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 10 HISTORY OF INDIA. L^ook IV.

AD. — some Brahmins in performing the obligations of their class, and the comparative laxity or total neglect manifested by others, determined to give them rank cor- responding to their merits, and with this view divided them into three orders.

The Kuiinas ^hose entitled to the first rank, and on this account distinguished by the name

or liobles. _ <_> ./

of Kulinas, or nobles, behoved to possess nine eminent qualifications. They were, fii'st, to be strict in Brahminical observances ; secondly, meek ; thirdly, learned ; fourthly, of good report ; fifthl}', frequenters of holy places ; sixthly, repudiators of gifts from the impure; seventhly, without deceit; eighthly^ addicted to devotional austerities; and, lastly, liberal. The second rank was assigned to those who, without possessing the qualifications of the first, had been regularly initiated into all the rites necessary to constitute a complete Brahmin, and were, moreover, well read in the Vedas. They were distinguished by the name of Shrotriyas. The third and lowest place was held, under the name of Yangshagas, by those who, though entitled to rank as Brahmins in respect of descent, had nothing else to recommend them. Tiieirdege- If Balal Sen was right in the original selection of the Kulinas, there must

iieracy iu _ _ _

modem havc been a great and rapid degeneracy in their descendants ; for the modern Kulinas, while as a body they still retain theii* precedence, are generally desti- tute of the qualifications by which their progenitors acquired it, and employ the influence and privileges of their rank, not in purifying, but in corrupting public morals. Placed, as it were, on the very pinnacle of society, and privileged on all occasions to occupy tlie seat of honour, they are naturally com'ted by all other ranks, and it becomes an object of the highest ambition to become connected with them by intermarriage. The Kulinas have managed to turn this feeling to good account. The more respectable of them disdain to make a traflic of affinity, and are generally contented with two wives ; but the othei'S are less scrupulous, and consider from fifteen to twenty as a moderate allowance. Forty to fifty is not uncommon, and Mr. Ward had heard of some who had 120. Were these wives taken to their husband's house to form a harem, the injury to public morals though great would not assume its most malignant form ; but the remarkable peculiarity is, that after the ceremony is performed, they continue to reside in the homes of their parents, and see their husbands, if at all, only at distant intervals. Even then the visit is only for etiquette, or it may be for some mercenary purpose. On such occasions the fiither of the wife is expected to make a present to the husband, who, mean enough to take advantage of the custom, makes his round of visits from house to house where each wife resides, and in this way gains a subsistence. It is eas}^ to conceive how much licentious- ness and Clime such a system must engender. The woman tied for life to a man to whom she owes no affection, because she receives none, takes advantage of the freedom from restraint which the nominal relation confers, and not unfie- quently, with the full knowledge of her parents, admits a paramour. When concealment becomes necessary, infanticide, or the crime which anticipates it,