English
In a country, where an order of men is -set apart, expressly for the-p*o- t£tion 6f thfe'rest ; a class, whom the enthusiasm of some historians has represented) to be " mighty in martial de^ds;" it musfr af^ear wonddrfiri, that this spirit could be k) completely extinguish- ed. It must appear wonderful)^ if this ijistitutibn q2 228.. of castes, were really 'as beneficial as is con- tended, that in a mode of life, where superi- ority is generally the result of skill, and where skill is derived from experience, the warriors of India should so long have slumbered in supine indifFetence. That an order of men, like the sacerdotali order, to whom is entrusted the care of science, as well as of religion, should, in modern times, have so far degenerated from their antient pre-eminence, is another proof of thfe impolicy of this regulation ; plainly demon- strating, that where knowledge is not permitted generally to expapd, knowledge is itself diminish- ed ; when it is, at first, from interested motives, confined to a few^ itis, at length, negleSJed by all. That the inhabitants of India jnay have excelled in the labors of the loom,- and that their manu- faftures are so remarkable for delicacy of texture, is not to be imputed; to the institution of a com- mercial caste, but to the suppleness of their frame, to the formation of their bodies, and above all, to the remarkable configuration of their hands. But, whatever superiority may be visible in their execution of many useful arts, the exercise of others is absolutely prohibited by their religion ; ' and the scrupulous adherence, with which they follow the praftices of their ancestors, has entirely checked the spirit of invention. 239 The fa£t is, that this fexample, drawn from the history of the Hindoo nation, will considerably tend to solve the problem so long debated — how far the powers of industry and application can supply the want of natural genius^ and also to ascertain that important question in political philosophy' — ^how far it is prudent to warp the . natural bent of the mind, by the artificial regula- tions of civil government. From this example it will appear, that to prevent the intelleftual powers from exerting their native strength, and from following those objefts to which the impulse of innate genius would prompt them, will soon bring on an indifference to every pursuit^ and at length leave the mind in total oscitancy. Whatever external force, and mechanical adrdit- ness can effeft, will be comparatively trivial, when put in competition with the elastic power of unconstrained and voluntary exertion. The charafter of the Hindoos, from their being thus fixed, from their birth, in this unalterable state, from which no efforts of their own, and no casualty of fortune can possibly remove them, iff marked by nothing of that vigor and decision, inseparable from competition in pursuits' and collision of interests. Hence this fevourite maxim, which they constantly re{)eat,' seems to ' govern Q3 230 , their condu£l. " It is better to sit than to Stand, to lie down than to sit, to sleep than to wake, and death is the best of all." In those occupa- tions, which require perseverance without exer- tion, and which demand only that degree of attention, which' permits the current of thought to glide on in uninterrupted indolence, they excel ; but they uniformly shrink from attempts of hazard and of enterprize. They prefer a lazy apathy to the agitations of .aSive life, and think it sufficient to pass through existence, with the negative merit of having neither disturbed their own repose, nor that of the world, by intemperate ambition. . But, that this regulation in the religion of the Hindoos, is lamentably inefficient to pro- du<^e the ends originally designed, la farther evident, from the deviations, which they have been compelled to make, from Its literal inteirpre-^ tation : from the injudicious attempts which they have made to soften its inflexibility, and tO moderate its rigor, Their law has permitted the mixed classes, , which have sprung from the intermarriages of the four first, to gain a subsistence by agriculture, eommerce, or menial service. The same law 131 has 4lso permitted, with a few limitationSj such, as cannot pfocure a subsistence by following the duties and occupations of their own classj to pursue those of another. Yet even this seemingly wise provision, a provision which might have been used to better purposes, has been converted, by the Hindoo priesthood, to their own interested designs, to gratify their avarice ; a passion which takes deep root in their minds, and' which always preys on minds not stimulated by nobler obje£t"s. It has enabled the Brahminical order to follow their inordinate love of wealth, by insinuating themselves into offices of trust and