Page:A Comprehensive History of India Vol 2.djvu/40

 HISTORl" OF INDIA. [Book IV.

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entitled to teach it. They too may sacrifice on their own account, but to him exclusively is assigned the duty " of assisting others to sacrifice." The Cshatriya is required to give alms, and the Vaisya to bestow largesses, whereas the Brahmin need not give unless he is rich, and on the contrary, if poor, has the sui.remacy spccial privilege of " receiving gifts." These privileges, however, give but a feeble Brahmin idea of liis dignity, and therefore we are distinctly told that "the very birth of Brahmins is a constant incarnation of Dherma, god of justice ; for the Brahmin is born to promote justice, and to procure ultimate happiness;" that "when a Brahmin springs to light, he is born above the world, the chief of all creatui-es, assigned to guard the treasury of duties, religious and civil;" and that ^'what- ever exists in the universe is all, in effect, the wealth of the Brahmin, since the Brahmin is entitled to it all by his primogeniture and eminence of birth." To secure this pre-eminence of the Brahmins, and give practical effect to it, the prin- cipal places of authority and trust are reserved for them. The king, indeed, should properly belong to the Cshatriya class, but the requisite qualifications for his high office are to be acquired by listening with implicit deference to the in- structions of Brahmins. From them he is continually to " learn habits of modesty and composure;" by their decision he is to "abide;" and though in choosing his counsellors he is only enjoined in general to appoint " men whose ancestors were servants of king.s, who are versed in the holy books, who are personally brave, who are skilled in the use of weapons, and whose lineage is noble;" it is added, not that he is to act on the advice which they may give him, but simply that having ascertained their several opinions "let him impart his momentous counsel to one learned Brahmin distinguished among them all; to him, with full con- fidence, let him intru.st all transactions, and with him having taken his final resolution, let him begin all his measures." Having thus a Brahmin for his prime minister, he is to select another of eminent learning for the office of chief judge, and leave it to him and three other Brahmins appointed to act with him as assessors, to investigate all causes brought into the king's court, and prepare them for decision either by himself in person, or by the chief judge as his deputy. It is not so much, however, by the direct authority conferred upon them as ministers of state and judges that the ascendency of the Brahmins is secured, as.by the peculiar sacredness which is attached both to their persons and property, and which, while it permits them to commit crimes with comparative impunity, aggravates the guilt and increases the punishment of those who may dare to injure or offend them. A king, however much he may be pressed for money, must not "provoke Brahmins to anger, by taking their property; for they once enraged could immediately, by sacrifices and imprecations, destroy him with his troops, elephants, horses, and cars;" and in administering justice he "must not even form the idea of killing a priest," even though he may have been "convicted of all possible crimes." "He may be banished the realm, but it must be with all his property secure and his body unhurt," for "no gTeater