CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND GIVEN IN 1891 BY HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE Wt - g71BSr(^. - JK 43hijaJi Cornell University Library DS 422.C3I72 The theory and practice of caste beim 3 1924 024 115 234 Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924024115234 THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF CASTE ; BEING AN INftUIKY INTO THE EFFECTS OF CASTE INSTITUTIONS AND PROBABLE DESTINIES ANGLO-INDIAN EMPIEE. BY B. A. IRVING, Esq., B.A., ASSISTAST-MASTER IN THE ROYAL INSTITUTION SCHOOL, LIVERPOOL; LATE FOUNDATION SCHOLAR OT EMMANUEL COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE ; AUTHOR OT THE NOBRISIAN PRIZE ESSAY TOR 1851, AND THE LE BAS PRIZE ESSAYS EOR 1851 AND 1853. LONDON: SMITH, ELDER & CO., 65, CORNHILX. BOMBAY: SMITH, TAYLOB, & CO. 1853. (2 3 rio^ The Author of this work reserves to himself the right of authorizing a translation of it. vT TO THE EEV. CHARLES WEBB LE BAS, IN WHOSE HONOUR A PRIZE FOR ENGLISH LITERATURE WAS FOUNDED IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE, ^rs ®3sag IS WITH PERMISSION HUMBLY DEDICATED THE AUTHOK. LE BAS PRIZE. As the circumstances which gave rise to the foun- dation of the Le Bas Prize (which was awarded to the following Essay in 1851) at the University of Cam- bridge, are probably unknown to the generality of readers, the subjoined notice may not be uninteresting. In December 1843, the Rev. Charles Webb Le Bas, who had been Principal of the Honourable East India Company's College at Haileybury for more than thirty years, resigned. On the occasion of his health being proposed by the Chairman of the Court of Directors, he stated, that his motive was " a firm per- suasion that it had become his duty as an honest man, to render up his trust into younger and more able hands." Such conduct, such motives, as noble as they are rare, need no praise of ours. In the speech in which he pathetically bade fare- well to all connected with the College, he incidentally made use of the following words, without the slightest LE DAS PRIZE. expectation that they would ever travel beyond the four walls within which they were uttered : — " To my position here, and to my long continuance in it, I owe the ability to say, that I have been known— perhaps I might presume to add, that I am not entirely unremem- bered — among all the individuals, with no very con- siderable exceptions, who now form the body of your civil service, throughout the whole length and breadth of your Eastern Empire." The words in italics found their way to India ; there they flew abroad like wildfire, and the result was a subscription for founding something, as a testimonial of the esteem with which Mr. Le Bas was justly regarded by all who had been under his charge, and for perpetuating the memory of his services. A fund, amounting to about 1,920Z. three per cent, consols, was ultimately offered to the University of Cambridge for founding an annual prize, to be called in honour of Mr. Le Bas, the Le Bas Prize, for the best English Essay on a subject of general literature, such subject to be occasionally chosen with reference to the history, institutions, and probable destinies and prospects of the Anglo-Indian Empire. This munificent offer was accepted, and the Prize was subjected to the following regulations, which were confirmed by Grace of the Senate, Nov. 22, 1848 : — " 1. That the Le Bas Prize shall consist of the annual interest of the above-mentioned fund, the LE BAS PRIZE. VU Essay being published at the expense of the successful Candidate. " 2. That the Candidates for the Prize shall be, at the time when the subject is given out, Bachelors of Arts under the standing of M. A.; or Students in Civil Law or Medicine, of not less than four, or more than seven years' standing, not being graduates in either faculty, but having kept the exercises, necessary for the degree of Bachelor of Law or Medicine. " 3. That the subject for the Essay shall be selected, and the Prize adjudicated by the Vice-Chancellor, and two other members of the Senate, to be nominated by the Vice-Chancellor, and approved by the Senate at the first Congregation after the tenth day of October in each year. " 4. That the subject shall be given out in the week preceding the division of the Michaelmas Term in each year, and the Essays sent in before the end of the next ensuing Easter Term." The following are the names of those who have already obtained the Prize : — 1849— C. B. Scott, B. A. Trinity College. 1850— B. F. Westcot, B. A. Trinity College. 1851 — B. A. Irving, B. A. Emmanuel College. 1852 — B. A. Irving, B. A. Emmanuel College. PREFACE. When we consider that in India and the adjacent islands, not much less than one-fourth of the popu- lation of the whole world, is dependent upon Great Britain for prosperity and good government, the ignorance of the generality of persons in this country upon all affairs connected with our Eastern possessions is something astounding. Every idea concerning them is loose and unconnected. That their inhabitants are idolaters and burn their widows — that many Euro- peans have there gained large fortunes by very ques- tionable means, and have returned home with ruined constitutions — that we have gained numerous victories over the natives, and are now waging an expensive war with the King of Burmah — are the confined notions of those distant regions, possessed by the mass of Englishmen. Whilst the majority of the educated know a little about Plassy and Assaye, and were once pretty well acquainted with the triumphs of PREFACE. Bacchus beyond the Indus, and Alexander's victory over Porus. As the object of an essay is not so much to furnish information on any subject, as to discuss what is already known, I have to regret this neglect of Indian affairs, which gives me few readers, and still fewer who can appreciate the justice or injustice of my remarks. These have been the result of considerable reading, and a careful examination of both sides of every question. In regard to caste many misconceptions have pre- vailed, the effects of which have too often manifested themselves in the course of policy pursued by this country towards the Hindoos. The tendency of those enactments in which its regulations have been re- garded to an unbecoming degree has, in general, been to retard the progress of civilization and social im- provement in India. The conclusion has been arrived at, whether rightly or not time may show, that an nndue importance has been given to the prejudices of caste, in regard to both the political and religious im- provement of that country. That our missionaries 7nore especially have too often misunderstood its spirit, and have thought it their duty to render it an anta- gonist where it might, with the most perfect pro- priety, have been employed as their most valuable ally. Though the nature of the subject has confined me within narrow limits, the requisite researches have PREFACE. brought before me many points connected with India, which, though of vast importance, have not been touched upon, as irrelevant to the subject. In the licence of a preface, however, I cannot forbear from calling the attention of those into whose hands this work may fall, to a few facts which at the present moment, when we are on the point of again legis- lating for that country, ought to occupy the attention of Englishmen. I would direct their mind to the historic fact, that commercial, and in consequence, political greatness have ever fallen to the lot of those nations, which have engaged extensively in trade with the distant East. That India and her dependencies have immense re- sources, mineral and. otherwise, undeveloped ; that she could at the same, or even less expense, supply us with tea, sugar, coffee, and many other necessaries of life and articles of luxury, which we import in immense abundance from other regions. That India is the native country of the cotton plant, and even the more valuable species might still be grown there, in almost sufficient abundance to meet the demand of our manu- facturers. That to effect this the introduction of ca- pital, the encouragement of trade, the construction of roads, railways, and canals, as well for traffic as irri- gation, are necessary. That the introduction of steam as a motive power has now-a-days become the grand affent of civilization. PREFACE. We would draw attention to the fact, that Free Trade has had in India a longer trial than in our own country ; that its results have been such as were ex- pected ; that it is a policy which deserves our confi- dence, and should be extended to the internal as well as external trade of the Peninsula. That the cause of education is making rapid pro- gress with the happiest results ; that by this means the natives will be best prepared for a constitutional form of government, which is, and should be, the grand object of all our legislation. That centralization has been carried to an undue extent, and the natives too much excluded from posi- tions of trust and confidence ; that to interest them in our rule, and to gain a clear conception of Indian affairs ourselves, will be the safest means of ensuring a vigorous government in India, and of knitting to- gether more firmly those bands of mutual advantage, which have so long enabled a few thousand English- men to exact a willing obedience from the numerous, and powerful races of Indostan, TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTEK I. CASTE AS IT IS IN THEORY, ACCORDING TO THE CODE OF MENU-CASTE AS IT PREVAILS AT THE PRESENT DAY. Page European ideas of India tinged with the marvellous ... 1 Conflicting accounts of Hindoo caste 3 The principle of caste, in what it consists 4 Description of caste from the Code of Menu :— 6 The Bramins — ^their duties and privileges — the four divisions of their life . 7 The Cshatryas — the military caste 10 The Vaisyas — the mercantile caste II The Sudras—fheir condition and relation to the Bramins— not slaves 11 The Code of Menu— what, and how far obeyed— its real effects on caste 1* Caste as it is in practice— two great castes, the Bramins and Sudras —their subdivisions how formed and named .... 16 Caste no longer ties a person down to an hereditary occupation . 18 Has never influenced the rise of men in society . ... 19 In some respects Hke English caste— illustrations . . .23 Europeans want the train of thought, &c., necessary for under- standing caste 24 The object of the essay to trace the general effects of a general principle ^" Examples of caste— in regard to food, employment, &c. . . 26 Order inwhich our subject is treated 29 XIV CONTENTS. CHAPTER n. EFFECTS OF CASTE ON THE POLITICAL, MILITARY, AND CIVIL INSTITUTIONS OF OUR INDIAN EMPIRE. Page Oriental and European history contrasted ... .30 Where the effects of caste are to be detected '^^ How caste affected the policy of the E. I. C, in regard to the natives, native Christians, phalus, and others, conversing together, and by this means places his opinions in a more attractive light than was possible in a set treatise. The opening sentences of the work would favour this supposition. It commences, " Menu sat reclined with his attention fixed on one subject, when the divine sages approached him, and, after mutual salutations," &c. &c.* Be this as it may, the caste which at present exists throughout the greater pa.-t of India is very diflFerent from that described in che laws of Menu: though to them it may probably owe a good deal of its stability, and all the prestige, which is attached to it among Europeans. The second and third orders do not now exist as separate classes. The very names are un- known, as conveying the original meaning. The people are all comprised in two classes, the Bramins and the Sudras ; while at the same time thousands are hardly acquainted with the latter name. Instead of the three twice-born classes, with their inferior divi- sions, and the Sudras, with some few exceptions, not only the Hindoos, but even the Mussulmans, Jews, Parsees, and Christians, are divided into an almost infinite number of castes.f These, far from being venerable for their antiquity or religious character, partake more of the nature of clubs or associations for * See Sir William Jones's Translation. Some have supposed that Menu was Jlinos, the author of legislation among the Greeks. Others that he is the personification of " mens" or intellect. + Especially in Bengal. See Shore's Notes on Indian Affau-s, Vol. i. p. 534, and Vol. ii. p. 473. PRACTICE OF CASTE. 17 mutual support and familiar intercourse. In many cases they are dependent on the occupation of their members ;* in others they have their rise from what- ever trivial cause may happen to distinguish men from their fellows. The principal of those castes, which have been described by Mr. Colebrooke,t in the fifth volume of the "Asiatic Transactions," have, for the most part, had their origin either in being species of guilds, or in schism and separation from some other caste. Their specific denominations are often derived from the province in which the caste first had its rise ; sometimes from the name of the founder, and is not unfrequently due to mere accident. Thus, for in- stance, the Coolies, or bearers of burdens, are supposed to derive their name from that of the aboriginal race, the Calantiee of ancient authors, who were conquered by the Hindoos, and remains of whom are still to be found in Guzerat and the peninsula of Cutch. The Kaits, or writer caste, are said to have been originally a tribe from Rajpootana, where the parent stock still exists. From these causes the castes are now so numerous that, in the Bengal Presidency alone, they would pro- bably amount to some hundreds; almost every district containing some, which are not known in the adjacent province. Their rules are so various, and depend so much upon preconceived ideas, and the connection of * In some places the Jats call themselves of the caste of zemindars, et landholders.— See Campbell's India, p. 92. + His description is chiefly taken from the Jatimala. C 18 THE THEORY AND feeling in the mind, that even to Europeans, who have mixed longest with the people, caste is a mysterious subject. Among the lowest classes, and more espe- cially among the servants of the English in Calcutta, caste has degenerated into a fastidious tenacity of the rights and privileges of station, and an unmeaning observance of ridiculous regulations. The man who sweeps your room would resolutely refuse to take an empty cup from your hand.* He whose business it is to groom your steed would feel himself aggrieved if .requested to mow a little grass for its sustenance. There are an infinite number of such petty absurdities, the neglect of which is sufficient to make a set exclude one of their members from their mess, his reinstatement being in general easily eifected at the price of a dinner, or some frugal entertainment, given to the members of his class. Caste no longer ties a man down to follow his father's business.