emolument. It lias enabled them to administer to their interest, without derogating from their sacred chara£ler, or injuring their reputation in the eyes of their followers. But this provision has proposed no incitement, it has not even given pertnission, to the subordinate castes to aspire to eminence. The sacred order, to which is entrusted " the ikeyofknowlege" must be preserved unpolluted i into that, none of the inferior classes can enter. When to this is added, that the Brahminical order alone is permitted to read the sacred oracles, that the military class is only permit- ted to hear thent recited, and that, to the lower castes, who compose the greater cumber, even 0,52 this privelege is denied, it may easily be perceived, that while the mind is enthralled by arbitrary tyranny, the moral char^fiter will be proportion- ably sunk, as being entirely dependant on the caprice of the same despedic influence. And, if the religion of the Hindoos has a natural tendency to depress the mental faculties, by assigning, to each individual, the sole objefts of his legitimate pursuit ; it has still farther con^ tributed to this eflfeft, by making science itself a subjefl: of divine revelation. "WTien we revert to the periods of Papal ignorance, and find the celebrated GaliJe^a subjefted to a rigorous con- finement for his astronomical discoveries, we are strongly impressed with the futility of com- prehendingi under religion, matters, entirely irrelevant to its design. But, in the religion of the Hindoos, every fine art is declared to be revealed from heaven ; and all knowledge, speculative or praftical, is traced to its source in the Vedas. A revealed code of morality, and a revealed science, both agree in this respeft ; they equally preclude all change or improvement But it is not less necessary for the happiness of , mankind, that the first should be unalterably fixed, than that the latter should be enlarged by inven-. i^ipp, and cprref^ed by experience, •i33 Another circumstance, conne£led with the former, which tends decidedly to check the pro- gress of knowledge among the Hindoos, is, the peculiarity of incorporating their civil code of laws, with their other moral and religious institu- tions. It was this peculiarity which rendered the Jewish people, what, for wise reasons, they were designed to be, a people separated from the rest ofc the world j a people, who while they were " men in religion, were children in every thing else." It is the same peculiarity which renders the Hindoos so hostile to improvement j and to this may, in a great degree, be imputed, that singularity of manners, which they have so long retained. As theif lavva are supposed to be derived immediately from Heaven, they are of eternal and immutable obligation ; as they were really the produftion of human wisdom, though they might be sufficiently adapted to the time in which they were first promulgated, yet the regu- lations which they enjoin, are often absurd, often prejudicial, and often imprafticable. They some- times disgust by their puerility, and sometimes shock by their unnatural rigor. The most trivial duties of ordinary life, are discussed with the greatest gravity ; the succession of property is regulated by maxims, which no change in ex- ternal circumstances must alter; contrafts are 234 Specified according to, every imaginable, or per- haps, possible case ; the regulations of com- mercial intercourse are prescribed with the most circumstantial exactness. Thus the civil code of the Hindoos, far from resembling the jejune brevity of the twelve tables, has been celebrat- ed as bearing a comparis:on with the digest of Justinian, in the number and the variety of the subje£ts which it discusses ; and it has assumed, what the code of Justinian never assumed, the authority of divine, and imnmtable sanftion. While the one, being modified by the vaiying circumstances, and more liberal spirit of modern times, is a valuable repository of legal knowlege, and is still beneficial for* the purposes of equity j the other has been converted into an engine of mischievous superstition, and has become perni- cious in proportion to its duration. It appears, indeed to have been the intention of Providence, that the course of Nature should be subje£l to'flu£luations, though the fundamental Laws, by which the world is governed, are im- mutable ; and that, in political governments, nothing should be fixed, but those eternal barriers of justice, which no length of time can alter, no art of man can destroy. With respeft to all institutions, merely human, it seems to have 235 been the design of Heaven to mock the pride of man, who wishes to dire£t the afitrons of j^osterity as well aS those of his contemporarieSj and endea- vours to make his own wisdom the rule of pondu£l for future generations.