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 houses; they are still the same old tenements of the unromantic type. But for once they do not make the foreground in a slum picture from the American metropolis. The interest centres not in them, but in the crowd they shelter only when the street is not preferable, and that with the Italian is only when it rains or he is sick. When the sun shines the entire population seeks the street, carrying on its household work, its bargaining, its love-making on street or sidewalk, or idling there when it has nothing better to do, with the reverse of the impulse that makes the Polish Jew coop himself up in his den with the thermometer at stewing heat. Along the curb women sit in rows, young and old alike with the odd head-covering, pad or turban, that is their badge of servitude—her's to bear the burden as long as she lives—haggling over baskets of frowsy weeds, some sort of salad probbalyprobably [sic]}, stale tomatoes, and oranges not above suspicion. Ash-barrels serve them as counters, and not infrequently does the arrival of the official cart en route for the dump cause a temporary suspension of trade until the barrels have been emptied and restored. Hucksters and pedlars' carts make two rows of booths in the street itself, and along the houses is still another—a perpetual market doing a very lively trade in its own queer staples, found nowhere on American ground save in "the Bend." Two old hags, camping on the pavement, are dispensing stale bread, baked not in loaves, but in the shape of big wreaths like exaggerated crullers, out of bags of dirty bed-tick. There is no use disguising the fact: they look like and they probably are old mattresses mustered into service under the pressure of a rush of trade. Stale bread was the one article the health officers, after a raid on the market, once reported as "not unwholesome." It was only disgusting.

title: Page:How the other half lives.djvu/79


text:
Page:The Czechoslovak Review, vol4, 1920.pdf/233

 custom, before I went to sleep. At that moment my glance fell upon Jan’s large bundle of poems, which upon my return from the Czech village I had laid upon the table by the bed. Almost without thinking, I picked it up instead of a book. I expected, I must confess, merely something of a pathological interest.

I read the first lines listlessly, I yawned, and it was with difficulty that I could keep my eyes open, but—when the first gleam of morning stole into the room, it found me by the half-extinguished lamp, devouring the last verses of the poem with my eyes excitedly enkindled. I was almost frightened when, looking up from the manuscript which I had finished reading, I saw through the window opposite the green of the mountain slopes already blended with the gold of a spring morning. It was long since such thing had happened to me—the last time was in my youth when I had spent a whole night in ecstasy over Byron’s “Cain.”

I do not wish to suggest a comparison of the unfortunate Jan with the great Englishman. Altogether, I refrain from giving an opinion as to the literary value of his work. I am merely describing the effect that this poem had upon me. After a few stanzas I felt myself suddenly in the grip of something like the breath of the Lord, that vehement whirlwind of God, by which the prophets of old were borne through the air into distant places. Your smile, Aglaja, does not make the slightest difference; you may have already observed that I am matter-of-fact person—perhaps more so than you would like to appear—and that I am not given to exaggerating. But I tell you that I soared throught that night in the twinkling of an eye, rising in unearthly regions upon the mighty wing of poetry, which long after I had returned to earth, dimmed my thoughts with a strange rapture. For a considerable while after I had finished reading this poem, I felt like a man who gradually gropes his way back to reality from the embrace of a beautiful dream.

And how I roved about everywhere that night. I soared through the world, the past and the present, all the huge expanse which Jan’s poetry gauged life-size with its mighty rainbow-colored pinions. It was clear that he had desired to express all his poetical outlook on the world in this work, that he had desired to breathe into it, and had indeed breathed into it, his whole soul. Nature, all human relationships, all struggles and yearnings of mankind were exhibited here in a completely new and magical illumination, such as only spirits of genius can spread upon their earthly paths. And like Dante’s Beatrice, there uprose before him upon this poetical pilgrimage that graceful phantom that he had told me about. The poem ended here in the Causasus whose natural beauties were reflected in it with colors of rare splendor, as in the mirror of a magic lake—on the peak of a lofty mountain where the poet with a magnificent harangue took his farewell from life and the world, and his mysterious ideal placed a wreath of immortality upon his brow. In my judgment his work was truly worthy of undying fame.”

“And what happened to this poem? Where is it?” I exclaimed involuntarily, when the surgeon, after speaking these words, was silent for a while.

“In a moment, you shall hear in a moment” replied Tabunov quietly. “On my second visit to the sick man I saw that his condition was visibly becoming worse. I looked at his haggard, livid face with pity, and my voice trembled with sorrowful emotion as I bestoved sincerely enthusiastic praise upon his poetical work. He listened to it calmly without any signs of joy, as if he had not expected any other judgment. Then, taking back the manuscript from my hand, he said: “I rely upon your promise. You know where to find this which will be the only thing I leave behind me. But at the same time I beg of you imploringly to fulfil one more final wish. You know the decayed Circassian village not far from here in the mountains?”

I assented.

“Above this village” continued the sick man in a feeble voice, “on the flat peak of the mountain, is a spot where I have spent the most beautiful moment of my life. It used to be my favorite haunt as long as I could still leave the house. Above the edge of the abyss stands a solitary young ash-tree, with vine-tendrils trailing over it; in its shadow I have sat for hours at a time, with a notebook in my lap and a pencil in my hand dreaming and writing. I used to be so unspeakably happy in that beautiful solitude where around me, as far as my eye could reach, I saw nothing but magnificent mountains, and above me the radiant vault of heaven. I was there alone with my poetry. Everything round about was silent with a holy stillness, and she alone whispered to me her wondrous sayings. And the light mist, fluttering afar above the forest, would gradually take on the form of a maiden, the likeness of my beauteous unknown, and come aquiver towards me in the air like a white cloud with open embrace. Yearningly I stretched out my hands towards her, plunging my whole soul in the mysterious sapphire depths of her eyes. She nestled tremblingly in my embrace, and then I closed my eyes with inexpressible joy, my head sank back upon the trunk of the ash-tree, and when a breeze passed through its foliage, I used to think that the beautiful vision, bending down gently above me, was whispering words of unearthly grace. How often have I desired in such a moment to rest thus for ever. Well, if I succumb to this illness, it is there that I wish to be buried. My parents would perhaps regard this wish as the expression of a morbid craving, and would bury me in spite of it amid the narrow walls of a graveyeard. So please see

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


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 Here is a brawny butcher, sleeves rolled up above the elbows and clay pipe in mouth, skinning a kid that hangs from his hook. They will tell you with a laugh at the Elizabeth Street police station that only a few days ago when a dead goat had been reported lying in Pell Street it was mysteriously missing by the time the offal-cart came to take it away. It turned out that an Italian had carried it off in his sack to a wake or feast of some sort in one of the back alleys.

On either side of the narrow entrance to Bandit's Roost, one of the most notorious of these, is a shop that is a fair sample of the sort of invention necessity is the mother of in "the Bend." It is not enough that, trucks and ash-barrels have provided four distinct lines of shops that are not down on the insurance maps, to accommodate the crowds. Here have the very hallways been made into shops. Three feet wide by four deep, they have just room for one, the shop-keeper, who, himself within, does his business outside, his wares displayed on a board hung across what was once the hall door. Back of the rear wall of this unique shop a hole has been punched from the hall into the alley and the tenants go that way. One of the shops is a "tobacco bureau," presided over by an unknown saint, done in yellow and red—there is not a shop, a stand, or an ash-barrel doing duty for a counter, that has not its patron saint—the other is a fish-stand full of slimy, odd-looking creatures, fish that never swam in American waters, or if they did, were never seen on an American fish-stand, and snails. Big, awkward sausages, anything but appetizing, hang in the grocer's doorway, knocking against the customer's head as if to remind him that they are there waiting to be bought. What they are I never had the courage to ask. Down the street comes

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 a file of women carrying enormous bundles of fire-wood on their heads, loads of decaying vegetables from the market wagons in their aprons, and each a baby at the breast supported by a sort of sling that prevents it from tumbling down. The women do all the carrying, all the work one sees going on in "the Bend." The men sit or stand in the streets, on trucks, or in the open doors of the saloons smoking black clay pipes, talking and gesticulating as if forever on the point of coming to blows. Near a particularly boisterous group, a really pretty girl with a string of amber beads twisted artlessly in the knot of her raven hair has been bargaining long and earnestly with an old granny, who presides over a wheel-barrow load of second-hand stockings and faded cotton yarn, industriously darning the biggest holes while she extols the virtues of her stock. One of the rude swains, with patched overalls tucked into his boots, to whom the girl's eyes have strayed more than once, steps up and gallantly offers to pick her out the handsomest pair, whereat she laughs and pushes him away with a gesture which he interprets as an invitation to stay; and he does, evidently to the satisfaction of the beldame, who forthwith raises her prices fifty per cent, without being detected by the girl.

Red bandannas and yellow kerchiefs are everywhere; so is the Italian tongue, infinitely sweeter than the harsh gutturals of the Russian Jew around the corner. So are the "ristorantes" of innumerable Pasquales; half of the people in "the Bend" are christened Pasquale, or get the name in some other way. When the police do not know the name of an escaped murderer, they guess at Pasquale and send the name out on alarm; in nine cases out of ten it fits. So are the "banks" that hang out their shingle

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text:
Page:The Czechoslovak Review, vol4, 1920.pdf/234

 to it yourself that my last wish is fulfilled. Do you promise me this?”

I promised and I kept my promise. The unhappy Jan does actually rest yonder in front of us, in the shadows of this ash-tree. Above his grave was also raised a simple wooden cross, but the rank vine-tendril soon trailed all over it with their dense leafage. When I was here the last time, I found two fresh wreaths of wild flowers on top of the cross—no doubt they had been gathered shortly before by Jan’s mother and the beautiful girl whose hopeless love for the sick poet I think I mentioned on our way to the lonely grave. Now this cross is completely hidden by vine leaves.”

The surgeon made a short pause. The rest of us were also silent as we gazed thoughtfully at the ash-tree. It was clear that all were moved at having been told that we were standing so near to the grave of the frenziedly inspired poet who had faded in the flower of his youth. Even Aglaja Andrejevna’s lips lost their usual contemptuous smile. Tears glistened in Uljana’s beautiful blue eyes. It semed to me then that for a moment in the shadow of the ash-tree beneath the drooping garland of emerald vine-leaves, I caught a glimpse of the figure of a young man with black hair, seated with his pale face bent forward, his eye dreamily staring into the distance.

