LIFE AND RELIGION
LIFE AND RELIGION
OF
THE HINDOOS.
Hindoo Caste.—Its Origin, Elements, Division, Subdivision, Strength, and Influence on the People.
Almost every school-boy or girl in America or England knows that in India the people are divided into castes. Foreigners interpret the caste system of the Hindoos in various ways. Some say that it is something like the religious sects in Christendom, while others affirm that it is to show and preserve the distinction between men of intelligence, worth, renown, and riches; such as Whigs, Tories, Democrats, Aristocrats, &c. But it is not so. It is a very different system, and foreigners understand it very imperfectly.
Among the primitive Hindoos there were only four castes:—1. the Brahmun; 2. the Kais-th; 3. the Khetry-as; 4. the Soodras. They emanated from Broh-mò; hence the name Brahmun, from the root Broh-mò. The Kais-th took its rise from the body of the Broh-mò, and is composed of two Sanscrith words,Kay, which means body, andisth, placed. The Khetry-as are from the arms, and the Soodras from the feet of the Broh-mò. These are the fourprimary “jathēē” or castes. In order to discharge all the social duties, and perform whatever is absolutely necessary for the growth and comfort of society, these four castes took upon themselves to execute faithfully the functions prescribed for them.
The manner in which these occupations have been assigned, is rather philosophical and systematic. The Brahmun, rising from the mouth of Broh-mò, assumed the precedence, directed the other three as they fitly deserved, and put all the sacerdotal functions in their own hands. To the Kaisths was assigned the business of writers, clerks, accountants, &c. Hence the Hindoos believe the record-keeper of Pluto (Jom) is a Kais-th, named Chith-ro-Goopto. The Soodras are to perform all the menial services, because they originated from the feet of Broh-mò. The Hindoos make great distinctions between the different parts of the body. The sanctity rests on the highest parts; there is nothing good at the feet. As the custom in India is to wear silver, gold, and other jewelry on the body, the females wear no gold ornaments round the ankles, for gold is the most sacred metal, being valuable and scarce.
To touch a man by the foot is regarded as an insufferable insult; a kick, “nathēē,” is worse than a heavy stroke of a cudgel. But the Brahmuns have a right to touch other castes by the foot, as their scripture declares them the Master of all, “Bornanang Brah-monogooroo.”
The four primary castes, notwithstanding they had one and the same religion to profess and the same language to speak, had no intimate dealings with each other, such as the intercourse which binds family to family and relative to relative. From the beginning, we do not see the institution of intermarriage among them, and what is surprising, after all, the one caste does not eat any food boiled with salt at anothercaste’s house. Only Brahmuns are excepted. Their houses and everything therein are sacred to the Hindoos.
In course of time, as the descendants of these castes grew numerous, the injustice and disorder grew also. Though there were no intermarriages among them, yet some children were born from what they emphatically call “unnatural connection.” These children were termed “Burno sunker,” corrupted blood. Measures were readily taken to remodel the society, as well as to put a stop to the promiscuous connections, which were so common then that distinction of castes seemed to groan under its pressure, by lengthening the structure of the caste system, and bringing the “corrupted blood” within its jurisdiction. And, agreeably to the original method, some fixed profession was enjoined upon them. Hence, at the present day there are thirty-four castes; each stands on a separate and distinct ground from its neighbor. Let us trace them in their respective professions. We often see two or three low castes do the same business, while others have some subdivision in them. 1. Brahmun, priest; 2. Aucherjeă, astrologers; 3. Boid-tho, physicians; 4. Kais-th, clerks; 5. Suth-goap, farmers; 6. Goap, dairymen; 7. Napith, barber; 8. Nundy, dealer in salt; 9. Talēē, common storekeeper; 10. Kormo-kar, blacksmith; 11. Sorno-kar, goldsmith; 12. Tonth-boy, weaver; 13. Koy-borth; 14. Moduck, confectioner; 15. Rojock, washer; 16. Sooth-rodar, carpenter; 17. Coomar, idol-maker, potter, &c.; 18. Poto, painter; 19. Mălā, fisher on the river; 20. Jālā, fisher in artificial ponds, as well as in the river; 21. Doolā, bearer; 22. Bagthēē, fish-seller; 23. Joogy, weaver and priest of commonplace idols, whom the Brahmuns are forbidden to attend to; 24. Barooē, pan-leaf cultivator; 25. Chundal, publican, always mason; 26. Moochēē, shoemaker; 27. Kaŏra, hog-keeper;28. Bathea, fowler; 29. Moortho-roras, funeral-place cleaner; 30. Harie, women who do the business of nurses to the infants till twenty-one days from their birth; 31. Dome, basket-maker; 32. Nag, snake-charmer; 33. Bānā, banker; 34. Shooree, wine-seller.
