Great Indian Religion

Author(s): G T Bettany
Publisher: Ward Lock Bowden and Co

Page 55

LOFTY CLAIMS OF THE BRAHMANS. 43 the Brahman; he in fact becomes one with Brahma the creator. The most extravagant claims of lordship over all creatures, of possession of everything, are made on his behalf. In fact, not only is everything bestowed upon him, his own already, but other mortals are stated to owe their subsistence to the benevolence of the Brahmans. In some passages of Manu a Brahman is even lifted to the rank of a divinity, whether he were ignorant or learned, and even if he were occupied in a mean occupation. A Brahman who studies Manu and faithfully performs his duties is said to be never tainted by sins of thought, word, or deed, and to sanctify any company he may enter, together with seven ancestors and seven descendants. Surely more arrogant self-assertion was never advanced and admitted than by these Brahmans. The king is warned not to provoke them to anger, for it is asserted that they could instantly destroy him and his army, by their power over all creation, and by the utterance of magic texts. Yet, inconsistently enough, it is allowed that just as Kshatriyas cannot prosper without Brahmans, so Brahmans cannot prosper without Kshatriyas. Their persons are declared inviolable, and the crime of threatening a Brahman with a stick will be punished in hell for a hundred years, while the actual striker of a Brahman will remain in hell a thousand years. Still more extravagant is this further threat: “ As many particles of dust as the blood of a Brahman causes to coagulate, for so many thousand years shall the shedder of that blood remain in hell.” This system could of course only be maintained by the receipt of heavy fees. The repetitions of the Veda and the performance of the sacrifices were made to depend upon the gifts to the officiating Brahmans. No taxes were to be paid by them; and any king who suffered a learned Brahman to die of hunger would have his kingdom afflicted by famine, while the meritorious acts of any Brahman whom he protected would increase the king's wealth, length of life, and kingdom. Yet, if, after all these injunctions, a Brahman failed to receive proper patronage and support, he might become a soldier, a cultivator, or a trader.