“When I visited my young patient in Metodějovka for the third time” continued Tabunov, “I found him in the middle of the room on a low trestle formed from planks and chairs, clad in a simple shroud, with his hands crossed upon his breast. He was entirely covered with fiery azaleas and gaudy pictures of saints. On the ground beside him, with her head at the feet of the corpse, knelt the girl who had stopped me in the forest the first time I was returning from the sick man. His father stood by the window in mournful lethargy, with his eyes duly fixed upon the ground: his mother was sobbing and wringing her hands in a circle of neighbors who were speaking words of comfort to her. My entry into the room aroused loud lamentation. Silently I advanced towards the corpse and glanced for a moment into his face.

“It had not changed much, except that the closed eyes made its gauntness and shadowiness even more conspicuous. And what is the face of a corpse else than the mere shadow of a beloved person who is departing; they have already crossed the threshold of the house, for a moment their shadow still flickers before us on the surface of the door or upon the opposite wall, and then vanishes—for ever. My gaze wandered from the dead man to the village girl who now stood beside him, hiding her eyes and face in the palms of her beautiful soft hands; from beneath them and alon the side of them, bright tears were flowing and glistened also upon her fresh lips like the morning dew upon a ripe cherry. What a contrast was this lovely creature brimming over with life, with her wealth of fair hair, in her bright colored dress and close red bodice, beneath which her lovely, full breast surged with heavy sighs,—what a contrast to the dead faded object beside her.

I gazed afresh into the face of the corpse, and I now perceived that his lips were half opened, and that a calm and happy smile rested upon them. This was, as it were, a rigid expression of the bliss which the last moment of his life had bestowed upon him. He had probably died according to his desire. The vision which haunted him, the airy blue-eyed beloved, had nestled into his arms, his head had sunk back into the pillows as if upon the trunk of the trusty ash-tree, his eyes were closed, and above the dying man was wafted a sweet whisper of love and fame, of immortality in the poem which he had left behind him upon this earth. Suddenly I remembered the promise I had made to the sick man.

Having made sure that Jan was dead, I advanced to the couch on which he had lain during his illness. It contained neither a feather bolster nor a straw mattress,—it was completely empty. I asked his parents whether they had not found any papers in it. His grief-stricken father glanced questioningly at his sobbing wife, but she sorrowfully shook her head.

At that moment the girl came up to me with downcast and tearful eyes, and said simply: “Are you speaking about the writings which Jan composed, and hid under the pillow in his bed?”

“Yes, it is of tme [sic] I am speaking.”

“I took them away” the girl told me in enbarrassment. “It happened in this way. His mother accepted my offer to watch by the sick man with her. It was yesterday evening. Jan was asleep. I remembered what you said about the great harm that writing did him, and for safety’s sake I took away ink, pen and paper from the table beside his bed. After that we prayed quietly, sitting in this corner. A candle was burning behind the shade by his bed, his mother was sleeping, and through the gap between the wall and the shade I watched the sick man’s bed upon which the light was shining clearly. He was sleeping quietly. Unexpectedly I was also overcome hy drowsiness. When I woke up again. I saw that Jan was awake. He had raised himself up a little in bed, he had a thick pile of paper on his lap and was writing slowly with a pencil, which I had forgotten on the table. I wanted to tell him to leave off, but at that moment he stopped writing, his head sank back on to the pillow, he dropped the pencil which fell on the edge of the bed, his eyes closed and his deep sigh passed through the room. Driven by fear. I went quietly up to the bed,—he had died.”

There was renewed lamentation which I interrupted with the eager question: “And what about the papers?”

“Ah, the papers” replied the girl, “they threw them off the dead man on to the ground. I


text:
Page:The problem of China - Russell 1922.pdf/202

200Rh Englishman in the Far East who liked the Japanese as well as the Chinese. Those who have lived long among them tend to acquire their outlook and their standards. New arrivals are struck by obvious evils: the beggars, the terrible poverty, the prevalence of disease, the anarchy and corruption in politics. Every energetic Westerner feels at first a strong desire to reform these evils, and of course they ought to be reformed.

But the Chinese, even those who are the victims of preventable misfortunes, show a vast passive indifference to the excitement of the foreigners; they wait for it to go off, like the effervescence of soda-water. And gradually strange hesitations creep into the mind of the bewildered traveller; after a period of indignation, he begins to doubt all the maxims he has hitherto accepted without question. Is it really wise to be always guarding against future misfortune? Is it prudent to lose all enjoyment of the present through thinking of the disasters that may come at some future date? Should our lives be passed in building a mansion that we shall never have leisure to inhabit?

The Chinese answer these questions in the negative, and therefore have to put up with poverty, disease, and anarchy. But, to compensate for these evils, they have retained, as industrial nations have not, the capacity for civilized enjoyment, for leisure and laughter, for pleasure in sunshine and philosophical discourse. The Chinese, of all classes, are more laughter-loving than any other race with which I am acquainted; they find amusement in everything, and a dispute can always be softened by a joke.

I remember one hot day when a party of us were crossing the hills in chairs—the way was rough


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Page:Cell-to-Cell Communication During Plant-Pathogen Interaction.pdf/6

 Table 1. Summary of phytohormone roles in defense and intercellular communication

HOW PATHOGENS EXPLOIT HOSTS’ CELL-TO-CELL CONNECTION

Pathogens enter a host cell through a natural opening (e.g., stomata), wound, or tissue damage. The mode for infection varies from pathogen to pathogen (Fig. 2). For instance, nematodes and bacteria commonly use the apoplastic passage for colonization, whereas viruses and fungi exploit the symplastic passage for cell-to-cell spread (Kankanala et al. 2007).

Nematodes.

Sedentary endoparasite cyst nematodes and root-knot nematodes locate the host and penetrate through the roots in second-stage juveniles. The root-knot nematodes migrate through intercellular spaces in the cortex, reaching the xylem parenchyma and inducing the formation of the feeding structure of giant cells (Jones 1981; Wyss and Grundler 1992). Cyst nematodes with a more robust stylet migrate through penetrating the cortex and endodermis, reaching the vascular cylinder and establishing the syncytia (von Mende 1997). Giant cells are symplastically isolated and obtain nutrition through a transport-mediated process, whereas the syncytia are connected to the phloem by the PD (Hoth et al. 2008). Nematodes initiate the de novo formation of unloading the phloem and secondary PD biogenesis between the sieve elements that connect to syncytia to ensure macromolecular trafﬁcking (Hofmann and Grundler 2006; Hoth et al. 2008). They also release effector repertoires that may suppress the host defense response, alter hormone signaling, and modify or degrade the cell wall to ensure a constant nutrient supply and further establish a systemic infection (Hewezi and Baum 2017).

Viruses.

Plant viruses are biotrophic obligate pathogens known to spread by hijacking trafﬁcking through the PD. They encode the movement protein (MP) to transport their genomes across cells. Different MPs use different mechanisms for virus transport. Some viruses, such as the tobacco mosaic virus, require a single MP and not the coat protein (CP) for intercellular movement. Nontubule-forming viruses associate with PD via MP to facilitate movement by increasing the size exclusion limit of the PD (Schoelz et al. 2011). In contrast, the cucumber mosaic virus and Alfalfa mosaic virus require a single MP and CP for cell-to-cell movement (Kaplan et al. 1998). Some viruses such as the papaya mosaic virus and potato virus X have specialized open reading frames, known as triple gene blocks, which are required for movement through the PD and phloem (Morozov and Solovyev 2003).

Intercellular movement of members of genus Potyvirus, the largest group of RNA viruses, requires diverse host components and at least three viral proteins: CI, P3N-PIPO, and CP. Moreover, P3N-PIPO is the MP that targets CI to PD and forms a conical structure through which the virion or viral RNA/CP complex enters the adjacent cell (Wang 2021). Some viruses extensively modify the PD. For instance, MP in the cowpea mosaic virus forms growing tubules and replaces the appressed ER, leaving a PM-lined tunnel through which the virus can travel (van Lent et al. 1991).

Colocalization and interaction studies have demonstrated that the MP from the grapevine fanleaf virus (another tubule-forming virus) colocalizes and interacts with PDLPs. Furthermore, viral tubule and cell-to-cell spread were compromised in the PDLP triple mutant pdlp1/pdlp2/pdlp3. Viroids (small, single-stranded, circular RNAs) can also move through the PD and phloem and infect plants (Adkar-Purushothama and Perreault 2020). Some viruses (e.g., potato leafroll virus) are limited to the phloem. They may move as a virion with the CP, independent of the MP (Taliansky et al. 2003).

Filamentous pathogens (oomycetes and fungi).

Typically, biotrophs germinate on the host surface and attach through appressorium, followed by the apoplastic growth of hyphae, ﬁnally forming haustoria (the feeding structure) to obtain nutrients from the host. In contrast, necrotrophs derive nutrients by killing the host tissue and spreading from one cell to another. Hemibiotrophic fungi such as Magnaporthe oryzae breach the cuticle to form appressoria (infected cells) and rapidly colonize the host by forming invasive hyphae and secreting effectors, which can migrate from cell to cell and suppress host immunity (Giraldo et al. 2013). However, the signal or factor that drives the translocation is still debatable.

These pathogens use the PD as a suitable entry point to grow and invade the neighboring cells. In addition, invasive hyphae might constrict to pass through the PD (Kankanala et al. 2007). Inhibition of a single fungal MAPK, Pmk1, prevents the fungus from infecting neighboring cells (Sakulkoo et al. 2018). Due to their rapid colonization, the disease lesions appear within 4 to 5 days. Some oomycetes such as Hyaloperonospora arabidopsidis exploit stomata to reproduce through the emergence and spread of conidiosphore (Coates and Beynon 2010).

Bacteria.

Bacteria can enter plant tissues through natural openings or wounds and colonize the apoplast. However, unlike viruses and fungi, bacteria do not directly enter and spread through the Vol. 35, No. 2, 2022 / 103


text: Talk:Hunger (Hamsun)

title: Talk:Hunger (Hamsun)


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Page:The problem of China - Russell 1922.pdf/203

201Rh and very steep, the work for the coolies very severe. At the highest point of our journey, we stopped for ten minutes to let the men rest. Instantly they all sat in a row, brought out their pipes, and began to laugh among themselves as if they had not a care in the world. In any country that had learned the virtue of forethought, they would have devoted the moments to complaining of the heat, in order to increase their tip. We, being Europeans, spent the time worrying whether the automobile would be waiting for us at the right place. Well-to-do Chinese would have started a discussion as to whether the universe moves in cycles or progresses by a rectilinear motion; or they might have set to work to consider whether the truly virtuous man shows complete self-abnegation, or may, on occasion, consider his own interest.

