112 BULLETIN 148, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



the loose division of the people into the four principal castes of the 

 Brahmans, from which the priests are taken, the warriors, or Ksha- 

 tryas, the tillers of the soil and merchants, or Vaisyas, and the menials, 

 or Sudras. The first three castes are called the twice-born, it being 

 pretended that by the investiture with the sacred cord they attain 

 a second spiritual birth, and of these the Brahman caste occupies a 

 position of unquestioned social supremacy. The Brahmans as pos- 

 sessing religious sanctity, as mediators between men and gods, as 

 sole custodians of the sacred texts, were tacitly recognized as the high- 

 est models of ceremonial and racial purity. Only members of the 

 twice-born castes are allowed to read the sacred books of the Vedas 

 and to participate in sacrifices and other religious ceremonials. The 

 four principal castes are subdivided into countless subcastes, deter- 

 mined by distinctions of race, geographical location, reUgion, or occupa- 

 tion. Food or drink may not be received from members of lower 

 castes or partaken with them, and expulsion from caste for infringe- 

 ment of caste rules means complete social excommunication. 



88. Caste mark oj a Brahman. — Made of bronze. India. (Cat. No. 

 154857, U.S.N.M.) 



89. Caste marh of a warrior, or Kshatrya. — Made of bronze. India. 

 (Cat. No. 154858, U.S.N.M.) 



90. Caste mark oj a merchant, or Vaisya. — Made of bronze. India. 

 (Cat. No. 154860, U.S.N.M.) 



91. Caste mark oj a Sudra. — Made of lead. India. (Cat. No. 

 154859, U.S.N.M.) 



Besides these caste marks, the two principal sects of Hinduism, 

 namely, the worshipers of Vishnu and of Siva, respectively, are 

 distinguished by special marks. The Vishnuites are marked on the 

 forehead in yellow or vermilion with two perpendicular lines meeting 

 below in a curve which denote the footprint of Vishnu; the Sivaites 

 are marked by three horizontal lines made with white or gray ashes. 

 These marks can only be performed by a Brahman priest and are 

 obligatory before entering a temple. 



92. Sacred cord. — Is the mark of the three higher castes. By its 

 investiture in boyhood the child attains the Aryan rank and is said 

 to be twice-born. It is generally a thin coil of three threads of cotton 

 for a Brahman, of hemp for a Kshatrya, and of wool for a Vaisya, and 

 is worn over the left shoulder and allowed to fall diagonally across the 

 body to the right hip. The rite of investiture with the cord is per- 

 formed for a Brahman in the eighth year, for a Kshatrya in the elev- 

 enth, and for a Vaisya in the twelfth, though the time may be extended 

 in each case. Lucknow, India. (Cat. No. 18962, U.S.N.M.) 



93. Brahman necklace. — Composed of globular beads of wood. 

 Calc\itta, India. (Cat. No. 153538, U.S.N.M.) Gift of Lieut. G. B. 

 Harber, United States Navy. 



