How the system worked ?- 6

...This provision gave authority to caste. Therefore it was not voluntary to follow the rules of caste but it was mandatory. Any recalcitrant person defying the rules of his caste or Varna could have been easily made an outcaste. It maintained the purity of caste and society. The people who dared to defy the Varna dharma were thrown out of the villages. And there was no appeal against it. The man who lost his property due to becoming an outcaste could not appeal to king for restoration of his property. As far he was concerned the decision of his caste was final. As we have already said that the Hindu society was characterized by multiple power centers. It was one of the reasons for the sustainability of caste system because at least the local caste authority was always there to regulate the caste conduct of a man. The absence of king hardly mattered in caste matters.

All the doors of society were closed for an outcaste. His social privileges and duties were taken away from. He was barred from communicating with the people. The village caste council or Village caste Panchayats usually did this excommunication. These Panchayats were most probably a hardened variation of clan Sabhas of the ancient Vedic times. The man was deprived of his means of sustenance. Then he had no alternative but to join the untouchables and take up their occupation because other occupations were closed to him. Usually these people were a couple who took each other’s fancy and produced Varna-Sankar offspring. The only punishment was to make them outcaste and throw them out of the village. It maintained the purity of Varna system by expelling the impure people and their progenies. It also increased the population of untouchables.

Thus the Panchayat and its authority to ostracize acted as a very important weapon to maintain the purity of caste system and stop people from rebelling...