Perhaps some may question whether the member of one caste is able to change his caste or not. I say, no. In other countries, a man from an obscure origin can possibly exalt himself to a conspicuous footing in society, by means of his opulence, learning, experience, &c.; but in India there are impregnable walls between the castes, so that nobody can exalt himself to a caste higher than his own. When we come to examine well the caste system of the Hindoos, we are led to think that it is something like the dispensation of nature in one respect. It is impossible to transform a dog into an ox, a deer into a camel, or a horse into an elephant; indeed, there is the same difficulty in attempting to make a weaver out of a barber, a physician out of a shoemaker, and a Brahmun out of a physician. To confirm the remarks just made, I will bring an instance from the Hindoo antiquity, and present it to the reader to show the impracticability of changing one’s caste for a higher one.
There was a pious Kais-th king, named Bisha-mithra, who wanted to be a Brahmun. As it is only in the power of Krishno to make him a priest, he determines to please him in spending his time in “toposhia,” prayer. Leaving his kingdom, riches, friends, and sundering the ties of relationship, he entered into a forest, and there, among the wild beasts, spent centuries in unceasing prayer. As self-torture is regarded very essential to propitiate some gods, this king used to kindle fires round his seat in the summer, and in winter immerse his body up to the neck in water, offeringprayer to Krishno. His meal was, at the early part of his retired life, once a day, afterwards once a week, and even that consisted only of wild fruit. Year after year passed away, witnessing the mistaken piety of this king. At last pity awoke in the breast of Krishno, and he descended from hisgoluck, heaven, to bless the pious devotee. “Borung boorno,”—“Ask a boon, child,”—the god said. “Thy devotion, faith, and prayer have reached me. Now I have come to bless thee; tell me, what dost thou want?” The king, thus addressed, replied, “Object of universal adoration! If my tears, fasting, and prayers are so successful as to find a place in thy consideration, will not my heart’s desires, also, meet thy approbation? Yes, Lord, it is in thy power to cause a lame man to climb to the summit of mountains, a pigmy to reach the moon, and a babe to cross the unbounded ‘seven oceans,’ by swimming. What is unknown to thee? Art thou not the Inspector of all hearts? If thy servant has been commanded to reveal to thee his wants, he would then say that neither the aim for absolute lordship over the world, nor the desirable combination of long life and health, has made him to devote these tedious years in prayer and abstinence. What he earnestly wished for, is the life, the caste, the privilege of a Brahmun.” “Be still, child,” the Krishno replied; “ask for a home in mygoluck, and it will be granted thee. But to make thee a Brahmun, in this thy present life, is impracticable. But I would meet thy demands partially. Henceforth thou shalt be a Rhēēsēē, not Monēē (a title of a Brahmun saint), write sacred books for the edification of thy castes, and have the discipline, not the caste, of Brahmun.” I hope this instance will clearly show to the reader the strength of the castes as it is in India. A man after losing his caste, for small offences, can regain it by undergoing some penances; buthe cannot by any means whatever purchase a higher caste, or regain his own if he is guilty of some heavy crime. By heavy crime I do not mean anything more than the violation of ordinances and the restrictions pertaining to the caste system.
If a man commits adultery, deceives the people, indulges in intoxication, and practises all sorts of vices which degrade humanity, he is regarded as a sinner, an odious, vile creature. The good people do not keep any intimate correspondence with him; but, nevertheless, he stands in his caste. When a Brahmun marries a low-caste woman, who is endowed with a seraph’s charms and purity, or eats the forbidden meat, such as beef, veal, ham, or pork, he loses his caste forever.
The astrologers, Aucherjeă, are of the same creed with the Brahmuns. They have equal rights in the study of sacred books, but have no dealing with them. They are regarded as a very low caste, so much so that even a barber, blacksmith, or goldsmith would not drink water in their houses.