-f Most men certainly do follow the occupa- tion to which they have been brought up. This, how- ever, is not peculiar to India. It is the case with every people. A man is educated in his father's shop or office, in all the minutiae of his business ; his mind becomes accustomed to it, his business friends are of avail there, and perhaps in no other line of commerce; and in India, as elsewhere, when the father dies his * See Shore's Notes, Vol. ii. p. 473. + And probably never did. Kickards (Vol. i. p. 14) aaya " Th» ordinary occupations of life were at all times open to the whole of them." PRACTICE OF CASTE. 19 son commonly succeeds to his business : but caste no more involves obligation to do so in India than it does in England. If we except the priesthood, which now chiefly belongs to the Bramins (and even in this point great latitude is allowed) caste* has not necessarily any effect on the line of life in which a man embarks. There is nothing to prevent a common shopkeeper, or bunnea, from becoming, if his affairs prosper, a wealthy merchant. There is nothing to prevent a merchant of high rank from sinking into the most menial occupa- tion.-j- Men of all castes have held commissions in our army. You may constantly see, as in England, one brother following the hereditary vocation, whilst another enters the army, hires himself as a domestic servant, or strikes out some other new course of life. How little occupation depends on caste may be seen from the following remark of a writer on India : — " Among the crew of our boat, consisting of ten men, were actually found the following variety of castes : — twoj Rajpoots, four Kuhars, one Kisan, one Goojur, one Bhatj and only one regular mullah, or boatman, by profession." It is doubtful, too, whether caste had ever practically * See Shore's Notes on India, "Vol. ii. p. 473. The priesthood in not assigned to the Bramins by the Code of Menu. t Ihid, Vol. ii. p. 474. { The names of the different castes, if translated, would convey te an Englishman just as little meaning as the names of English sects or tooieties translated into Hindostanee. It would he impossible, in the latter language, to find terms to express such words as Methodist, Baptist, Protestant, High Churchman, &o., &o. 20 THE THEORY AND any greater influence on the rise of men in the scale of society in India than in any other country — not even when the Hindoos were governed by native princes, when the kingdoms of Malwa, of Canoage, and Guzerat were in their heyday, before even the Mus- sulmans set foot within the Peninsula. Since their appearance, i.e. within the period of authentic history, many have been the instances of men of the lowest classes attaining sovereign power. Most of the Mahratta Rajahs are Sudras ; and yet, at a period when the English were only known as foreign mer- chants at Calicut, in Malabar, and some other seaports, they fought their way to their respective thrones against Mahometans, or whatever opposed them. Salivahana,* who flourished in the first century of the Christian era, and was their oldest, as well as most powerful monarch, is said to have been the sou of a potter. Yet neither he, nor any other Peishwa, ever found the high-caste Bramin ill-disposed to be his minister, or join in council with a Sudra Rajah. In fact,f the Mahratta chiefs were usually so illiterate, that Bramins managed their affairs, and throughout the whole of their country they are still the great men of business, occupying the position of the Kaits and Parsees in other states. The founders of the families of Holcar and Scindia were both Sudras, whilst Trimbuk-jeeJ was a Bramin of the highest class. The great family of Rastia, in the Mahratta country, were * Elphinstone, p. 224. + Ibid. p. 545. J Heber's Journey, Vol. i. p. 405. PRACTICE OF CASTE. 21 Bramins, then became extensive bankers, and lastly military leaders. Many other examples to the same effect might be quoted. So that it is obvious that it depends much mor e upon the w ealth and power of the parties, than upon their caste, wKTch shall serve the other. It is impossible to define all the particulars of which caste takes cognizance ; when its influence is so extensive as to enter, more or less, into the minutest actions and most intricate circumstances of life. All authors, from Eratosthenes downwards, have written concerning it, not as it really existed among the people, but, as they found it described in Shasters, in the Dherma Purana, and the commentaries oi pundits. Nothing, however, gives an impression of the real state of things more false. The English in point of caste are on an equality with the lowest Sudras, and yet they never find a difiiculty in hiring men of high caste to perform menial services. In the South of India* the Bramins apply them- selves to cookery, in which art they attain great proficiency. Individuals of any caste may, without pollution, eat what has been prepared at their hands. On this account, as well as for the eclat of entertaining a domestic of such reputed rank, they are in great request with the opulent Sudras: this, too, notwith- standing the numerous incongruities which arise therefrom. The master, being of an inferior class, must not touch the vessels which the domestic uses for • See Dubois' India, p. 176. 22 THE THEORY AND his own food. Nor, on the other hand, will the pre- judices of the domestic suffer him to withdraw from the table the plates which he had served up. What he has prepared is pure for his master; but what his master has touched is polluted to him. In short, although there are capacities as, for instance, thoseof mater or hitmutgar* in which no Bramin, and, pro- bably, no Hindoo of high caste would serve, it is far from unusual for those who have acquired wealth to entertain men of superior caste as their servants. In what then does Hindoo caste consist? We would liken it to what, as similar in its feelings and effects, has also been denominated caste among Euro- peans. To a certain extent at least they both spring from the same origin, just as they both for the most part manifest themselves in the same things — in eating and in forming matrimonial alliances between families. In Europe, however, caste is simply a social distinction; often not even that. It is received as a necessary evil, and condemned, if not in itself, at any rate in its tenden- cies, by our moralists, and by the opinion and example of those who are regarded with universal respect. In India, on the other hand, it is professedly a religious institution, upheld by sacred books, and protected by every argument which can be drawn from antiquity and prevalence. In this consists the great difference. This it is which makes it so important, which renders it so strongly prevalent, not as in England among the higher classes, but in every corner of Indostan, • I.e. sweeper or footman. PRACTICE OF CASTE. 23 and which has preserved some of its more arbitrary regulations unimpaired for many centuries. In England a species of caste enters into all the most ordinary relations of life. It forms distinctions in society, and gives rise to habits and customs which a stranger to our manners and sentiments would be years in perceiving, and the reasons of which it would be impossible to explain to one lacking the train of thought necessary for their appreciation. Such in a much greater degree, owing to the greater im- portance of caste, as a division of society, enforced not merely by popular opinion, but by civil laws and religious authority, are the sentiments of Englishmen with reference to Hindoo caste. In both cases its practical operation is most extensive and important, and yet in its details, and in its general rules, so minute, so intricate, and in many cases so contradictory, so anomalous and so ridiculous, as to defy every attempt at generalization. In some instances it is dependent on moral charac- ter, in others on the observance of regulations apparently the most unmeaning. Respectability weighs nothing when put in comparison with it. He would forfeit it who should be found eating with one of another caste, however excellent or virtuous such a one might be. To the uninitiated its rules are in- tricate and absurd. Its peculiarities are incomprehen- sible to those unacquainted with the sequence of ideas from which they arise. In the same way there exist among ourselves many conventionalities, independent 24 THE THEORY AND of rank, and unrecognized by law, which keep dif- ferent classes asunder, and whose rules are commonly mistaken by foreigners. Suppose, by way of illustration, that a gentleman of consequence engaged in making a purchase, feels thirsty. He asks the shop-boy for a glass of ale or water. If he drink it in the shop all is well ; but if he go into the back room, and there drink his beverage, seating himself on one chair whilst the boy seated himself on another, he would be considered to have committed an impropriety. We understand the difference; but it would probably be impossible for a native of India to do so. He does not possess the turn of thought necessary for its comprehension. He would probably say, if the gentleman may quench his thirst in a tradesman's house, what possible dif- ference can it make whether seated or standing, whether in one room or the other ? This is precisely the same with us, in our attempts to understand many of the peculiarities of Hindoo customs. We have not the train of thought and association of ideas requisite ; and we in equal astonishment ask, " If you eat bread ^ prepared by that man what possible dif- ference can it make to eat boiled rice which he has cooked?" or, "You make no objection to such a person handling prepared pastry, how can his touch render impure another sort of food ? " High feelings of ancestral pride will even yet make the Highlander endure the greatest hardships in pre- ference to labours which he falsely deems degrading. PRACTICE OF CASTE. 25 With disdain which would be ridiculous, were it not pitiable, the poorest peasant, who with difficulty fur- nishes himself with necessary sustenance, and around whose home poverty hovers in every form, will yet spurn with contempt the labours of the loom or the craft of the artizan. How unreasonable this would appear to a Hindoo ! To us, familiar with many pre- vious considerations, such conduct, though strange, is still capable of explanation. Such is the case with caste in India. To a stranger it is one mass of inconsistencies, to a native the most important feature of his society. The foundation of the whole matter rests on self-confidence, and a desire of exalting ourselves in society. This feeling is com- mon to all mankind. Caste, as its offspring, affects all men more or less ; but in India it has been carried to its furthest extent, and endued with all the respectability which religion and antiquity could confer. Our task, then, will be to trace the effects of this tendency in human nature in that country where it has been especially developed, and upon our Anglo- Indian institutions. This, in fact, is the practical question, and not the probable effects of a state of things which are found discussed in the commentaries of an ancient philosopher and would-be politician, and which if they ever existed, have been so long ago exploded, that little or no trace of them can be dis- cerned in any account which we possess of the ancient rulers of the country, and its condition under their 26 THE THEORY AND sway, and have most certainly never prevailed during the British occupancy of Indostan. Our attention, too, must be confined to investi- gating the general effects of a general principle, and not in tracing the influence of its minute details ; of the numberless ceremonies, to which in different parts of the peninsula, it has given rise. Such an attempt would be impossible. We have before observed, that whatever was the case in remote ages, it is certain that within the period of exact history custom has, in respect to caste, deviated widely from the written laws of Menu. The simple regulations of that code, enjoined under such terrible penalties, are in actual practice, replaced by a mass of minute superstitious observances. These are so numerous and intricate, that a description of them would itself form the subject of a large volume. To give the reader some idea of their character we will, at random, select a few of the most prominent. It must be premised, however, that there are rules peculiar to each part of a caste, in addition to those of the caste itself. That others again are local, or peculiar to diflferent families. That* they are different, and often at variance with one another in diflferent parts of the peninsula, and can be reduced to no general standard of reason or regularity. The majority of the people of Bengal and Orissa will not eat meat, though all classes join in eating fish; whilst on the other hand, at Bickanee, fish is held in * Abb^ Dubois India, Pref., p. 16. PRACTICE OF CASTE. 27 the utmost abhorrence. Nearly all Hindoos so rigorously refrain from animal food, and look upon swine with such especial disgust that, in the great drought of 1770, when it has been calculated that more than one-fourth of the teeming population of Bengal perished of famine, thousands died rather than violate their religious scruples ; yet all these, with perhaps the exception of the very highest castes, will eat the flesh of the deer and wild boars, if not killed by their own hands.* In Kumaon all will eat the short-tailed sheep of the hills, but none will touch one with a long tail. To the Braminsf all animal food, save that of fishes and kids, is forbidden ; yet in some districts they will readily partake of the flesh of any animal whatever, if only, as in the case of other Hindoos, it be not killed by their own hand. The Eajpoots eat fish, mutton, and venison ; fowls, beef, and pork are held in abomi- nation. Many castes follow the same rules. With some, however, pork is the favourite diet, beef only is prohibited. Those who shrink from the pollution of eating the flesh of the domestic poultry will eagerly devour that of the jungle-fowl which differs from the game-cock only in size. All Hindoos consider them- selves defiled by contact with feathers: among the tribes at the feet of the Himalays, who are in other respects strict Hindoos, this prejudice does not exist. An earthen pot is polluted beyond redemption by • Shore's India, Vol. ii. p. 489. + See Shore's India, Vol. i. p. 533, on this subject. 28 THE THEORY AND being touched by one of an inferior caste; a metal one suffers no such deterioration* Coolies will carry any load, however offensive, upon their heads ; bid them carry a man for a few paces, and though it be a matter of life and death, they will answer you, that it is the business of another caste. The writer caste, or tribe of Kaits, have a prejudice against keeping a shop, and they would submit to the lowest description of personal service, in preference to joining as a partner in the wealthiest house in Calcutta. The Rohillas will sub- mit to be flogged within an inch of their lives with a leathern martingale, but to be struck with a whip or cane would be an indelible disgrace, and very likely to be resented with a bullet or a stab. Bramins would be polluted by drinking from the same cup as a Sudra ; if, however, the beverage be a species of whey there is no pollution. Spirituous liquors are in general only allowed to the Pariahs. In some parts of Southern India the Bramins partake of themf with- out scruple. Among the Nairs of Malabar the women enjoy a plurality of husbands. Among the Totiyars, on the same coast, those within the degrees of consan- guinity possess their wives in common. In Mysore there is a caste in which the mother amputates the two middle fingers up to the second joint at the marriage of her eldest daughter. Many castes are only to be known from one another by the cut and colour of their clothes, the shape and arrangement of their trinkets, * See Heber's Journey, Yol. ii., p. 24. + See Abb§ Dubois on India, chap. i. PRACTICE OF CASTE. 