of Osiris was equivalent to the completion of metempsychosis. May it not be, however, that those whose souls were supposed not to be liable to this continued migration, were, for that very reason, looked upon as superior to other men-in fact, that they formed a distinct caste, with exclusive material privileges equivalent to the spiritual ones which they had secured? If this was so, the institution of caste was probably founded on the doctrine of metempsychosis, its several grades being merely those in which the people generally were classed together, according to the idea entertained by the sacred caste themselves of their relative spiritual condition.1 According to this view, the silence of the Vedas on the subject of transmigration of souls is accounted for by the fact that those by whom and for whose use they were composed, constituted a sacred caste, consisting of men, who, from their spiritual condition, were supposed not to be subject to its operation. This notion is confirmed by the position which the Brahmans claim for themselves. Thus, the Rev. M. A. Sherring says that "the Brahman has the idea constantly before his inner self, that he is himself a god, and deserves divine honours, which is acknowledged by all Hindus, some of whom, as he pursues his way, will stop him, and then offer to him the adoration due only to the Almighty, which he receives complacently as his right." Professor Max

2

1 Dean Milman, after referring to the doctrine of the antagonism of spirit and matter as the elementary principle of the higher Brahminism, and also of the moral Buddhism of India and the remote East, remarks that "the theory of the division of castes supposes that a larger portion of the pure mind of the Deity is infused into the sacerdotal and superior orders; they are nearer to the Deity, and with more immediate hope of being absorbed into the divine essence; while the lower classes are more inextricably immersed in the grosser matter of the world, their feeble portion of the essential spirit of the divinity contracted and lost in the predominant mass of corruption and malignity."-" History of Christianity," vol. ii., p. 85.

2The Sacred City of the Hindus," p. 14; on this point see also "The Religion of the Hindus," by the Rev. W. Ward, third edition, vol. i., p. 245.

Müller shows that the Brahmans claimed even the name of gods as early as the Brahmaná period.1 The ground for this claim appears to be knowledge of the Vedas. By study of the sacred books the Brahman becomes a human god, a condition which is expressed by his title "twice born," as it is evidenced by his assumption of the sacrificial thread and the girdle. Nor is the importance, in relation to the subject of caste, of the sacred character denoted by that title, lessened by the fact that all the Aryan castes, as distinguished from the lowest Sudra caste, are said to be " “twice born." 3 Prof. Max Müller remarks that we can see clearly in the Vedic hymns, in the Brahmanas, and in the legendary stories contained in the epic poems, how the three upper castes grew up. "The three occupations of the Aryas in India were, fighting, cultivating the soil, and worshipping the gods. Those who fought the battles of the people would naturally acquire influence and rank, and their leaders appear in the Veda, as Rajahs or kings. Those who do not share in the fighting would occupy a more humble position; they were called Vis, Vaisyas, or householders. But a third occupation, that

of worshipping the gods, was evidently considered by the whole nation to be as important, and as truly essential to the well-being of the country, as fighting against enemies or cultivating the soil." Those to whom this

1 66 Chips," vol. ii., p. 337.

2 Until investiture with the girdle and the thread, the Brahman is on a level with the Sudra. "The Laws of Menu," translated by Sir W. Jones, ch. ii., v. 172.

3 According to the laws of Menu, the right to "ligation of the zone," and the investiture with the sacrificial thread, belong to the three higher classes (ch. i., v. 42-44), who thus acquire the second birth (ch. ii., v. 169). In this process, the prayer Gáyátrí, is said to be the mother, and the A'chárya, or sage-teacher, the father. A priest may attain beatitude by the repetition of the Gáyátrí without any other religious act (ch. ii., v. 87).

As

duty was committed were the priests or Brahmans.1 time went on these distinctions became more and more marked, and when the Brahmans finally established their supremacy, the division into the four castes, which subsisted until the subversion of Brahmanism by Buddhism was firmly established. But originally all the Aryas formed but one caste, as is evident from the various passages in the Puranas referred to by Prof. Max Müller.2 Agreeably with this view, all the Aryas, as well Kshatriyas and Vaisyas as Brahmans were admitted to the sacrifices.

