cheap rate, it is the easiest introduction to life for the son, and the custom or reputation of the father as a craftsman is often the most important legacy he has to leave. The value of transmitted skill in the simple crafts was very great; and what was once universal in communities still survives in outlying portions of communities which have not been brought within the general market of exchange. But so long as this process remains natural, there can be no question of caste, which implies that the adoption of a new profession is not merely unusual, but wrong and punishable. Then, the word caste has been applied to sacred corporations. A family or a tribe is consecrated to the service of a particular altar, or all the altars of a particular god. Or a semi-sacred class, such as the Brehons or the Bards, is formed, and these, and perhaps some specially dignified professions, become hereditary, the others remaining free. Thus in Peru, the priests of the Sun at Cuzco transmitted their office to their sons; so did the Quipu-camayoc, or public registrars, and the _amantas_ and _haravecs_, the learned men and singers.[5] In many countries political considerations, or distinctions of race, have prevented intermarriage between classes. Take, for example, the patricians and the plebeians at Rome, or the [Greek: Spartiatai, Lakones] or [Greek: perioikoi], and the [Greek: Heilotes] at Sparta. In Guatemala it was the law that if any noble married a plebeian woman he should be degraded to the caste of _mazequal_, or plebeian, and be subject to the duties and services imposed on that class, and that the bulk of his estate should be sequestered to the king.[6] In Madagascar marriage is strictly forbidden between the four classes of Nobles, Hovas, Zarahovas and Andevos,--the lowest of whom, however, are apparently mere slaves. In a sense slavery might be called the lowest of castes, because in most of its forms it does permit some small customary rights to the slave. In a sense, too, the survival in European royalty of the idea of "equality of birth" (_Ebenburtigkeit_) is that of a caste conception, and the marriage of one of the members of a European royal family with a person not of royal blood might be described as an infraction of caste rule.

Caste in India is a question of more than historical interest. It is the great obstacle to government in accordance with modern ideas, and to the work of native religious reformers as well as of Christian missionaries. By some writers caste has been regarded as the great safeguard of social tranquillity, and therefore as the indispensable condition of the progress in certain arts and industries which the Hindus have made. Others, such as James Mill, have denounced it as fatal to the principle of free competition and opposed to individual happiness. The latter view assumes a state of facts which was denied by Colebrooke, one of the highest authorities on Indian matters. Writing in 1798 he says,[7] after pointing out that any person unable to earn a subsistence by the exercise of his profession may follow the trade of a lower caste or even of a higher: "Daily observation shows even Brahmans exercising the menial profession of a Sudra. We are aware that every caste forms itself into clubs or lodges, consisting of the several individuals of that caste residing within a small distance, and that these clubs or lodges govern themselves by particular rules or customs or by-laws. But though some restrictions and limitations, not founded on religious prejudices, are found among their by-laws, it may be received as a general maxim that the occupation appointed for each tribe is entitled merely to a preference. Every profession, with few exceptions, is open to every description of persons; and the discouragement arising from religious prejudices is not greater than what exists in Great Britain from the effects of municipal and corporation laws. In Bengal the numbers of people actually willing to apply to any particular occupation are sufficient for the unlimited extension of any manufacture." This was corroborated by Elphinstone,[8] who states that, during a long experience of India, he never heard of a single case of degradation from caste; and it is illustrated by the experience of the Indian army, in which men of all castes unite.[9]