29 or some other equally frivolous and unimportant dis- tinction. Such are some of the regulations and prejudices connected with Hindoo caste. When we have added that to all these a certain amount of religious respect is supposed to have been originally due, the reader will have some idea of its anomalous and heterogeneous character. Many other examples of its minor details we might produce ; but what effect can these have had on our institutions ? Surely, none ; though the spirit which produced by its abuse these may also have aflPected them. It is the effects of this abstract spirit which we must notice, omitting all details, and confining our- selves to the broad features of the case. We shall, then, examine its effects as they have been seen. First. On the Political, Military, and Civil Institu- tions of our Indian Empire. Secondly. On its Social and Domestic Institutions. Thirdly. On the Moral and Religious Character of the People. Fourthly. We shall notice how it affects their Con- version to Christianiti/. Lastly. We shall consider — Its probable effects on the future destinies of that Empire. 30 THE THEORY AND CHAPTER II. EFFECTS OF CASTE ON THE POLITICAL, MILITARY AND CIVIL INSTITUTIONS OF OUE INDIAN EMPIRE. In one point of view there exists a remarkable dif- ference between the history of Europeans and Asiatics. In that of Western nations it is the exploits of the people, that are, for the most part, described. We are made acquainted with their feelings and senti- ments, and the impulse which these gave to their internal as well as external policy. Individually, as a portion of the people, we read our own history and recognize our own feelings in those which animated them. We draw deductions and acquire instruction from their failures or success. Princes derive all the importance, which attaches to their reign, from the habits and power of their subjects. If otherwise so remarkable that history for a time centres in their person, it is either because opposed to their people, or with dicta- torial power heading their armies in or against foreign invasion. PRACTICE OF CASTB. 31 With the East this is not the case. There history is a narrative of the deeds of princes, not of the sentiments of nations. We read not so much of the constitutional struggles of myriads, as of the diplomacy, the treachery, the crimes, and the am- bition of a few ; and history becomes most interesting when it enters most minutely into the personal habits and feelings of an illustrious monarch. This is espe- cially the case with India. The Ramayana, the Maha- barat, and the Puranas, make us to a considerable extent acquainted with its history, fabulous or other- wise, from the earliest periods ; whilst Ferishta and Persian writers in abundance give us the events of more modern times. But upon what do they chiefly dwell ? The people are lost sight of, the deeds of princes are alone conspicuous. The whole is one mass of private feuds, of jealousy, of tyranny, of sud- den rebellion, and of remorseless punishment ; of the rise of princes and of the fall of dynasties. Occa- sionally some Chandragupta, or Mahmoud, or Akbar, command our respect for their conquests or legisla- tion. Some Zenghis, or Tamerlane, or Nadir, like a thymderbolt, dart through prosperous kingdoms, and leave desolation behind them. Some Baber or Hu- mayun, with their simple memoirs and romantic adventures, interest the milder feelings of the mind. Yet, throughout the whole of their history, we look in vain for a Tacitus to tell us, " Qualis status urbis, quae mens exercituum, quis habitus provinciarum, quid in toto imperio validum, quid aegrum fuerit, ut 32 THE THEORY AND nQn modo casus eventusque rerum, qui plerumque fortuiti sunt, sed ratio enim causaeque noscantur." * We look in vain for a description of the effects of minor circumstances upon the feelings, the actions and institu- tions of the early invaders of Indostan. We know that then, as now, the same intricate rules of caste pre- vailed, yet we find little or no notice of its influence on the character of their policy ; though it must, in one form or other, have come in contact with every act of legislation. Strange as it may seem, its in- fluence was so subtle and inscrutable, that, either from ignorance of its character, or from despair of accu- rately defining it, they have altogether neglected to notice even its existence. It may happen occasionally to have forced itself on their attention, when the overweening influence of some particular class may have produced a sudden political movement. As, for instance, when Khusru, the vizier of Mobarik K-hilji,f entirely surrounded himself with those of his own caste, by their means overthrew the power of his master, and exterminated the house of Khilji. These, however, are solitary events, singular in their causes and effects. They have little or no connection with that silent, never- failing influence which caste must have always ex- erted on the character of the people and the insti- tutions of their conquerors. Certain it is that its effects were rarely direct, and are, if anywhere, to be * Hist. i. 4. + See ElphinBtone's India, p. 348. PRACTICE OF CASTE. 33 found (as Burke would say) not in the " swaggering major, but in the little minor of circumstances." As with preceding conquerors of Indostan, so with the English ; caste is not to be found directing our diplomacy, curbing our designs, or impeding with its niceties our intercourse with the princes of India. Whoever looks forit here may look in vain. Nothing is more certain than that caste has never sensibly affected our intercourse with Hindoo governments, and rarely even the relations of Hindoo states with each each other. Yet in minor points its influence can be detected. The East India Company, for a long time, appeared in the East as merchants, whose continuance at two or three unimportant seaports, depended upon their con- ciliating the favour of a few of the more powerful native princes ; whilst their trade was, in a great mea- sure, founded upon their popularity with the people themselves. After the death of Aurangzib, and the disorders which followed, their influence became more extensive, and was finally confirmed by Clive, at the decisive battle of Plassy ; when the whole of Bengal and even the great Mogul himself, were prostrate at their feet. Then could they well afi'ord to neglect any longer paying court to barbarous sovereigns ; but though in this point independent, their empire was found to be increased in a greater proportion than their powers of retaining it. A few thousand Euro- peans at Calcutta and Madras, had now to preserve their dominion over a great part of Malabar, the D 34 THE THEORY AND Deccan, and the whole plain of the Ganges— over people differing from them in language, in customs, in religion, and in colour. They soon observed that on their popularity and compliance with the wishes of their subjects, a stable empire was alone to be founded. Nor did it long escape their notice, that caste in one form or other existed from Cape Comorin to the feet of the Hinialays; from the mouths of the Ganges to those of the Indus ; throughout the length and breadth of Indostan ; that its minute regulations were regarded with almost religious respect ; that its spirit penetrated every native institution, and gave a colour to the simplest actions of life. It was soon obvious that it was an innocent point, on which it would be of advantage to gratify, or rather on which it might be dangerous to offend, native prejudices. To this end Sir Wilham Jones, after an astonishing amount of persuasion, in- duced some of the most illustrious pundits of the day, to furnish him, notwithstanding their religious scruples on the point, with a translation of the Code of Menu, which was supposed, and which they averred, con- tained the legitimate regulations of Hindoo caste. What a deceptive picture of this institution is there given, we have before noticed. Such as it was, how- ever, it was adopted, and in many particulars credited, by the government and literati* of the day ; and many of the orders of the Board of Directors in England, and Regulations of the Council in India, are careful that its spirit should not be wantonly offended. • E. g., Schlegel and Continental writers. PRACTICE OF CASTE. 35 The pretensions of Brarains, and the high respect which had been awarded to them from antiquity, were often regarded in points, in which they ill accorded with the preconceived ideas of Europeans, and in some cases were not neglected even in the courts of justice. The Cshatryas, as a class, were extinct in the greater part of India, but the Rajpoots of Rajasthan claimed descent from them, and readily found occupa- tion as sepoys, in our armies ; whilst the lowest castes, such as Coolies, Maters, Choomars, Mullahs, &c., were for a long time studiously excluded. Bramins and men of high caste, as Vakeels, or native lawyers, and Moonsiffs or inferior judges, were occupied in the administration of justice; whilst little encouragement was given to the Sudra and the Ryot, to leave the cultivation of the soil, that occupation to which the Code of Menu had devoted him. Nay, to such lengths was this policy of respecting the prejudices of the natives in regard to caste carried, that the discouragements to conversion to Christianity were numerous. By Government Regulations of 1814, native Christians were debarred from filling any public office of respectability.* There is on record one instance at least, in which a sepoy was actually dis- missed from the army, in consequence of embracing Christianity. He was a naickf or corporal, a man of high caste, who under the influence of Mr. Fisher, the clergyman at Meerut, renounced Hinduism, Bishop • Eegg., 23 and 27. t Heter's Journey, Vol. ii. p. 280. Shore's India, Vol. ii. p. 460. 36 THE THEORY AND Heber, who saw him in 18'25, describes him as " a tall, plain-looking man, with every appearance of a re- spectable and well-behaved soldier." His conversion was supposed to be exciting considerable ferment in liis corps. On the report of the commanding officer, and after a careless investigation, Government, carry- ing out its cautious policy of humouring native pre- judices, to an almost unjustifiable extent, absurdly, not to say wickedly, disgraced him, by removing him from his regiment, although they still allowed him his pay. So careful are they still not to offend native prejudices on the subject of caste, that the very convicts* in our gaols are allowed to preserve its distinction. They are not required to labour in what they deem an im- proper vocation, and are allowed time and space, each to cook his own meals. In return for this toleration, there are some points on which caste has materially upheld the pretensions of the Company. It has no idea of popular government. Its political effects may appear pleasing in the case of the village constituencies (which we shall hereafter mention), and may go far to secure a certain amount of personal liberty, yet have they no tendency to produce for the people at large, that popular form of govern- ment, on which the Englishman particularly prides himself, and which, under one form or other, has been • This is necessary : many convicts would lie down and die, sooner tbaii break the laws of their caste. It is only two months since a riot occurred at Benares, in consequence of some comicts being set to labour at occupations inconsistent with their caste. PRACTICE OF CASTE. 37 the object of every revolution, among the families of the European or Japhetic race. The Code of Menu contemplates the whole of society, as subject to one head, an absolute monarch, in whom the whole so- vernment of the state is vested. He is, it is true, to pay regard to the laws promulgated in the name of the Divinity, he is to be influenced by the advice of Bramins, but he is subject to no legal control by human authority. The opening of the chapter on government* era- ploys the boldest political figures to display the irre- sistible power, the glory, and almost the divinity of a king. This doctrine, so characteristic of all Semitic nations, the institution of caste in nowise invalidates, but even upholds and confirms. It obstructs the free exercise of those benevolent feelings which bind man to man.-j- The social circle is com- posed of persons of the same caste, to the careful exclusion of others. No community of feeling exists among different classes of the same people ; it arms one class of men against another ; gives rise to the greatest degree of pride and apathy, makes every pre- judice inveterate and incapable of eradication. With them as with the half civilized Romans of old, hospes and hostis, stranger and foe,J are synonymous. Hence there can be no political amalgamation ; everything * Chap. VII., Sir William Jones' translation. Elphinstone, p. 19. t See Shore's India, Vol. ii. p. 478. Ward's Hindoos, VoL i. p. 145, on this subject. ♦ Sfie Cic, Oflf., Lib. i., Cap. 12. 38 THE THEORY AND which is proposed by one party, is viewed with sus- picion by others ; like the oligarchs and democrats of Grecian cities they stand apart with mutual distrust, everywhere " to avnTo-xdai dAA?}Aoi? rfj yvdixj] airicrTcos em TToXii 6t7jvey/cej»,"* has been true of Hindoos, as it was of Greeks. This feeling, though it may long have contributed to the stability of our rule, very materially retards the progress of those enlightened principles of our government, by which it is now being attempted to elevate the character of the people, and render them adapted for freer institutions than they at present pos- sess, and perhaps in time for a representative form of government. From caste, again, has arisen that want of patriotism which every writer on India, has noticed as a markedf characteristic of the people. Although they are i-ocially one, they have no political unity, no na- tionality, no public spirit. " Not only," says a recent writer^ on India, " have the Mahometans and Hindoos no political feelings in common, but no two tribes, classes, or castes of Hindoos, pull together in politics." Much of these sentiments may be, doubtless, attributed to their having lived so long under foreign and despotic governments, but much also is to be ascribed to the benevolent feelings of the mind having, from infancy, been contracted and cramped by the influence of caste. • Thucyd., Lib. iii., 83. + Heber's Journey, Vol. iii. p. 274. } Campbell's India and its Government, p. G2. PRACTICE OF CA9TK. 39 To the same cause, too, is to be ascribed that extreme selfishness, which induces them to look without sym- pathy upon the misfortunes of their neighbours. They have large family circles, within which many social virtues exist. Persons who live beyond the range of these are utter aliens. Hence, though no provision on the subject has ever been made by Government, paupers are carefully supported.