lose caste

1808, “Moral Character of the Hindoos, in Their Interior Department” in The Literary Panorama, London: C. Taylor, Volume 3, p. 141, Attachment to a master, a family, or a government of a different religion, is that which cannot be produced in the mind of a Hindoo, while under the power of his Gooroo or his Depta. But if they lose caste, and embrace Christianity, not by force, but from pure conviction, they become other men.

1857, D. Urquhart, The Rebellion of India, London: D. Bryce, “Mr. Disraeli’s Speech Reviewed,” p. 14, I would now ask what results could follow from enforcing on the Indian army the biting of a substance [i.e. cow grease on gunpowder cartridges] which they could not place between their lips without losing caste, and becoming objects of abhorrence to their co-religionaries, their friends and their families […]