Page:Calcutta Review Vol. II (Oct. - Dec. 1844).pdf/6



. I.—1. Genealogical account of the Kulins, by Dhrubánanda Misra, Sanscrit, unpublished.

2. Kula-sára-sindhu, by Raghunandan Tarkabágish, Sanscrit, unpublished.

3. Mukhuti-kula-varnaná, Sanscrit, unpublished.

4. A Historical Fragment, Sanscrit verse, unpublished.

5. Sankarmálá, by Bhriguráma, Sanscrit, unpublished.

6. Kankálir Abhishámpa, or the malediction of Kankáli, by Rám Chunder Turkálankár.—Ratnakar Press, Calcutta.

distinctions of tribes and classes appear to have prevailed in India from very remote times. The Hindus, with their usual fondness for all Brahminical ordinances, pretend that their four-fold division of castes was coëval with the creation. The pretension, ridiculous and futile as it is, proves, however, the antiquity of the institution; and as the classification corresponds to a considerable extent with the Egyptian mode of distributing offices and occupations, it is probable that an early intercourse existed between these two nations, especially since voyages by sea were not of yore forbidden to the Hindus. There is no extravagance in the supposition, that the route which the Berenice, the Sesostris, the Cleopatra, the Victoria, the Akbar, &c., are now taking every month with the overland mails from and to Bombay, had, centuries past, been marked by Hindu vessels trading on the Red Sea, and that these merchantmen had imported or exported many of the existing laws of castes and tribes.

Among the Hindus, as among the Egyptians, the priests occupied the first rank in society, and naturally commanded the veneration due to the guardians of religion and learning. The warriors and the merchants, who were entrusted with the preservation of the country and the supply of the comforts and necessities of life, enjoyed the second and third places in the commonwealth, while the Sudras, or slaves, destined for the