Indian Antiquary Vol 04

SR No.: 032496
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 410
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 18 MB

Page 137

APRIL, 1875.]
ANCIENT INDIA ACCORDING TO MANU.
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would be reckoned as Aryan, or rather as Hin- ently marked to constitute a characteristic, and du, in comparison with the aborigines, and a a community of occupation or situation, the elegradation of colour and features would be effect- ments are present out of which a carte with its ed such as is now to be seen in passing from own peculiar customs and traditions will grow; Peshawar along the Gangetic trough to Orissa. and castes do in this way originate and grow Also, by survival of the fittest, the darker tints under our eyes, even in these modern times. accompanying an Aryan physiognomy would It is obvious that the mixed castes of Manu are come to prevail in the tracts of the tropical del essentially different in kind from the great tribal tas. But it is not likely that any large propor- castes of Brahmans, Kshatriyas, &c.; tion of this more extended growth would be they are, in truth, rather sub-castes than mixed recognized as belonging to the older privileged castes, and bear the same relation to the tribal orders. It seems more reasonable to suppose castes which the genera of plants in systematic that it would remain, as a rule, undistinguish- botany do to the classes. Also, it seems proed from the general mass of the unprivileged, bable that the very reasons which gave rise to and would go to swell the body of Sûdras. the sub-caste designation would generally in the There appears to have been, too, a lower social long run cause it to prevail over the tribal. stratum still (p. 268, 179), not dignified by the With the great body of the people the family designation of caste, the members of which were and its employment must have been of a greatly slaves to the Sadras. Or, perhaps, some $u- more distinguishing importance than the tribe. dras managed to attain to a position of wealth It would be mainly the upper classes of society and freedom, and then could command the ser- who, wanting in the particular discriminating vices of other Sadras, as if themselves actually element furnished by the employment, would members of a higher class. Besides these four keep up the distinction of tribe. principal castes, and in a sense comprehended It might perhaps be imagined that the reliwithin them, was a very considerable body of so- gious rite of institution, and the privilege at. called mixed castes (p. 290 et seq.), which, Manu tached to its observance of wearing the thread, is at great pains to explain, arose from the which marked off the three Aryan tribal divi. irregular intermingling of the others : but he be- sions from the Sûdras, and constituted the trays the true cause of their formation and per- quality of twice-born, would have been cluing to petuation when he says that they may all be and never lost. Nevertheless, this was not so: known by their occupations (p. 294, 40). We for Manu himself says (p. 294, 43): "The see that in all countries during the earlier stages following races" (afterwards naming them) "of of civilization there is a universal tendency in Kshatriyas, by their omission of holy rites, the various businesses and occupations to be here- and by seeing no Brahmaņs, have gradually sunk ditary; as the father is, so is the son, and it is among men to the lowest of the four classes." seldom that any one takes up, or indeed has And, again, he says three verses lower: "Those the opportanity of engaging in, a business differ- sons of the twice-born who are said to be deunt from that followed by his father; marriages graded, and who are considered as low-born, also commonly take place within the limits of shall subsist only by such employments as the the families which pursue the same avocation, twice-born despise." He also discloses the and every man is known or spoken of by the fact that the converse process was going on in name of his calling. From this cause such de his time, when he declares (p. 294, 42) “By signations as Smith, Pinder, Hayward, Pedlar, the force of extreme devotion and of exalted Taylor, Glover, and so on, became surnames in fathers, all of them " (the issue of certain speciEngland. In India, even at this day, the fami- fied marriages) "may rise to high birth;" and ly has not yet disintegrated into its constituent in another passage (p. 297, 64): "Should the members. Individuals are held together in a tribe sprung from a Brahman by a Sudra family, and families are connected together in woman produce children by the marriages of its groups by the operation of forces of conserva- women with other Brahmans, the low tribe shall tion which have long ceased to exist in the be raised to the highest in the seventh generaWestern Aryan races. Given a community of tion." It was a principal object with Manu to origin, whether personal, local, or other, suffici- glorify the Brahmans, and to preserve the