CHAPTER IV.

_Classes or Families of the Indians._

Of these classes, called by the Indians _Giadi_ or _Varna_, and by the Europeans, very improperly, _casts_[167], there are a great many. The principal are: _Brahmana_, _Kshetria_, or _Ràgiaputra_, _Vayshya_, and _Shudra_. Their origin is lost in the period of Noah, whom the Indians call king _Menu_[168]. The Brahmans form the class of priests. Their high-priest _Sarvavèda_, that is, a man who has performed all the duties of the law, has the superintendance of the public worship, and no offerings are ever presented without his order. All the Brahmans in general, who have ever brought to the gods a public offering, are called _Eburandiri_. In this respect, however, they are divided into several classes. Those who have been present at the grand festival of oblation, which I have described in my _Systema Brahmanicum_[169], are called _Yagiamàna_ or _Yashda_. Others who have brought solemn offerings to the god _Sòma_ (the moon) are called _Sòmàdri_, _Sòmabadi_, or _Dikshida_. _Guru_ is the appellation of those persons who teach morality and other philosophical sciences. Those who instruct the people in what manner to pray in the temples, and on other solemn occasions, are called _Shrotria_. Those, on the other hand, who give precepts respecting the so called _Mandra_, or meditation of the heart, are called _Aciàrya_. The title of those who employ themselves with astronomy is _Grahashastri_; but the astrologers, who form a class entirely distinct, are called _Giòdishyashàstri_.

Among these Brahmans there are several philosophical sects:

1st, The _Brahmaciàri_, that is, the continent, the unmarried.

2d, The _Grahasta_, that is, the married.

3d, The _Vanaprasta_, that is, the hermits, the anchorets. To these belong, besides others, the _Muni_, or _Mauni_, that is, the silent, for they speak only very seldom.

4th, The _Bhikshu_, or begging monks, who live merely on alms. These are the most numerous of all[170]. To their sect or order belong those philosophical begging monks known under the name of _Talapoins_, who in the first century of the Christian æra emigrated from India, and introduced the religion of _Budha_, or _Gòdama_, in Pegu, Siam, China, and Japan. They believe neither in the Trinity of the Indians, that is, _Brahma_, _Vishnu_, and _Shiva_--nor in the goddess _Bhavani_, who represents nature personified; nor do they ever worship the Elements, to which the Brahmans pay divine honours under the symbols of various sacred animals. Their religious worship is somewhat less familiar to the senses. The highest deity to whom they pay divine honours is called _Budha_, _Shakya_, _Gòdama_, or _Amida_. These are pure Samscred appellations, which signify Mercury; for _Budha_ means as much as wise, skilful; _Shakya_, cunning, crafty, acute; _Gòdama_, a cowherd; _Amida_, immense. The opposer of the god _Gòdama_, or the wicked dæmon, they call _Dèvada_. They believe in the immortality of the soul, as well as in transmigration; are much attached to fasting and ablutions; read carefully the sacred books; live in a state of celibacy; and observe the beforementioned five commandments in the same manner as the Indian Budhists. This sect, who are extremely numerous, and who every where live by begging, have diffused themselves from Cape Comari to Thibet among the Calmucks, and even to Siberia[171].

Diodorus Siculus[172], however, asserts that the Brahmans engaged in no public business, and accepted no dignified places; but this is a palpable falsehood. The kings who hold the reins of government at _Edapalli_, on the coast of Malabar, and also at _Parur_ and _Aracèri_, are certainly Brahmans; and the king of Travancor, in the year 1776, had a _Dalava_, or prime minister, who also belonged to that cast. In states which are under the dominion of Pagan princes, they are still, as in the time of Diodorus Siculus, overseers of religion, high-priests, instructors of the people, observers of eclipses of the sun and moon, and the king’s counsellors. They are formally consecrated to the priesthood; and for that purpose certain forms of initiation are appointed. In Malabar they go barefooted; and the upper part of their body is quite naked to the girdle. Their dress consists of a piece of muslin fastened round their loins, which hangs down to the feet, and entirely covers them. In one hand they generally bear an umbrella of palm-leaves, and in the other a stick. For the most part also they wear a ring on one of their fingers, and have a _Grantha_ (book) under the arm. Some, besides the above-mentioned piece of muslin, have also another which hangs over their shoulders; and which, according to every appearance, is the _superhumerale_ mentioned by Apollonius of Tyana[173].

