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And who—we ask again,*—are reserved for ‘honour in this common degradation of all national arts and industries >—Priests alone ! * See ante p. 146, CHAP. V1] CASTE. 319 We stop, however, to point out to the reader that the above list.is not an enumeration of castes, but of professions which were considered impure, Prostitutes, thieves and backbiters could not be castes, and gold- smiths and blacksmiths too, who are classed with them, could not be meant as castes. There is no passage in Y4jnavalkya indicating that these professions were distinct castes; and as we have seen before, they are not included in his list of 13 mixed castes, We will quote a few more passages shewing how honest trades and mechanical arts were held in con- tempt. Usanas (IV, 22 to 35) gives a long list of per- sons who should be avoided at the performance of Sraddhas, and in this list we find those who sell the Vedas, those who marry widows and those who go to sea. In the same list we find mention of the new sects of Kapalikas and PAsupatas, and of different classes of Jains ; and we also find mention of money lenders, musicians and astronomers. Sankha (XVII. 36 to 39) prohibits Brahmans from taking the food of actors, prisoners, thieves, blacksmiths, workers in leather, gold- smiths, carpenters, misers, cruel men, false men, prosti- _ tutes, and others. Angiras, (I, 12 to 24), and Apa- stamba (VI, 1 to 10) strongly condemn the cultivation and trade of indigo. While mechanics and artisans and traders were thus generally held in disrespect, there were certain profes- sions atid also certain classes apparently of the abori- — 320 PAURANIK PERIOD. [BOOK V. ginal races which were held as specially vile and impure. Atri tells us (195) that the dyer, the worker in leather, the actor, the Baruda, the Kaibarta, the Meda and the Bhilla are recognized as low-born (Antyaja). The first three we need hardly say were professions, and the last four were aboriginal races who were gradually be- coming Hinduized. Angiras (3) and Yama (54) have the same couplet word for word, shewing that these professions and aboriginal races were generally con- sidered as the most degraded in the Pauranik Period. Apastamba recommends the penance Chandrayana fora Brahman who has taken the food of a dyer, a fowler, a Sailfsha, a Vaina and a worker in leather, (IX, 31). Samvarta recommends the same penance to a Brahman having intercourse with an actress, a Saildshi woman, a dyer woman, a Vaina woman and a woman of the class working in leather (151). Besides these, a Chandaéla, a Svapaka and a Pukkasa are held as degraded in the Dharma SAstras. Thus while the aboriginal races were still regarded by the Hindus with undeserved and unmitigated con- tempt, and even while respectable and honest profes- sions and industries followed by Vaisyas were un- honoured and degraded, the exaltation and glorific- ation of the priestly class knew no bounds! A few old ‘verses to the effect that anlearned Brahmans should not be honoured or fed still continued to be quoted, but these were completely lost in the’ extravagant CHAP. V1.] CASTE. 321 laudation of the priestly caste which fills the later Dharma Sdstras. A volume of moderate size could be filled with such fulsome and often grotesque adulation ; but we can only make room for a few flowers of rhetoric . from this literary parterre! ‘~ The vast and limitless distance between Brahmans. and Sddras is insisted on in the later Dharma SAstras with all the emphasis that languagecan supply. Terri- ble are the effects of ordinary social intercourse with Sddras ; language or the knowledge of the writer fails to describe these effects! “I do not know,” says Pardsara,” what different. births are undergone by the twice-born who is nourished by the Sidra’s food. He becomes a vulture in .twelve repeated births, (then) a pig in ten repeated births, (then) a dog in seven repeated births,—so said Manu. And if a Brahman sacrifices for a Sidra, that Brahman becomes a Sfdra and the Sidra. becomes a Brfhman.” (Pardsara XII, 33 to 35.) History, at least in -modern times, does not record another instance of civilized men holding their brethern of the same country and nation in such utter and’ undisguised abhorrence. Surely the noble lessons of Gautama Buddha must have been completely erased from th® memory of the great Hindu nation: when Hindus could speak thus of their brethren who had lived with thero, fought by them, spoken with them the same. tongue, and followed with them the same customs and laws for.three thousand years! The caste system R. C.D, A. L—IIL 21 oe appa ; 322, PAURANIK PERIOD. [BOOK v. in India has much to answer for; but its worst and most lamentable result is this permanent breach and disunion. where there should have been fusion and _ union, this weakness and death where there should have been national strength and life. . While the poor Sidra is despised, degraded and’ reviled, the Brahman’s glory and prowess know no bounds. Offend not Brahmans, but beware of their wrath, “Kings punish with their weapons, but Brahmans punish with their wrath ; a weapon kills one man, but a Br&hman’s wrath destroys a family. Vishnu strikes with his dise, but Brahmans strike with their wrath; that wrath is more deadly than the disc, wherefore offend not a Brahman.” (Srikaspatz 49, 50) ' 8, Death does not approach that man who offers to Brahmans water to wash their feet, a place to rest their feet, and light and food and shelter. “g. As long as the ground of one’s house remains moist with the water with which Brahmans have washed their feet, sa long his ancestors drink nectar from holy clips. 10. ‘The merit that is reaped by the gift of a reddish cow at the full moon of K4rtika, the same merit is reaped, O chief among Rishis! by washing’ the feet of Brahmans t . “yi, When a Brahman is welcomed, the god Agni ‘is pleased ; when a seat is offered to a Brahman, Indra is pleased; when his feet are washed, the deceased =” CHAP, V1] CASTE, 323 ancestors are pleased ; and when food is offered to him, Prajapati is pleased. “32. The Ganges and cows are holier than one’s parents ; but there zs nothing holier than a Brdhman, and there will be nothing holier.” (Vyésa IV.) It is necdless to extract other passages. “Charity to Brahmans,” says Professor Krishna Kamala Bhattd- charya,* one of the profoundest Sanscrit scholars in Bengal, “is a constant theme of a goodly portion of our religious writings,” and “much of what is now practised as part of ‘Hindu religion but furnishes occasions for making gifts to the priestly class.” Such. prostitution of a noble and ancient religion is manifest in every modern rite that we perform, every modern religious work that we take up. SatA&tapa for instance enumerates a long list of diseases and sins, calamities and misfortunes, and prescribes gifts to Brahmans as a remedy for all! He prescribes the worship of various golden images of various deities in order that those images may be given to Brahmans. Elsewhere in the Dharma Sastras we are told that the food-grains in a householder’s house become instinct with joy, whert- a Bréhman approaches, at the Prospect. of being given away to such Brahman ! There is much in this style in the Pauranik Dhas Sastras which will provoke a smile in the modern * Joint Hindu Family, Tagore Law Lectures, i88485. pp. 95 & 96. 324, PAURANIK PERIOD. {Rook V. reader. But these passages have a sad lesson to teach, They teach us that a hereditary priesthood, however learned and pious and even self-denying, unconsciously and even unwillingly come to imbibe all the vices of monopolists, and become grasping and _ covetous, jealous and exclusive. They teach us that a nation in surrendering its conscience and religious liberty, surrenders also its national unity and life. They teach us that all trades and professions, all useful arts and honest industries, become degraded when the artisans -and.mechanics and labourers, ze, the nation at large, .bow. down before hereditary -priests and wash their feet. They speak more eloquently than the impassioned strictures of a Luther or the keen sarcasms of a Voltaire against the domination of priests and the slavery of nations. And they tell us that if the great Hindu nation,—the sons of Vaisyas and Kshatriyas alike,—have in the modern day been deprived of their ancient heritage of religious learning, and reduced to the common level of Sfidras, it is because they chose to surrender their consciences, and then their religious and social liberty to the custody of hereditary priests ! And the Dharma Séstras do not speak in vain. Young India takes note of the past and shapes his future accordingly. Already, under the blessings of a healthy education, Sddras and Brahmans and the sons of the ancient Vaisyas have learnt to work on a common platform for a common native land. Vaisya and CHAP. VI] CASTE, 325 Brahman and Sfddra have also learnt to mix socially ; they attend the same schools and learn the same lessons together ; they travel in the same railway carriage or steamer, and often take their meals together; and they attend the same offices and follow the same professions in life. These are hopeful signs, for united work breeds mutual understanding and real union. More than this, Brahmans themselves have been the foremost in - this century to efface unhealthy distinctions, and have nobly striven to reunite and to save; and the names of Ram Mohan Roy and of Dayanand Sarasvati will live in the grateful recollections of the Hindus in centuries -to come, when the tribe of captious and pigmy opponents to progress will be deservedly forgotten. .