One comes across white men occasionally who suffer under the delusion that China is not a civilized country. Such men have quite forgotten what constitutes civilization. It is true that there are no trams in Peking, and that the electric light is poor. It is true that there are places full of beauty, which Europeans itch to make hideous by digging up coal. It is true that the educated Chinaman is better at writing poetry than at remembering the sort of facts which can be looked up in Whitaker's Almanac. A European, in recommending a place of residence, will tell you that it has a good train service; the best quality he can conceive in any place is that it should be easy to get away from. But a Chinaman will tell you nothing about the trains; if you ask, he will tell you wrong. What he tells you is that there is a palace built by an ancient emperor, and a retreat in a lake for scholars


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Page:Cell-to-Cell Communication During Plant-Pathogen Interaction.pdf/7

 104 / Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions


text:
Page:Critical Pronouncing Dictionary (Walker, 4th edition, London, 1806).pdf/101

, d-mn′-kl. s. (405) 1em

, d-m-nk′-lr. a. 1em

, d-mn′ns-tr. v. a. 1em

, d-mn′ns-trte. v. a. (91) 1em

, d′mn-ns-tr′shn. s. (527) 1em

, d-mn′ns-tr-tv. a. (157) 1em

, d′mn-ns-tr′tr. s. (98) (527) 1em

, d′mn-ns-tr′trks. s. (527) 1em

, d′mn-ns-tr′tr-shp. s. 1em

, d′m-r-bl. a. (405) 1em

, d′m-r-bl-nss. , d′m-r-bl′l-t. s. (511) (527) 1em

, d′m-r-bl. ad. 1em

, d′m-rl. s. 1em

, d′m-rl-shp. s. 1em

, d′m-rl-t. s. 1em

, d-m-r′shn. s. 1em

, d-mre′. v. a. 1em

, d-m′rr. s. (98) 1em

, d-m′rng-l. ad. 1em

, d-ms′s-bl. a. (405) 1em

, d-msh′shn. s. 1em

, d-mt′. v. a. 1em

, d-mt′t-bl. a. 1em

, d-mt′tnse. s. 1em

, d-mks′. v. a. 1em

, d-mks′tshn. s. 1em

, d-mks′tshre. s. (461) 1em

, d-mn′nsh. v. a. 1em

, d-mn′nsh-r. s. 1em

, d-mn′nsh-mnt. s. 1em

, d-m-nsh′n. s. 1em

, d-m-nsh′n-r. s. 1em

, d-mn′n-tr-r. a. 1em

, d-mve′. v. a. 1em

, d-mr-m-r′shn. s. 1em

, -d′. s. 1em

, d--ls′snse. , d--ls′sn-s. s. 1em

, -dpt′. v. a. 1em

, -dp′td-l. ad. 1em

, -dp′tr. s. (98) 1em

, -dp′shn. s. (459) 1em

, -dp′tv. a. (157) 1em

, -d′r-bl. a. (405) 1em

, -d′r-bl-nss. s. 1em

, -d′r-bl. ad. 1em

, d--r′shn. s. 1em

, -dre′. v. a. 1em

, -d′rr. s. (98) 1em

, -drn′. v. a. (167) 1em

, -drn′mnt. s. 1em

, -dn′. ad. (323) 1em

, -dn′. prep. 1em

, -drd′. ad. (234) 1em

, -drft′. ad. 1em

, -drt′. a. (305) 1em

, -drt′nss. s. 1em

, -dr′. ad. 1em

, d-s-tsh′s. a. 1em

, d-strk′shn. s. 1em

, d-vnse′. v. a. (78) 1em

, d-vnse′. v. n. 1em

, d-vnse′. s. (79) 1em

, d-vnse′mnt. s. 1em

, d-vn′sr. s. (98) 1em

, d-vn′tdje. s. 1em

, d-vn′tdje. v. a. 1em

, d-vn′t-jd. a. 1em

, d-vn′tje-grnd. s. 1em

, d-vn-t′js. a. 1em

, d-vn-t′js-l. ad. 1em

, d-vn-t′js-nss. s. 1em

, d-vne′. v. n. 1em

, d-v′n-nt. a. 1em

, d′vnt. s. 1em

, d-vn′tn. a. (140) 1em

, d-vn-tsh′s. a. 1em

, d-vn′tv. s. (157) 1em

, d-vn′tsh-l. a. (461) 1em


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Page:The Czechoslovak Review, vol4, 1920.pdf/235

 picked them up later and laid them on the table. Then I remembered that these papers were the chief reason why he had died before his time, and in my anger I nearly tore them up and threw them out of the window. But then the thought came to me that this was Jan’s writing,—that it contained his thoughts, I should have liked to read them, and perhaps keep them for a remembrance. I knew that Jan’s father had often called his writing a foolish pastime, and had threatened his son that he would burn these papers if he caught him at them again. So as I came away, I tok the papers with me.”

“And you have them at home?” I asked.

“Yes,” declared the girl, and with that she stared at me with astonishment in her clear brown eyes, upon whose lashes tiny tears were glistening. “But is there anything important in these papers?”

I merlymerely [sic] gave a slight nod, and after taking my leave of Jan’s parents, I asked the girl to go with me and bring me the papers. How differrent was the view which greeted me outside, when I had left the close room, the scene of death and sorrow. The lovely smile of the spring sun was shinging on the cottages, on the vine-leaves and the hopes which trailed around them, in countless flowers and upon the rich green tree-tops of the forest close by, in front of which, upon the fresh grass of a meadow under a blossoming pear-tree, a troop of children was romping around a merrily blazing little fire.

I went with the girl to a low-roofed hut. On the threshold a wrinkled old woman was warming herself in the sun; she had a crutch under her arm and in her hand a rosary, whose pimpernel beads her shrunken fingers were slowly counting out. “I am praying for neighbour’s Jenik” she mumbled with her toothless lips, “God grant that he may enter into heaven”. The girl slipped, passed her into the cottage and remained there for a considerable time. She returned in manifest alarm, and asked the old woman: “Do you know, what has become of those papers that I put on the box?”—“How should I know” muttered the old woman. “I expect those young imps of ours,—they are always getting up to some mischief or other,—I think they took some papers out of the room,—they are over there, hm, hm,” and with a cough she lifted her crutch and pointed to the group of children under the pear-tree.

I hurried there with the girl, and in the middle of the frolicking band of children I saw upon a small, half burnt-out fire a smouldering pile of papers; some of them had just finished burning and were still writhing and softly wheezing as if in pain. The children were gloating over the death struggles and sighs of the unhappy poem, and were delighted by the gambols of the playful sparks upon the blackening fibres. Of course, they had not the slightest notion that each one of these sparks meant that a great and beautiful thought was being utterly destroyed, that with them, the last traces of an extraordinary and lofty spirit were vanishing for ever from te surface of the earth.”

“So it is all burnt up?” I exclaimed almost simultaneously with Uljana.

“Practically all. Only a single sheet of paper was saved from the children’s auto-da-fé. It lay beside the fire with its edges only slightly charred. It was the epilogue, the lines of which had benbeen [sic] completed in pencil, and with them the poet had accomplished his life’s work,—now rendered useless,—almost in the very moment of death. I have kept this sheet in my pocket-book. Perhaps after you return home you could publish at least these few verses in some native periodical. In my opinion they are beautiful, extremely beautiful, and yet they form only a very insignificant and paltry fragment of the splendid magical palace,,, [sic] through the radiant passages of which I walked alone that night, and which collapsed into nothing behind me as if at the touch of an evil wizard. At the most they can arouse profound regret at the loss of an extraordinary—”

Two shots in quick succession interrupted his words. Alarmed and also inquisitive, the party scrambled to the slope of the mountain from which they had resounded. I also joined in. I soon observed that something very ordinary had happened. As time was hanging heavily on their hands, our Cossacks had been doing some hunting and they had shot an animal. So I returned to our camping-place. But there my steps were arrested by the following brief incident which I saw through a gap in the thicket which separated me from our deserted camp with the lonely ash-tree in the background. It was not entirely deserted. Uljana, whose agitation and moodiness I had noticed the whole time that the surgeon was speaking, had remained there. Perhaps in her deep thoughts she had overheard even the two shots. She was sitting there with her head buried in her hands. Now she suddenly arose, looked hastily around her, and perceiving nobody upon the camping-place, she gave a single leap up to the young ash-tree, clasped her hands around its slender trunk, and half concealed by the vine-tendrils trailing about it, she pressed her lips upon the grey bark. She remained for a little while in this posture. And just at that moment the top of the ash-tree quivered in the light breeze, its feathery, transparent foliage began gently to sway and rustle.

What was the meaning of this incident? Was it one of those mysterious outbursts of unfathomed emotion, which suddenly with the vehemence of a whirlwind set a young soul astir, and then suddenly disappear without after-effects? Or was Uljana the incarnation of that beautiful vision, for which the unhappy youth had vainly sighed throughout his life and with whose bodily image he would only meet beyond the grave? And truly, the ash-tree quivered as strangely as if Jan himself were actually standing there in


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text: Court and Lady’s Magazine/Volume 3/February 1839/The Two New Year’s Nights


text: The Czechoslovak Review/Volume 4/Fame (1)


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 ^"^

.IC #?■'' N

GLAS

EDINBURGH

 * don.


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 >^i^av^o

COMPREHENSIVE

HISTORY OF INDIA,

CIVIL, MILITAE.Y AND SOCIAL,

FROM

THE FIRST LANDING OF THE ENGLISH,

TO THE SUPPEESSIOX OF THE SEPOY REVOLT;

INCLUDING

AN OUTLINE OF THE EAELY HISTORY OF HINDOOSTAN.

By henry BEVERIDGE, Esq.,

ADVOCATE.

ILLUSTRATED BY ABOVE FIVE HUNDRED ENGRAVINGS.

VOLUME IL

LONDON:

BLACKIE AND SON, PA.TEENOSTER BUILDINGS, E.G.; AND GLASGOW AND EDINBURGH.


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 I I

b

Glasgow:

w. g. blackie and co., printers, vii.lafiei.i).


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 CONTENTS.

VOL. II.

BOOK IV.

OF THE INSTITUTIONS, LITERATURE, ARTS, AND MANNERS OF THE HINDOOS.

CHAPTEE I.

PAGE

Origin and Classification of the Hindoos, .... .... 1

CHAPTEE II. The Eeligion of the Hindoos,, ... 16

CHAPTEE III. The Government of the Hindoos, 84

CHAPTEE lY.

Philosophy, Science, Literature, and Fine Arts of the Hindoos,. , . . 113

CHAPTEE V. Agi'iculture, Manufactures, and Commerce of the Hindoos, 151

CHAPTEE VI. Manners of the Hindoos,, 167

BOOK V.

FROM THE GRANT OF THE DEWANNEE OF BENGAL, BEHAR, AND ORISSA, TO THE ESTABLISHMENT

OF THE BOARD OF CONTROL, IN 17S4.