When we reflect that these philosophers retain the same principles, manners and customs as they had in the time of Alexander the Great, this perseverance appears really astonishing. No person can remember an instance of their ever having admitted into their cast a man of the common class, or chosen such a one for their chief. When a Brahman comes into the world, his parents immediately hold a feast, or rather solemn festival, which, in the Samscred language, is called _Giàtaga Karma_, that is, the birth-feast. _Giàtaga_ signifies birth, the star of one’s nativity; and _Karma_, a ceremony. The object of this festival is to examine under what constellation the child was born, and thence to foretell its future destiny. Eleven days after, the _Nàma Karma_, or name-feast, takes place. The name given to the child is commonly borrowed from some of the principal deities, as _Krishna_, _Rama_, _Govinna_, &c. On the hundred and fiftieth day after birth, a solemnity called the _Carnakarma_, or _Ceutakarma_, is celebrated, because on that day holes are bored in the ears of the young Brahman, and a pair of gold earrings put into them. In the seventh year he becomes a real _Brahmaciàri_, that is, continent, or chaste; and in the twelfth he is made a _Grahi_, _Grahasta_, that is, betrothed, a husband. For all these solemnities, particular libations, offerings, purifications and festivals are instituted. In the seventh year such a child receives a kind of sash, called _Yagnapavada_, which forms the distinguishing badge of the priesthood. It consists of a hundred and eight threads knit into each other, and passes from the right shoulder under the left arm, where it is fastened with three knots. In virtue of this badge the initiated person obtains, besides other privileges, that of assisting at grand offerings, called _Yaga_, or _Yagna_, which are presented to the Sun; and he is ever after authorised to read in the three _Vedas_, or books of the law, known under the names of _Ircu_, _Sàma_, and _Yagiurveda_. He also bears the _Cudumi_, or _Curumbi_, or tuft of hair left by the Brahmans on the crown of their head, which every where else is close shaved. This tuft is likewise a distinguishing mark of their cast, and shows that the person who bears it is consecrated to the priesthood. When a Brahman by his own fault has forfeited his sash, or his tuft of hair, he loses all his privileges, and can no longer discharge any of the sacerdotal functions. If he wishes to be restored to his former condition, various acts of humiliation and penance are prescribed to him; and, in particular, strict fasting and abundant alms-giving. When he has performed all these, he is received by nine Brahmans with the same forms and ceremonies as when first admitted to the priesthood. All mutilated, blind, squint-eyed, or deformed persons, as well as all those who have any kind of scab or eruption on the skin, or white spots in the eyes, are totally excluded for ever from the priesthood[174].

