SECT. III.-The Voishyйs. THE third order of Hindoos are called Voishyus, whose business is said to consist in "keeping cattle, carrying on trade, lending upon interest, cultivating land," &c. They marry and fraternize among themselves; they are forbidden to read the vé ŭs: and through the bramhŭns alone can they perform religious ceremonies. They wear the poita, and in some punctilios are raised above the shōōdrus, though in reality they are equally the slaves of the bramhuns. The few voishyus in Bengal are farmers, merchants, &c. In the west of Hindoost'han they are more numerous. SECT. IV.-The Shōōdrus. THE rules of the shastrus respecting the shōōdrus are so unjust and inhuman, that every benevolent person must feel the greatest indignation at the Hindoo lawgivers, and rejoice that Providence has placed so great a portion of this people under the equitable laws of the British Government. Having already enlarged on this subject in the first section, it may suffice here to observe, that the shōōdrus are forbidden "to accumulate superfluous wealth," and, as it respects the world to come, the bramhun is prohibited "from giving spiritual counsel to a shōōdrŭ, or to inform him of the legal expiation for his sin."h Such is the degraded state in which the Hindoo laws have placed the great body of the people. The shōōdrů Sir W. Jones's translation of Munoo. cannot perform one religious ceremony in which there are either offerings, prayers, sacrifices, or burnt offerings, except through the bramhŭns; and the only way in which he can obtain any hope of a better birth, is, by becoming the constant slave of bramhŭns. In the morning, after cleaning the house of the bramhun, he must fetch him water, flowers, clay, and wood for worship; he must next wash his feet and clothes, anoint his body with oil, wait upon him while he worships; collect all the materials for his dinner; after dinner, present to him water to wash his mouth; after which, from the same dish, he is permitted to eat what the bramhun leaves. He must cleanse the ground where the bramhun has eaten, as well as the dishes used at dinner; must wait on him with betel, tobacco, &c. and in the evening supply him with water, light his lamp, and prepare his bed. After lying down, he must rub his legs with oil, and, when the bramhun has fallen asleep, he may take his repose. He who, in this manner, serves bramhuns, is declared by the shastră to act meritoriously. On the contrary, the shōōdrů who envies and injures bramhuns, will sink into the world of torment. At present, however, no shōōdrů will serve a bramhun without wages, and in some cases, as, if his wages are withheld, the shōōdrů will contend warmly with his master. He will offer to the bramhuns, things which cost him nothing, such as prostrations, bows, flattery, &c. and, if he may be repaid in the next world, he will present him with something rather more solid. Some shōōdrus, however, reverence bramhŭns as gods, and the whole of the "swinish multitude" pay them exterior honours. In bowing to a bramhun, the shōōdrů raises his joined hands i To form the lingu. k * Many of the kayŭst'hus reverence the bramhúns more than is done by any other shōōdrus. to his forehead, and gently bows the head; the bramhun never returns the compliment, but gives the shōōdru a blessing, extending the right hand a little, as a person would do when carrying water in it. In bowing to a bramhun, the sins of the shōodru enter the fire, which, by an Eastern figure, is said to lodge in the bramhun's hand, and are consumed. If a bramhun stretch out his hand before a shōōdru have bowed to him, he will sink into a state of misery; and if a shōōdrů meet a bramhun, and bow not to him, he will meet with the same fate. : The shoodrus practise the ceremonies belonging to their order, using the formulas of the pooranus; a person of this class is prohibited from repeating a single petition from the védŭs. Devout shōōdrus practise the following ceremonies daily about twelve o'clock they bathe, and afterwards, with the pooranŭ prayers, attend to the two first services prescribed for each day, either by the side of the river or in the house; and in the evening they repeat another service. In these ceremonies, the bramhinical object of worship is the shalŭgramů; that of the shōōdrus, who are forbidden to use this stone, the water of the Ganges. Shōōdrus, not being prohibited by the shastru the exercise of any trade, pursue (at present) that which they think will be most profitable, but in almost all mechanical employments, these trades are still pursued from father to son in succession. Several casts engage in the same trade, though this is not regular; as, among the weavers are kayust❜hus, milkmen, gardeners, and husbandmen; different casts also follow the occupation of carpenters. 1 This blessing is sometimes given, but in general the shōōdrů bows, and the bramhun, without taking any notice, passes on. Many weavers, barbers, farmers, oilmen, merchants, bankers, spice-merchants, liquor-merchants, ornamentmakers, &c. can read the translations of the pooranus in the Bengalee. Some voidyŭs read their own shastrus on medicine, as well as the Sungskritŭ grammars, the poets, and the works on rhetoric; and the names of several voidyŭ writers in this language are mentioned. A few kayŭst hus, and other shōōdrus, who have become rich, read certain books in the provincial dialects. The bramhuns deny that there any pure shōōdrus in the kūlēē-yoogŭ; they add, that the present race of shōōdrůs have all arisen from improper marriages between the higher and lower casts. The general name by which the kŭlee-yoogŭ shōōdrůs are distinguished is Vŭrnů shunkŭrů,TM There are many subdivisions among the shōōdrus, some of which are as effectual barriers to mutual intercourse as the distinction between bramhuns and shōōdrus: a kayŭst'hu will no more visit a barber than would a bramhun, nor a barber a joiner; and thus through all the ranks of the lower orders. I shall here notice the different ranks of shoodrus, or vůrnů-shŭnkūrus, as far as I am able: this will bring before the reader the state of the ARTS and MANUFACTURES among the Hindoos: 1st. Class. The Voidyus. These persons, who sprang from the union of a bramhun with a female voishyŭ, claim the honour of belonging to the third order, in consequence of which they wear the poita, and at the time of m Mixed casts: from vŭrnů, a cast, and shůnkŭrŭ, mixture, investiture perform some of the ceremonies used in investing a bramhŭn. Rajvŭllŭvů, a person of this class, steward to the nuwab of Moorshŭdubad, about a hundred years ago, first procured for the voidy us the honour of wearing the poita: he invited the bramhuns to a feast, and persuaded them to invest his son; since which time many voidy us wear this badge of distinction. Some persons of this order, like the voishy us, remain unclean fifteen days after the death of a parent, and others a month, like other shōōdrus. The voidyus can read some of the shastrus: they extort more privileges from the bramhuns than other shōōdrus; sometimes sitting on the same seat, and smoking from the same pipe, with them; in a few instances they employ indigent bramhŭns as clerks, and even as cooks." Few voidy us are rich : some are very rigid idolators, and many voidyŭ widows ascend the funeral pile: at Sonŭkhalee, in Jessore, which contains many families of this order, almost all the widows are burnt alive with the corpses of their husbands. Bŭllalŭsénů created four classes of voidyŭ koolēēnus, who have assumed the titles of Sénu, Mŭllikŭ, Dŭttŭ, and Gooptů. The voidyŭs, who are the professed, though not the exclusive, medical men amongst the Bengalees, study the Nidanŭ, Rukshitů, Drivyŭ-goonů, and other medical shastrus. There are no medical colleges in Bengal, but n This, I find, is not only the case as it respects the voidyus, but rich shōōdrus, of every order, employ bramhŭns as cooks; even the voiragee mendicants procure bramhŭns to prepare the food at their feasts. A respectable Hindoo will not receive medicine from any Hindoo except a voidyŭ; and some shastrus declare, that a person rejecting a voidyŭ physician will be punished in hell; but that he who employs a voidyŭ, though he should not be able to see Gunga in his dying moments, will ascend to heaven. |