All the Brahmuns do not belong to one and the same class, although they are members of the same caste. There are a great many orders among them, high or low, according to the nature of the castes to which they preside over. Thus the priest of the Brahmuns stands higher than the priest of the physicians, clerks, barbers, and blacksmiths; and the last is higher than the Brahmun who presides over the goldsmith. It is to be observed here that one Brahmun can exercise his priestly sway over the physicians, clerks, farmers, barbers, &c., and retain his position firmly; although the above-mentioned castes have high and low among them, and have no intercourse between them. The reason is, nine castes immediately below the Brahmuns are known by a commonname,“Nŏbō Shawk,” and this justifies the priest in looking at them in the same light. But the castes below the “Nŏbō Shawk” being distinctly lower castes, one quite separate from the other, each has a priest of its own respectively. The priest Brahmun of a goldsmith would not attend to the marriage or funeral service of a fisher, shoemaker, or hog-keeper. I hope the Christian reader will not feel sensitive when I speak of the lowest castes, such as shoemaker, hog-keeper, &c.; he must remember that I am speaking of the Hindoos, and not of the Christians. Each country has its own peculiarity: what is regarded high, respectable in one, is considered sometimes the very reverse in another. In the present case we see the banker is a respectable gentleman in this country, and a high caste, too; but in India he is low in caste, so much so that his priest Brahmun cannot officiate in temples built by other castes.
The following are the leading, high orders of the Brahmuns:—The Banerjea, Chatterjea, Mookerjea, and Gangooly, &c.
When a Brahmun gives you his address with either of these, it will be known as a sure fact what Brahminical stock he is from. These also stand for the family name of the man. There are, however, low order Brahmuns bearing the above-mentioned titles, which do not amount to anything; they neither can eat with a Brahmun of high order, nor marry his children to the same, and what is more absurd, after all, is the fact that they are not admitted to the temples, nor to worship the gods who pretend to be of all, in all, and for all. In the public feasts of the Brahmuns, when thousands sit at the meal at the same time, some brisk priests are commissioned to examine the order, name, and place of the strangers. If it be known that there is a Brahmun of low order, that is, a priest of the bankers, goldsmiths,or wine-sellers, the whole assembly would not eat anything until the despised one had been hunted out and set apart. Hence the wellknown Brahmuns from different places stand near the door, admit their fellow-citizens, and sharply, with a lawgiver’s cunning, examine the strangers who happen to be there. Thus carefully they guard their orders and maintain them distinct and pure from others.
The Brahmuns of all orders wear a few stitches of cotton—the Pobitho—round the neck, which other castes do not dare to touch even. Astrologers, formerly being of the same caste with the Brahmuns, wear the sacred thread, the Pobitho; but the other castes pay little regard to him. The Boitho, the physician, wears a thread also, but they are required to keep it under their clothes lest anybody should notice it and pay it the homage due to the Brahmun only. If, unfortunately, a physician be found in the streets with his pobitho on, the Brahmuns would insult him by tearing it off or taking it away from him. In our village some physicians—young men—used to wear their thread visible to all, in spite of the jokes and reproaches of others. On a holiday they were going to Calcutta with a party of young men from four or five castes, and the weather being very hot, were compelled to sit on the piazza of the temple raised by a Brahmun. It happened that the son of the gentleman was at the window, who, seeing the group of aristocratic young men on his premises, came out, received them kindly, and entertained them with a good supply of cocoa-nuts, sugar, &c. Now, as the Brahmun boy would not eat with the others or the physicians, they all had to take their seats according to their castes. The poor physician-boys sat apart from the Brahmun, exposing their thread to the public gaze, and felt very badly for it. The host, good and kind as he was, asked their address, andfinding they were not Brahmuns, rebuked them very harshly. Ashamed and insulted they came home, and were never after seen with their thread on an exposed place of the body. The peculiar ceremony which offers the pobitho or the sacred badge to the Brahmun, will be described in its proper place by and by. I will consider the circumstance which gave rise to the astrologers, and made them a distinct caste from the Brahmuns. This caste is, as we have observed before, called Aucherjeă. They write almanacs, tell fortunes, appease the grohos—evil spirits—for and at the solicitation of the people.
I have said before that the use of forbidden meat deprives a man of his caste, and the following are two instances to this point. It has been customary with the Brahmuns, of late, to offer burnt sacrifices on some grand festivals. A cow or a horse, being cut into several pieces, was thrown into the sacred fire, “home ugnee,” and at the close of the ceremony, it is said, the priests could tell the animal from its ashes. Once on a time a venerable priest offered for sacrifice a cow, and when all the quartered parts of her were found, at the end, only a small piece was missing. Others bore witness to what had been done, held an ecclesiastical council, examined the cow, and outcasted the worshipper, charging him with using a portion of the sacrifice for his own benefit. His descendants are Aucherjeă, and form a low caste, though they are Brahmuns in some respects.