If it is proved that a Brahman has killed a man or a cow, all the other Brahmans of the same _Gràma_ or district unite against him; cut off his _Curumbi_; take from him his sash; deprive him of the sacerdotal dignity, and expel him from the cast. He is then put upon an ass with his face towards the tail, and in that manner conveyed beyond the boundaries of the place. As I have already given, in my _Systema Brahmanicum_[175], a full account of the condition, as well as of the different classes, customs, consecration and institutions of the Brahmans, it would be here superfluous to repeat them. One time when the king of Travancor made a tour in order to inspect the state of his fortresses, and passed through _Parur_, he was attended by more than a thousand of these Brahmans. On that occasion I observed that eight of them bore a square tabernacle suspended from a long pole. Within it stood a small statue of the goddess _Bhagavadi_, for which the Indians have a particular veneration; and it was covered with a piece of yellow cloth, because yellow is in as high esteem among the Indians as red formerly was among the Egyptians. The rest of the Brahmans walked on each side of the tabernacle, and recited, in the Samscred language, a number of prayers. No person belonging to the inferior classes durst approach this sanctuary; for two of the Brahmans who walked at the head of the procession cried out continually, in the Malabar dialect, _Po! Po!_ that is, Away! Away!--as if they meant to say: Keep at a distance, ye contemptible, unclean, profane wretches! At certain times the Brahmans described a circle on the ground, placed the statue within it, and, standing close to each other, formed themselves into a ring around it. They then repeated, all together, certain prescribed forms of prayer; and the _Sarvavèda_, or Brahman whose business it was, bestrewed the statue with flowers. This ceremony is called _Archyapugia_, the offering of flowers. On other occasions they make a like circle on the ground, but place eight smaller statues on its circumference, in such a manner that they stand at a certain distance from each other, and look towards the eight points of the heaven from which the winds blow. The Brahmans entertain an opinion, that the eight subordinate deities, whom they call _Indrà_, _Aghni_, _Yama_, _Nirudi_, _Varunna_, _Vàgu_, _Vaishrava_, and _Shiva_, have the care of these eight districts of the heavens; and for this reason they place the above eight statues at an equal distance from each other, and request them to take the world under their protection, that it may not vary in its course.

The second noble cast consists of the _Kshetria_, or _Ragiaputra_, that is, the children of kings; for _Ragia_ signifies a king, and _Putra_ a son or child. Father Marcus à Tumba says, very erroneously, in, his manuscript that _Ragput_ are a kind of Brahmans who devote themselves to the military state. The word _Ragput_ is properly nothing else than the Samscred _Ragiaputra_, which has been most wretchedly corrupted; and these _Ragiaputra_ are not Brahmans, but warriors, from whose cast the Indian kings are chosen. Father Norbert, the missionary, who examined this point better than Father Marcus, explains himself respecting it as follows, in a manuscript which I have now before me: “The second cast, which is called _Satrias_ (_Kshetria_), consists only and exclusively of the royal family.” And indeed this is actually the case: the true and lawful sovereigns are all descended from the cast of the _Kshetria_, though Brahmans also reign in some provinces, such as _Edapalli_, _Parur_, _Pandalam_, &c. The _Kshetria_ are educated from their infancy in the schools and academies of the Brahmans. They wear likewise the sash, but are not authorised to read or explain the _Vèda_. This sash serves merely as a memorandum to the members of the cast, that it is the duty of a king to sway the sceptre with wisdom, and to behave with the strictest justice towards his subjects. The art of government is, therefore, the principal science which the _Kshetria_ must study in the schools of the Brahmans. _Perumpadapil_ the king of Cochin, the old king of Madura, king _Colatiri_ or _Colastri_, and _Rama Varmer_ the king of Travancor, were all educated by Brahmans in such temples. Every reigning prince has around him priests and philosophers of this kind, who must assist him by their service and advice, in order that he may undertake nothing contrary to the religion or laws of the country. When the dominion of a sovereign extends over a district confiding of a hundred provinces, and called _Ràshtra_, he is a _Ciacravartti_, or _Maharagia_: if it consists of twelve provinces, he is called _Ishvara_, master; or _Duàdasha_ _Mandaleshvara_, master of twelve provinces; or _Nrba_, king: but if he possesses only one province, he is called _Ragia_, king; _Adishvara_, illustrious lord; _Náyaga_x, lord; _Pála_ or _Pálaga_, regent; _Karta_, a reigning lord.

