Having beconui attached to the cinintry, society resolved
itself into fmr arcat (dasses, or castes. These were first, the



CASTE. 107

Braiiiuaus, or priost class; second. Hie Rajjiut, or warrior
caste; third, the Vaisyas, (ir tillers of the soil ; and the Sudras,
or servile cla,ss. The first three; helonging to the Aryan race,
honored themselves Avith the distinction of heing " twice-born."
The Sudras were of the original inhabitants. They were of a
distinct and dark-skinned race. They, lieing but "once born,"
were regarded with great contempt by their superiors. This
was the beginning of that great system of caste which for ages
has held the people of India as in a cast-iron mold. The sys-
tem itself has l)r(ja,dened and strengthened in order to retain
its hold npon the people, until at present it is stated, on good
authority, that tluM'e are at least thirty thousand distinctions
of caste recognized in India. In the Brahman caste alone
there are ten thousand.
The Brahmans became philosophers and students of art and
science. The standard £>'rammar of the Sanskrit lan<)uai;e dates
from more than five hundred years l^efore Christ. Their phi-
loso|)hy is older than that of Greece or Home, and in many I'e-
spects superior. Their civilization antedates the bii'th of the
Anglo Saxon race by many more centuries than have elapsed
since our race was born. The Brahmans point with great pride;
to their ancestry, and repudiate Avith scorn the epithet of
"heathen" when applied to them.
