way of life going back at least 2,500 years. One is a Hindu when born into a family which shares this long cultural heritage. One is born, then, into a particular caste, making the accident of birth determine one’s religious way of life, status in the community and ritual purity or uncleanness. The Christian view is entirely different. The conviction that all people have been created equal in dignity and status and that birth gives no ground for claiming either superiority or essential natural differences