* It is incumbent on each family circle to afford subsistence to its own poor, and public relief is never either expected or required. On the other hand, nowhere are the sufferings of strangers treated with more indifference.-f- The tra- veller may fall sick by the way, but not a soul will render assistance. If his caste be unknown all will avoid him for fear of pollution. The most horrible crimes, and the most outrageous cruelties, may be, and sometimes are, openly committed, without the least dread of interference. No native, whom it did not personally concern, would ever, for one moment, harbour the idea of laying an information before a magistrate. In cases of daring thefts,^ where gangs of decoits have long been the terror of a neighbourhood, there is very rarely any common effort made for their detection, which is left entirely to those whom it prin- cipally concerns. To such a length has this apathy of the natives gone, that decoitee has sometimes been * Campbell's India and its Government, p. 62. + Heber gives many exs. See Journey, Vol. i. p. 352 ; ii. p. 352 ; and iii. pp. 261, 264, 355, &e. } CampbeU'a India, p. 108. 40 THE THEORY AND carried on for years, before the authorities became aware of its existence ; and even then its detection has long defied the vigilance of our police. So far is this indifference to the sufferings of others, and neglect of all the ties of race and country carried, that a writer* on India remarks, " If it were the purpose of Govern- ment to ravage with fire and sword any particular district, it might be done just as effectually with soldiers raised in that province, as with regiments composed of foreigners. Each man would be anxious to save his own particular village, but he would most likely have no sympathy with its neighbour." Caste prevents all zeal in pursuing public henefits. The ambition and enterprise of individuals is absorbed in the general feelings of their caste, which is a torpid mass, little influenced by the genial spirit of improve- ment, or the wish of ameliorating its condition. It presents no obstacle to the pretensions or tyranny of a ruler, but after a fashion, by its apathy and stationary nature, confirms his authority. That all men naturally are equal is a doctrine abhorrent to the feelings of a Hindoo ; hence he has no idea of universal suffrage, of social fusion, or of any of those political tenets, whose wild extravagances have so often disturbed the peace of western nations, of late have shaken almost every throne of Christendom to its foundations ; and which, if they existed in the East, no force or popularity of our Indian government would avail to counteract. His political creed is pre-eminently that verse of • Shore's India, Vol. ii. p. 417. PRACTICE OF CASTE. 41 Homer, which, Theophrastus* says, was the only one the oligarch of his day knew, " ovk. dyadov TsokvKoipavir) etj Koipavos ((ttw." " The people of India," to quote the words of Sir John Malcolm,'!' " have little or no idea of divided power, they imagine all authority to be vested in one man." But nowhere are the effects of caste more strongly marked, and nowhere have its harshest features yielded more manifestly to the power of civilization, than in our Indian army. According to the antecedent history of mankind, it would have been deemed an extravagant conceit in any one to have imagined that Christians from islands in the Atlantic, in search of traffic in Indostan, should train the natives to be soldiers, should so moderate and control their numerous pre- judices, that they should find in them that devotion, ardour, and perseverance, which is usually rewarded with victory. That they should, unhesitatingly, lead them against even their own countrymen; and, though unacquainted with the British language beyond the range of terms used at drill and parade, these soldiers should be made folly to understand, and skilfully perform the most intricate evolutions of the British line, in which they take their place, and on which they have never yet brought disgrace. We may observe, however, that it has been no new thing for a foreign power to rule India by means of an army, levied from the people themselves, and made as zealous for the interests of the conquerors as ever • Character of the Oligarch. + Political History of India. 42 THE THEORY AND they were for their own sovereigns and their own nation. Innumerable instances might be adduced of Hindoo soldiers fighting against a prince of their own caste, under the banners of a Mussulman leader, and of Mussulman troops, on the contrary, attacking one of the faithful in the ranks of Hindoos. The secret cause of this disregard of country and want of patriotic feelings,io which, more than perhaps to any other cause, we owe the acquisition and retention of our Indian empire, is to be found in the institution of caste. When the policy of pleasing the natives was espe- cially strong, under the administration of Lord Corn- wallis, men of the lowest caste were, as we have remarked above, excluded from our army ; yet even among the higer classes there was the same exclusive- ness as would have existed between men of the highest and lowest castes. It was unaccompanied, however, by that discontent which would have arisen, if the latter had been admitted. Even these regulations do not at present prevail. There is now no legal bar to the admission of even a Pariah into our Indian regi- ments, though such would be rejected, as any pro- motion which might happen to be granted them would be viewed with dissatisfaction by those of superior caste, who, in general, form the majority of a regi- ment.* * The old ideas in regard to caste are said to be still prevalent at head-quarters in the Bengal Presidency. Men are incessantly paid up, and discharged when there are doubts about the purity of their caste. PHACTICE OF CASTE. 43 Hence we may now find among our troops Hindoos of every tribe, caste, province, and dialect ;* so that no less than thirty nations are said to supply recruits to our native force of sepoys. We find there men of every language in India, Indostanee, Dukhnee, Telinga, Tamil, and Mahratta, both worshippers of Shiva, and worshippers of Vishnoo ; we may find mul- titudes of Mahometans, as well of the Soonee as of the Shiah sects, together with Protestants and Romanists, half castes and Topasses, and even Jews and Ghebii-s, a commixture, a " colluvies gentium," unparalleled in military history. What is the result ? There is but one cord which binds men of such a diversity of nations, creeds, and languages together. This is their allegiance to the same master, and their expectation of pay or promo- tion entirely dependent on their conduct satisfying the views of their employers. This links them firmly together, just as in former times it did the disorderly hosts of the Mogul, and as the hope of plunder united the predatory bands of the Mahrattas, or the flying cavalry of the Pindarrees. As long as they are well paid they are thorough Dalgetties — they care little for whom they fight. Like the mercenary troops of the This line of policy is more Hindoo than that of the Hindoos them- selves, and probatly very imprudent, as the high caste men do not always make the hest regular soldiers. They are generally at the bottom of all insubordination. See Campbell's India, p. 518. • Historical Sketch of the Princes of India, by an officer in the ser- vice of the H. E. I. C, p. 48. 44 THE THEORY AND middle ages, they will be true and faithful to the power that supports them, but, unlike such condottieri, they can never render themselves formidable by mutiny or insubordination ; any such tendency the existence of caste effectually counteracts. On parade, or on actual service, discipline, with its iron hand, has repressed many of their antipathies, and they live on terms of mutual forbearance. Their diversity of caste and manners in no way appears to interrupt the chain of military subordination. Yet, no sooner is parade broken up, than they divide into sectional coteries, the gradation of caste, or the difference of religion appears. The rank of military life gives way to social distinc- tions ; the etiquette of soldiers to that of citizens. The Sudra sergeant is restored to his social rank, and makes his salaam to the Bramin or Rajpoot private. The Mussulman avoids the Christian, the Shiah the Soonee, the Hindoo all. Split into their divisions of caste, they may be seen in small parties, or even alone, cooking and eating their simple meal. The pleasures and conviviality of the table are, for the most part, unknown among them;* and thus one great means of social fusion, and of learning the undisguised feelings of their comrades, is taken away. The native commissioned officers, again, are rarely all of the same caste. They cannot then join in one mess; but each associates and eats with those of his own caste, be they privates or otherwise : a custom * Large suppers, however, are sometimes given by the natives, especially at Calcutta. PRACTICE OF CASTE. 45 which, as tending sensibly to curtail their authority on parade, has been condemned by military men, but which has the advantage of making them acquainted with the prevailing sentiments of their corps. So that, standing, as they do, between the unapproachable English officer and his submissive soldiers, they hear of inconveniences before they become grievances, and remedies can be applied which nip sedition in the bud. So that all these minute divisions and sub-divisions, produced by caste, materially diminish the chance of any revolutionary insubordination. An impassable barrier of mutual distrust and jealousy hinders all amalgamation of opinion, and obstructs all unity of action even on those national subjects, which sepa- rately and independently interest the whole body. Mutinies have, on several occasions, arisen among our sepoys, and yet have, probably, never had their origin in caste. Of these, the most determined, was that which occurred at Vellore in 1806. Its causes were clearly traced to a thoughtless violation of native prejudices.* Lord William Bentinck, in that eagerness for chano'e and reform, for which he was in India so notorious, issued orders that the sepoys should clip their mustachios, should appear on parade with their chin shaved, should not wear the distinguishing marks of caste upon the forehead, or their huge ear-rings when in uniform. To this was added changes in their dress. A turban was introduced of a new cut, which • See MacFarlane's India, Vol. ii. p. 157, for a full account of the massacre of Vellore. 46 THE THEORY AND the natives fancied bore some resemblance to the European hat, against which they possess a deeply- grounded prejudice. To make it even more offensive, it was surmounted with a leathern cockade, which was supposed to be formed of the skin of the hog, an animal held to be impure both by the Mussulmans and Hindoos. These feelings were shared, more or less, by the whole of our native force. That open mutiny broke out at Vellore, was owing to the fact of the family of Tippoo being there resident, and having collected around them, by their charities and pa- tronage, large numbers of the old retainers of their house. These were men who had been brought up in the disorderly scenes which marked the reigns of Hyder and Tippoo, and were involved in the ruin which befel that dynasty. They found no congenial employment under the peaceful sway of the Company, and were ready to join in any, the wildest, project that held forth a hope of plunder, or a chance of bettering their desperate fortunes. It was to the presence of these men that the massacre at Vellore was due. The open disaffection of the sepoys there did not even reach the native cavalry stationed at Arcot, which was scarcely sixteen miles distant. Under Colonel Gillespie they joined in attacking the rebels at Vellore, and stained their sabres as deeply in the blood of their misguided countrymen as did our own Dragoons.* Other mutinies of our native troops, as for instance * See Quarterly Eeview, No. XXXVI. PRACTICE OF CASTE. 47 that of the celebrated 16th Battalion,* which behaved with remarkable gallantry against the French at Masulipatam, the mutiny which occurred at Barrack- poor in 1782, all arose either from the supposed non- performance of promises made by the Company, or from suspicion that it was the intention of Govern- ment to transport the regiments to fresh quarters by sea.f With regard to all these cases of military insubor- dination there is one circumstance worthy of especial remark, viz., that no one of them ever became really formidable. J They were outbreaks of popular feeling, which were quelled at the first appearance of re- sistance. Probably none had a duration of more than one day. At Vellore a single charge sufficed to rout the insurgents. At Barrackpoor they fled at the first discharge of the artillery which was brought against them. The mutineers appear never to have possessed any unanimity of action, of power, of dangerous com- bination. To what other cause can this be attributed than to caste ? It is this which hinders them, when not on duty, from mixing indiscriminately. It pre- vents them from indulging in that unrestrained con- viviality, in which by unguardedly revealing their secret causes of discontent, men mutually encourage one another in insubordination. Military outbreaks in India have most assuredly had a very different * See Captain Williams' Account of Bengal Native Infantry, p. 14. + Ibid. p. 204. J Ibid. p. 204. 48 THE TH£OEY AND character from those in any other part of the world. We know of no better cause to which this can be attributed, than to the existence of caste among the men who compose our regiments. It is this which forms a bar to all amalgamation, and which renders successful conspiracy impossible. It is this which guarantees their obedience, and which has made it impossible for any of the political adventurers, who have arisen at the fall of Indian dynasties, to work upon their fidelity. To such an extent indeed has this been the case, that though, since the days of Clive, we have con- stantly had in our employ never less than thirty or forty thousand native sepoys; though they have been commanded by Europeans, necessarily to a con- siderable extent young and inexperienced officers, who rarely were acquainted with the language of even a single one of the many nations of which they are composed; though they have too often wantonly insulted their feelings, and ridiculed their religious opinions ; though they were for a long time excluded from all rank, but that of havildars and naiks, the very lowest of non-commissioned officers ; though when commissions were given them their officers were treated by those of the line with the grossest injustice, and the most supercilious contempt ; though, in short, they have often been the subjects of tyranny and of indignities, casually or designedly heaped upon them, yet mutiny or insubordination has but rarely arisen. This, too, though they have seen PRACTICE OF CASTE. 49 the spectacle of their rulers, at least twice, on the point of civil war: once in 1777,* when Warren Hastings quarrelled with General Clavering and the Council ; and again in 1807, when differences arose at Madras between General Macdowall and the Gover- nor, Sir George Barlow, and blood was actually shed at Seringapatam and Chitteldroog by the mutineers of Mysore.