• CHAPTEE I.

Affairs of the Carnatic— The Manilla expedition— Eelations with Mahomed Ali— The treaty of Paris — The Company's jaghire — Seduction of refractory polygars — • Mahomed Issooff— Disputes between Mahomed Ali and the Bajah of Tanjore — Eelations with the Soubahdar of the Deccan — The Northern Circars — The rise and progress of Hyder Ali, 206


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 UL I tJ I

vi CONTENTS.

CHAPTER 11.

PAGE

Alarm produced by Hyder Ali's progress — Difficulty of choosing between his alliance and that of the Mahrattas — Views of the Directors on the subject — Fruits of the treaty with Nizam All — War with Hyder Ali — Confederacy against him broken up — Subsequent events— Tlie Company duped — Termination of the war,. . 243

CHAPTEE III.

Arrangements in Bengal consequent on the grant of the dewannee — Verelst succeeds Clive as president — Compai-ative tranquillity — Financial difficulties — Home pro- ceedings — Dividend — Interference of paidiament — Cartier president— Dreadful famine — Discussions in parliament — A crown plenipotentiary — Shah Alum seated on the throne of Delhi — The Mahrattas in Eohilcuud, 283

CHAPTER IV.

The early life of Warx'en Hastings — His appointment to a writership in Bengal — Important posts assigned to him — His return to England — He proceeds to Madras as the second member of council — His appointment as president of Bengal — The first acts of his administration — Double government abolished — The treaty of Benares — Tlie Rohilla war — Home proceedings — Financial difficulties — Clive put on his defence— His death by suicide — The Regulating Act, 299

CHAPTER V.

State of matters at Madras — Misunderstandings with Sir Robert Fletcher — New expedition against Tanjore — State of matters at Bombay — Expedition against the Nabob of Baroach — Negotiations with the Mahrattas — Capture of Salsette — Pro- clamation of the new government of Bengal — Dissensions in the council— Governor- general in a minority — Governor general charged with corruption by Nuucomar — Nuncomar accused of forgery, convicted, and hanged — Disturbances in Oude — ■ Violent dissensions at Madras — Arrest and death of Lord Pisjot, the cfovernor — Proceedings of the Bombay government — Capture of Salsette — Treaty with Eago- bah — Treaty of Poorundhur, 351

CHAPTER VI.

Financial and judicial arrangements in Bengal— Death of Colonel Monson gives the governor-general a majority in council — His supposed resignation — Proceedings thereupon in England and in Bengal — The supreme court decides as referee — General Clavering dies, and is succeeded by Sir Eyre Coote — Questions as to the jurisdiction of the supreme court— A new appointment given to Sir Elijah Impey — Parliament interferes— Sir Elijah Impey is recalled, 410

CHAPTER VII.

A rupture with the Mahrattas —A foi-ce sent overland from the Bengal to the Bombay presidency — Expedition from BomV)ay to assist Eagobah — Disastrous results — Negotiation with Moodajee Bhonsla, Eajah of Berar — Goddard's campaign against the Mahrattas — Treaty with the Rana of Gohud — Campaign of Popham— Capture of Gwalior — Capture of Bassein— Hostilities with Scindia — Peace with the Mah- rattas, 440


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 CONTENTS. vii

CHAPTEE VIII.

PAGE

"War with France — Capture of Pondiolierry — Disputes with Nizam Ali and Basahit Jung — War with Hyder Ali — Detachment under Colonel Baillie destroyed— Sir Eyre Coote in command of the Madras army— Lord Macartney governor of Madras — Defeat of Hyder Ali — Military and naval operations — Death of Hyder Ali — Death of Sir Eyre Coote — Subsequent progi-ess of the war — Peace with France — Peace with Tippoo, 468

CHAPTER IX.

Visit of Mr. Hastings to Benares — Proceedings against the rajah — Parliamentary reports on Indian affairs — Proceedings in Oude — Resignation of Mr. Hastings — Eesignatiou of Lord Macartney — India bills of Mi-. Dimdas, Mr. Fox, and Mr. Pitt — Establish- ment of the Board of Control,. , - .531

BOOK VI.

FROM THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE BOARD OF CONTROL. TO THE COMPLETE EXTINCTION OF

THE company's TRADE.

CHAPTER L

Mr. Macpherson governor-general — The Nabob of Arcot's debts — Lord Macartney, pro- posed as governor-general, declines — Lord Cornwallis appointed — His civil and military reforms — The cession of Guntoor — New agreement with Nizam Ali,. 559

CHAPTER IL

Tippoo's tyranny and cruelty — His attack on the lines of Travancore— Confederacy against him — Progress of the war under General Medows — Lord Cornwallis assumes the command — Siege and capture of Bangalore — Operations in Coorg — Advance on Seringapatam — Siege of Seringapatam — Treaty of j^eace,. . . 582

CHAPTER IIL

The arrival of Marquis Cornwallis in England — Impeachment and trial of Warren

Hastings— Indian administration of Sir John Shore,. ■ . . . . . 640

CHAPTER IV.

Sir John Shore governor-general — Death of Mahadajee Scindia — War between the Nizam and the Mahrattas — Death of the Peishwa — Disputed succession in Oude — Death of Mahomed Ali — War with the Dutch, ....... 655

CHAPTER V.

Earl of Moruington, afterwards Marquis Wellesley, appointed governor-general — State of India on his arrival — Treaty with the Nizam — Disbandment of the French corps — War with Tippoo — Siege and capture of Seringapatam — Settlement of Mysore, 675


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 vm CONTENTS.

CHAPTER VI.

PAGE

Disputed succession in Taujore — New settlement of this country — Proceedings in regard to Siu-at— Deposition of the Nabob of Arcot— Proceedings in Oude— Subsidiary treaty with the Nizam — Expedition to Egypt, 714

CHAPTER VII.

New treaty with the Nizam — State of aflPairs among the Mahrattas — The treaty of Bas- sein — A new Mahratta war — Operations in the Deccan — Victory of Assays- Operations in Gujerat and C attack — Operations in Hindoostan under Genei'al Lake ^Storming of Alighur — Battle and occupation of Delhi — Capture of Agra — Battle of Laswaree — Conquest of Bundelcund — Battle of Argaora — Siege of Gawilghur — Peace with Sciudia and Ragojee Bhonsla, 739

CHAPTER VIII.

AVar with Holkar — Ameer Khan in Bundelcund — Disastrous retreat and discomfiture of Colonel Monson — Holkar invades Hindoostan — His siege of Delhi —His depre- dations in the Doab — Battle of Deeg — Rout at Furruckabad — Storming of Deeg — Siege of Bhurtj)oor — The failure of four assaults — Disputes with Scindia, . . 773

CHAPTER IX.

Manpiis of Cornwallis again governor-general — His policy — His death — Sir George Barlow governor-general — His policy — Mutiny at Vellore — Lord William Bentinck, governor, and Sir John Cradock, commander-in-chief at Madras, recalled— Disputes as to the appointment of governor-general — Sir George Barlow recalled by the king's sign-manual, 803

CHAPTER X.

Lord Minto governor-general — Disturbances in Bundelcund — Arrangements with the Nizam — Embassies to Scinde, Cabool, and Persia— Mutiny at Madras— Disturb- ances in Travancore- Capture of the French and Dutch islands— Misgovernment of Oude — Revenue and judicial systems — The ryotwar settlement — Riot at Benarea —The Bengal missionaries — Discussions on the Company's charter— Close of Lord Minto's administration, 820


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 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

VOLUME II.

FRONTISPIECE.— The Dewannee of Bengaj,, Beh.^e, and Oriss., acquired by the English. EJfGEATED TITLE.— The Last op the Klngs of Delhi surkousded by his Court. .isKETCH IvLap of Indi.^, sHo^^^^'G the Lihits of the Presidencies oi Bengal, Bombay, and Madeas, Map of the Valley of the Ganges, from Benares to Cawnpoob.

ALlP of the VAI.LEY OF THE GANGES, FROM NE.AR C.VWNPOOR TO MEERUT.

Map OF Afghanistan.

Map of Burmah, Pegu, and Ajiacan.

Map op Oude, with Part of Nepaul.

Map of the Island of Ceylon.

Map of Scinde, with Parts of Beloochistan axd Afghanistan.

PAGE

Punch Agnee, or Penance of Five Fires,

7

Hindoo Weaver and Winder of Thread,

. 14

Hindoo Deities

Brahma,

. 22

Trimurti,

22

Vishnu,

. 2.3

Krishna,

. 30

Buddha,

. 31

Siva,.

. 32

Durga,

. 33

Agni,

. 34

Indra,

. 35

Varuna,

. 35

Ganesa,

. 37

Cartikeia,.

. 38

Kama or Kamadeva,.

39

Yama, .....

40

Gunga (the Ganges),.

41

Charak Pujah, or Festival of Kali,

47

Devotees of Kali, ....

50

Idol of Juggernaut,. . ^.

53

Car and Procession of Juggernaut at Puri,

56

HiXDOO Devotees: —

A Naga and a Rammanandi,

68

A Sanyasi or Soonassie,

69

A Vairagis,. . . ..

69

A Gosain, ......

71

A Dandi,

74

Lingayets or Jangamas,

76

Urdhabahus or Oodoobahoos,

76

A Kerari on Bed of Spikes,

78

Jains, ......

81

A Brinjarie or Carrier of Grain,.

113

A Dybuck or Astronomer,. . ..

123

Hindoo Musical Instruments,

139

Pagodas at Mahabalipooram,

145

Great Temple of Bhobaneser,

147

Vimala Sah Jain Temple, Mount Aboo,

148

Observatory at Delhi,. . . ..

149

Bowlee or Reservoir at Boondee,.

150

Hindoo Ploughs,

153

Drill of Baroach,, ,. ..

154

Hindoo Carpentera,

165

Vol. II.

Spinning 'N'NTieel, Bombay,.

Interior of a Bengal Native Hj^

Choultry at Ramisseram,

Hindoo Sweetmeat Shop,

Carriages Drawn by Oxen,

Hindoo Marriage Festival,

A Suttee,

Thugs di'iding their Sisoil,

Nauteh Girls,

Brahmin Schoolmaster and Scholars,

The Fakir's Rock on the Ganges,

Devil's Peak, Condapilly,

Portrait of Hyder AH,

Fort of Dindigid, in Mysore,

Tliird Delhi Gate, Bangalore,

Anchittydroog,.

Distant View of Senngapatam,

Ooscota, in Mysore,

Fort of Palghaut, Western Ghauts,

View of Tellicherry, from the Sea,

Pagoda at Trinomalee,

Hill-fort of Kistnagherry, in Mysore,

General View of Oossoor,

Mahomed Ali, Nabob of the Carnatic,

Native Portrait of Nujeef Khan Zulficar,

Portrait of Warren Hastings,

Government House and Council Chamber,

Madras, ......

