Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 2.djvu/281

 KELIGION OF BALI. . ^SJ land in 1814, and communicated the result of my inquiries concerning its religion, in a paper to the Asiatic Society, which they did me the honour to print in the last volume of their Trans- actions. The principal matter of that essay I shall now transcribe. The great body of the Balinese are Hindus of the sect of Siwa, and there are a few Buddhists among them 5 with the latter I had no communi- cation, and, therefore, it is regarding the former only that I can furnish any precise information. The followers of Siwa in Bali are, as in Western India, divided into four great classes or casts, namely, a priesthood, a soldiery, a mercantile class, and a servile class, respectively called Brahmanay Satriya, Wisiya, and Sudra, The following origin of the casts was distinctly stated to me by the Brahmins, without any leading question. ** The god Brahma produced the Brahmana from his mouth, which imports wisdom, — the Satriya from his chest, which imports strength, — the Wisiya from the abdomen, which implies that it is his busi- ness to furnish subsistence to the society ; and the Sudra from his feet, w^hich implies, that he is des- tined to obedience and servitude." The institu- tion of the casts the Balinese term Chatur-J alma. The superior classes may take concubines from the lower, but the opposite practice is strictly inter- dicted. The offspring of such unions form, as in