-f They have preserved an unalterable fidelity to their standard and their "salt:" their attachment to their military honour has ever been found greater than any that they bore for their coun- try, their kindred, their native prince, or even their religion. A remarkable instance of this was displayed at the insurrection of Benares in 1781, J consequent upon Warren Hastings seizing, in a most unjustifiable man- ner, the Rajah, Cheyte Sing, at the time of a public festival. Although the sepoys were of the same re- ligion and nation as the assailants ; and although they must, in some degree at least, have partaken of tlie feelings which influenced them, yet in retaining the person of the Rajah four companies with their officers were cut to pieces to a man. But not only did a company of fifty, who were with the governor in the greatest peril, remain faithful, but others, who were dispersed in the town in cantonments, and who might easily have escaped, preferred joining their corps. With these Warren Hastings retreated to the rock of * See MacFarlane's India, Vol. i. p. 173. + Ibid. Vol. ii.p, 181 } Ibid. Vol. i. p. 206. 50 THE THEOKY AND Chunar. There he collected other sepoys— for all the European troops were at a distance, either watching the Mahrattas, or drawing the first war with Tippoo to a close — and with sepoys, and sepoys alone, he put down one of the most critical insurrections that ever disturbed our Indian rule. In the case of a riot which occurred at the same place about twenty years later, the fidelity of our sepoys was still more severely tried.* The tumult began by the Mussulmans breaking down a famous pillar, named Siva's walking- staff, held in high vene- ration by the Hindoos. These last, in revenge, de- stroyed a mosque, and the Mahometans retaliated by killing a cow, and pouring her blood into the sacred well. In consequence every Hindoo capable of bear- ing arms, and many who had no other fitness for the employment than rage supplied, procured weapons, and attacked their enemies with frantic fury. Being the most numerous party, they'put the Mussulmans in danger of actual extermination, and would certainly have burned every mosque in the place before twenty- four hours were over, if our sepoys had not been called in. Of these last the greater number were Hindoos, and perhaps one-half Bramins, any one of whom, if he had been his own master, would have rejoiced in an opportunity of shedding his life's blood in a quar- rel with the Mussulmans. Of the mob, whom they were led to attack, the Bramins, Yogis, Gossains, and other religious mendicants, formed the front rank. * See Heter's Journey, Vol. i. p. i'l'i. PRACTICE OF CASTE. 51 With their bodies and faces covered with chalk and ashes, with their long hair untied, as devoted to death, they pointed to their zenaar, the sacred badge of their order, and yelled out the bitterest curses of their religion against our sepoys if they persisted in waging an unnatural war against their brethren and their gods. These were, however, immoveable. Regard- ing their military oath as the most sacred of all obli- gations, they fired at a Bramin as readily as at a Mussulman. They kept guard at the gate of a mosque as faithfully and fearlessly as if it had been the tem- ple of Siva himself. Their courage and steadiness preserved Benares from ruin, and quenched a dis- turbance which threatened to put all India in a flame. It must not, however, be supposed that our mili- tary institutions have had no reference to their natural jDrejudices and antipathies. These have only been repressed so far as they have been held inj=urious to the discipline or the utility of the army. Our sepoys, with a few exceptions, possess the same liberty as they would enjoy, if employed in the service of a Hindoo rajah. We have, it is true, led them across the Indus, mounted them on hogskin saddles, trans- ported them from place to place by sea, prevented them from eating naked ; and latterly, have paid no regard to caste in the selection of native officers, so that the Bramin and Rajpoot is liable to obey a Sudra or Chandala, and the haughty Nayr and Poly- gar of Malabar to receive a command from the de- spised Pariah, by each of which actions caste is irre- 52 THE THEORY ANB trievably lost. Yet this has not been effected at once. It has arisen from years of discipline, and intimate acquaintance with our own undisguised feelings on such subjects. If at some time or other we had not made otirselvea aware of their antipathies, and as far as possible hu- moured their prejudices, we should never have found them so devoted to our service, or sanguine in the pur- suit of our enterprises. Great, indeed, is the praise due to our Indian government, for having- gradually brought the army into its present efficient state, by modifying for military purposes the institution of caste. The comparative liberality of our pay, which enables the sepoy comfortably to support his family, to which, like all Asiatics, he is very much attached, would al- ways have rendered our service popular. Our system of rewards and pensions, for wounds and service, and above all* the regularity with which they are paid — a regularity unexampled in Oriental history — would doubtless have lured men to our standard. Very many would have served us in preference to native princes, who never, before the prevalence of European habits among them, had conceived of any more certain me- thod of paying an army, than by grants of land in the conquered provinces, or by assignments on the revenue of districts — a mode which generally led to mutinies among the troops, from the difficulty of realizing their pay. Our* recruits, however, would have been men of the * Oude and the disturbed districts of tlie native iirinces, wlierc life PRACTICE OF CASTE. 53 lowest rank, the refuse of society, instead of, as they now are, the most respectable Ryots, Bramins, Eaj- poots, and the poorer members of the very highest castes. We should in vain have looked for that ready valour, which has not been surpassed by that of the most warlike nations ; valour which on two occasions, on one of which they were opposed to French sol- diers,* urged our sepoys to advance, even after the troops of the King's service had been repulsed. We should not have found that persevering intrepidity, which contributed in no small degree to all our suc- cesses in India.-t There would have been lacking that gallant bearing which did good service at the battles of Plassy, Assaye, and Meeanee, and more recently at those of Moodkee, Aliwal, and Sobraon — that bravery which did so much to retrieve our disasters, if not our disorace in Cabul, that their conduct extorted this confession from th« lieroj of that campaign : " I was and property -are insecure, are said to furnish us with a considerable number of recruits. They are not, however, in general worthless fel- lows, the oflfsoouiing of society, hnt men of respectahihty in their own station of life 4 they aentsr .our service for the purpose of indulging a propensity for arms, or of bettering their condition. • Elphinstone's India, p. 198. + The intrepidity with which 'Our sepoys endured the intense suffer- ings in Colonel Monson's disastrous retreat, win never he forgotten. Ax>customed to live on rice, they have in *ases of distress, voluntarily rehnquished their share of animal food, and generously presented it to the European troops, who suffer intensely from want of it. See Cap- tain William's Bengal Battalion Infantry, p. 369. J MacFarlane's India, Vol. ii. p. 401. 54 THE THEORY AND obliged," says General Nott, " more than once to tell even my own officers, that I would save their honour and their lives in spite of themselves. Our sepoys always acted nobly, and I could have done anything with them, and at the very time when the press abused and calumniated these men, I could in per- fect confidence have led 5,000 sepoys against 20,000 Aifghans." On this but one comment is necessary, viz., that the Affghans are considered the bravest of Asiatics.* He must be well acquainted with India who would understand the mystery of caste ; yet without this knowledge he would in vain train sepoys to fight his battles. It was ignorance of this, which ruined the fortunes of Count Lally, and led to the annihilation of French influence in India. Lally was profoundly ignorant of the complex nature of Indian society. He forcibly employed the different castes in labours to which they had not been accustomed, or which they deemed derogatory to their dignity. The more rigour he ex- ercised, the greater became the difficulty of finding labourers, or of getting any work done. His sepoys were disgusted. Careless of success, they fought with- out spirit, and seized every opportunity for desertion. His ill treatment of Bramins, his pillage of temples, and the excesses of his followers in their march upon • Nevertheless, when a regiment has been overworked, the sepoys have sat down, and the European officers have not been able to rouse them to attack the enemy> PRACTICE OF CASTE. 55 Tanjore, surpassed even the worst atrocities of the Pindarrees and Senassie Fakirs, A regiment of hus- sars was constantly employed in cattle-lifting. The natives saw their cows and oxen driven into the French camp, where no price was paid or even pro- mised ; their sacred bulls were mercilessly slaugh- tered ; their women outraged to the last degree. At Kivalore, on the line of his march, stood a pagoda supposed to contain great riches. Here he halted, ransacked the place and the houses of the Bramins, dragged the tanks, and got possession of a multitude of idols, which to his bitter disappointment were found to be composed, not of gold, but of brass. On another occasion he seized Bramins, men revered as much for their piety as for their caste, and blew them from the mouths of his cannon ; by this means incurring a hor- rible odium without any profit. These excesses, un- popular as they would have made him in any country, had an effect upon the feeling of the Hindoos, which no favours and no successes could ever erase ; and he fell, and with him fell the French rule in India ; less by its military than its political errors ; less by its misfortunes in the field, than by disaffection in its own •camp, arising from this very subject of caste. Such mistakes in policy our Indian government, from its long acquaintance with the character of the natives, has carefully avoided. In military affairs it has singularly adapted itself to their prejudices. For more than a century, they have enjoyed in the camp of Europeans as much toleration as they would have 56 THE THEORY AND done if serving a Hindoo master, or at any rate as much as satisfies their religious scruples. Yet withal caste is diminishing : as the soldiers become more enlightened, and better acquainted with European feelings, they lose their respect for one point after another of their natural prejudices. These gradually fall into disuse. When they are in this condition, an order of the council abolishes them, and the steady spirit of strict discipline effectually prevents their revival. Again, many of our sepoys are the descendants of men who have served us. They have been born in our camps, brought up in a daily regard for our insti- tutions, and have known no other master than the Company. On entering the ranks they have no pre- conceived antipathies to conquer. They have learned to regard their caste no further than the regulations of the camp allow. They learn to pay little respect to its rules, and to be indifferent spectators of the most glaring offences against its spirit. To conclude with the words of the great Duke of Wellington, " I know well the feeling of the Indian army ; I know its sub- ordination and discipline to be such, that there is no feeling of distinction as concerns religion or caste, any more than among British troops."* Another important guarantee for the fidelity of our sepoys, which arises from caste, should not be omitted. The Cshatrya or military class, as we have before ob- * Speech in defence of Lord Ellenborough, upon the restoration of the Gates of Somnaut. PRACTICE OF CASTE. 57 served, were in theory, whatever might be the actual practice, considered to hold the profession of arms exclusively by inheritance, and to rank next to the Bramins ; whilst the inferior classes were enjoined to treat them with profound respect. Hence by permit- ting men of the lower ranks to be enrolled in our army, we have very sensibly elevated their character, and have given them a higher social rank ; a rank which they hold by serving us, and by that alone. In return it becomes their policy, no less than their duty, to be faithful to our rule, as its subversion would in every respect injure their social, as well as pecuniary circumstances. Whilst at the same time the proud hereditary soldiery, who had hitherto looked upon such men as beings of a lower grade in creation, have been driven by the inflexible power of discipline to assume different habits of thinking, and to look upon the Sudra, if not as an equal, at any rate not as an inferior. From these circumstances, the influence of caste is greatly diminishing among our Hindoo sol- diery. The day is, perhaps, not so far distant as some may imagine, when it will for all practical purposes cease ; when Bramins and Sudras, Rajpoots and Jats, Goojurs, Bunneas, Kaits, Paiks, Mahometans, and Parsees, Jains and Christians, men of every caste, tribe, and nation, will join together in one mess, and associate with as much, or possibly more freedom, than Europeans of the same number of diflerent nations, sects, and religions.* » See Shore's India, Vol. u. p. 431. 58 THE THEORY AND With caste, as with other customs peculiar to India, it has been the policy of the East India Company to interfere as little as possible. They are subjects which, they soon discovered, were to be handled with the greatest delicacy. The introduction of laws, un- less they carry with them the feelings of the people, are in all cases of little avail ; but in regard to direct- ing the sentiments or opinions of masses of men, have absolutely an effect opposite to that intended. Of the Hindoo notions on religious subjects, of which caste forms one, this has long since been observed as espe- cially true. Dubois describes them as a people who will submit to extortion, to having their wives and children sold as slaves, in fine to every species of civil oppres- sion, but that once interfere with their religion, and they are an ungovernable nation, whose fierce pas- sions are uncontrollable. If we consider the scenes of strife and bloodshed, which have arisen at difierent times and places, but especially at Benares, as de- scribed in a preceding section, and at the great fairs of Hurdwar, from religious insult and intolerance, it is apprehended that every person conversant with the In- dian character, will assent to the truth of what Dubois has remarked. Consistent with this idea has been the policy of our Government. Well aware that for many years (even if the same may not now be true) our empire was not founded upon the good-will of the people, or our own popular acts, but was an " empire of opinion," as it has been termed, that is, one founded upon a prevailing PRACTICE OF CASTE. 