Banyan or Hindoo Shopkeeper, Council House, Calcutta, Benares, from the River, Ghaut at Etawah, on the .Jumna,

A Rohilla,

The East India House, and part of Leaden

hall Street, 1726-1799, ... Portrait of Sir Robert Fletcher, The Great Pagoda, Tanjore, View of Baroach on the Nerbudda, Native Portrait of Ragonath Row, View of Bellary, from the East,. Portrait of Nana Fumavese, Portrait of Sir Phillip Francis, K.B , A Mahratta Pundit,

b

PAGB

165 169 171

17i 173 175 185 191 19/ 200 205 215 217 220 224 230 232 234 242 244 252 266 273 289 298 301

304 313 318 323 326 328

344 351 354 355 356 358 359 371 377


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 X

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

Portrait of Sir Elijah Impey,. , .382 Portrait of Asoff-ul-Dowlah,. . .386

Ila'iiie at Etawah,. . . . .388

Portrait of George Pigot, Baron Pigot,. 391

Portrait of Sir Edward Hughes,. . . 396

Foot Soldier in the service of Eagobah,. 400

View of Cambay, from the South, 1772,. 402 View of Pooruiidhur,. . . . .409

A Zemindar, ...... 415

Calpee on the Jumna,. . . . .443

View from the top of the Bhore Ghauts,. 448 Tlie Gate of Diamonds at Dubhoy,. . 455

Gwalior — Angle of the wall where the fortress

was surprised by General Popham,. . 459 View in the Bhore Ghauts,. . . .463

Mosque in PanweU, ..... 465

Portrait of Sir Edward Vernon,. . .468 Portrait of Sir Thomas Rumbold,. . 472

Portrait of Rev. C. F. Swartz,. . . 475 View of Adoni, from the South-west,. .477 Chobdar or Staff- bearer,. . . .478

Plan of the Attacks on Li(ut. -colonel Baillie, 482 Gateway of the Pagoda at Cliilambrum, . 490

Plan to illustrate the Battle of Porto Novo,. 492 Distant View of Trincomalee,. . . 505 Hyder Ah's owai Family Tomb at Colar,. 507 Portrait of Admiral de Suflfrein,. . .511

Plan to illustrate the Battle of Cuddalore,. 513 Fort Onore after the Siege, 1783,. . .516 Basket-boat and Cattle crossing a River,. 522 Portrait of Tippoo Sultan,. . . .525

Benares, the Churrun Padookha and Muni- kurnika Ghat, ..... 535

Gate of the Lall Baug at Fyzabad,. . 545

Portrait of Henry Dundas, Viscount Melville, 549 Black Town, Calcutta,. . . .558

Portrait of Sir John Macpherson,. .560

Portrait of Lord Macartney,. . . 562

Portrait of Lord ComwalUs,. . . 569

Portrait of General Medows,. . . 589

Tippoo Sahib's Cavalry and Infantry,. . 591 Conjeveram, from the Artillery Encampment, 593 Naigue or Corporal, Bombay Grenadiers,. 595 Tippoo Sahib's Palace, Bangalore,. . 596

The Pettah of Bangalore — Gate where Colonel

Moorhouse fell, 598

Lake of Mooty Tallaow, near Bangalore,. 604 Nundidroog during the Siege, 1791,. . 607 Pagodas at Maugree, ..... 609 View of Savandroog, East Side,. . .610

North-east View of Seringapatam,. .613

Plan of Seringapatam and its Environs, to il- lustrate the Siege in 1792,. . . 615 Seal of Tippoo Sultan,. . . .619 Tippoo Sultan's Palace, Seringapatam,. . 619 Fort St. George, Madras, .... 625 Portrait of Edmund Burke,. . .641 Portrait of Charles .Tames Fox,. . .643 Portrait of William Pitt, .... 645 Portrait of Sir John Shore, Lord Teignmouth, 656

Portrait of M.ahadajee Scindia,

Portrait of Madhoo Row, ....

Morchuls, Emblems of Sovereignty,

Tlie Nizam's Camp, ..... Lord Hobart, Earl of Buckinghamshire,

Richard, Lord Momington, Marquis Wellesley,

Portrait of General Lord Harris,

Flags of the French Brigades in the Service of the Nizam, ....

Forts and Tombs at Golconda,

Hircarrahs or Messengers,.

Sepoys of the Madras Army,

View of Seringapatam, from the East,

Plan of Seringapatam and its Environs, to il- lustrate the operations of 1799,

Sepoy of Tippoo's Regular Infantry,

Seringapatam — View of the South Works during the Siege, 1799,

Grand Mosque, Seringapatam, 1799,

Portrait of Sir Da^dd Baird,

Dress worn by Tippoo Sultan on the day of his death, ....

Tomb of Hyder Ali and Tippoo Sultan, Ser- ingapatam, ....

Jewelled Peacock, from Tippoo Sultan's Throne,

Flags of Tippoo Sultan, and the Golden Tiger- headed Footstool to his Throne,

Palace of the Nabob of Arcot, Madras,

The Punj Mahalla Gate, Lucknow,

Hill-fort of Bidgeghur, ...

Hill- fort of Raghur, ....

Bazaar in Scindia's Camp,

Portrait of General Sir Arthur Wellesley,

Plan to illustrate the Battle of Assaye,

North View of the Fort of Aseerghur,.

Fort of Powanghur, Gujerat,

Plan of the attack on General Perron's Camp.

Great Gun at Agra, ....

Plan to illustrate the Battle of Laswaree,

Gosain Soldiers, Horse and Foot,.

The Fort of Gawilghur,

Ruins of the Fortress of Biana,

City and Fortress of Tonk,.

Pass of Mokundra, Malwah,

Ruins at Deeg, .....

Portrait of General Lord Lake,

The Rajah's P.alace, Bhurtpoor,

The City of Kottah, from the East,

Monument to Lord Comwallis at Calcutta

View near Tonk, ....

Gateway at Vellore, ....

Portr.ait of the Earl of IMinto,

Hill-fort of Ajagerh, in Bundelcund,

Fort of Kalinjer, in Bundelcund,.

The King's Palace, Dellii,.

View of Cliitteldroog, 1803,

Poonah, from the River,

Port Louis, Mauritius,

Portrait of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles,

Portrait of William Carey, D.D.,.

PAOR

658 661 663 668 673 677 683

685 686 691 693 695

697 698

699 701

702

703

704 705

705 721 730 733

746 748 750 753 755 756 759 764 766 768 770 774 775 777 783 789 796 801 807 810 812 821 821 828 832 843 844 847 849 851


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 BLACKIE A SON GLASGOW. EDIOTtlReH &L01ID0N.


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 A

COMPREHENSIVE

HISTORY OF INDIA.

BOOK lY.

OF THE INSTITUTIONS, LITERATURE, ARTS, AND MANNERS OF THE HINDOOS.

CHAPTER I.

Origin and Classification of the Hindoos,

HE Hindoos, though now forming tiie great body of the a.d. — population of India, do not seem to have been its earliest inhabitants. These, it is probable, are still represented Hindoos

. . not the

by some of the hill tribes, who after contending m vain aborigines against foreign invaders, quitted the plains, and found an

asylum among mountains and forests, into which the con- quering race could not or cared not to follow them. The tra- dition is that the Hindoos entered India from the north-west, and had their first settlement in a small tract lying about 100 miles north-west of Delhi, between the Guggur and the Soorsooty. In the Institutes of Menu this tract is said to have been named Brahmaverta, because it was " frequented by the gods," and the custom preserved in it by immemorial tradition is recommended as "approved usage." From this tract the Hindoos appear to have spread eastward, and occupied the whole country north of the Jumna and the Ganges. To distinguish this country from Brahmaverta it was called Brahmarshi, and from Brahmins born w^ithin it all men on earth are enjoined to learn their several usages. Besides these tracts Menu mentions two others — Medhyadesa, or the central region said to lie between Himayat (the Himalaya) and Vindhya; and Aryaverta, or the land of respectable men, described in rather indefinite terms, but meant apparently to include the countries stretching on each side of the central region, "as far as the eastern and the western oceans," in other words, the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea.

Assuming that at the time when the Institutes of Menu were compiled, the whole territory included under the names of Brahmaverta, Brahmarshi,

— Vol. II.

90


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 2 HISTORY OF INDIA. [Book IV.

AD. — Medbyadesa, and Aiyaverta, was in full and undisputed possession of the Hindoos, we turn to their records in the hope of obtaining accounts more or less Fabulous avitbentic of the manner in which they made their original con(][uests, and after- Hiiuioo wards extended them into the Deccan, so as to bring the whole of India under chronli^ their power. Unfortunately, on these important points the Hindoo annals fur- nish no information, and we are presented, instead of historical details, with the most extravagant fables. Commencing at a period so remote that the mind is unable to form any definite conception of the years which have elap.sed since its commencement, we arrive at last at four yugas or ages, evidently resembling those with which the literature of the Greeks and Komans has made us familiar. The first age, or satya yuga, lasted 1,728,000 years. Durmg this age man existed in his most perfect form, The whole race was free from any taint of corruption ; and each individual, besides being of gigantic stature, li-^ed 100,000 years. In the second age, or trela yuga, one-third of the human race had become corrupt, and the duration of the whole period, as well as of human life, suffered a corresponding dnninution, the former being reduced to Four ages. 1^290,000 ycars, and the latter to 10,000 years. In the thn^d age, or chuajmra yuga, corruption still proceeding, the whole period was reduced to 864,000, and the life of man to 1000 years. In the fourth age, or cali yuga, corruption became universal, and while human life has been restricted to its present maxi- mum of 100 years, it has been predicted that the whole number of years now running their destined com'se will not exceed 432,000. The three first ages are evidently fabulous ; but Hindoo chronology, maintaining a kind of consistency in its extravagance, treats them all as equally authentic, and assigns historical events to each. In some instances, indeed, even the myriads of years included in the ages are deemed insufiicient, and the Institutes of M'enu, though certainly not older than the ninth century before our era, are fabled to have been wi'itten at a date, to reach which, in counting backwards, the 4,820,000 years of the four ages must be multiplied by six times seventy one. In a similar spirit the Surya Sidhauta, an astronomical work of the fifth or sixth century, is assigned to the satya yuga, and gravely declared to have been written more than two millions of years ago. Tiie cali The cali yuga is the only age which can be regarded as historical. It com-

iiistoi'icai. menced about 5000 years ago, and thus falls within the period during which we know, from an infallible source, that men have lived upon the earth, and may have spread eastward from their original seat into the basin of the Ganges. Still, notwithstanding some remarkable coincidences, it is difficult in the ex- treme to unravel the web of Hindoo fiction, and assign a real existence to beings who, though living and performing exploits in localities which are easily identified, figure as the familiar associates of supernal or infernal powers, as the descendants of the sun and moon, and even as incarnations of deity. Such are the heroes of the two celebrated epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharat.