Another class of Brahmuns is called Perēēlēē, having had its rise from a curious fact. A Brahmun, who used to serve a Mohammedan Nabob in the capacity of prime minister, happened once to be in a room adjoining the kitchen. The Nabob suddenly came in, and in the course of conversation asked him what he thought of the smell which thenfilled the room. He unfortunately, drawing in his breath, answered his master, saying, “The smell is sweet and pleasant.” Upon this, the Nabob asked him again whether he knew whence the smell came, and, receiving a negative answer, he said it was from a dish of beef. The minister was struck as if by lightning, fell down and fainted. Being restored to his senses, he summoned a meeting of the Brahmuns, who heard his dismal case, and as, according to the statute, “ghrăna ortho vogono,” smelling is equivalent to partially tasting, deprived him of his privileges in the society. As he could not marry his children to other low caste, not even to astrologers, he had to prevail on some poor Brahmuns to intermarry with his family, and in time numerous families sprung up in this way.
This dividing of the people into castes has covered the Hindoo community with a thick mantle of darkness, ignorance, poverty, and vice. Whatever be the pretended happy results of such classification to a Hindoo, as conducive to the interest and prosperity of his community, it would obviously appear absurd to those who feel equally for every member of a society.
This system, as if by a thousand hands, confers upon the Brahmuns numerous blessings, and, on the other hand, administers poison to the prosperity, happiness, and true interests of the low castes. They have no chance of getting religious or secular instruction, and consequently there is no hope of even arriving at a point where they could reach the interests and privileges which every man would ordinarily require. To enumerate the defects of the caste system, as it is in India, it is necessary to trace it in its full length, commencing from the head to the feet,—from the Brahmun to the Kaorā, hog-keeper. The Brahmuns have monopolized all the advantages of religiousinstruction. Their words are law, in the Old Testament sense; their will is divine; their bodies are sacred; to worship and serve them is just the same as to worship the gods. “Thābār theer bŏ theejā thothath,” offer the things of god to a “second born.”
Seven or eight castes below the Brahmuns enjoy a scanty allowance of secular knowledge, while the rest have nothing to do with that even. These poor people, doomed to be under this perilous system, generation after generation, are the true wrecks of degeneracy. It pains me to say, that a Kaoră would very likely resemble, in his manner, customs, and ignorance, the animal he keeps.
To speak the truth, the caste, with all its distinctions and orders, is the only mighty obstacle to the regeneration of the Hindoos. Under its domination the Hindoo community presents a strong, brilliant crown on its head, studded with diamonds of rare value, a necklace of gold, a breastplate of silver, a belt of brass round its waist, copper garters on its knees, and dark, hard iron shoes for its feet. The arrangement is in perfect harmony with the prevailing fashion respecting dress. As the crown, the garland, the belt, the shoes, have their proper place in personal adornment, so the Hindoo community has set the different castes into different places. But there is no justice in it. It has transformed the gold into iron, denying it its necessary care. There is no respect for sanctity, intelligence, and accomplishments, if these be found among the low. In a conversation, I remarked that if a washerwoman could help me with good advice, I would not walk a mile to the priest’s for the same. My friends, who were then present, were all astonished at this, gazed upon me with indignant eyes, and lamented my remark as the dictate of infidelity.
There are other defective peculiarities in the castes, which cut the tie of love and brotherhood at the bottom. Observing from the stand-point of the high castes, we see that one caste does neither eat with another caste, nor marry, nor even sit on the same carpet. At the feasts the Brahmuns have the best seats in the hall or parlor, and the Kaisths, physicians, and barbers have separate seats for each, or sometimes one for all; but for the shoemakers, fishermen, and bearers there is no decent mat even. If a goldsmith should accidentally touch a Brahmun with some confectioneries or a pitcher of water in his hand, the Brahmun would immediately throw the former before a dog or any animal, and empty the latter of its contents.
God hasten the day when the very roots of the poisonous tree of caste shall be pulled up, and the balmy shrub of equality, of love, of universal brotherhood, be planted in its place. Let the spirit of true religion, O God, shine upon India. Let her know thou art her Father; that thou carest equally for all. Let her recognize thy image in all thy children. Chase, Eternal One, the darkness with thy salutary light,—the darkness which like a canopy has covered the heathen world; and thine shall be the glory for ever!