69 idea among oar subjects, that we are morally and physically their superiors, and that no power which they could exert against us will ever effect our removal. Well aware of this, the East India Company have made it a fundamental point in their policy, never to afford the people an opportunity of learning their strength by a sudden outbreak of popular fury. Hence the Directors have been especially careful that the prejudices of the natives should be respected. They have given encouragement to their feasts, have never confiscated either the devutter, pirutter or bramutter : that is, the property respectively attached to Hindoo temples, Mahometan mosques, and Bramins. Hence it was that at one time they supported their religious ceremonies, even the foul rites of Juggernaut himself, and respected local customs. For a long time they allowed Suttees and human sacrifices even at Sagor,* within sight as it were of Calcutta itself. Aware, too, how much caste kept the people from uniting in any general enterprise, they long countenanced its pretensions, and in doing so have even neglected the claims of religious toleration, and done injus- tice to men of their own religion and of their own country. * Sagor Island is a celebrated place of pilgrimage among the Hin- doos, on aocovmt of the great sanctity arising from its situation at the junction of the holiest branch of the Ganges, withthe Ocean. Many human sacrifices were, in consequence, there performed, of aged per- sons of both sexes, -which were voluntary, and of children, which were forced. MacFarlane's India, Vol. ii. p. 150. 60 THE THEORY AND For many years there existed regulations, "that no person should be authorized to officiate as a vakeel, or as a district moonsif, without the previous sanction of the provincial court, nor unless he he of the Hindoo or Mahometan persuasion."* " Will it be believed," says Heber, " that v^hilst the Eajah of Tanjore kept his dominions, Christians were eligible to all the different offices of state, whilst now, there is an order of Go- vernment against their being admitted to any employ- ment."f In cases like this, that caution which is of vital im- portance to the preservation of our Indian power, was doubtless carried to excess. Its exercise may in some instances have been attended with great hardship, and apparent injustice. Individual merit may have been sacrificed to the exigencies of state policy. These, however, will occur more or less under every form of government. Private advantage must ever succumb to the public good. Our Indian rulers observed that, for seven centuries, Mahometans of Persia and Tartary kept the Hindoos in subjection ; that during that period, though Hin- doo chiefs, and Mahometan Omrahs and Atabegs of wealth and influence, could, by holding out a prospect of plunder to their followers, without much difficulty excite a rebellion, it was interference with their reli- • See Reg. 27, of 1814, for the office of vakeel or lawyer, and Eeg. 23, of 1814, for that of moonsif or judge of a minor court. These were repealed in 1831. + See Heber's Journey, Vol. iii. p. 403. PRACTICE OF CASTE. 61 g'ion alone, which roused the feelings of the natives as a body ; that, enjoying a free exercise of this, they were a people who submitted without resistance to any con- queror. On these considerations their policy of non- interference with native customs was founded, and so justly founded, that no insurrection of importance has yet disturbed our Indian rule. This absence of rebel- lion is a most remarkable feature in the history of our internal government of India. From our first acquisi- tion of territory to the present day, there has been no- where any general rising or struggle for independence. Before our system was well known, there may have been occasional resistance to the payment of revenue, in the hope of obtaining better terms, after the practice which had long been common under the native go- vernments, when the mode of seeking an abatement of rent was by pointing guns at the collector, but such outbreaks the mere exhibition of force has generally at once quelled.* In fact, offences such as treason and sedition are so uncommon, as scarcely to form the subject of legislation. Probably, during the whole course of our Indian history, there has never been a civil execution for a political crime. We have left changes in habits and customs to the sure power of civilization and education. Our presence in the country has set a spirit of inquiry abroad, which has ended in indifference for many ceremonies, which formed leading features in the habits of the Hindoos. The Company may, perhaps, * See Campbell's India, pp. 200 and 472. 62 THE THEORY AND have occasionally acted with undue timidity, when they refused the Christian that impartial favour and protection which were extended to the Moolah and the Bramin.* Most of such distinctions, however, have for some years been abolished. When even the natives began to perceive the cruelty and absurdity of suttees, when they were not even popular among the better part of the people,t Government forbade them first at Sagor, and then throughout the whole of its dominions. The same may be observed of infan- ticide, and many other customs which have disgraced Indostan. Similar considerations regulate its policy with regard- to caste. When the undermining in- fluence of reason shall have sapped its foundations, then, like other customs opposed to the welfare of society, its restrictions, as far as they are still in any way directly or indirectly encouraged by our laws, • Against this may be laid the fact, that it is with money collected from the natives that Christian churches have been built and bishop- rics endowed. t In the code of Menu, and in the oldest Shasters, there' is not even an allusion to suttees. The duties of a widow are frequently de- scribed with great particularity, and in a manner totally opposed to self-immolation. Ram Mohun Boy translated many passages bear- ing on this subject into Hindostannee, and in a cleverly-written tract labours to prove to his feUow-countrymen tliat suttees were contrary to the spirit of their religion, and were too often encouraged for the purpose of obtaining the property of the widow. He was sup- posed at the time to express the sentiments of the more euhghtened of his countrjTnen. Suttees, to the surprise of most persons, were abolished without the slightest disturbance. For accomit of them see Elphinstone's India, p. 189. PRACTICE OF CASTE. 63 will be peaceably and decisively removed. The pro- gress of civilization and of religion will be better and more rapidly advanced by such cautious, Fabian policy, than by any premature forcing which visionary theorists would apply. 64 THE THEORY AND CHAPTER III. THE EFFECTS OF CASTE ON THE SOCIAL AND DOMES- TIC INSTITUTIONS OF INDIA. Caste is essentially a social and domestic institution. It may, by an indirect influence, affect the character and spirit of a country's policy, legislation, religion, or enterprise ; but it is in the intercourse of ordinary life, in the laws of society, in the regulations of the domestic circle, that its direct influence is to be dis- covered. Thither, then, we will turn our attention, and notice. First — Its influence on the natives of India themselves. Secondly- — Its effects on the intercourse which exists between them and the comparatively small number of Europeans loho rule them. First. — Its influence on the natives themselves. One of the most important features of caste, among whatever people it has prevailed, is its tendency to bring the nation to a certain, and that, too, a moderately high, pitch of civilization, and after that to cramp every attempt at further advance. The cause of this may pro- bably be seen by the following considerations : — PRACTICE OF CASTE. 65 Among savages, each individual, by a small amount of reason (between which however and instinct there is a very wide gulf) provides himself with the neces- saries of life. With his own hand he is furnished with his simple garments ; the mat which covers his shoulders, the girdle which surrounds his loins, and the mocassins which protect his feet. He fabricates, too, his own weapons, the instruments of the chase or of war, and when he dies leaves to his children the task of in turn forming the same implements with little or no assistance from his experience. So matters go on from age to age, and the advance made in arts or cultivation is but small. If it happen, however, that a barbarous tribe adopt the principle of the division of labour, and assign to each of its members and their descendants the duty of making particular instruments, or performing particular services ; so that one family provide the tribe with leaders, another with priests, another with judges or poets ; whilst others are farmers or artizans, furnishing their tribe with articles of clothing, or the implements of peace or of war ; if this were to happen, the result would be that each man, paying attention to his own particular art, would advance to proficiency ; he would have others destined to the same life as his assistants. These would make equal or greater pro- o-ress. Thus at his death his labours and experience would not perish. Generation after generation would take up the same art, and carry it forward until it arrived at considerable perfection. '.' Affert," says 66 THE THEORY AND Tully,* " vetustas omnibus in rebus longinqua obser- vatione incredibilem scientiam ;" or, in the words of Manilius — " Per varies visus artem experientia fecit, Exemplo monstrante viam." This perfection, however, would in general be merely manual. As no man, whatever his abilities or riches, could raise himself above his class, all in- ducement for invention or intellectual improvement would be taken away ; and when manual dexterity had arrived at its limit — a limit which is soon attained — an end would be put to all further advance in any particular art. Civilization would become in that re- spect stationary. Among nations in which caste has no existence, or at least merely divides society into its respective grades, every encouragement is given to invention and improvement. By the benefits re- sulting from these things men are taught to look for advancement and distinction. Hence they are eager after improvements in art and science. Pro- gression becomes the necessary condition of existence : whoever retrogrades is ruined : — " Non aliter quam qui adverso vix flumine lembum Bemigiis subigit, si brachia forte remisit, Atque ilium in prasceps prono rapit alveus amni." t Machinery takes the place of manual labour ; and as the intellectual faculties appear to admit of no bounds in improvement, but to be capable of con- « De DiT. i. § 49. + Georg. i. 801. PRACTICE OF CASTE. 67 tinually increased cultivation, so discoveries, which are the results of mental consideration, similarly appear to possess no limit, and there would seem in consequence to be no boundaries to civilization. In unison with these laws have been the observed re- sults, in whatever countries caste has been paramount. The Egyptians, according to Herodotus,* were in this particular like the Hindoos. The whole nation was arranged in seven grand classes, and these again had their different departments of trades and professions, in which children invariably succeeded their parents. The same, too, appears to have been the case in Etru- ria and in Lydia, from which the Etrurians are said to have migrated. Its effects were such as we have de- scribed. These nations early arrived at comparatively high civilization. Their artificers quickly surpassed those of the neighbouring nations in all the produc- tions of manual toil, and in such things have left monuments which still command our admiration. The vases of Etruria, the mural sculptures of Lydia.f and the decorative designs of Egypt, are even still imitated. Like India, however, they arrived at a certain point of civilization, and then became stationary. Caste, to whose fostering care they were at first so much indebted, thenceforward arrested their progress, and they were quickly outstripped by other nations in the race of improvement. Similar, too, have been the effects of caste wherever » Lib. ii. cap. 164. + e. g. The Phigalian marbles. 68 THE THEORY AND else, aud under whatever form, it has exhibited itself; whether as a guild in trade,* a monopoly in business, or exclusiveness in society, in religion, in politics, or in philosophy. t Up to a certain point its influence fosters and benefits, beyond that it cramps and injures. Such have pre-eminently been its effects on the Hindoos. When we first meet with them in the page of history, J we find them for the most part as polished and as civilized as at present. Unlike the early legends of other nations, their stories tell of no age of barbarism in which they were untutored savages. Their earliest records, which, as might be expected, are poetic,§ represent them, even then, as possessing much about the same refinement as they did when moderns were first made acquainted with * The advantages which have accrued to the trade and manufac- turing interests of England from the abohtion of the exclusive pri- vileges of different guilds will readily occur to the reader. Yet it was the influence which these guilds exerted, and the power which they IHJSsessed of marking upon goods their real value, regulating the market, controlling the supply, &c., which in the middle ages laid the f(jundation of EngUsh commerce. + Throughout the fifteenth century it was the assiduous study of Aristotle which advanced and preserved the existence of learning. One liundred and fifty years later it was the blind following of the Stagy- rite, which more than anything else retarded the progress of science, until Cardan, and above all, Bacon, introduced new methods of phUoso- jiliical investigation. J The accounts of their civilization, their refined manners, singular customs, &o., as given by Arrian, Strabo, Diodorus Sioulus, and I aher Greek writers, are in very many particulars accurately descrip- tive of their present condition. ^ e. g. Baghvat Geeta. PRACTICE OF CASTE. 69 them by the travels of De Barros, Hawkins, or Ray- nal. If, as Minerva sprang fully equipped from the head of Jove, they appear to issue from the obscurity of time, a full-grown polished nation, it is, that under the fostering influence of caste they early attained to considerable refinement. Caste, as we have said before, is partially a religious institution. Though it may not at present be so much religion, as a slavish superstition, which upholds its extraordinary privileges, and reconciles and cements, so as to preserve from disorganization, a community in which certain interests are kept in immutable sub- ordination, yet superstition, upon which it is founded, is but a species of religious feeling. In this sense the very structure of Indian society is formed by a religious system, which to a certain degree interferes with every temporal as well as spi- ritual concern of its members. To this the mind of the Hindoo, naturally feeble and submissive, has for so long a period paid unhesitating respect, that it has, as it were, lost the powers of doubting, hesitating, and examining. Its noblest faculties are impaired or destroyed. Hope and fear, the two grand stimulants to human exertion, are taken away. Improvement and progress have in consequence also vanished. The religious obligations of caste may, perhaps, preserve internal peace; but whilst they thus assist the first steps towards civilization, they so debase the mind, and lull it in so languid a repose, that all further approaches are entirely precluded. 