Life and religion of the Hindoos.

by Joguth Chunder Gangooly

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, and finding 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 then filled 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 religious instruction. 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!