The ordinary notion of modern caste is that it involves certain restrictions on marriage, on profession, and on social intercourse, especially that implied in eating and drinking together. How far intermarriage is permitted, what are the effects of a marriage permitted but looked on as irregular, what are the penalties of a marriage forbidden, whether the rules protecting trades and occupations are in effect more than a kind of unionism grown inveterate through custom, by what means caste is lost, and in what circumstances it may be regained,--these are questions on which very little real or definite knowledge exists. Sir H. Risley regards the absolute prohibition of mixed marriages as now the essential and most prominent characteristic. It is very remarkable that the Vedas, on which the whole structure of Brahmanic faith and morals professes to rest, give no countenance to the later regulations of caste. The only passage bearing on the subject is in the Purusha Sukta, the 90th Hymn of the 10th Book of the Rigveda Samhita. "When they divided man, how many did they make him? What was his mouth? what his arms? what are called his thighs and feet? The Brahmana was his mouth, the Raganya was made his arms, the Vaisya became his thighs, the Sudra was born from his feet." Martin Haug finds in this a subtle allegory that the Brahmans were teachers, the Kshatriyas the warriors of mankind. But this is opposed to the simple and direct language of the Vedic hymns, and to the fact that in the accounts of creation there the origin of many things besides classes of men is attributed in the same fanciful manner to parts of the divine person. It is in the Puranas and the Laws of Manu, neither of which claims direct inspiration, where they differ from the letter of the Veda, that the texts are to be found on which all that is objectionable in caste has been based. Even in the Vishnu Purana, however, the legend of caste speaks of the four classes as being at first "perfectly inclined to conduct springing from religious faith." It is not till after the whole human race has fallen into sin that separate social duties are assigned to the classes. The same hymn speaks of the evolution of qualities of Brahma. Sattva, or goodness, sprang from the mouth of Brahma; Rajas, or passion, came from his breast; Tamas, or darkness, from his thighs; others he created from his feet. For each one of these gunas, or primitive differences of quality, a thousand couples, male and female, have been created, to which the distinct heavens, or places of perfection of Prajapati, Indra, Maruts and Gandharvas are assigned. To the gunas are related the yugas, or ages: 1st, the Krita, or glorious age of truth and piety, in which apparently no distinctions, at least no grades of excellence were known; 2nd, the Treta, or period of knowledge; 3rd, the Dvapara, or period of sacrifice; 4th, the Kali, or period of darkness. Bunsen supposes there may be an historical element in the legend that Pururava, a great conqueror of the Treta age, founded caste. The yugas are hardly periods of historical chronology, but there is no doubt that the Vayu Purana assigns the definite origin of caste to the Treta period. "The perfect beings of the first age, some tranquil, some fiery, some active and some distressed, were again born in the Treta, as Brahmans, &c., governed by the good and bad actions performed in former births." The same hymn proceeds to explain that the first arrangement did not work well, and that a second was made, by which force, criminal justice and war were declared to be the business of the Kshatriyas; officiating at sacrifices, sacred study and the receipt of presents to belong to the Brahmans; traffic, cattle and agriculture to the Vaisyas; the mechanical arts and service to the Sudras. The Ramayana hymn suggests that in the four great periods the castes successively arrive at the state of _dharma_ or righteousness. Thus, a Sudra cannot, even by the most rigorous self-mortification, become righteous in the period proper to the salvation of the Vaisyas. As the hymn speaks in the Dvapara age, it speaks of the salvation of Sudras as future, and not yet possible. Wholly in opposition to the story of a fourfold birth from Brahma is the legend that the castes sprang from Manu himself, who is removed by several generations of gods and demi-gods from Brahma. Then, again, the Santiparvan alleges that the world, at first entirely Brahmanic, was separated into castes merely by the evil works of man. Castehood consists in the exercise of certain virtues or vices. _Munis_, or persons born indiscriminately, frequently rise to the caste of Brahmans, and the offspring of Brahmans sink to a lower level. The serpent observes: "If a man is regarded by you as being a Brahman only in consequence of his conduct, then birth is vain, until action is shown." But this change of caste takes place only through a second, birth, and not during the life which is spent in virtue. Another poetical conception of caste birth is expressed in the Harivamsa. The Brahmans were formed from an imperishable element (Akshara), the Kshatriyas from a perishable element (Kshara), the Vaisyas from alteration, and the Sudras from a modification of smoke.