From the word _Nayaga_, which is originally Samscred, ignorant geographers and travellers have made _Naik_; from _Pálaga_, the corrupted _Paleagar_; and from _Ragia_, the equally distorted _Naza_, _Rag_, or _Rajah_. The king’s court is called _Ràgiadhani_; a privy counsellor of the king, _Mandri_ or _Amàdya_; the king’s favourite, _Mitra_, _Sagghi_, or _Suhrl_; his mistress, _Bhògynya_; the place where the _Kshetria_ deliberate on state-affairs, _Ragiasabha_; the secret objects of these deliberations, _Rahasya_; the throne, _Sinhàsana_; the inspector-general, _Mahà Kárta Kritaga_; the minister of justice, who has the care of criminal affairs, _Mahá Danda Náyaga_; the generalissimo, _Mahásèna_; the tutor or preceptor of the royal children, _Mahácumáramatya_; the warden of the privy chambers, _Dvadsta_, _Darshaga_, or _Dvárapála_; the commandant of a fortress, _Cottapala_; the governor of a city, _Purapala_; the overseer of the sea-coasts and rivers, _Turapala_; the overseer of a district, _Adhigari_; an embassador, _Sandeshaciara_, or _Duda_; the king’s private spy, _Abasarpa_, or _Ciara_; the court-astrologer, _Giòdisha_; the lord steward of the king’s household, _Cangiuguia_; and the treasurer, _Coshadhyaksha_. All these appellations occur in the _Amarasinha_, the _Vyagarina_, and also in the inscription of _Monguir_. And as these books were written a hundred or two hundred years before the birth of Christ, it thence follows, that all these offices and places actually existed at that period in the courts of the Indian princes. In Malabar the following royal officers are still in existence: The _Torakáren_, intendant of the sea-coasts and rivers; the _Sènabadi_, generalissimo of all the military forces; four _Sarvadis_, or governors, each of whom has the superintendance of four provinces; a great many _Kariakarer_, or superior magistrates; the same number of _Adhigari_, or overseers of districts; together with a multitude of _Pravartikarer_ or tax-gatherers, and _Pullas_ or writers.

The first and earliest Indian princes were _Egàvagi_, that is, monarchs; from _èga_, one, and _vàgi_, a reigning king. As a proof that the monarchical form of government has been preserved till the present period among the Pagan Indians, I need only refer to the princes of the _Marashdi_, who are very improperly called _Marattas_; to some kings of _Nepal_; to the king of _Candia_ in the island of Ceylon, and to the king of Travancor, who all now rule as unlimited sovereigns. According to tradition, _Menu_ was the first king of the Indians. This _Menu_, who in some Indian works is called _Menu Mahusha_, was certainly the patriarch Noah, as Sir William Jones acknowledges. Anquetil du Perron, Father Tiefenthaler, and the editor of the _Asiatic Researches_, have given us different catalogues of the oldest Indian kings; and I myself was induced to give, in my _Systema Brahmanicum_, the commencement of a nomenclature of the like kind. They are all transcribed from the _Mahabhàrada_, that is, the _Great History_, which is written in Malabar verse, and consists of eighteen books. But the reader will perceive, on the first view, that these catalogues are in open contradiction with each other, and that they contain the names of kings whose descent is deduced from the sun and the moon.

All that can be gathered from my copy of the _Mahabhàrada_, and the pretty long catalogues of the Indian kings in the _Asiatic Researches_, is as follows: _Menu_ the 1st, or Adam, lived 5794 years before the year 1788 of the Christian æra. _Menu_ the 2d, or _Menu Mahusha_, the _Nochos_ of the Greeks, and the Noah of the Israelites, lived 4737 years before that period. Under the government of this king happened the _Vellapralaya_, that is, the deluge or devastation of the earth by water. Then comes _Hirannyacasipu_, perhaps Nimrod, whom the Brahmans class among the wicked dæmons, and who lived 4006 years before the birth of Christ. _Bali_, or _Mahábali_, the Belus of the Assyrians, lived 3892; and _Budha_, the _Thaut_ of the Egyptians, and _Hermes_ of the Greeks, 2815 years before the year 1788. Next follow _Vikramàditya_, _Devapàla_, and _Salbahin_, or rather _Salivahan_. The first lived 1844, the second 1811, and the third 78[176] years before 1788. With the death of the last begins the _Salivàhana Sagàptam_, that is, the new Brahmanic period of the Marattas, Canarians, Malabarians, and Tamulians. _Bharaden_, or _Bharata_, is the head or chief, from whom the Indians deduce the descent of their national kings. He lived 1600 years before the birth of Christ.--Kings who actually existed are:

I. _Ciassar_, a cotemporary of Cyrus, to whom he wrote a letter, and sent money. Cyrus in all probability had conquered that part of India which extends from the _Sindhu_ towards the north-west, and at that period was sometimes under the dominion of the Persian, and sometimes under that of the Indian kings. _Candahar_ was the metropolis.

II. At the time when Alexander the Great conquered a part of India, there existed a certain queen named _Cleophidis_, who put herself at the head of a considerable body of the chief women of India, and went to oppose that hero. King Porus, or more properly _Puru_, also opposed that conqueror; as did likewise _Abisar_, but _Omphis_ surrendered at discretion. More information on this subject may be found in D’Anville’s _Antiquité Géographique de l’Inde_, published at Paris in 1775.

III. _Sandracoto_, or rather _Ciandracotta_. This prince, after the death of Alexander the Great, brought under his dominion all the Indian provinces which had been conquered by the Macedonian hero. He also entered afterwards into a treaty of alliance with Seleucus, who wished to recover them; but this treaty extended only to places _qui secus Indiam sunt_, that is, which lay on the north-west side of the _Sindhu_. His son, _Allitrocates_, repelled the incursions of the Greeks with such happy effect, that they were never again able to penetrate into India. Antiochus, indeed, made some attempts to enter the country, and laid the _Sopagases_ under contribution; but this prince remained independent and free.

IV. _Porus_, or _Pandi_, by Strabo called _Pandion_. He was king of Madura; and, when the Greeks were driven entirely from India, sent an embassy to Augustus, to propose entering into an alliance with him.

V. _Cemproboto_, or _Cermbotti_, a cotemporary of the above-mentioned _Pandi_, possessed, besides other places, _Calianapur_ and _Baliapatna_, two considerable cities on the coast of Malabar.

VI. _Vikramàditya_, by some called _Bekermadiit_. He succeeded his brother _Sughàditya_, and died fifty years before the birth of Christ. A new æra, by which the chronology of the history of India can with certainty be determined, begins at the death of this sovereign. Before that period many of the Indians reckoned according to the epoch of king _Yudhishthira_, of the family of the _Pandos_, whom Anquetil calls improperly _Djetaschter_. Between that epoch and the death of _Sughaditya_ there are reckoned to be 3044 years. The Carnadians, Tamulians and Malabarese adopt this mode of reckoning also; but use much oftener the _Salivàhana Sagàptam_, which, as already said, begins at the death of _Salivahan_ or _Salbahin_, the sovereign of the Dekan, who died 78 years before the birth of Christ. From this epoch also the Brahmans at _Cangipuri_, _Tiruvatur_, and _Triciur_, date all their astronomical calculations.

Some pretend that the family of the real _Kshetrias_ is totally extinct in India; but I can, on the other hand, assert, that I found among the Gauts, not far from _Vaipur_, a town, together with a temple, which belonged to these _Kshetrias_, who cultivated the surrounding fields, and lived on their produce. I was assured also by Father Pavone, who for thirty years had been superintendant of the missionary establishment at Madura, that a great many of the _Kshetrias_ had fled to these mountains from Madura, in order to avoid falling into the hands of Hayder Aly Khan, Tippoo Sultan, Mohamed Aly, and the English.

