The Brahmans, and Institution of Caste [pp. 339-346]

THE BRAH:MANS.
three castes from the Sudra, to whom no thread
is ever allowed. The investiture takes place in
his eighth year in the case of a Brahman, the
eleventh year for a Kshatriya, and the twelfth
for the Vaisya. The investiture introduces the
twice-born Brahman boy to a religious life, and
sanctifies him for the study of the Veda.
The thread of the Brahman is made of cotton
formed of three strings; that of the Kshatriya
is formed of hlemp, and that of the Vaisya is of
wool. It is termed the "sacrificial cord," be cause it entitles the wearer to the privilege of
sacrifice and religious services. Certain cere monies are observed for girls as well as boys,
but neither girls nor women are invested with
the sacred thread nor the utterance of the sacred
mantras. They have consequently no right to
sacrifice. Indeed, the nuptial ceremony is con sidered to be for woman equivalent to the in vestiture of the thread, and is the commence ment of the religious life of the female. (Manu,
t I, 66, 67.) So that a lady remaining unmarried
has nothling equivalent to their "second birth"
here, and can look forward to no certainty of a
happy life hereafter. The poor Sudra is entirely
excluded. The servile man and the woman of
any caste are equally left outside the pale of
Brahlmanical salvation, exactly to that condition
to whichl High Church Puseyism consigns all
"Dissenters" when it hands them over to
"the uncovenanted mercies of God." How
truly heathenish is the legitimate outgrowth of
all Ritualism and Romanism!
In addition to the cold-hearted exclusion of
wNoman and the lower caste, this terrible code
proceeds to sink still lower vast multitudes of
our fellow-creatures. The "outcasts" are numbered by the million. Some of these are called
"Chandalas," and concerning them this lawgiver ordains: " Chandalas must dwell without
the town. Their sole wealth must be dogs and
asses; their clothes must consist of the mantles of deceased persons; their dishes must be
broken pots; and their ornaments must consist
of rusty iron. No one who regards his duties
must hold any intercourse with them, and they
must marry only among themselves. By dclay
they may roam about for the purposes of work,
and be distinguished by the badges of the Ra jah, and they must carry out the corpse of any
one who dies without kindred. They should
always be employed to slay those who are sentenced by the laws to be put to death; and they
may take the clothes of the slain, their beds,
and their ornaments." (Code, X, 51-58.
Can the Western reader wonder that, tame
and subdued though the Asiatic may be, these
aristocratic rules proved too much for human
nature, or that the introduction of English rule
and fair play-making these long-crushed millions equal before her law with these proud
Brahmans-was an immense mercy to onre-fifth
of the human family?
As a sample of how this sacerdotal law,
framed for his special glorification, dcliscriminated in favor of the Brahman, it may suffice
to quote a sentence or two. On the question
of his privileges, when called to testify in a court
of justice, he must be assumed to be "the very
soul of honor," and his mere word, without exposure to penalty, was to be held sufficient.
The code decrees that "a Brahlman was to
swear by his veracity; a Kshatriya, by his
weapons, horse, or elephant; and a Vaisya, by
his kine, grain, or gold; but a Sudra was to
imprecate upon his own head the guilt of every
possible crime if he did not speak the truth."
(VIII, S. II3.)
"To a Brahman the judge should say,' Declare!' To a Kshatriya he should say,' Declare
the truth.' To the Vaisya he should compare
perjury to the crime of stealing kine, grain, or
gold. To the Sudra he should compare perjury to every crime, in the following language:
'Whatever places of torture have been prepared
for the murderer of a Brahman, for the murderer of a woman or child, for the injurer of a
friend, or for an ungrateful man, have also been
ordained for that witness who gives false evidence. If you deviate from the truth, the fruit
of every virtuous act which you have committed
since your birth will depart from you to the
dogs. The man who gives false evidence shall
go naked, shorn, and blind, and be tormented
with hunger and thirst, and beg food with a
potsherd at the door of his enemy. If he answer one question falsely, he shall tumble hleadlong into hell in utter darkness. Even if he
gives imperfect testimony, and asserts a fact
which he has not seen, he will suffer pain like
a man who eats fish and swallows the sharp
bones.'" (Mann, VIII, 79-95.)
The scale of punishments in his case, when
he was at all amenable to the law, could only
touch his property, never, under any consideration, his person; was equally drawn in his favor,
and was all the lighter in proportion to the
lower caste whom he injured, and it was equally
to be increased in severity-for the same crime
in both cases-in proportion to the same distinction. Says the law: "A Kshatriya who
slandered a Brahman was to be fined a hundred
panas; for the same crime a Vaisya was to be
fined a hundred and fifty or two hundred panas,
but a Sudra was to be whipped. On the other
hand, if a Brahman slandered a Kshatriya, he
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