Most of our fellow students in this Seminar, which concerns itself with Primitive versus Modern Society, have ably acquitted themselves along these lines by giving lucid expositions of the various institutions, modern or primitive, in which they are interested. It is my turn now, this evening, to entertain you, as best I can, with a paper on “Castes in India: their mechanism, genesis and development.” I need hardly remind you of the complexity of the subject I intend to handle. Subtler minds and