HISTORY Ufc" INDIA.
[Book IV,
A.D. —
Changes 111 Bmh- miuical discipline.
Pirtial de cline of the influence of the Brahmins.
Such was the approved discipline of the Brahmin caste at the date of the Institutes of Menu, but many changes have been introduced by the hvpse of time, and few if any individuals now profess to carry out that discipline in all its integrity. Any one of the four stages is now thought sufficient for a whole life ; and the devotee selecting that which accords best with his own inclination, uses it as the means of founding a reputation for extraordinary sanctity ; but the whole community pay no regard to the ancient regulations, and in practice at least hold them to be obsolete. To the privileges which separate them from other classes, and maintain their ascendency as an aristocracy, they still adhere ; and to prevent intermixtures with inferior classes, repudiate marriage as illegal in cases in which it was originally sanctioned. It is no longer, however, deemed necessary to depend for subsistence on voluntary gifts or alms, and Brahmins are found in all trades and professions. Even service, stigmatized by Menu as dog- llving, is not repudiated, except under circumstances where it is supposed to carry personal degradation along with it. The army, which is in some respects the most absolute and rigorous of all forms of service, is full of Brahmins ; and agriculture, though necessarily requiring a large amount of that bodily labour which they are recommended to shun, is a favourite employment. Still, a (.lecided preference is given to occupations in which intellectual rather than physical exertion is required. Teaching continues to be the most honourable source of income to those not actually deriving their maintenance from services connected with religion ; and much of the business, public and private, which requires some degree of intellectual training, is in their hands.
This general adoption of secular employments naturally tends to detract from the sacred character with which the Brahmins were originally invested, and hence, it appears that in various parts of India, and more especially in Bengal, their influence as an hierarchy is impaired, and they have been to some extent superseded in their religious functions by various monastic orders, in which as a general rule all the distinctions of caste are ignored, and nothing but a common brotherhood is recognized, Brahmin and Sudra living together as members on a footing of perfect equality. Still, notwithstanding the formidable rivalship to which they are thus subjected, the Brahmins continue to insist on the superi ority which their fabled origin is supposed to give them, and find a ready acqui escence in the great body of their countrymen, who not only look up to them with veneration, but would regard it as a species of sacrilege to call any of their privileges in question. Full advantage has been taken of this slavish temper and the whole business of life has been so arranged as to make the presence, and consequently the payment of a Brahmin indispensable on almost every occasion. Hence multitudes of the privileged class manage to spend their days in luxmious idleness, maintained either by the rents of lands which have been alienated to form permanent endowments in their favour, or the countless offer- ings which pilgrims and other deluded votaries are constantly pouring into their