The third noble class of the Indians consists of the _Vayshya_, who are never distinguished by the name of _Bice_, as Hodges and Robertson pretend. This cast was founded also by _Menu_ or Noah, if we can confide in the book _Manushastra_, and the traditions of the Indians. The employments of the _Vayshya_ are: _Krshi_, or agriculture; _Pashupalya_, breeding of cattle; and _Vànigiya_, the sale of their productions. They supply the public with rice, corn, mustard, ginger, pease, millet, maize, and other articles of the like kind; but they preserve their butter and milk entirely for their kings, their Brahmans, and their temples, that the gods may never be in want of such offerings.

The _Vayshya_, with their families, generally live in the country, where each has his own house and separate grove. In the latter stands a small temple, with an image of _Shiva_, or of some other deity, to which flowers are presented every morning after they have performed their ablutions. According to the appointment of _Menu_, the king is the sole lord and proprietor of all the land in the kingdom; and this rule prevails in Malabar to the present day. Anquetil du Perron is, therefore, entirely wrong when he contradicts Mr. Dalrymple, who asserts the same thing[177]. That this assertion is well founded, appears, to omit other testimony, from an old inscription found among some ruins near the old city of _Monguir_, in which it is expressly said, that king _Dèvapàla_ lets a certain piece of land to an Indian family. Mr. Wilkins translated this inscription, which was cut out in stone twenty-three years before the birth of Christ, and inserted it in the first volume of the _Asiatic Researches_. King _Dèvapàla_ there says: “Be it hereby known, that I give up the city _Meseeka_, &c.” and it appears from the connection, that he let the piece of land in question, and for that purpose resigned his territorial right for a certain time specified. Temples next to kings are also considered as proprietors; for a belief prevails in India, that the piece of ground which they occupy belongs to the gods. For this reason they are excepted from the lease, by king _Dèvapàla_, in the before-mentioned inscription.

That the overseers of temples on the coast of Malabar have still the power of letting such pieces of ground, appears from this circumstance, besides others, that our convent at _Verapole_ had actually a lease of part of a field which belonged to a Pagan temple. No private person, whether noble or not, can pretend to any such property in land. On the contrary, every ten years the _Nilavarì_, a tax established at the first measurement of lands, must be paid for all fields and pieces of ground every ten years. Besides this tax, a third or fourth part of the rent is also sometimes imposed according as the contracting parties have agreed.

From the palm-gardens the _Ettona_, that is, the eighth palm, is exacted. The poorer classes must pay the _Talapanam_, an impost which amounts to five _Panam_ for each head, and is equivalent to the poll-tax introduced into some of the countries of Europe. The _Mucaver_, or fishermen, pay a tax called _Valà_, that is, net-money; and consists of a _Ràgi_ of gold, or ten _Ciacras_, twenty-six of which are equal to a florin. It is unfortunately too true, that the Indians live in a state of oppression, and in time of war are treated with particular severity. Robertson, however, has drawn a very flattering picture of the humanity and mildness of the Indian princes and British governors; but it is much to be lamented that it is contrasted, in so striking a manner, with the conduct of a Moens and many others.

The fourth noble cast consists of the _Shudra_. To these belong the _Citracàra_, painters; the _Tunaciaya_, dyers of cloth; the _Pushpaga_, garland-makers; the _Shastramagia_, smiths; the _Ciaruna_, singers; the _Ciarmacàra_, coblers; also the weavers, taylors, carpenters, silver-smiths, clockmakers, and other artisans. All these people form separate classes, the members of which cannot eat with each other, and much less intermarry.

The meaner casts are called _Nisha_, or _Ciandala_; that is, the contemptible, low, impure. To these belong the fishermen; the _Cianas_, or labourers in gardens, who carry water, and water the young palm-trees; the _Parreas_, or skinners; those persons who cleanse ponds; barbers, potters, and the Malabar _Pelleyas_. The last are only slaves, but a very useful kind of men; for they guard the fruits of the earth, keep the buffaloes employed in ploughing, take care of the crops, and separate the rice from its husks.