70 THE THEOR'i! AND Another important point to be remarked, is the character which caste has always given to the villages or townships of India, and to the Ryots, or Sudras, who inhabit them, and whose employment is agriculture. The backwoodsman of America will collect his furniture and cattle, and with his solitary family will fearlessly penetrate for hundreds of miles into the forest, until he finds a soil and situation congenial to his taste. His rifle, or some yet more deadly weapon, and, above all, the stout heart within him, awe the savage or command his respect. Few are the beasts of prey which infest the wilds of the far west. The grisly bear is a harmless monster; unless attacked, he shuns the presence of man. The lion, the tiger, the leopard, the panther, and the hyeena — the scourges of the east — are unknown. Their representative, the jaguar, is rarely found to the north of the Isth- mus, and is but a sneaking plunderer, to whom the hen-roost or the sheep-pen furnish an ignoble banquet. In India matters stand not thus. The dense jungle teems with monsters of courage and ferocity. The Hindoo possesses arms of the most ineffective descrip- tion, and is constitutionally a coward : hence he never ventured singly to locate himself in the jungle, and re- claim land from the wilderness, like the enterprising Kentuckian ; but he migrated in communities. Such was, doubtless, the origin of the compact villages of Indostan, which are not to be referred, as some would hold, to the laws of Menu, or the arbitrary enactments PRACTICE OF CA8TE. 71 of some conqueror, who so divided the country for convenience in collecting his revenue. When the village was founded, then came into active operation the institution of caste — an institution which Hindoos have always considered essential to the well-being of society; just as Englishmen imagine that no government can possibly be good whose principles are not those of Magna Charta, which does not possess its Habeas Corpus Act, and the prudence of whose legislation is not guaranteed by a threefold* revision of two Houses of Assembly, and a supreme head. To each member in a Hindoo village was appointed particular duties which were exclusively his, and which were in general transmitted to his de- scendants. The whole community became one great family, which lived together, and prospered on their public lands, whilst the private advantage of each particular member was scarcely determinable. It became then the fairest, as well as the least trouble- some, method of collecting the revenue to assess the whole village at a certain sum, agreed upon by the Tehsildar and headman. This wasf exacted from the latter, who, seated on the Chubootra, in conjunction with the chief men of the village, managed its affairs, and decided upon the quota of each individual member. By this means the exclusive character of each village was further increased, until they have • In the United States, and in most of our colonies, the government has this threefold character. t Shore's India, Vol. ii. p. 144. /~ THE THEORY AND become, throughout nearly the whole of the Indian peninsula, little republics, supplied, owing to the regu- lations of caste, with artizans of nearly every craft, and almost independent of any foreign relations. Their boundaries are accurately defined, and, owing to the strong tide of popular feelings which exists, are so jealously guarded that they have waged the fiercest wars for the possession of a few acres of border land. The inhabitants all dwell within the limits of their village, which, until recently, were usually protected by a little castle or citadel, to defend them from straggling bands of Mahrattas, Pindarees or Senassie Fakeers, or protect their valuables from neighbouring- gangs of decoits. Each* township manages its internal affairs ; taxes itself to provide funds for its internal expenses, as well as the revenue due to the State; decides disputes in the first instance, and punishes minor offences. For this purpose it possesses requisite officers, and though under a settled government it is entirely subject to the head of the State, yet in many respects it is an organized commonwealth, complete within itself, and its privileges, though often violated by Government, are never denied. They afford protection against tyranny, and in time of anarchy preserve order within their limits. In each village the artizans work for all, each in his own trade or profession. One keeps the village re- • See Elphinstone, p. 65., and Appendix V. Notes on the Revenue System, p. 348. See also Campbell's India, p. 83, et seq. PRACTICE OF CASTE. 73 cords, the accounts of the community, and even of individuals; draws up all deeds and writings, even to managing private correspondence. Another is guardian of the public boundaries, constable or watch- man, head of the police, and public guide or mes- senger ; makes himself acquainted with the character of every individual, and is bound to find out the pos- sessor of stolen property within the township, or trace him across the boundary. Another is the money- changer, jeweller, and silversmith ; another the physician ; another the priest and astrologer, who is generally also the schoolmaster ; and another the musician and minstrel. Then, again, there is the carpenter, the smith, the potter, the worker in leather, the barber, the tailor, and the washerman. The duties of each one of these offices, in a large village, may appear beyond the powers of one man, but the remuneration derived from fees or public land is, by the strange operation of caste, hereditary in a particular family, all members of which assist in performing the required service — this, too, with such readiness and impartiality, that it is a commonf re- mark with the collectors of the East India Company, that they never receive or hear of complaints being made against these artizans for neglect or non-per- formance of their respective duties, or that they served one E-yot before his turn, or oftener than another. To such a state of things, as is the case with all local governments, the people are much attached. * See Policy of the Government of British India, a pamphlet, p. 75. 74 THE THEORY AND These village communities seem to last where nothing else lasts. " Dynasty after dynasty," says Sir C. T. Metcalfe,* " tumbles down ; revolution succeeds to revolution ; Hindoo, Patan, Mogul, Mabratta, Sikh, English, are all masters in turn; but the village community remains the same. In times of trouble they arm and fortify themselves : a hostile army passes through the country ; the village communities collect their cattle within their walls, and let the enemy pass unprovoked. If plunder and devastation be directed against them- selves, and the force employed be irresistible, they flee to friendly villages at a distance ; but, when the storm has passed over, they return and resume their occupa- tions. If a country remain for a series of years the scene of continued pillage and massacre, so that the village cannot be inhabited, the scattered villagers nevertheless return, whenever the power of peaceable possession revives. A generation may pass away, but the succeeding generation will return. The sons will take the places of their fathers ; the same site for the village, the same positions for the houses, the same lands will be re-occupied by the descendants of those who were driven out when the village was depopu- lated ; and it is not a trifling matter that will drive them out, for they will often maintain their post through times of disturbance and convulsion, and acquire strength sufficient to resist pillage and oppression with success. This union of the village • Eeport of Select Committee of House of Commons, 1832. PRACTICE OF CASTE, 75 communities, each one forming a separate little state in itself, has, I conceive, contributed more than any other cause to the preservation of the people of India through all the revolutions and changes which they have suffered, and is in a high degree conducive to their happiness, and to the enjoyment of a great por- tion of freedom and independence." Such is the testimony of Sir C. T. Metcalfe to the effects of the village communities of India, vchich owe, if not their origin, at any rate their long existence, to the feelings and ideas of exclusiveness, which arise from caste. What else could bind down men, who are neither public nor private slaves, to labour thus wil- lingly for the public good ? What else could induce the Ryots to pursue agriculture with that eagerness for which they are so remarkable ; that, careless of the arbitrary exactions of government and banditti, to which they have been constantly exposed, they, under even the harshest tyranny, have never ceased to culti- vate ? Uninterested in the quarrels of their rulers, they have actually been observed pursuing their ordinary* avocations whilst a battle was being fought in a neighbouring field. The stability and the sterling power of a country is in general dependent on the prosperity of its agricul- ture. Trade may, as in our own favoured land, raise a nation to political importance and grandeur, but where this is wanting, durability of power is only guaranteed to a people by the enterprise of their agriculturalists. * See Policy of Government of British India, p. 21, et seq. 76 THE THEORY AND The industry of a vigorous yeomanry, to a proverb, constitutes the strength of every state. In India this industry is in great measure due to caste, which may thus be considered to have materially contributed to the civilization of that country. Not only has caste advanced India to civilization, but, by its effects on its municipalities and on society, has often prevented it from again relapsing into bar- barism. Consider what must otherwise have been the results of the numerous awful visitations which it has endured : invasions, such as those of Mahomet of Ghizni, of Zenghis, of Tamerlane, or of Nadir Shah — those Attilas and Alarics of the East. It was caste which kept society together during that long period of revolutions which attended the fall of the house of Delhi, and which, lastly, now contributes to render the country capable of furnishing an annual revenue of forty-eight millions sterlingf — a revenue, it may be remarked, which is more than double the income of the whole of the Russias. In addition to its having preserved in the village constituencies great personal liberty, under all the changes of government to which Indostan has been subject, it forms in another way a great defence against the abuses which despotic princes are ever ready to commit. Sometimes one may see in a native state, through a whole district, the traders shutting up their shops, the farmers abandoning the fields, * See Campbell's India, p. 409. Only about twenty millions ster- ling actually passes through our own hands. PRACTICE OF CASTE. 77 and the different workmen or artificers quitting their booths, by an order from the caste, for the purpose of avenging some insult or injury suffered from a governor or other person in office. The labours of society come to a stand-still, and the greatest inconveniences ensue, until the injustice is atoned for, or what is more generally the case, the offended caste has come to an accommodation with the persons in power. In this way the power of caste has often, with the happiest effect, stood between the oppressor and the oppressed. Englishmen in India have but little opportunity of making themselves acquainted with the domestic character of the natives. In addition to the natural bar upon inter- course which a foreign language presents, too many of our Government officers unfortunately fancy that to be on familiar terms with a native, or even to treat him with civility, is derogatory to their dignity. This no doubt is a fault of youth,* and to be attributed to the early age at which they are made magistrates, and perhaps also their English character and education, which renders them averse to intercourse with inferiors. Even in Europe few people are well acquainted with the opinions of those beyond their own class, and what they do know is learned chiefly by means which do not exist in India. In that country, besides colour, religion, and manners, caste interferes with all familiar intercourse between us and the natives. We know little of the interior of families but by report. We have * See Shore's India, Vol. ii. p. 106, a military narrative, told in the cheerfiil tone of an officer who is proud of his profession, and anxious to do justice to his comrades : there is nothing about himself. It is illustrated by plans, views, and sections, and is calculated to remove many erroneous impressions as to the character of the second Burmese war." — Literary Gazette. _ , « This volume exhibits war in its details, as seen by the subaltern, and m its larger aspects as picked up from the gossip and criticism of the camp. Mr. Laurie varies actual warfare by the antiquities of the country, and a description of the temples and tenets of Gaudama — a variety of Buddhism." — Spectator. III. KAFFRARIA AND ITS INHABITANTS. By the Rev. FRANCIS P. FLEMING, Military Chaplain, King William's Town. Post 8vo. With Illustrations. Price ys. 6d. cloth. "An informing, close, and neatly- written account of the history, natural features, and productions of the Cape territory, with descriptions of the native tribes ; animated by original knowledge, the result of personal experience, and illustrated by graphic sketchesofthescenery of South Africa."— 5/.ecf<7for. ^ . ^ " An excellent account of the country and tribes of Kaffraria from an eye-witness ; with a sketch of Kaffir customs, rites, and ceremonies.''--B''''a""W- "The book may be read with profit by all who wish to master the South African question."