"Quite true, Mr. Scarburn; but the States have not all the fast-growing cities of the world, wonderful as the increase has been in some of them. Europe, Asia, and Australia are alive. The nearest approaches to a million in India are Calcutta, 861,764, and Bombay, 821,764; but I dare say you are all quite tired of statistics by this time."
"Not at all, Lord Tremlyn; as you present them they are quite interesting." said Mrs. Belgrave.
"Thank you, madam," replied the speaker, bowing low, with his hand on his heart. "Now I am going to speak of the people as other than mere numbers; and if I wished to entangle you inextricably, I should go back about 4,000 years, and tell you about the people down to the present time. I spare you the infliction in full. Four groups of languages are spoken among the natives, and from these the original races that spoke them are traced out.
"I mention one as a specimen, the Kolarian language, spoken by those who first settled in the hilly regions of the central part. The others are the Aryan, Dravidian, and Tibeto-Burman, all of which you will find in 'Chambers's' in your library.
"The word Hindu is generally used in a very broad sense to cover all the native population of Hindustan or India; but it is really applicable to a religion, and belongs only to those of the Hindu, or the faith of the Brahmins; but, like most others, it consists of a great number of sects. Of this belief there are about 200,000,000 people. They are divided into four grand classes, called castes. The Portuguese called them casta in their own language, from which the present name comes. I call them grand classes, or castes, because they are divided into many sub-classes.
"When the Aryans, who came from Europe, and Asia farther north than India, obtained a foothold here, and established themselves, they looked down upon other people in the land, and called themselves the twice-born, or born again, as some modern sects have it. They claimed to have experienced a second, or religious, birth, indicated by a certain cord with which they were invested at a particular age. The natives of the soil and all other outsiders were the once-born.
"In the lapse of time the twice-born were divided into three classes, the Brahmins being the priestly class, the Kshatriyas the ruling military, and the Vaisyas the agricultural classes. These were of the upper grade; and all the once-born were called Sudras. These four classes are the origin of caste, though the divisions have been greatly changed. The Vedas are the four oldest sacred books of the Hindus, otherwise the Hindu Scriptures.
"Derived from their holy books is the allegorical idea that the Brahmin, or priest, was the mouth of the original man; the warrior his arms; the agriculturist his thighs; while the Sudra, or common people, sprang out of his feet. The duties and relations of the four castes are defined and stated in the laws of Manu."
"We have not been introduced to him," suggested Mrs. Woolridge.
"He is regarded as the author of the most noted law-book among the Hindus; but there is so much that is mythical and contradictory said of him, that I will say nothing more about him; but he is authority among the Brahmins. In modern caste the Brahmin is the minister of religion; he alone mediates between God and man, makes sacrifices, and teaches the sacred Veda. His life is portioned off into periods of special duty. As a student he learns the Veda; then he gets married, becomes a householder, and must every day perform the appointed sacrifice. Some of them live in the woods, as hermits, or live like monks, till they are said to be absorbed into Brahma.