English
There are others who cany about different kinds of bowls and other utensils to sell ; they also remain near places to which persons are accustomed to Lort for strade. and obtain from them five hundred or a thousand pieces of money, for escorting them through wild places ; thus they gain their livelihood after the manner of men who break into houses to steal. 9. There are others who live like the savages of the wilderness, killing and eating the flesh of hares, guanas, deer, and things that live in the water, as tortoises, &c. 10. There are others who profess to be released from evil desire, and to be ready to release others also. On accoimt of their wish to gain abundance, they re- commend to kings to present the sacrifice called y&ga ; and if a king can be found willing, they place him upon a golden couch, and anoint his head with holy water, saying, that this will take away the consequences of his sins ; then the couch, and the carpet upon which he has sat, his robes and orna- ments, all fall to the share of the Brahmans who have con- ducted the ceremony." These are the words of an adversary, or they would lead us to conclude that the ancient Brahmans were something like the Gipsies of Spain and other countries in our days. By the Budhists, the Vaisyas are regarded as merchants ; and even by the Brahmans, who derive the name from a word which signifies "to enter" (as fields, &c.), they are called "the agricultural and mercantile tribe." This would inti- mate that the distinction was not made imtil the social polity had been in existence some time, and become com- pacted ; for although there must have been commerce, in the shape of barter, during the earliest ages, a considerable period would elapse before the merchant had gained sufficient wealth to cause his occupation to be looked upon as respect- able. In the time of G6tama Budha the merchants are re- presented as being a very influential class. They traded to great distances in caravans,* and had to exercise much dis- * The remark of Heeren (Hist. Bes. Asiatic Nations, ii. 279) is not cor- rect, that " the conyejance of merchandise by means of a caravan, as in ni. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS OF THE EARTH. 77 cretioii and brave many dangers, by which they acquired a strength of mind that caused them to be looked upon with respect, and gained them the third rank in the order of castes. It is under the character of a wanderer that the ancient merchant is generally represented ; he has not only to superintend the sale of his wares, but to accompany them in their transit Thus in Hebrew, the name of the merchant is derived from a root that signifies *' to go about, to wander ;" in Greek, from iy iropo<;, transitus ; and our own word merchant has a similar signification in the Gothic mergan, " to spread/' In India, it is not alone the man who trades to foreign coimtries that has to wander, as much of the retail trade is carried on by persons who pass from village to village, like the bag-men or hawkers of our own land. By the Singha- lese the third caste is generally regarded as being exclusively mercantile, whilst the cultivators form the first class of the Sudras. It is said in one of their legends that the first merchant was called Wessama, who, having discovered the properties of certain medical productions, afterwards dis- posed of them for gain. It is the more usual course for the cultivators of the soil to be regarded as forming the noblest class of the people, next to those who hold rank as hereditary princes ; they are the eupatrids ; they form the timocracy ; and it is from them the rulers of the state are chosen ; as delegates of the king, when the government is monarchical, or as temporary chiefs, when it is an aristocracy. The circumstances of those who reside in the country, whether as proprietors or as labourers, are favourable to the maintenance of respectability of cha- racter, as they are exposed to fewer temptations than the merchant, who has necessarily to live in the midst of the luxuries that produce vice. The higher classes among the Greeks were averse to any profession except arms, agricul- ture, and musical exercises ; and the Spartans carried their disdain of all manual occupations so far as to leave even other countries of the East, continued alvrars foreign to the practice of India." 78 A MANUAL OF BUDHI8M. agriculture to the Helots.* The philosophers themselves were not exempt from these prejudices ; they supposed that as mechanical arts rendered the body languid, whereby the mind loses its energy, the man who exercises them is unable to fulfil the duties required of him in a free state. *' The ancients," says Niebuhr, ** with one mind esteemed agricul- ture to be the proper business of the freeman, as well as the school of the soldier. Cato says, the countryman has the fewest evil thoughts. In him the whole stock of the nation is preserved; it changes in cities where foreign merchants and tradesmen are wont to settle, even as those who are na^ tives remove whithersoever they are lured by gain. In every country where slavery prevails the freedman seeks his main- tenance by occupations of this kind, in which he not unfire- quently grows wealthy ; thus among the ancients, as in after times, such trades were mostly in the hands of this class, and were therefore thought disreputable to a citizen ; hence the opinion, that the admitting the artisans to full civic rights is hazardous, and would transform the character of a nation." It therefore appears to be contrary to the analogy presented in other nations, when we see the tribe of merchants in India holding so high a rank ;t but it is to be accounted for by the peculiar circimistances of the country, the products of which were carried to the most distant parts of the world, causing its people to become rich, and placing those who were the means of the acquirement of this wealth in the position of princes. We may also learn from the same fact than an * The Thracian chiefs also held it disgraceful to cultiyat the earth ; war and rohbery were with them the only paths to honour. On the other hand, the earlier Romans were eminently an agricultural people. t ** Traffic and money-lending are saty&ntrita ; even by them, when he is deeply distressed, may the Brahman support life." — Manu. Inst. iy. 6. But to the Persians, buying and selling appeared to be a mean practice, as they thought it impossible to carry it on without falsehood and cheating ; and when Cyrus heard that the Lacediemonians had a regular market at Sparta, he expressed great contempt for the nation. — Herod, i. 163. When the Lydians reyoltod against Cyrus, he was adyised by Crcpsus to enforce upon them the wearing of effeminate clothing, the practice of music, and shop- keeping, as by this means they would become women instead of men. — lb. i. 165. Kleon, the tanner, the Hyperbolas, the lamp-maker, are greatly derided by Aristophanes for presuming to engage in politics. III. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS OF THE EARTH. 79 extensive commerce must have been carried on in these pro- ductionSy at an early period after the deluge. The earliest cause of dissension among the primitive brah- mas is said to have arisen from the difference in the colour of their skin. When two descendants of an illustrious Brahman became converts to Budhism, 06tama enquired if their change of profession had excited the displeasure of the other Brah- mans ; and in reply they said it was alleged by their kinsmen, that the Brahmans ate *' the sons of Brahma, sprung from his mouth, pure and fair, while the other castes and sects are sprung from his feet, black and impure." This statement is in favour of the supposition that the Brahmans at first con- fined themselves to some region not far from the place whence the first dispersion of mankind commenced, by which the fairness of their complexion was preserved ; whilst the other tribes of the Hindus went on towards the south, spreading themselves throughout the entire extent of the peninsula, and penetrating even to Ceylon ; by which their complexions would be gradually rendered darker, from their residence under a vertical sun. It has been asserted by those who have had the opportunity of forming a correct opinion upon the subject, that the Brahmans are even now, at least in the north of India, a fairer race than the other tribes ; hence the proverb, "Never trust a black Brahman, nor a white Pa- riah.