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 Chap. I.J EARLY HINDOO HISTORY, 3

That they were real human beings, and not mere creatures of the imagination, a.d.

may easily be admitted ; but in all the details respecting them the supernatural predominates so much over the historical, and is so interwoven with it, that the EariyMstory attempt to separate them is fruitless. To the vague information furnished by nmdoos. tlie Institutes of Menu scarcely anything is added, and we must be contented to know, as a general but unexplained fact, that Hindoo supremacy, after being maintained by dynasties, the most important of which reigned in Ayodah or Oude, situated near the centre of Brahmarshi, was gradually extended over the wliole length and breadth of the Indian peninsula, and even beyond it, into the island of Ceylon.

While it is impossible, in the absence of genuine annals, to trace the leading Division into

T • 1 ^ • ^ c o classes or

events in the early history of the Hindoos, and present them in the form of a castes. continuous narrative, there is another important branch of inquiry, as to which a similar complaint cannot be made. In several ancient works, and more especially in the Institutes of Menu, we obtain an intimate acquaintance vdX their internal condition, and are introduced to a state of society of a very extraordinary character. As its distinguishing features mvist now be passed in review, we begin with the one which lies at the foundation of all the social ar- rangements of the Hindoos, From a very early date they have existed, not as one people, derived from a common origin and possessed of equal rights, but as distinct classes, separated from each other by impassable barriers, and destined to occupy very different social positions. This classification, to which Europeans, »

borrowing a synonymous term from the Portuguese, generally give the name of caste, appears to have had its origin in a mythological fiction. According to Hindoo theology, mankind are not the descendants of a single primeval pair, but were at first produced by Brahma, their imaginary creator, from four different parts of his body. From his mouth proceeded the Brahmin, from his arm the Cshatriya, from his thigh the Vaisya, and from his foot the Sudra. Each of these creations furnished the progenitors of a distinct class, whose social position and occupation were thus indelibly fixed in accordance with its origin. According to Menu, the Brahmin, since he sprang from the mouth, the most excellent part, "is by right the chief of this whole creation." Next in order, but at an immeasurable distance, stands the Cshatriya. His descent marks him out as a soldier, and his principal employment should be "to defend the people." The Vaisya represents the industrial class, and his proper duty therefore is to keep herds of cattle, to carry on trade, to lend at interest, and to cultivate land. To the Sudra, it is said, the supreme ruler assigns one principal duty, "namely, to serve the before mentioned classes without depreciating their worth."

In ewory description of the duties of the different classes, the elevation of the Brahmin is never overlooked. Though the Cshatriya and Vaisya are enjoined or permitted to read the Veda or Hindoo scripture, the Brahmin alone is


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 HISTORl" OF INDIA. [Book IV.

A D —

o( the

Brail

caste,

entitled to teach it. They too may sacrifice on their own account, but to him exclusively is assigned the duty " of assisting others to sacrifice." The Cshatriya is required to give alms, and the Vaisya to bestow largesses, whereas the Brahmin need not give unless he is rich, and on the contrary, if poor, has the sui.remacy spccial privilege of " receiving gifts." These privileges, however, give but a feeble Brahmin idea of liis dignity, and therefore we are distinctly told that "the very birth of Brahmins is a constant incarnation of Dherma, god of justice ; for the Brahmin is born to promote justice, and to procure ultimate happiness;" that "when a Brahmin springs to light, he is born above the world, the chief of all creatui-es, assigned to guard the treasury of duties, religious and civil;" and that ^'what- ever exists in the universe is all, in effect, the wealth of the Brahmin, since the Brahmin is entitled to it all by his primogeniture and eminence of birth." To secure this pre-eminence of the Brahmins, and give practical effect to it, the prin- cipal places of authority and trust are reserved for them. The king, indeed, should properly belong to the Cshatriya class, but the requisite qualifications for his high office are to be acquired by listening with implicit deference to the in- structions of Brahmins. From them he is continually to " learn habits of modesty and composure;" by their decision he is to "abide;" and though in choosing his counsellors he is only enjoined in general to appoint " men whose ancestors were servants of king.s, who are versed in the holy books, who are personally brave, who are skilled in the use of weapons, and whose lineage is noble;" it is added, not that he is to act on the advice which they may give him, but simply that having ascertained their several opinions "let him impart his momentous counsel to one learned Brahmin distinguished among them all; to him, with full con- fidence, let him intru.st all transactions, and with him having taken his final resolution, let him begin all his measures." Having thus a Brahmin for his prime minister, he is to select another of eminent learning for the office of chief judge, and leave it to him and three other Brahmins appointed to act with him as assessors, to investigate all causes brought into the king's court, and prepare them for decision either by himself in person, or by the chief judge as his deputy. It is not so much, however, by the direct authority conferred upon them as ministers of state and judges that the ascendency of the Brahmins is secured, as.by the peculiar sacredness which is attached both to their persons and property, and which, while it permits them to commit crimes with comparative impunity, aggravates the guilt and increases the punishment of those who may dare to injure or offend them. A king, however much he may be pressed for money, must not "provoke Brahmins to anger, by taking their property; for they once enraged could immediately, by sacrifices and imprecations, destroy him with his troops, elephants, horses, and cars;" and in administering justice he "must not even form the idea of killing a priest," even though he may have been "convicted of all possible crimes." "He may be banished the realm, but it must be with all his property secure and his body unhurt," for "no gTeater


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 Chap l.J THE BRAHMIN CASTE. 5

crime is known on earth than shxying a Brahmin." While the Brahmin may a.d. — thus be guilty of all imaginable atrocities without putting his life in danger, the law carefully throws its shield around him, and punishes the slightest insults Comparative offered to him by the intliction of barbarous tortures and mutilations. Should for crime a Sudra address him in contumelious terms, "an iron style, ten lingers long, shall "y ^^e be thrust red hot into hjs mouth;" should he "insolently place himself on the ^'■^'i^ms. same seat," banishment is the mildest punishment that awaits him; "should he spit on him through pride, the king shall order both his lips to be gashed ; " should he seize him by the locks, or other enumerated parts of his person, "let the king, without hesitation, cause incisions to be made in both his hands ; '' should he "through pride give instructions to priests concerning their duty, let the king order some hot oil to be dropped into his mouth and his ear."

Such is a specimen of the penalties which the code of Menu provides for the slightest premeditated insults offered to a Brahmin. Legal penalties, however, are insufficient to heal his wounded dignity or satisfy his vengeance, and therefore, to make the punishment complete, sanctions of a different kind are put in re(piisition. In some cases where the offence proceeds from momentary impulse, or is of so trivial a nature that the law has not deigned to deal with it, expiation by penance may suffice, and hence, he " who says hush or 'pish to a Brahmin " may purge the offence by bathing immediately, eating nothing for the rest of the day, and appease him whom he has offended "by clasping his feet with respectful salutation." Inhke manner, one offending a Brahmin by striking him, " even with a blade of grass," or by " overpowering him in argument, and adding contemptuous words," must "soothe him by falling prostrate." It woukl seem. Penalties for however, that from the refusal of the Brahmin, or some other cause, the offered Braiimin. reparation may prove unavailing, and hence we are elsewhere told that he who has smitten a Brahmin in anger and by design, even with a blade of grass, "shall be born in one-and-twenty transmigrations from the wombs of impure quadrupeds." The crime may be committed, and a fearful penalty incurred, without actually smiting ; for it is expressly declared that " a twice-born man," that is, one belonging to any one of the three first classes, if he " barely assaults a Brahmin, with intention to hurt him, shall be whirled about for a century in the hell named Tamisra." Should there be not merely an intent to hurt or kill, but actual striking, the punishment shall be extended to a thousand years; and should blood be shed, then "as many pellets of dust as the blood of a Brahmin collects on the ground, for so many thousand years must the shedder of that blood be tormented in hell."

In the early aa:e, when the Institutes of Menu were compiled, the Brahmin stages of a

•^ '=' -^ .... Brahmins

paid somewhat dearly for his honours by the strict discipline to which his whole life. life was subjected. Having been invested with the badge of his caste in his eighth, and, at aU events, not later than his sixteenth year, he became a Brah- machari, or student in theology, took up his residence with a preceptor, and


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 6 HISTOKY OF INDIA. [Book IV.

A 1). - besides listening with the utmost deference to his instructions, spent a large part of every day in irksome o}3servances, and even menial services. Among others, The first aiui he bchovcd "to carry water-pots, flowers, cow-dung, fresh earth, and cusa grass, stages of a as mucli as may be useful to his preceptor;" to bring logs of wood from a dis- ^ raiiiHii!, ^c^j^QQ^ and with them "make an oblation to fire without remissness, both evening and morning," and to seek his daily food " by begging, with due care from the houses of persons renowned for discharging their duties," and where such liouses could not be found, by "begging through the whole district round the village." If so disposed he might pass his whole life in this manner, induced by the con- sideration that " that Brahmin who has dutifully attended his preceptor till the dissolution of his body, passes directly to the eternal mansion of God;" but, in general, regarding studentship merely as a probationary stage, he passed to a second, in which, provided his rules as a student had not been violated, he was permitted to "assume the order of a married man," and "pass the second quarter of human life in his own house.' During this stage, devoting himself chiefly to the study of the Veda, and living "with no injury, or with the least possible injury to animated beings," he might, "for the sole purpose of supporting life," acquire property " by those irreproachable occupations which are peculiar to his class, and unattended with bodily pain. '" Among the approved means of subsistence are enumerated gleaning, and gifts received, unasked, from worthy persons. Next in order are alms obtained by asking, and tillage, and last of all, traffic and money-lending, "but service for hire is named sivavritti, or dog- living, and of course he must by all means avoid it." In the latter part of this second stage, if the Brahmin "has paid, as the law directs, his debts to the sages, to the manes, and to the gods," that is, according to commentators, if he has duly read the scripture, begotten a son, and performed regular sacrifices, "he may resign all to his son, and reside in his family house, with no employment but that of an umpire." Thethiid The third stage of the Brahmin's life arrives when he "perceives his muscles

stage. ... . . I. 5)

become flaccid, and his hair gray, and sees the child of his child. He must now take up his consecrated fire, and the implements for making oblations to it, and departing from the town "repair to the lonely wood." During the second stage, when he was a householder, mortification was rather the exception than the rule. He was never, if able to procm-e food, to "waste himself wntli hunger," nor, possessing any substance, to "wear old or sordid clothes." On the contrary, with his liair, nails, and beard clipped, his passions subdued, his mantle white, his body pure, a staflT of venu, a ewer with water in it, a bvmch of cusa grass, or a copy of the Veda, in his hand, and a pair of bright golden rings in his ears, he was diligently to occupy himself in reading the Veda, and be constantly intent on such acts as might be salutary to him. Now, however, when retired to the forest, he was to "wear a black antelope's hide, or a vesture of bark," to "suffer the hair of his head, his beard, and his nails to grow continually," to eat


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 Chap. 1.]

