CASTS, INDIAN, denote the four grand tribes, or or ders, into which population has been divided from the remotest antiquity. The Hindoo records afford no au thentic documents to ascertain the origin of this singular arrangement ; and the earliest Greek authors who treat of the history of India, content themselves with mention ing the fact without attempting an explanation of its ori gin. The information of the Greeks does not seem to have been very correct on this subject ; for Strabo, Dio dorus Siculus, and Adrian, affirm, that the Hindoos were divided into seven casts, or classes : their mistake has probably arisen from confounding with the casts, the va rious employments allotted to different classes in the community, and from which they are strictly forbidden by the Ilindoo laws to depart. No fact is more clearly ascertained, than that there never have existed but four casts in India. The first, or that of the Bramins, (see BRACHMANSO was deemed the most sacred ; and the members of it, had it for their province to study the principles of religion, to perform its functions, and to cultivate the sciences. They were the priests, instruc tors, and philosophers of the nation. The members of the second order, (the Xetri,) were intrusted with the government and defence of the state. In peace they were its rulers and magistrates ; in war they were the generals, who commanded its armies, and the soldiers who fought its battles. The third, (the Byse,) was com posed of husbandmen and merchants, and the fourth, (or Soodra,) of artisans, labourers, and servants.
When any person has been guilty of egregrious mis conduct, such as neglecting or violating the precepts of his religion, lie then becomes an outcast from his tribe, and is subjected to a species of excommunication, which brings along with it the most terrible consequences. The persons thus excommunicated arc denominated Pariars, and sometimes Chandalas, and their condition is incon ceivably wretched. No person of any cast will have the least communication with them. If a pariar ap proach a nayr, i. e. a warrior of high cast, on the Mala
bar coast, he may put him to death with impunity. Wa ter or milk are considered as defiled even by their sha dow passing over them, and cannot be used until they are purified. It is almost impossible for words to express the sensation of vileness that the name of pariar or chan dala conveys to the mind or a 1 lindoo." Robertson's Disquisition concerning India : Though it is impossible to fix the period when this division into casts took place, yet it is easy to conceive the circumstances under which it has originated. It must have been established at a time when the regal and sacerdotal offices were united in the same individual ; for nothing hut the sacredness attached, in early ages, to the priestly character, combined with absolute authority on the part of the person who was thus revered, could have given birth to such a monstrous institution, so con trary to reason, and so subversive of the natural rights of man. This evidently carries hack the origin of the in stitution into the remotest antiquity ; for it was only in the primitive ages of the world that this formidable union of regal and sacerdotal power existed in the person of the same individual. When once the division into casts was established, we need not be surprised at its continuance. The human mind needs a stimulus to ex cite it to any efforts of excellence ; and when this stimu lus is not only withheld, but positive discouragements applied, we can only expect the mind to remain in a state of torpor and lasting immaturity. This effect has been produced to a very great extent on the immense popula tion or India. The mind being chained clown to some grovelling employment, above which it is forbidden to aspire, must seek comfort from dismissing even the consciousness of exertion, and the desire of improve ment: and the favoured few, who are permitted to ex plore the sources of knowledge, being secure of respect, altogether independent of their abilities or attainments, have but little inducement to pursue the rugged paths of science.