Page:Notes on Indian Affairs (Vol. II).djvu/480

Rh India would do this, instead of speculating and theorizing on partial information, we should soon possess materials for composing a work containing much more accurate knowledge relative to India, its people, and customs, than any which at present exists. Let me refer to No. XXXIV., which describes the various nations into which the Indian Peninsula is divided, and alludes to the difference in their manners and customs, and in many cases in their language; and should a resident of the Madras or Bombay Presidencies ever cast his eye on this paper, and be ready to exclaim at its want of accuracy, let him recollect that the observations are the result of a residence in Bengal, and chiefly in the upper provinces of that presidency.

The caste is a division of the Hindus into four principal classes,—Brahmin, Kshutriya or commonly Chuttree, Voishya or commonly Bais, and Shoodra or Soodur. According to the sacred books, the Brahmins were produced from the mouth of the deity Brahma, the Kshutriya from his arms, the Voishyas from his thighs, and the Shoodras from his feet. According to which allegory, the Hindus have assigned the priesthood and work of legislation to the Brahmins; the Kshutriyas fill the executive departments, and are also the military tribe; the Voishyas were to be employed in trade and commerce; while the Shoodras were devoted to all kinds of servile employments, and especially to serve the Brahmins. It is at the present day impossible to discover the origin of this division, and the time when it was instituted. It bears some affinity to the Roman classification of patricians and plebeians, and was probably established by the arbitrary order of some powerful prince, after the people had made considerable advances towards civilization; for it could hardly have existed in a very rude state of society. The people attribute it, as they are apt to do most things of which they can give no account, to the gods.

But the caste of the present day is very different from what is