CASTE

A term borrowed from the Portuguese settlers in India, which is used to denote the hereditary cla es into which the population of Hindoostan is divi. led, according to (he religious law of Brama. The origin of these a is detailed in the sacred book which con ordinance* of Mono. Ac curding to this authority, ili' Brahmin, the Cshatriya, the Vaisya, and the Sudra BfAU respectively from the mouth, the arm, the thigh, >ii of Brahma. 1. The cla of Brahmins, or priests, whose name signifies scripture, are far exalted above the rest in honour and privilege, and should be devoted entirety to prayer and meditation, or at least to the iied concerns of life. Many Brahmins, however, do in fai eolar pursuits, not only as ministers of sovereign princes (an office for which, according to the ortllnancei above cited, they are indeed peculiarly fitted), but also, in Guzcrat and other parts of Western India, as merchant*, or In the lower employment of me engers and porters; while many enter the Company's service as ildiers. These, however, are Brahmins of the I Meond cla es (Brachmachari and Grihasl'ha),! married men who as yet live in the world; from which two higher cla es, Vanaprastha and Sunnyeed: from these spring the various orders of fanatics with which India swarms. 2. The Kshatriya. er soldier caste, whose name indicates protection. Tu this belong not only the high military cla es, but in some parts of India whole tribes, as the Seikhs, Ac. 3. vi. or commercial cla (wealth). 4. The Sudra, •I tillers of the soil (labour). These are deeply degraded below not only the Brahmins, but the other two ■ n the reading of the Vedas or sacred books is forb dilen to them. Besides these four grand divisions, he Hindoos have many subdivisions of caste, and no fewer than thirty-six are reckoned which are all inferior to the Bodra. 1.I, according to the mythological history of the Hindoos, from the " Ilnrren Sunker" or mixed weeding from the confusion of castes which look place under Ihe reign of a wicked and irreligious monarch. Finally, the I'ariahsand some other races are considered as having no caste at all, and mere outcasts from humanize system of caste, which confines employments to hereditary cla es, are to be found in the Institutions of many coyntries, and in Ihe history of many more. That the Egyptian nation was thus divided, is well known; and it is supposed that similar institutions prevailed in the ancient A yrian empires. If Plato can be relied on as an authority, the A then i ans in the first ages of their commonwealth were divided into five cla es of the same description — priests, handicraftsmen, shepherds and hunters, ploughmen, soldiers. And it is said that the Cretans were divided, according to the laws of Minos, in the same flans. [s. 215]