Classical Theology,—Lxiii.

CLASSICAL THEOLOGY , —LXIII .

LONDON ; SATURDAY , MARCS 28 , 1863 .

XI .- Jus"o AJS " D JASUAET . Many of tbe most conspicuous pagods iu the groups of the most ancient Hindoo temples , are decorated with the Zennar , or sacred cord distinctive of the order of Brahmins , and consequently indicative of the early establishment of caste in India .

Previous to the most remote era of authentic history ( and Hindoo records assign to tradition tbe separation of ranks and professions had been instituted in India ) , the whole native body was divided , as they still are , into four classes . The first , or Brahmins , deemed pre-eminently sacred , cultivated

the study and principles of religion , and the occult sciences . They were the hereditary priesthood , both the instructors and philosophers of the nation . The second had the administration of the government ; and were the rulers and magistrates in times of peace , and the directors , commanders , and generals in times of war . The third comprised merchants and agriculturists , and tbe fourth was composed of arfcizans , labourers and servants .

None of these members enacts the Aycen Akbery ( 111 . 81 . & c . on the Indian code ) , can ever disunite themselves from their own caste , or be admitted into another . This inviolable demarcation is not only enforced by civil authority , but decreed , sanctioned , and held so confirmed by religion , that each order or caste

is believed to have been derived aud appointed by Supreme Divinity ; and to commingle or confound them in any manner would be by each resisted as an actual profanation , and an act of the utmost impiety . All , individually , of the four different tribes , follow the jirofessions and occupations of their forefathers , and from one generation to another adhere to tbe same uniform position of life .

Philosophical ideas conform to the law of absolute necessity . The wants of the Hindoos are small in comparison with our oivn . But , hoAvever repugnant a system of stationary castes may be to our mode of thinking , the early Indian legislators strove to secure for one and all the maintenance and happiness of a

whole people . In their several spheres , the Hindoo , of either caste , seems intuitively to know , as though imbibed with his mother's milk , that he is destined from his birth to an allotted station and avocation , so inexplicably associated with his existence as to constitute a co-ordinate organism of his nature . Tims

his mental or manual occupation continues to be easy and pleasing , tmdeviating and still more perfect , to the end of his useful days . The permanence of their institutions , and the immutability of highly civilised manners , is peculiar to the Hindoos . The violence of their Mahommedan and European

conquerors effected little more than a coerced and evanescent alteration amongst them , and they are in their hearts even now much the same as they were found ; and with Christian teaching , to the honour and agreement of Christianity , they might well be left as they are . Can we safely say that , by adhering to the mechanical practices of their ancestors , the spirit of Hindoo invention has been checked ? They attained perfection in the manufacture of many Indian

commodities , which exhibit such experienced and delicate execution that the combined sciences and arts of Europe , with all their chemical superiority and geometrically constructed machinery , have failed to surpass , or even equal them . Example , fashion , and the sword convert to changes , and , in India , civil and

domestic conditions have changed ; but the precepts of religion and the distinctions of society have struggled with unabated tenacity to survive the mighty glory of former dynasties . The Brahmins , in accordance with an anachronism , if we may so phrase itextendi the longevity ot primitive manhood to

, thousands of years , a-ndtrace back their historical events through an indeterminate succession of ages , apparently incredible ; hut they assert that , in . times past , Asia at large , from the entrance of the Indus , on the west , to the borders of China , on tbe east , and from the mountains of Thibet , on the north , to the promontory

of Comaria , or Cape Comorin , on the south , comprised one vast empire of entensive sovereignties , ruled by hereditary princes or rajahs , under the sole sivay and supreme dominion of one mighty monarch . India- has supplied all nations with her merchandise , and in all ages her traffic appears to have been

the same . Her articles have varied , as they vary , to meet the tastes of the world ; but what Pliny observed is still observable to our neighbours , that it is a gulf into which flows the wealth of every other country , to be swallowed up never , again to be returned . " Hindostan , " says an Asiatic author , " has been frequently plundered by foreign invaders , and not one of its kings ever gained for it any acquisition of wealth ; neither has the country many mines of

gold and silver , and yet Hindostan abounds in money , and every other kind of wealth . " This abundance is doubtless owing , as Khoich Abdul-kureem further relates , "to the ready money in exchange for the manufactures and natural productions of the country . "

There are two truly beautiful proofs of very early and exceeding civilization respecting the political constitution and system of government as practised , not in theory , amongst the Hindoos , resembling tbe Christian and Masonic principle of our own political economistswho contend that the product -of land

, and all private merchandise , life and property , should be held sacred and secured by a government of nations , based ivpon the greatest efforts of that divine and human philosophy whose wisdom inculcates freedom , humanity , honesty , and mildness . It is recorded , " it was not unusual , while two armies in

hostile array were fighting a battle in one field , the ploughers or reapers in some adjoining field were left unmolested , and might be seen working and abiding in perfect tranquility . " Indeed , the ancient Greeks and Romans , finding themselves disappointed in the forms of their own governments and institutions , discerned

and admired the humanity and mildness of the Hindoo policy , and likened the Rajah to a father presiding over a numerous family , more than a sovereign , surrounded by the subjects he ruled , whose solicitude was for the happiness of his people , and who , in return , were attached to bim by the most tender and

steadfast duties of affection and fidelity . In the record of the other proof , it is to' be remembered , that in the commencement of the thousandth year of the Christian era , Mahmud of Grhazna , styled the