The religion of the
Hindoos--Castes--Brahmins--Kshatriyas--Vaisyas--Sudras--Sub-division
by mixed marriages--The Triune Godhead: Brahma the centre, Vishnu
the preserver or sustainer, and Siva, the destroyer--The Hindoo
Pantheon--Brahmin place of worship--The Sacred Cow--Transmigration
of souls--Degrees of punishment for various sins--The fate of the
murderer, the adulterer, the unmerciful.
Before proceeding further in this work, it will be interesting to the
reader to understand something of the religion, what it springs from,
and the certain peculiarities in the intermixture of the several
Hindoo families, giving rise to the several castes and ranks to which
each is born to, and in which they must continue, or progress by
marriage in the higher scale when allowed by their code of laws. I
have been to a great deal of trouble in procuring this information,
as it is not found in many writings of that country, and will,
therefore, be new to a great many.
[Sidenote: Division of the Hindoo races.]
From the earliest period of which any records are extant, the Hindoo
races have been divided as a people into four distinct classes
or castes, designated Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas and Sudras,
originating with the creation of the world. Brahmins, according to
their mythological creed, proceeding from the mouth of Brahma, the
creator, the chief person of their theological belief--his mission
was to rule and instruct. He formed the caste distinguished by the
name Kshatriyas, which means sprung from the arms--of Brahma: and
this deity's duty was to protect. Vaisyas, from his thighs; and
the province allotted to this emanation of the deity was to trade,
and cultivate the earth. Sudra, the most abject, as produced from
the feet of Brahma, was doomed to be the servant or slave of the
superior caste; the four forming the yet existing classes or castes
of priests--soldiers, husbandmen or traders, and labourers.
The division of these four classes are, however, extended; and in
the fourteenth century B.C. the number of mixed classes recognized
by their laws of Menu had become very considerable. Of these we may
mention the classes which have sprung from the marriage of a man of
the upper caste with a woman of an inferior class.
1st, Murdhabhishicta, by a Brahmin with a woman of the Kshatriya
class: his duty is to teach military exercises. 2nd, Ambastha, by a
Brahmin from a woman of the Vaisya class or caste: he is a medicine
man. 3rd, Nishadhu, by a Brahmin from a woman of the Sudra class:
his occupation is to catch fish. 4th, Mahishya, by a Kshatriya from
a woman of the Vaisya class: his profession is music, astronomy and
attendance on cattle. 5th, Ugra, by a Kshatriya from a woman of the
Sudra class: his duty, according to Menu, is to kill or confine such
animals as live in holes: he is also a bard or poet. 6th, Carana,
by a Vaisya from a woman of the Sudra class: he is an attendant on
princes, or secretary.
[Sidenote: Sub-division of the Hindoo races.]
The classes which have sprung from a marriage of a woman of the upper
caste with a man of inferior caste is again sub-divided, and the
offspring of such is considered inferior than the other, and also
illegitimate. 1st, we will say Sota, by a Kshatriya from a woman of
Brahmin rank: his occupation is managing horses and driving carts.
2nd, Vaidscha, by a Vaisya from a woman of the Brahmin class: his
occupation is a waiter on women. 3rd, Chandola, by a Sudra from a
woman of the Brahmin class: he is regarded the most impure of the
whole race, and his business is to handle dead bodies, execute
animals, and to officiate in the most abject employment. 4th, Mahada,
by a Vaisya from a Kshatriya woman: his profession is, according to
Menu, travelling with merchandise; he is also an economist or bard.
5th, Asygara, by a Sudra from a woman of the Vaisya class; he is a
carpenter. And there is another class, Kohatti, by a Sudra from a
Kshatriya woman: his occupation is killing or confining animals who
live in trees. There are also other classes descending in the scale
of impurity from mixed marriages. One of those most known is that
of Pariahs; they are subject to labour of agriculture and to the
filthiest duty of scavengers. With these there is no intercourse
allowed, nor can one show the least sympathy for them, no matter how
low or depressed they may be.
[Sidenote: Hindoo deities.]