THE BRAHMIN CASTE.

1

MmiM'

Punch Agnee, or Penance of Five Fires. — From Belnos' "Sindhya,"or

Daily Prayers of the Brahmins.

'•■green lierbs, flowers, roots, and fruits," breaking 'hard fruits with a stone," or a.d. —

letting "his teeth serve as a pestle," and to torture himself by various inflictions,

such as standing a whole day on tiptoe, in the hot season sitting exposed to five Tiurd stage

... 77' -i,"^ *^^^ Brah-

fires — that is, as the commentators explain it, four hlazmg around him with mius life. the sun above — in the rainy season standing un- covered while the clouds pour down showers, and in the cold season wear- ing a humid vesture. This discipline having been increased gi'adually by harsher and harsher mortifications, so as to " diy up his bodily frame," he concludes his third stage by living "without external fire, without a mansion, wholly silent, sleeping on the bare earth, in the haunts of pious hermits, without one selfish afl*ection ; dwelling at the roots of trees, and meditating especially on those chapters of the Veda which treat of the essence and attributes of God. Should these austerities, as is certainly not improbable, destroy his health and terminate in an incurable disease, the injunction is that he is to "advance in a straight path toward the invincible point, feeding on water and air, till his mortal frame totally decay, and his soul become united with the Supreme," for, it is added, "a Brahmin having shufiied off" his body by any of those modes which great sages practised, and becoming void of sorrow and fear, rises to exaltation in the divine essence."

If the Brahmin survived the rigours of the forest life, he entered upon the Fourth stage fourth and last stage, in which, without quitting his solitude, he was to be exempted from all external observances, and spend his remaining years in pre- paring, by pious meditation, for absorption into the divine essence. " Delighted with meditating on the Supreme Spii'it, sitting fixed in such meditation, without needing anything earthly, without one sensual desire, without any companion but his own soul, let him live in this world, seeking the bliss of the next." "Let him not wish for death ; let him not wish for life ; let him expect his appointed time, as a hired servant expects his wages.'" His body, described as "a mansion with bones for its rafters and beams ; with nerves and tendons for cords ; with muscles and blood for mortar; with skin for its outward covering— a mansion infested by age and by sorrow, the seat of malady, harassed with pains, haunted with the quality of darkness, and incapable of standing long," let him cheerfully quit " as a tree leaves the bank of a river when it falls in, or as a bird leaves the branch of a tree at his pleasure."


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 HISTORY Ufc" INDIA.

[Book IV,

A.D. —

Changes 111 Bmh- miuical discipline.

Pirtial de cline of the influence of the Brahmins.

Such was the approved discipline of the Brahmin caste at the date of the Institutes of Menu, but many changes have been introduced by the hvpse of time, and few if any individuals now profess to carry out that discipline in all its integrity. Any one of the four stages is now thought sufficient for a whole life ; and the devotee selecting that which accords best with his own inclination, uses it as the means of founding a reputation for extraordinary sanctity ; but the whole community pay no regard to the ancient regulations, and in practice at least hold them to be obsolete. To the privileges which separate them from other classes, and maintain their ascendency as an aristocracy, they still adhere ; and to prevent intermixtures with inferior classes, repudiate marriage as illegal in cases in which it was originally sanctioned. It is no longer, however, deemed necessary to depend for subsistence on voluntary gifts or alms, and Brahmins are found in all trades and professions. Even service, stigmatized by Menu as dog- llving, is not repudiated, except under circumstances where it is supposed to carry personal degradation along with it. The army, which is in some respects the most absolute and rigorous of all forms of service, is full of Brahmins ; and agriculture, though necessarily requiring a large amount of that bodily labour which they are recommended to shun, is a favourite employment. Still, a (.lecided preference is given to occupations in which intellectual rather than physical exertion is required. Teaching continues to be the most honourable source of income to those not actually deriving their maintenance from services connected with religion ; and much of the business, public and private, which requires some degree of intellectual training, is in their hands.

This general adoption of secular employments naturally tends to detract from the sacred character with which the Brahmins were originally invested, and hence, it appears that in various parts of India, and more especially in Bengal, their influence as an hierarchy is impaired, and they have been to some extent superseded in their religious functions by various monastic orders, in which as a general rule all the distinctions of caste are ignored, and nothing but a common brotherhood is recognized, Brahmin and Sudra living together as members on a footing of perfect equality. Still, notwithstanding the formidable rivalship to which they are thus subjected, the Brahmins continue to insist on the superi ority which their fabled origin is supposed to give them, and find a ready acqui escence in the great body of their countrymen, who not only look up to them with veneration, but would regard it as a species of sacrilege to call any of their privileges in question. Full advantage has been taken of this slavish temper and the whole business of life has been so arranged as to make the presence, and consequently the payment of a Brahmin indispensable on almost every occasion. Hence multitudes of the privileged class manage to spend their days in luxmious idleness, maintained either by the rents of lands which have been alienated to form permanent endowments in their favour, or the countless offer- ings which pilgrims and other deluded votaries are constantly pouring into their


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 Chap. I.J THE BKAIIMIN CASTE. 9

treasury. Even where no formal service is rendered or expected, mere liberality ad. — to Brahmins is held so meritorious as to expiate the guilt of many offences, and large sums annually expended in feasting and otherwise entertaining them are Extravagant thought to be amply recompensed by the honour which the presence of such to the guests confers, or the blessings temporal and spiritual which they have it in caurte"'" their power to bestow on those who befriend them. This extravagant deference to the Brahminical caste is sometimes manifested in ludicrous forms, and the water in which a Brahmin has dipped his toe, or the dust which has been gathered from his foot is not unfrequently set aside, and carefully preserved, under the idea that by such contact valuable properties have been conferred upon it.

Originally all Brahmins were, in accordance with their common origin, equal ^"^'^^^^ ^^ in privilege and dignity. Their superiority to the other classes was determined Brahmins, by the pre-eminence of that part of Brahma which produced them ; but in regard to each other there were no primeval diversities on which claims of precedence could be founded. In course of time, however, this equality disappeared. Some individuals surpassing others in the qualities which were held in highest estima- tion were naturally looked up to as leaders, and became the founders of families, which boasting of their descent, considered themselves entitled to stand above the common level of their class. In this way -all the usual distinctions of rank have been introduced, and the Brahmins, instead of continuing to form a single liomogeneous class, have been broken up into numerous sections, which, if not actually hostile, differ so widely from each other, that they have no social inter- course. The first great distinction between Brahmins is of a religious natm-e. They are all under obligation to maintain a perpetual fire, but the great majority of them disregard the obligation, while the minority who perform it, pluming themselves on their superior sanctity, are distinguished by the name of Agniho- tras. The next distinction is genealogical, and classes all Brahmins under the

two great heads of Gaura and Dravira, each of them composed of five distinct Present dis- cs -^ tinotions.

races, and located respectively in Hindoostan and the Deccan. The five Gaura races, arranged according to the territories presmned to have been their original seats, stand thus: — 1. Kanyakubja, or Canouje ; 2. Saraswat, or the North-west of India; 3. Gaur, or Bengal; 4. Mithila, or North Behar; and, 5. Utkala, or Orissa. Among the Draviras, in like manner, the whole of the Deccan, together with Gujerat, is parcelled out. Each of these races is again subdivided, and forms numerous ramifications, which it would be vain to attempt to trace. As a specimen it may suffice to mention that the Brahmins of Canouje alone count 150 distinct families.

In practice, the most important of all the distinctions at present subsisting

among Brahmins is that of rank, which, in so far as regards those of Bengal,

has the following fabulous origin ascribed to it: — A king of the name of

Balal Sen, who reigned about six centuries ago, observing the strict fidelity of

Vol. II. 91


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 10 HISTORY OF INDIA. L^ook IV.

AD. — some Brahmins in performing the obligations of their class, and the comparative laxity or total neglect manifested by others, determined to give them rank cor- responding to their merits, and with this view divided them into three orders.

The Kuiinas ^hose entitled to the first rank, and on this account distinguished by the name

or liobles. _ <_> ./

of Kulinas, or nobles, behoved to possess nine eminent qualifications. They were, fii'st, to be strict in Brahminical observances ; secondly, meek ; thirdly, learned ; fourthly, of good report ; fifthl}', frequenters of holy places ; sixthly, repudiators of gifts from the impure; seventhly, without deceit; eighthly^ addicted to devotional austerities; and, lastly, liberal. The second rank was assigned to those who, without possessing the qualifications of the first, had been regularly initiated into all the rites necessary to constitute a complete Brahmin, and were, moreover, well read in the Vedas. They were distinguished by the name of Shrotriyas. The third and lowest place was held, under the name of Yangshagas, by those who, though entitled to rank as Brahmins in respect of descent, had nothing else to recommend them. Tiieirdege- If Balal Sen was right in the original selection of the Kulinas, there must

iieracy iu _ _ _

modem havc been a great and rapid degeneracy in their descendants ; for the modern Kulinas, while as a body they still retain theii* precedence, are generally desti- tute of the qualifications by which their progenitors acquired it, and employ the influence and privileges of their rank, not in purifying, but in corrupting public morals. Placed, as it were, on the very pinnacle of society, and privileged on all occasions to occupy tlie seat of honour, they are naturally com'ted by all other ranks, and it becomes an object of the highest ambition to become connected with them by intermarriage. The Kulinas have managed to turn this feeling to good account. The more respectable of them disdain to make a traflic of affinity, and are generally contented with two wives ; but the othei'S are less scrupulous, and consider from fifteen to twenty as a moderate allowance. Forty to fifty is not uncommon, and Mr. Ward had heard of some who had 120. Were these wives taken to their husband's house to form a harem, the injury to public morals though great would not assume its most malignant form ; but the remarkable peculiarity is, that after the ceremony is performed, they continue to reside in the homes of their parents, and see their husbands, if at all, only at distant intervals. Even then the visit is only for etiquette, or it may be for some mercenary purpose. On such occasions the fiither of the wife is expected to make a present to the husband, who, mean enough to take advantage of the custom, makes his round of visits from house to house where each wife resides, and in this way gains a subsistence. It is eas}^ to conceive how much licentious- ness and Clime such a system must engender. The woman tied for life to a man to whom she owes no affection, because she receives none, takes advantage of the freedom from restraint which the nominal relation confers, and not unfie- quently, with the full knowledge of her parents, admits a paramour. When concealment becomes necessary, infanticide, or the crime which anticipates it,


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 Chap. I.] THE BRAHMIN CASTE. 11

are the usual means adopted. Often, from another cause, where no marriage has a.d. —

taken place, similar atrocities prevail.

