The Kshatriya, or military class, is bound to defend the people, to 'read the Veda, to sacrifice and to give alms; the Vaisya caste to culti vate land, to keep herds and flocks of cattle, to carry on trade, to lend at interest, to sacrifice, to read the scriptures, and to bestow presents. The business of the fourth, or Sudra class, is only to servo the three upper orders, and chiefly the Brahmins.
Now In these four classes, which may bo called the pillars of Hindu society, those only who are born of wives equal in caste are to be considered as of the same class with their fathers. But by inter mixture and marriage with women who ought not to be married, and by the omission of prescribed duties, a great number of impure classes have been formed, which in their turn are obliged to perform strictly the special rules and obligations enjoined on their caste, or else they will sink to a still lower degree in the scale of human society. These mixed classes are enumerated at large in the tenth chapter, and prove a far advanced state of civilisation by the very great variety of pro fessions which they exhibit. But as even the aboriginal tribes amid the inhabitants of adjacent countries are asserted to have gradually sprung from the same source, we need scarcely remark that the institution of cute carried to this extent must be altogether imaginary ; and moreover that a system of law founded on these vague and fanciful principles must be a partial and degrading one. Hence the punish ment', consisting of pecuniary fines and confiscation of property, of mutilation of the body, and death, of exile and loss of caste (which is deemed moral death), are inflicted according to the privileges of the different dames ; in general these punishments are slight and trifling for the highest order, but dreadfully severe and cruel for tho same crimes when committed by an individual of inferior caste. Thus a soldier who defames a priest shall be fined a hundred pangs, a merchant a hundred and fifty, but a mechanic or servile roan shall be whipped ; and while the 'Laying of a Sudra by a man of the sacerdotal class is exactly equivalent to the killing of a cat or dog, the murder of a Brahmin is an inexpiable crime, and he who barely assaults a priest with intention to hurt him shall be whirled about for a century in a place of future punishment, which is described as " a dark hell." With regard to the penal provisions of the criminal law we shall only observe that in most of them the principle of retaliation has been sanctioned ; for instance, whoever breaks it dam or sluice, by which an inundation would be caused (Buchanan, ' Mysore; i., 4), shall be drowned ; an adulterer shall be burned on an iron bed ; a cut-puree is to lose two fingers, and " with whatever limb it thief commits the offence, even that limb shall the king amputate " (viii. 334; ix. 273, ff.). Nevertheless most of the punishments may be commuted for pecuniary fines; and in case a temporal chastisement proves unavailing, threats of future pain are often held out. A priest may by muttering impreca tions and holy charms chaetise those who injure him, without complain ing to the king. In short, the first part of the sacred code is entirely what we should call hieratieal. This character is apparent not only in its inflexible severity where religion and its ministers are concerned, and the well-calculated distinction of carton, by which a free intercourse between the members of society would be prevented, and consequently a more clews dependence on the priesthood ensured, but also in the spirit of sublime devotion, of benevolence and tenderness to all sentient creatures, by which sacerdotal institutes are generally distinguished.
The second part of the code, containing the monarchical and civil laws, is more congenial to social order, and although the same spirit of prevails, it Is often checked by rules of a sound policy and of regular administration. The king, born in the military class, is formed of particles drawn from the substance of the guardian deities ; surpassing all mortals in glory, he is himself a divinity in a hull= shape, and consequently he must be the protector of all classes who discharge their duty (7, 4. 0, 301 ff ). " Ho must invariably speck truth and never transgress the rule of strict justice ; but as just punishment cannot bo inflicted by an ignorant and covetous king, he has to learn the science of criminal justice and of policy, the system of logic' and metaphysics and sublime theological truth from learned priests, and front the people the theory of agriculture, commerce, and other practical arts." Nothing is so often and so strongly inculcated
by Manu as the equity and justice of kings in protecting the property of their subjects against fraud and violence. For this purpose the prince shall appoint a governor of one town with its district, another of ten towns, of twenty, of a hundred, and above all these inferior authorities, a high officer, whom we may perhaps call a lord-lieutenant, over each thousand towns. Also, to prevent the people being oppressed, a super intendent of all affairs shall be established in every largo town to inspect the inferior officers. A large number of laws for the mercantile tribe, with rigorous regulations about the sale and purchase of market able things, about weights and measures, tolls and freights for boats passing up and down rivers : the severe punishment of robbers and of those who will not restore loans and deposits, and the most subtle definitions of the law of inheritance—all tend to show that, however restricted by the rules of caste the social and personal condition of an individual might bo, his property at least was respected and held inviolable. As to the laws of succession, it is laid down as a funda mental rule, probably derived from ancient patriarchal mariners, that, if possible, the whole property of the family should be kept together. Accordingly after the of his father, the eldest son may take entire possession of the patrimony, and the others may live under him, unless they choose to separate. In this case, the widow and such persons as by crimes or mental or corporal defects are legally excluded from participation, being provided for, the heritage is divided into portions according to the minute and almost endless variety of regula tions by which, owing to the real or imaginary intermarriage and mixture of classes, this part of Hindu law has become extremely abstruse and intricate. Property belonging to a sacerdotal student and a minor must be guarded by the king, until the owner shall have concluded his studentship, or until his infancy shall have ceased in his sixteenth year. No tax is levied or charge made for this trustee ship nor for any tuition whatsoever; and except custom-duties and market-taxes, the only legal tax or annual revenue which a sovereign may receive from his whole dominion through his collectors is imposed on the mercantile and agricultural classes. He may take either a twelfth part of the crops, or an eighth, and in time of distress even a fourth part, but in every respect ho must act like a father to his people. (7, 80, 10, 118 fE) Serving men, artisans, and mechanics never pay taxes, but they must occasionally assist by their labour when needed. According to a theory most rigorously supported in a rude state of feudal and despotic government, by several Hindu law givers of modern times, and even by a passage in Strabo. the king has been declared solo possessor of the soil (' Digest of Hindu Law,' 1, 460; Strabo, p. 1030, fort ai .;) v6p. rriiaa). But although the sovereign's right to an annual ground-rent, and his gifts of land, so often recorded in inscriptions and written documents, may originally have been founded on such a doctrine, its practical application would have proved ineffiotual, and in fact it is nowhere adopted nor even mentioned by the sacred code. On the contrary, it is expressly stated as a rule laid down by ancient sages, that cultivated land shall be the property of him who has cut away the wood, or who has cleared and tilled it (9, 44). To prove the inviolability of the tenure of land, in which the proprietor is rather protected than limited by government, many special Laws might be produced, such as those concerning land marks and boundaries, the common ponds by which the fields aro watered, the punishment inflicted on herdsmen and owners for injuring cattle ; and so far is the agricultural tenant from being disturbed in his possession, that even if land he injured by his neglect, ho shall only be punished by a heavier tax.