The faith of these several castes centres in a triune godhead,
Brahma the centre, Vishnu the preserver or sustainer, and Siva the
destroyer. Brahma, the superior, always remains in holy solitude
in the distance of the caste profound of measureless space, and
is beyond the reach of superstition to profane by even ideal
similitude; Vishnu and Siva are supposed to have been many times
incarnate, and hence the imagination of the Hindoo has clothed them
with a variety of visible forms, and each has become a distinct
deity, to whom worship is daily addressed. The Hindoo Pantheon also
includes a host of inferior deities or divinities. Nothing can be
done without supernatural intervention, in consequence of which the
elements, and every variety of animated nature, are placed under the
immediate guardianship of one of the crowd of deities that throng
the Brahmanical heaven. The goodly company is further augmented
by myriads of demi-gods, many of whom are of the most wretched
description. Thus, a little red paint smeared over a block of wood,
a shapeless stone, or a lump of clay, makes it a deity, and a number
of such monstrocities collected together indicate a Brahmin place of
worship, and invite to some act of worship as debasing in its nature
as its object is monstrous in conception. Among the animals which are
the objects of Hindoo worship or adoration, and one that I shall have
to refer to often, is the cow. This is the most sacred in most parts
of India. The cow is frequently termed the "Mother of the gods,"
and many are kept by the well-to-do Hindoo for the sole purpose of
worship. Circumstances are, however, at times even stronger than
superstition itself, and then the poor, who derive their chief
support from the labour of this useful animal so venerated, do not
hesitate to work it hard and to feed it very sparingly.
Besides the peculiar notions entertained by the Hindoo relative to
superior beings and the worship to be paid them, those that refer to
a future state form a prominent part of their theological system.
Here the doctrine of transmigration of souls is a distinguishing
feature. No people appear to have formed loftier ideas of its nature
independently of its connection with matter. They carry the idea to
so extravagant a height as to suppose the souls of both men and brute
animals to have been originally portions of the Supreme mind, and
consequently as participating in its eternity. The highest destiny
to which a mortal can aspire is therefore reabsorbed into the divine
essence, where the Hindoo's idea of supreme felicity receives its
perfection, and the mind reposes on an unruffled sea of bliss. But
to such a state only the most rigid ascetics who have spent a life
of self-inflicted torture can aspire, the best deeds of an ordinary
life cannot excite a hope of raising their author higher than one of
the various heavens over which their multiplied divinities separately
preside. But few are allowed to cherish the expectation of ascending
to even the lowest of these, and the great body of believers have
only to anticipate the consolations that flow from the transmigration
of souls.
[Sidenote: Punishments for sins.]
As regards punishment, a series have been devised to suit the
capabilities of the people and the irregular propensities of life.
The institutes of Menu affirm that he who steals grain in the husk
becomes a rat--should he take water, he is to be a diver--if honey,
a large gnat, and if flesh, he is transformed into a vulture. The
next birth of one who steals a deer or elephant is into a wolf, and
if a carriage, the thief is sure to become a camel. When once sunk
from the human to the brute creation, the Parana's assert that he
must pass through many millions of births before he regains the human
form. Their system of punishment is not however confined to these
terrestrial transgressions. The all-multiplying system of the Hindoo
theology has created a hundred thousand hells for those whom inferior
evils could not deter from the commission of more heinous crimes.
When the fatal moment arrives which changes their present position,
they are hurried away through the space of 688,000 miles among the
faithful rocks and eternal snows of the Himalaya mountains to the
judgment seat of Yoma, where the god messengers await to convey them
to their respective places of punishment, and here, too, the state
of retribution is adapted to the nature of the crime. The murderer
is fed on flesh and blood; the adulterer is to be embraced by an
image of red-hot iron, and the unmerciful to be unceasingly bitten by
snakes. Having endured this state of "penal servitude" for a period
proportionate to the magnitude of their crimes, the first step to
restoration is to pass a long series of ages in the form of some
degraded animal, whence they ascend to the scale of being already
described.
[Illustration: (Vignette)]
[Illustration: (Vignette)]