_Brahman, Baman._--The well-known priestly caste of India and the
first of the four traditional castes of the Hindu scriptures. In 1911
the Brahmans numbered about 450,000 persons in the Central Provinces
and Berar, or nearly 3 per cent of the population. This is less than
the average strength for India as a whole, which is about 4 1/2 per
cent. The caste is spread over the whole Province, but is in greatest
numbers in proportion to the population in Saugor and Jubbulpore,
and weakest in the Feudatory States.
The name Brahman or Brahma is said to be from the root _brih_ or
_vrih_, to increase. The god Brahma is considered as the spirit
and soul of the universe, the divine essence and source of all
being. Brahmana, the masculine numerative singular, originally denoted
one who prays, a worshipper or the composer or reciter of a hymn. [398]
It is the common term used in the Vedas for the officiating priest. Sir
H. Risley remarks on the origin of the caste: [399] "The best modern
opinion seems disposed to find the germ of the Brahman caste in the
bards, ministers and family priests who were attached to the king's
household in Vedic times. Different stages of this institution may be
observed. In the earliest ages the head of every Aryan household was
his own priest, and even a king would himself perform the sacrifices
which were appropriate to his rank. By degrees families or guilds
of priestly singers arose, who sought service under the kings, and
were rewarded by rich presents for the hymns or praise and prayer
recited and sacrifices offered by them on behalf of their masters. As
time went on the sacrifices became more numerous and more elaborate,
and the mass of ritual grew to such an extent that the king could no
longer cope with it unaided. The employment of _purohits_ or family
priests, formerly optional, now became a sacred duty if the sacrifices
were not to fall into disuse. The Brahman obtained a monopoly of
priestly functions, and a race of sacerdotal specialists arose
which tended continually to close its ranks against the intrusion
of outsiders." Gradually then from the household priests and those
who made it their business to commit to memory and recite the sacred
hymns and verses handed down orally from generation to generation
through this agency, an occupational caste emerged, which arrogated
to itself the monopoly of these functions, and the doctrine developed
that nobody could perform them who was not qualified by birth, that
is, nobody could be a Brahman who was not the son of a Brahman. When
religious ritual became more important, as apparently it did, a desire
would naturally arise among the priests to make their revered and
lucrative profession a hereditary monopoly; and this they were easily
and naturally able to do by only teaching the sacred songs and the
sacrificial rules and procedure to their own descendants. The process
indeed would be to a considerable extent automatic, because the priests
would always take their own sons for their pupils in the first place,
and in the circumstances of early Indian society a married priesthood
would thus naturally evolve into a hereditary caste. The Levites
among the Jews and the priests of the Parsis formed similar hereditary
orders, and the reason why they did not arise in other great religions
would appear to have been the prescription or encouragement of the
rule of celibacy for the clergy and the foundation of monasteries,
to which admission was free. But the military landed aristocracies
of Europe practically formed hereditary castes which were analogous
to the Brahman and Rajput castes, though of a less stereotyped and
primitive character. The rise of the Brahman caste was thus perhaps
a comparatively simple and natural product of religious and social
evolution, and might have occurred independently of the development
of the caste system as a whole. The former might be accounted for by
reasons which would be inadequate to explain the latter, even though
as a matter of fact the same factors were at work in both cases.