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for certain recognised classes into which the Hindu community was then divided, and of which three out of four parts no longer exist-the Hindus being now distinguished into Brahmans and mixed castes alone-and the former having almost universally deviated from the duties and habits to which they were originally devoted. Neither of these classes, therefore, can with propriety make use of the Vaidik ritual, and their manual of devotion must be taken from some other source.
OF THE HINDUS.
How far the preference of any individual Divinity as an especial object of veneration is authorised by the Vedas, remains yet to be determined; but there is no reason to doubt that most of the forms to which homage is now paid are of modern canonization. At any rate such is the highest antiquity of the most celebrated Teachers and Founders of the popular sects; and BASAVA in the Dekhan, VALLABHA SVÁMÍ in Hindustan, and CHAITANYA in Bengal, claim no earlier a date than the eleventh and sixteenth centuries.
Consistent with the introduction of new objects of devotion is the elevation of new races of individuals to the respect or reverence of the populace as their ministers and representatives. The Brahmans retain, it is true, a traditional sanctity; and when they cultivate pursuits suited to their character, as the Law and Literature of their sacred language, they receive occasional marks of attention, and periodical donations from the most opulent of their countrymen. But a very mistaken notion prevails generally amongst Europeans of the position of the Brahmans in Hindu
