-ranked as belonging to the "twice born" and were all

to be present at the great national sacrifices. The st were the once born Súdras, the Dasas of the Véda, ees were spared by the conquerors in order that they te as a servile class. These were not allowed to athe great sacrifices and feasts. It was their lot to per

e hardest and meanest labor, and from their low teney could never rise. The system of castes did not evelop until after the Aryans were well settled along nges. It did not obtain in the early settlements west In the Middle Land, from Delhi to Benares, mans became a compact body which assumed to dic... i classes in all matters relating to religion, philosophy

...

་|

They denounced all Aryans who did not submit pretensions as lapsed and outcast tribes. The reought of the people found its expression in the vich were ultimately compiled and reduced to write Brahmans however were not content with the enon of religious rites and the preservation of the th. They sought to secure their own position and System which had been developed by codes of laws. rest of these are the Dharma Sastras, which exhibit of the Hindu law at an early date, not fixed with ce of certainty. They do not purport to be new , but simply compilations of existing law. They and enforce the division into castes in the order ater than this came the great code of Manu which mans ascribe to the first Aryan man thirty millions

This was a compilation of the laws which had ished in that portion of India where the Brahman..xercised the greatest influence. This so-called code ed a more powerful influence and over a far wider

ny native dynasty ever established in India. So hold did the system which it expressed gain on the India that its leading tenets have maintained their through all the mutations of race and empire, even

at day. Later than this came a second great code Yumay alka, compiled after the establishment of Bud

177

dhism. It is a reiteration of the laws of Manu with some additions relating to legal forms and other matters.

These codes found their sanction in the Védas, which had attained the authority of inspired writings, and the rules declared for the government of all classes of people were mainly extracted from the Vedic Sanhitas. exalt the Brahman caste is evident, it was not the gross superWhile the purpose to iority which comes merely with the possession of wealth and political power, but a far better and more enduring superiority was sought and in fact attained. The Brahmans were made the custodians not merely of the religious ceremonials but of learning as well. Purity of morals and of blood were enjoined, and the leading idea at all times seems to have been to maintain a genuine intellectual and physical superiority over the native races and also over the inferior Aryan castes. The three original Aryan castes Brahmans, Cshattriyas and Vaisyas all observed the same domestic rites at birth, first feeding of rice, investure with the sacred thread, marriage, funerals, etc. The most important of these observances was the upanayana or conducting the boy to his teacher. Connected with this was the ceremony of investing with the sacred cord, which was worn over the left shoulder and under the right arm, varying in material according to the class of the wearer. This was the preliminary to his initiation into the study of the Véda, the management of the sacred fire, the knowledge of the rites of purification, and the invocation to the sun, which he must repeat morning and evening.

The steps by which the principles of Brahmanical law were extended and enforced, throughout not only Hindostan but farther India as well, cannot be traced historically, but certain it is that the code of Manu, modified by and adapted to local conditions and customs, forms the basis of the social organization of the many races of India. While the system of castes is often spoken of as the most rigid and inflexible institution ever established, it seems to have been so moulded as to adapt itself to all the varying conditions of that most varied aggregation of people, and in matters of belief the Indian pantheon appears at one time or another to have had

Office of Correspondence, Office of the Imperial Seal and registration. All power was centered in the Caliph, who was the spiritual as well as the temporal head. The ministers of the various departments were responsible to him. So were the prefects who stood as his representatives in the provinces. Justice was administered by Cadis appointed by the Caliph, his Vizier or the prefect. To be eligible to this appointment one must be a free male Moslem, of suitable age, sound mind, good morals and learned in the law. The Cadis had general civil and criminal jurisdiction and of guardianships and estates, and over mosques, schools and public buildings. To assist him the Cadi had Notaries, Secretaries and Deputies. From the decision of the Cadi an appeal might be taken to the Court of Appeal, which was presided over by the Caliph in person till the time of Mohtadi, after which a special judge appointed for that purpose presided. In the provinces there were Marshals who kept records of the birth and death of descendants of the family of the Prophet. The Imams officiated at the Mosques.

The practical application of the Koran in the decision of causes by the Cadis and the religious sentiment of the believers combined in calling out innumerable commentaries, seeking to elucidate and make plain whatever was obscure. Judges with a fixed guide for their decisions were a marked improvement over despotism, notwithstanding the meager rules afforded by the Koran. Under the Caliphs a new and better civilization than any which had preceded it developed, and the seats of learning and progress in literature, art and science were within the Moslem world. As the lights grew dim in the crumbling empire of Rome and Constantinople they burned more brightly at Damascus and Bagdad, illuminating the followers of Islam from India to Andalusia. Though the teachings of Mohammed were not so pure and exalted as those of Christ, they were coupled with more practical means for their observance, and on Asiatic and African soil they manifested superior adaptation. In Europe they never took firm root, save among the Moors in Spain and the Turks in the east.

171

Though at this day it is estimated that near 175,000,000 people are Mohammedans, the empire of the Caliphs is in scattered fragments. The Koran sanctions slavery and polygamy, and, while it forbids wine and gaming in this world, it promises a sensual idlers' heaven. Its ideals are neither nor exalted, and its standard of justice is partial and deficient. pure While apparently of great use in its time, like all other rigid systems enforced by a religious sanction, it perpetuates its errors and vices, and in the lapse of centuries these seem to overshadow the good and render the whole an obstacle to be removed to make way for something better. But so well is the faith with its rewards and punishment adapted to certain types of men, that neither Christianity nor Buddhism has succeeded in transplanting it.

CHAPTER IX

INDIA

Within the geographical limits of what we call India there are, and in the earliest times of which we have any accounts were, so many people, differing in race, language and social condition from each other, that generalizations become exceedingly difficult and a connected historical statement of the development of their civilization quite impossible. No single race has at any known date occupied the whole territory. No one language has been spoken by all the people. At this day the ethnologist finds there an ample field for the study of the diverse types of men. Connected histories by native writers are almost wholly wanting. The material from which the student must proceed to construct an account of the past is fragmentary. The earliest accounts come through the sacred writings of the Aryan invaders, who entered the country from the northwest. The date of their advent into the Punjab is variously estimated by scholars on data which leave a very wide margin for difference of inference, with no means of definitely settling the point. It seems safe to say that it was more than 1000 B.C. and may have been thousands of years earlier. These invaders found the country already peopled by numerous tribes, some of whom used iron implements and were considerably advanced above the savage state. Of the people occupying those parts of the country remote from the invaders we have no accounts reaching back to so early a time.

From the Vedic hymns are gathered the leading facts relating to the movement of the Indian branch of the great Aryan family from the common home in the mountain region from which the Oxus and Jaxartes flowed. What causes have produced the Brahmin type in India and the Persian, Median and European in the west it is not our purpose to inquire, but