Page:Monier Monier-Williams - Indian Wisdom.djvu/28

 or even greater than those which once divided and still distinguish the whole continent of Europe. The spirited Hindustani, the martial Sikh, the ambitious Marathi, the proud Rajput, the hardy Gurkha, the calculating Bengali, the busy Telugu, the active Tamil, the patient Pariah differ infer se as much as or more than the vivacious Celt, the stubborn Saxon, the energetic Norman, the submissive Slave, the enterprising Englishman, and the haughty Spaniard.

Many causes have combined to produce these distinctions. Difference of climate has had its effect in modifying character. Contact with the aboriginal races and with Muhammadans and Europeans has operated differently in different parts of India. Even in districts where the Hindus are called by one name and speak one dialect they are broken up into separate classes, divided from each other by barriers of castes far more difficult to pass than the social distinctions of Europe. This separation constitutes, in point of fact, an essential doctrine of their religion. The growth of the Indian caste-system is perhaps the most remarkable feature in the history of this extraordinary people. Caste as a social institution, meaning thereby conventional rules which separate the grades of society, exists of course in all countries. In England, caste, in this sense, exerts no slight authority. But with us caste is not a religious institution. On the contrary, our religion, though it permits differences of rank, teaches us that such differences are to be laid aside in the worship of God, and that in His sight all men are equal. Very different is the caste of the Hindus. The Hindu theory, according to Manu (see p. 240), is that the Deity regards men as unequal, that he created distinct kinds of men, as he created varieties of birds or beasts: that Brahmans, Kshatriyas,