— iSeto Jftctions. AMABEL : Or, THE VICTORY OF LOVE. By MARY ELIZABETH V^ORMELEY. In Three Volumes. "This fiction displays ability of a high kind. Miss Wormeley has considerable knowledge of society, much skill in depicting its persons and salient features, with the penetration to pierce below the surface. She is gifted, besides, with consider- able power of reflection, and her manner is easy and effective. The characters are well conceived and sustained ; many of the latter parts possess considerable and rapid interest, and the composition is buoyant and animated," — Spectator. '''Amabel' embodies four great phases of a woman's life, of which love is the active element, is remarkable for intensity of sentiment, for its vigorous and polished diction, great range of scene and character, and for an originality and energy, developed by the principal persons figuring in it, who are all drawn by a master hand ; and it is, in effect, perfect as a work of its class, and may be looked upon as a decided suc- cess." — Weekly Dispatch. " An exceedingly interesting story, developed with fine womanly tact, and related in a style at once simple, polished, and eloquent. To enforce the moral that love, the principle, not the passion, Infused into our duties, works its own reward, Is the task undertaken by the writer of this pathetic and deeply affecting story, and that moral is beautifully held up to admiration and adoption throughout the chequered career of the heroine Amabel, in whose afRIction and recompenses the reader feels a lively interest." — Globe, " This work is of a very high order j scarcely inferior to ' Ruth,' with which, indeed, it has much in common. Miss Wormeley writes with a fiow of fresh and healthy sentiment, affording proof that she has followed the human emotions to their source. The characters are living men and women." — Weekly Chronicle. " There is a deep meaning in this tale. The characters are exceedingly well- drawn J that of the heroine in particular. In the latter portion of the work the in- terest is of the deepest kind ; the force and pathos of its final scenes are enough to entitle the authoress to consideration, and of the highest order." — Sun, " Miss Wormeley imparts to her scenes and characters an interest which must place them in the first class of fiction. The trials of Amabel, her Christian love, the fountain of pure integrity, that gives freshness to her whole life, make her a study for everyone's improvement. The book contains moving spirit, stirring absorbing scenes and events, and the persons are real flesh and blood." — Morning Ad'verther, " This is one of the best novels which have lately come under our notice. The story is a perfect romance of real life. The authoress has an easy, graceful style, her dialogues are animated and natural, and her descriptions truthful and attractive. * Amabel' Is a remarkable work. It is rife with interest; the principal character Is beautifully and truly drawn. Let our readers procure these delightful volumes." — Sunday Times. " 'Amabel' is a good addition to fictitious literature j it inculcates true principles, and is written with a purpose that everyone must appreciate. It contains some power- ful writing, and reflections that strike us by their truth and depth of observation. Miss Wormeley 's power lies in her knowledge of the female heart : every turn, every stage of love, from the mere passion to the principle." — Court Journal, " A charming tale, which will delight the taste and elevate the mind. For vigour of delineation and freshness of manner, it is one of the very best specimens of fiction that has come before us this season." — -BeWs Messenger. " 'Amabel' has many passages of great power, and more of truthful pathos." — Britannia, SMITH, ELDER AND CO. Ntfo jpfcttons. II. THE SCHOOL FOR DREAMERS. By T. GWYNNE, Esq., Author of "The School for Fathers." One Volume, crown 8vo. Price los. bd. "The master- limner of the follies of mankind, the author of 'The School for Fathers,' has produced another tale to the full as attractive as the former, and abound- ing with traits of exquisite humour and sallies of sparkling wit. The book is, what few books are, a rich treat." — John Bull. ** ' The School for Dreamers* maybe credited with life, humour, and vigour. There is a spirit of enjoyment in Mr. Gwynne's descriptions which indicates a genial temperament, as well as a shrewd eye." — Athenaum. " Mr. Gwynne touches the conventional absurdities as well as the proprieties of life with a masterly hand, and by a few strokes of singular delicacy lays bare the follies and the sensibilities of mankind."— £c^/'i Messenger. " A story which inculcates a sound and sensible moral in a manner equally delight- ful and effective. The style is fresh, fragrant, and vigorous ; the characters are strongly marked, and the incidents interwoven with skill and ingenuity." — Morning Post. •* There is pith in the writing. The descriptions, whether of persons or things, are true and life-like. The personages, too, are realities, and talk and act naturally. Throughout the story, the reader's attention never flags." —CnV/V. " There is purpose in the present story. It is in effect a biting satire upon ultra-devotion to the crude and undigested mouthings of the leveller and the socialist." — Weekly Dispatch. " ' The School for Dreamers,' a powerfully and skilfully-written book, is intended to show the mischief and danger of following imagination instead of judgment in the practical business of life. The characters of the tale are ably sketched, and the inci- dents effectively described." — Literary Gazette. "An admirable and caustic satire on 'equality and fraternity' theories." — Britannia. III. THE SCHOOL FOR FATHERS ; An Old English Story. By T. Gwynne. Crown 8vo. Price lOs. bd. " The pleasantest tale we have read for many a day. It is a story of the Tatler and Spectator days, and is very fitly associated with that time of good English literature by its manly feeling, direct, unaffected manner of writing, and nicely-managed, well- turned narrative. The characters have all of them the air of reality — the charm derivable only from what one feels to have been sincerely observed ; and the effect is genuine and perfectly satisfactory. The descriptions are excellent; some of the country painting is as fresh as a landscape by Constable, or an idyl by Alfred Tenny- son." — Examiner. " A hale, hearty, unaffected, honest, downright English tale — such a one as is very rarely met with in these days. A vigorous painting of English men and manners, by an artist who is thoroughly national in his genius, taste, education, and prejudices. Few are the tales so interesting to read, and so admirable in purpose and style, as ' The School for Fathers.' "—Globe. " ' The School for Fathers' is at once highly amusmg and deeply mterestmg — full of that genuine humour which is half pathos— and written with a freshness of feel- ing and raciness of style which entitle it to be called a tale in the Vicar of Wakefield school. It is a tale to amuse and instruct both old and young, and which we should wish to see in the hands of our sons and daughters."— iJntoBnw. GCumr aSell's igeto Jptction, VILLETTE. By CURRER BELL, Author of " Jane Eyre," " Shirley/' &c. In Three Volumes^ Post Svo^ Price iL lis, 6d. ** This book would have made Currer Bell famous had she not been already. It retrieves all the ground she lost in * Shirley,' and it will engage a wider circle of readers than * Jane Eyre,' for it has all the best qualities of that remarkable book. There is throughout a charm of freshness which is infinitely delightful : freshness in observa- tion, freshness in feeling, freshness in expression. Brain and heart are both held in suspense by the fascinating power of the writer. "—Literary Gazette. ** This novel amply sustains the fame of the author of ' Jane Eyre' and * Shirley' as an original and powerful writer. *Villette' is a most admirably written novel, everywhere original, everywhere shrewd, and at heart everywhere kindly. The men, women, and children who figure throughout it have flesh and blood in them, and all are worked out in such a way as to evince a very keen spirit of observation, and a fine sense of the picturesque in character." — Examiner. '* The tale is one of the affections, and remarkable as a picture of manners. A burning heart glows throughout it, and one brilliantly distinct character keeps it alive. The oldest man, the sternest, who is a genuine novel-reader, will find it hard to get out of Madame Beck's school, when he has once entered there with Lucy Snowe, and made acquaintance with the choleric, vain, child-like, and noble-hearted M. Paul Emanuel." — Athen^um. ** Of interesting scenes and well-drawn characters there is abundance. The charac- ters are various, happily conceived, and some of them painted with a truth of detail rarely surpassed. The style of ' Villette ' has that clearness and power which are the result of mastery over the thoughts and feelings to be expressed, over the persons and scenes to be described." — Spectator. ** * Villette may claim the unhesitating commendations of readers and critics. The autobiography of the heroine is at once natural, interesting, cheerful, piquant, and thoughtful." — Britannia. ** ' Villette ' is not only a very able but a very pleasant book. It is a tale which, though here and there it is dashed with wonder and melancholy, is as a whole cheer- ful and piquant j abundant in clear, clear-cut, strongly- drawn etchings, presenting so pleasant and effective a transcript of manners, English and Continental, that its success cannot fail to be remarkable." — Morning Chronicle. ** Everything written by Currer Bell is remarkable. She can touch nothing with- out leaving on it the stamp of originality. Of her three novels this is perhaps the strangest, the most astonishing, though not the best. The sustained ability is perhaps greater in ** Villette" than in its two predecessors. The whole three volumes are crowded with beauties j with good things, for which we look to the clear sight, deep feeling, and singular though not extensive experience of life, which we associate with the name of Currer Bell." — Daily Newt. '* The author of * Jane Eyre ' and * Shirley ' has again produced a fiction of extra- ordinary literary power, and of singular fascination ; it is one of the most absorbing of books, one of the most interesting of stories. * Villette' will add immensely to the author of * Jane Eyre's ' fame, as a philosophical and analytical expositor of the human heart and feelings." — Globe. ittr. ^fiackraB's "Ntia ^ffittion. ESMOND. By W. M. THACKERAY, Author of " Pendennis," " Vanity Fair," &c. Second Edition. In Three Volumes^ Crown 8w, Price ll. lis. dd. " A second edition of " Esmond " within a few weeks of the issue of the first, spealcs significantly for Mr. Thaclceray's growing popularity. . . . Mr. Thackeray has selected for his hero a very noble type of the cavalier softening into the man of the eighteenth century, and for his heroine one of the sweetest women that ever breathed from canvass or from book, since RafFaelle painted and Shakspeare wrote. Esmond will, we think, rank higher as a work of art than " Vanity Fair" or " Pen- dennis," because the characters are of a higher type, and drawn with greater finish, and the book is more of a complete whole. The style is manly, clear, terse, and vigorous, reflecting every mood — pathetic, grave, or sarcastic — of the writer." — Spectator, " Once more we feel that we have before us a masculine and thorough English writer, uniting the power of subtle analysis with a strong volition and a moving eloquence — an eloquence which has gained in richness and harmony. His pathos is now sweeter, — less jarred against by angry sarcasm, but perhaps scarcely so powerful. Esmond must be read, not for its characters, but for its romantic though improbable plot, its spirited grouping, and its many thrilling utterances of the anguish of the human heart. Having reached the middle of the first volume, " forward" will be the wish of every reader of this highly- wrought work." — Athenaum. " The interest of * Esmond* is, in the main, purely human interest. The story is more than anything a family story. The efi^ect is as if you had suddenly come into that old time as into a chamber ; and the light you see things by is that of the warm domestic fire blazing there. By that light you see the faces of the painted old ladies, and the jolly men of letters, and the great lords, and the brave soldiers. The book is as interesting as any previous book of the author's, and more absolutely real than any historical novel since Scott's early ones." — Daily News. ** We have at once to express in the warmest terms of praise our appreciation of the skill and taste with which ' Esmond ' is written. The story of the novel is ingenious and very elegantly constructed, and carried onward so as to gratify constant curiosity until the end. In short, the book thoroughly occupies our minds with a ■sense of strength on the part of the writer, of which the manifestation is always made gracefully." — Examiner. ** In quiet richness, * Esmond' mainly resembles the old writers j as it does also in weight of thought, sincerity of purpose, and poetry of the heart and brain. It is wise and sweet in its recesses of thought and feeling ; and is more hopeful, consolatory, and kindly than ' Vanity Fair.' Thinking and educated readers will discern in it an immense advance in literary power over Mr. Thackeray's previous writings." — Fraser's Magazine. " This is the best work of its kind that has been published for many years. ^As a picture of the social life and manners of English society in the reign of Queen Anne, it must long remain unrivalled. The characters dress, think, speak, and act, just as the men and women did in the time of Queen Anne j they are not mere puppets — Mr. Thackeray's genius makes them live." — At/as. aeorfes of JWr. aftusfein. I. THE STONES OF VENICE. Volume the First. The Foundations. With Twenty-One Plates and numerous Woodcuts. Imperial 8vo, 2/. zs. in embossed cloth, with top edge gilt. "The book before us contains Mr. Ruskin's theory and doctrines of the elements of architecture, applied to the various points of practical building. Throughout is manifest the great aim of inculcating, by every possible form of precept and example, the absolute necessity of preserving an unfailing correspondence between the desti- nations of buildings, and their forms and decorations. Mr. Ruskin's book cannot be read by any one without improvement to his moral sense and mental discipline. The book has an indestructible value. It tells us the truth on much where it greatly imports us to be informed. The eloquence of the book is extraordinary." — Examiner. " At once popular and profound, this book will be gratefully hailed by a circle of readers even larger than Mr. Ruskin has found for his previous works. He has so written as to catch the ear of all kinds of persons." — Literary Gazette. " The reputation which Mr. Ruskin has earned by his former works will probably receive a great accession of lustre from ' The Stones of Venice.' This work, as we had a right to expect from the age and evidently growing powers of the author, may be justly described as his most valuable performance, and fitted to become the most popular of all his productions." — British ^arter/y Re-view. " Mr. Ruskin has seized on the great principle that all art is the expression of man's delight in God's work. This is his clue through the universe ; holding fast by that, he can never get far wrong. His pursuit of truth is as admirable for its clear- sightedness as it is for its honesty." — Eclectic Re'uienv. ** We adjudge this to be an excellent book, and a valuable assistance, if studied with caution, to students of art. The matter is weighty and suggestive 5 the style, both forcible and beautiful j the lucid order of the composition, admirable." — Arcbi' tectural ^^uarterly Re'viezu. *^* The Second Volume is in the Press, II. EXAMPLES of THE ARCHITECTURE of VENICE, Selected and Drawn to Measurement from the Edifices. iVtJw; in course of publication , im Parts, of Folio Imperial size. Each containing Five Plates, and a short explanatory text, price i/. is. each. Parts One to Three are published. Fifty India Proofs only are taken on Atlas Folio, price 2/. 25. each Part. 2Eaoil