It is one of the arguments in this book that the place of the Karāva caste in the changing system of caste stratification in Sri Lanka was of considerable importance for the social and economic advances secured by some of the Karāva. It follows that consideration should be paid to the system of caste interaction among the Sinhalese and the place of the Karāva within this structure (viewed morphologically) before the Karāva elite began to make its presence felt. Before taking up these insular details, however, readers will be introduced to the general principles of caste interaction in the Indian cultural region. In presenting this generalised description, the opportunity is taken to introduce concepts which will be referred to from time to time in the course of this book.

Caste in the Pan-Indian context

Caste is a social and cultural category. It is an identity, a label. But it is also more than that. As Edmund Leach has stressed, ‘a caste does not exist by itself. A caste can only be recognised in contrast to other castes with which its members are closely involved’ in a network of relationships. ‘These relationships extend to economic, religious and political spheres; only kinship is excluded.’

Caste is also a quality. ‘The quality resides in the blood. And blood is graded from very pure to extremely defiling.’ In Sinhalese society this is expressed in the concepts of pirisidu (pure) and hoňda (good) as opposed to apirisidu (impure) and naraka (bad). Those bearing the latter quality are, therefore, of low status – hīna or paha⃛ jāṫi. Such concepts embody the notion of a hierarchy.