munities, is not contingent on the advantage which learning, wealth, and station may give, but on descent from a particular class; it is founded upon supposed birth purity, or impurity, and in the way it is viewed by the natives of India, operates as a religious institution, as a civil distinction. This system, in the code of Hindu law, attributed to Manu, the son of Brahma, the Hindu legislator and saint, a work which is supposed to have been written about nine centuries before the Christian era, is stated to be of divine origin. The four classes are said to have sprung respectively from the head, the shoulder, the breast, and the feet of Brahma. In the Bhagava Gita, Krishna is made to say, "Mankind was created by me of four kinds, distinct in their principles and in their duties." We are informed that at the same time that these genera, or classes, or castes were produced in the manner to be described, there proceeded from the mouth of Brahma, in finished and completed form, the four Vedas for the instruction of mankind. Of these the Brahmans were constituted the sole depositaries, the sole interpreters, the sole teachers. To all the rest of their fellow-creatures they were to give out such portions and fragments, and in such manner and mode as they might deem most expedient. Hence the emanation from the mouth of Brahma of the first or sacerdotal caste, whence they derived their name Brahmans, became emblematical of their future function or office, as the sole divinely appointed preceptors of the human race. From Brahma's arm or shoulder, the protecting member of the body, proceeded the Kshattrya, or military caste; the source of emanation being emblematical of their future office, which is to wield martial weapons for the protection of their fellows against internal violence and external aggression. From Brahma's breast, the seat of life, originated the Vaisya, or class of productive capitalists, whether pastoral, agricultural, or mercantile; the source of their origin being emblematical of their future function, which is to raise or provide for themselves and the rest, all the necessaries, comforts, and luxuries which serve to support or exhilarate human life. From Brahma's foot, the member of inferiority or degradation, sprung the Sudra, or servile class, placed on the base of society; the source of their production being emblematical of their future calling, which is to perform for the other castes all manner of menial duties, either as serfs, or manual cultivators of the soil, domestic attendants, artisans, and artificers of every description as connected with the reputable grades of the community. From this brief account of the assumed origin of caste, it will be seen that the Hindus represent the institution as coeval with creation; yet from evidence to be found in some of their sacred books, it would appear that the formation even of the first four orders was gradual, and that there was a time when all mankind acknowledged themselves as one race. Though the Vedas recognise the division of mankind into four distinct classes, they nevertheless separate the first three from the last by a large space, assigning to the former classes peculiar excellency. Birth in any of the first three is held to be a peculiar privilege, and as the reward of anterior virtue. The Sudra, on the contrary, is represented as low and ignoble, and unentitled to the secular and religious prerogatives of the superior castes. Whatever pretensions the Brahman may claim for himself and the other members of the first three orders, there can be no doubt entertained by those who examine the Hindu writings for themselves, that caste was gradually formed, and the Brahmans in course of time established the supremacy of their own order, and assumed its prerogatives as those of a primeval distinction ordained by God himself. From the statement of the origin and designation of the four castes or classes as already given, we see their duties. It is permitted in seasons of calamity to modify the functions of the castes as laid down in one of the sacred books. A Brahman may then follow the occupation of the Kshatrya or a Vaisya; these latter may interchange occupations, but never adopt those of the Sudra. But ordinarily each caste has its peculiar laws and institutions, its duties and its professions, and these may not be infringed or violated without inflicting consequences fatal to caste altogether. The man who infringes the rules of caste is degraded, sinks beneath his birth-rank, and in fact becomes, in every sense of the term, an outcast. The loss of caste may be regarded as little less than civil death. Till by a lex loci1 recently passed by the Governor-General in council, a man who had forfeited his caste could not inherit, could not contract engagements, or give evidence in a court of justice, and was excluded from all the intercourse of private life as well as from those which belong to a citizen. If any one violates his caste he cannot be admitted into his father's house; his nearest relatives must not communicate with him; he is deprived of all the consolations of religion in this life, and all the hope of happiness in the