Excommunication by caste is nearly as severe as death as a sanction

Evidence

10 Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee was amongst the founders of the Indian National Congress and became its first president. As a lawyer, he divided his life between England and Calcutta, and on retirement settled in Croydon, England. See the account of his daughter Janaki Agnes Penelope Majumdar (2003). While studying in England, in 1865, Bonnerjee wrote in a letter to his uncle: “I have discarded all ideas of caste, I have come to hate all the demoralising practices of our countrymen and I write this letter an entirely altered man” (Kumar 1989, 48). Since he had ‘lost caste’ by crossing the seas, Bonnerjee was regarded an outcaste by his family. He set up a separate household refusing to undergo penance, and renounced Hindu customs. He brought his wife out of purdah, made her eat beef and wear English clothes, and sent his children to England for education (Majumdar 2003). — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 1037 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Forced ingestion of excreta is an established caste punishment tactic; Crossing the seas caused loss of caste requiring penance — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 1037; Hindu society trapped each person permanently in their birth caste (+1 more)

Related

• Crossing the seas caused loss of caste requiring penance (similarity 0.91)
• Secular and priestly Brahmins form one caste and defend each other (similarity 0.83)

Broader Connections

• Crossing the seas caused loss of caste requiring penance #exemplifies (0.80) — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 1037
• Prayaschitta is penance ritual purifying one who broke caste taboos. #expands (0.75)
• Hindu society trapped each person permanently in their birth caste #qualifies (0.55)