The Kulina is permitted by the rules of his order to give his son in marriage Pernicious

. . . p I regulation

to the daughter of a Shrotriya, and often has little difficulty in finding fathers- regarding in-law, who value the honour so highly as to be willing to pay largely for it. teraofthe By a strange perversion he can marry his daughter only to a person of his own ^'^^'^'^■ rank, and hence, as in many cases such husbands cannot be found, daughters are too often regarded as an incumbrance, and if not prematurely cut off by the crimes akeady referred to, are in thousands of instances left to seek a maintenance by the most infamous means. According to Mr. Ward, "the houses of ill-fame at Calcutta, and other large places, contain multitudes of the daughters of Kooleenu Bramhuns, so entirely degraded are these favourites of Bullalsanu ! "

We have dwelt at some length on the Brahminical caste, not merely because The Cshat- it is the most important, but because it furnishes, both m theory and practice, vaisya a general model of the whole system. In treating of the other regular classes a few remarks will suffice. Indeed, if we are to believe the Brahmins, the Cshatriyas and Vaisyas, the only classes which, from the privileges possessed by them, could have been regarded as their rivals, have entirely disappeared. In the Institutes of Menu they hold a place which is distinctly marked, and are fully instructed in the peculiar duties and privileges belonging to them. The one was the representative of power, the other of wealth ; and, though the Brahmin only could expound the Veda, both of them were entitled to read it, and to offer sacrifice. In regard to initiatory rites, too, the discipline to which they were subjected, if inferior to that of the Brahmins, bore a marked resem- l)lance to it in its leading features. The ceremonies performed before birth were common to all the three classes ; in due time, after birth, they all received the tonsure, and at a later period they had all the privilege of becoming divija, or twice born, by being invested with the poita, or sacrificial thread. This thread, or rather triple cord, worn over the left shoulder, and, after crossing the back, tied into a knot under the right arm, is now regarded by Brahmins as their dis- tinguishing badge, but was anciently common to them with the other two twice- born classes, the only difierence being, that while that of a Brahmin was of cotton, that of a Cshatriya was of sana thread only, that of a Vaisya of woollen thread. The Brahmins, perhaps galled by the approach thus made to them by the two immediately inferior classes, have taken the most eff'ectual means of suppressing them. The key of knowledge being exclusively in their hands, they have made it subservient to their own aggrandizement, by carefully preserving evidence sufficient to establish the purity of their own descent, while they have allowed that which would have been available for the same purpose to the Cshatriyas and Vaisyas to perish. A great gap has thus been made in the social edifice. The intervening gradations having been destroyed, the Brahmin seated on the


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 class,

12 HISTOEY OF INDIA. [Book IV.

A.D. — pinnacle seems to have attained a prouder elevation, while he looks down and

sees nothing: between him and the Sudra at its base. Claim of the The asscrtion that the classes of Cshatriyas and Vaisyas have become extinct be cshat- by intemiixtures which have destroyed their pui'ity and reduced them all to the "^^' level of Sudras, has not been tamely acquiesced in. Some of the industrious classes still claim relation to the original Vaisyas; while the whole nation of Rajpoots strenuously insist that the military spirit for which they continue to be distinguished, has been transmitted to them by uninterrupted succession from those who first derived it from the arm of Brahma. In one respect, however, the Brahmins have prevailed. Perhaps, by way of compromise, those claiming to be pure Cshatriyas have contented themselves with maintaining only those of their privileges which are strictly military. Those of an intellectual and spiritual nature, which gave them access to the Vedas, they have tacitly resigned, and the Brahmins have in consequence gained all for which they were disposed to contend, by becoming not only the authorized expounders, but the sole depo- sitaries of all knowledge, human and divine. The Sudra ^lic Sudras had less inducement than any of the other classes to guard the

purity of their descent. They were, in fact, slaves, and having no privileges to maintain, must have been anxious only to escape from bondage. The existence of pure Sudras in the present day is therefore very questionable, though not only individual families in different parts of India, but the whole nation of the Mahrattas claim alliance with them. If the latter claim is correct they have not only overcome the disadvantages of their original position, but risen to be the founders of reigning dynasties. Nothing can be more hmniliating than the terms applied to them throughout the Institutes of Menu. While "the first part of a Brahmin's compound name should indicate holiness — of a Cshatriya's, power — of a Vaisyas, wealth," that of a Sudra's should only indicate "contempt." He was to be excluded "from every sacred observance of the twice-born classes." So full of pollution was he, that the very sight of him was to be carefuUy avoided when a youth of the twice-born classes was to be invested with the sacrificial cord ; the Veda could not even be read while he was present ; and the Brahmin who should presume to teach it to him committed an offence so heinous that it could only be expiated in hell. Though he had the power he was not to acquire wealth, "since a servile man who has amassed riches gives pain even to Brah- mins." This prohibition, in fact, was only adding insult to injury, for it else- where appears that the thing here forbidden was to him absolutely impossible, since a Brahmin might, without hesitation, seize the goods of his Sudra slave, inasmuch as "that slave can have no property."

The same injustice and inhumanity are conspicuous in everything that con- cerns the Sudra. Even the possibility of ameliorating his condition is denied him, for it is expressly declared that "a Sudra, though emancipated by his master, is not released from a state of servitude ; for of a state which is natural


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 Chaf. I.] FORMATION OF NEW CASTES. 13

to him, by whom can he be divested?" This interminable bondage, however, ad. —

lias happily passed away, and the modern Sudra is no longer a slave. If in ser- vice, his master, even thoucrh a Brahmin, must pay him stipulated wages, and Condition of if he prefers a different mode of life other occupations are open to him. He improved in

_, ^ modern

may engage in agriculture, which seems to be regarded as his appropriate call- times. ing; if of a more martial temper he becomes a soldier; even intellectual em- plo3Tiient is no longer beyond his reach, and individuals of his class, known by the name of Cayets, have long been successful rivals of the Brahmins in all kinds of business requiring the use of the pen.

Though the number of original castes was only fom", it was impossible in the natural course of things that others should not be formed by intermarriages or less legitimate connections. The arrangements made for maintaining purity of descent, how minute soever they might be, could not provide for every imagin- able case, and therefore even from the very first concessions were made, from which a mixture of castes necessarily followed. A Brahmin could only have the introduction daughter of a Brahmin for his first wife, but he might choose to have a second. In that case a greater latitude was allowed, and a selection from either of the two next classes was held to be legitimate. In like manner a Cshatriya might • marry a Vaisya, and a Vaisya a Sudra ; but in these cases the offspring did not take the full rank of the father, but were held to be degraded to a middle rank between that of both parents. In regard to females the prohibitions were more rigid, for a woman could never marry beneath her own rank, and a low man making " love to a damsel of high birth" was to be punished corporally. StiU, however severe the penalty, inclination and passion would often disregard it, and thus while even from legitimate connections degraded races were produced, others in almost endless variety resulted from connections which the law refused to recognize. "A Brahmin," says Menu, "if he takes a Sudi'a to his bed, sinks to the regions of torment ;" and a Brahmini or female Brahmin cohabiting with a Sudra could give birth only to Chandalas, stigmatized as "the lowest of mortals." Such connections, however, were in fact formed, and childi-en were produced, who, in their turn, became the parents of " very many despicable and abject races, even more foul than their begetters."

The variety of castes originating in these and similar connections has in caste now course of time been almost indefinitely multiplied. At first difference of caste with profes served only to indicate difference of race; but now, though this object is not trades!"' overlooked, the great purpose which it serves is to regulate the kind of emplo}"- ment which each individual is destined to follow. To every caste a particular occupation is exclusively assigned; and thus, all trades and professions being regarded as hereditary, are transmitted without inten*uption from father to son in the same tribes or families. It is hence easy to see that the number of castes being as unlimited as that of the modes of employment, an enumeration of them is as difficult as it would be superfluous. Mr. Ward, speaking only of those of


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 14

HISTORY OF INDIA.

[Book IV,

A.D.

Caste iden- tical with profession.

Effects of ciste.

Hindoo Wkaver and Winder of Thread. From Solvyns" Costume of Hindoostan.

Bengal, gives a detailed list of forty -one, and concludes by saying that more might be added. This is indeed perfectly obvious, as almost every name in the list is that of a genus including under it several subdivisions as species. For instance,

the Tatee caste, or weavers, form- ing the tenth in the list, and said to have originated from a male 8udra and a female Cshatriya, includes six divisions, which, not- withstanding their common pro- genitors, refuse either to eat or to intermarry with each other. In like manner we have castes with subdivisions under the names of Kasarees, or workers and dealers in brass ; Agoorees, or farmers ; Napitas, or barbers; Modakas, or confectioners ; Kumbhakaras, or potters; Malakalas, or sellers of flowers, &c. All of these born to their trade must strictly adhere to it, however little they may be disposed to it by incHnation or suited to it by capacity.

This system of caste, accompanied with hereditary occupation, may have the effect of securing superiority of workmanship. The whole mind being employed on one branch of trade, and not permitted to look beyond it, must in a manner concentrate its faculties so as to devise the best means of performing the appointed task, while the bodily powers constantly engaged in the same operation must, as in the ordinary case of a minute division of lal^our, attain to great mechanical skill. These advantages, however, poorly compensate for the numerous evils with which they are inseparably connected. The mechanical skill which an hereditary weaver acquires, and the beautiful fabric which he produces by means of a loom of the simplest and rudest structure, cannot be viewed without some desfree of admiration ; but how soon is that admiration turned into reofret when it is considered that the same invariable routine has been followed for ages, and that improvement has not only not been attempted, but if attempted would have been fiercely and fjinatically resisted. Every man's boast is, that ho does exactly as his father did before him ; and thus amid a general stagnation of intellect, society is not permitted to take a single step in advance. There may be some truth in the observation, that if caste is unfav- ourable to progress it also tends to prevent degeneracy, and that hence, while other nations without caste have retrograded, India has maintained its ancient civilization. Dubois adopting this idea goes so far as to say, " I consider the