The reconciliation of this fact with the peculiar sacredness now claimed by the Brahmans, is to be found in the assumption by the latter of a superiority over the other Aryas as a consequence of their priestly character. Probably the Aryas, when they invaded India, considered themselves, as a body, a sacred class, and this may, indeed, be denoted by their name, which seems to have reference to their claim to be "children of the sun.' The title of "twice-born," given to the three superior castes, confirms this view, as does the fact, otherwise so inexplicable, that some of the Kshatriyas became Brahmans or possessed an intimate knowledge of the Vedas.* 1 "The Laws of Menu," ch. ii., p. 329.

"3

2 Do., ii., p. 336. The question whether the Vedas refer to caste divisions is thoroughly discussed by Dr. Muir-" Original Sanskrit Texts," vol. i., ch. 1,-in connection with the Purusha Sūkta hymn of the Rig-Veda, where the mythical origin of the four castes from the body of the creator is mentioned, and decided in the negative.

3 The Incas of Peru, who were called "children of the sun," appear to have formed a sacred caste; see Garcillasso's "Royal Commentaries," Hakluyt Socy., vol. i., p. 161.

4 Max Müller, op. cit., vol. ii., p. 341. Dr. Muir shows that, according to the ancient traditions on which the legendary history of the Hindu Aryas was based, all the castes, speaking generally, were descended from one and the same stock-" Original Sanskrit Texts," vol. i., ch. 2. Dr. Haug, however, finds in the Zendavesta mention of three classes, answering to the three highest castes of India, and he concludes that the primitive people had divided into three classes long before the separation of the Indians from the Iranians-Muir, op. cit., vol. i., p. 293.

This presents no difficulty when it is known that the three superior castes originally formed but one, all the members of which not merely bore the title of "twice born," but were really supposed, like the present Brahmanic wearers of the sacred thread, to be so. We appear

to have in this a sufficient explanation of the silence of the Vedas on the subject of caste, which, indeed, could hardly be said to exist, in relation to the Aryas at least, while all men alike occupied the same high position. When, however, social distinctions were established, the very ideas which at first prevented the existence of caste, would tend to firmly establish it. The laws of Menu have a curious passage to the effect that "a twice born man, who, not having studied the Veda, applies diligent attention to a different and worldly study, soon falls, even when living, to the condition of a Sudra, and his descendants after him." 1 This is what would be expected from the influence ascribed to the understanding of the Veda, and it is easy to see that as the Aryas become settled and divided into classes, the study of the sacred books might gradually be restricted to the Brahmans as the priestly class. In this case they would claim to be alone truly "twice born," and as such alone certainly free from the condition of metempsychosis. The loss of the sacred character, consequent on neglect of the study of the Veda, would, on the other hand, make the members of the other castes again liable to the transmigration from which their second birth had before protected them. It may be said, therefore, that as social distinctions became established, the system of caste was instituted, and this, again, rendered those distinctions gradually the more and more fixed as the sacred character of the Brahmans, on which caste was really founded, was generally recognised.

1 Ch. ii. v. 169.

Unless caste was connected with the idea of trans migration, it is difficult to understand how the latter came to have that prominent position which it holds in the poetry, philosophy, and religion of the Hindus. Professor Max Müller, when comparing the opinions of Kapila and Buddha, states that "there are certain notions which Buddha shares in common, not only with Kapila, but with every Hindu philosopher. The idea of transmigration, the belief in the continuing effects of our good and bad actions, extending from our former to our present and from our present to our future lives, the sense that life is a dream or a burden, the admission of the uselessness of religious observance after the attainment of the highest knowledge, all these belong, so to say, to the national philosophy of India."1 M. Barthelemy Saint-Hilaire has made a comparison between the metempsychosis of Pythagoras and the doctrine of transmigration according to the Sânkhya philosophy of Kapila. He concludes that the Greeks were indebted to the Hindus rather than to the Egyptians for their ideas on that subject. It is especially in Plato that the analogies between the Greek and the Indian philosophies are seen to be so numerous and exact as not to be merely accidental. For Plato as for Kapila, the only salvation of man is philosophy. Men devoted to brutal passions migrate into the bodies of brutes with which they have some affinity. But, as compared with Hindu teaching, the metempsychosis of the Greek writers is only fragmentary, the latter agreeing so far with the Egyptians, who do not appear to have extended the migration of the soul to plants and inorganic bodies as was done by Kapila.2 "It is in the Sânkhya," says M. Saint-Hilaire,

1 Op. cit., vol. i., p. 227.

2 "Mémoires de l'Academie des Sciences Morales," Tom. viii., pp. 508, 515.