next. So it is evident that caste is not the effect of circumstances, but in the Hindu system an essential and unchangeable ordinance. The civil disabilities incident to the forfeiture of caste, according to Hindu prescription, as has just been stated, have lately been removed. It is now enacted that no penal consequences shall follow a change in religious profession. Some of the early converts to Christianity had literally to suffer the loss of all things that they might win Christ. I knew a devoted man in Calcutta who forfeited a large property by becoming a Christian. To show the real nature of caste it may be necessary to 1 Lex Loci Act, passed April 11th, 1850:-" So much of any law or usage now in force within the territories subject to the government of the East India Company as inflicts on any person forfeiture of rights, or property, or may be held in any way to impair or affect any right of inheritance, by reason of his or her renouncing, or having been excluded from the communion of any religion, or being deprived of caste, shall cease to be enforced as law in the Courts of the East India Company, and in the Courts established by Royal Charter within the said territories." : select a few quotations from the Hindu sage Manu. He says, "Since the Brahman sprang from the most excellent part, since he was the first-born, and since he possesses the Veda, he is by right the chief of this whole creation." His prerogatives are further announced by the same authority: "Neither shall the King slay a Brahman, though convicted of all possible crimes." "A King, though dying of want, must not receive any tax from a Brahman learned in the Vedas." "Whatever exists in the universe is all in effect, though not in form, the wealth of the Brahman; since the Brahman is entitled to it all by his primogeniture and eminence of birth." Preternatural endowments are conferred on the Brahman by Initiation, which, performed when he is six years old, constitutes him Dwija, (twice-born,) because the rite of taking the sacred and symbolic thread is believed to be accompanied by the privilege of regeneration. He is hence regarded as a terrestrial deity, an incarnation of virtue, receives the salutation which is made by raising and joining the hands above the head; and also that which requires the reverential prostration of the worshipper, who receives from his divinelyconstituted priest the benediction. If a Sudra bow before a Brahman, his sins enter the fire which lodges in the Brahman's hand, and they are consumed. Few among the Hindus but have heard the following original exposition of a Brahman's relation to the universe : "All the universe is subject to the gods; The gods are influenced by incantations; Incantations are in the keeping of the Brahmans; The Brahmans were not satisfied with the dignity attaching to priesthood. They took the title of earthly gods, and arrogated to themselves divine honours. They assumed more than the sovereign pontiff of the Romish Church, who, as a royal priest, holds the keys of heaven and earth by election and appointment. The Brahman assumes, as the offspring of Brahma's mouth, the powers and privileges of a pope by virtue of his birth. His person and property are declared sacred, his word immutable and infallible, and his powers unlimited. The question is sometimes put, as to whether the Brahmans, the priestly order, all engage in the performance of sacred functions. Far otherwise; they may be found connected with every profession. They are in the army, in trade, and they engage in agricultural pursuits. Thousands subsist by begging, or at any rate they subsist on alms. Great numbers occupy, among the wealthy, the office of domestic priest; and in the double capacity of confessor and secretary, they prescribe religious duties, aid in the performance of ceremonies, and engage in the lighter parts of secular business, such as letter-writing and accounts. In this capacity they are greatly reverenced. It is nevertheless certain, that the education which the English have promoted among all classes, has tended to weaken the veneration formerly entertained for the Brahmanical order. The extension of English literature and science has a tendency to create an independence of thought and action that is unfriendly to the prerogatives of the Brahman; yet he maintains his position. He entertains a high notion of the dignity of his order; and this, in some degree, imparts ease and weight to his manners. "The consciousness of being first in whatever society he may be thrown, and the feeling of perfect security from insult or impertinence, gives him a bearing which conduces to promote his influence over the masses; and especially as they are trained from infancy to reverence his character." The Kshattrya are scarcely to be distinguished as a distinct class. The Rajpoots, those sons of kings, as the name imports, profess to be the pure military class; perhaps they are. The Vaisyas are not now distinguishable from the fourth class, the Sudras; and it is generally affirmed that in the present iron age the. only castes existing are the first, the Brahman, and the last, the Sudra. The agricultural class in |