Major-General Sir J. Malcolm on the Bhills. 67 



having adopted that life. It is agreed that these men, driven to despair, 

 by being placed beyond the pale of the privileged castes, would naturally 

 become the enemies of the society from which they were expelled. But it 

 is not consistent with the art and wisdom, so evident in the whole frame of 

 the Hindu system, to suppose that its authors would unnecessarily establish 

 hostile communities, to disturb the general peace ; and the allotment of 

 trades * and professions to several of these spurious classes, contradicts the 

 supposition. There must have been a distinct class existing in the com- 

 munity, upon whom these outcasts grafted themselves, before they were stig- 

 matized by the lawgiver as plunderers; and it is singular, that, in the remark- 

 able verse t of the Ramayana (which claims to be the most ancient of 

 Hindu poems), the Vyddh, or fowler, is particularly denounced by its au- 

 thor, the sage Valjiiki, for his inhumanity in killing one of two herons,^ 

 which the sage observed enjoying themselves on the margin of a pure 

 stream, in which he was bathing. 



Enough has been said to shew, that we may expect to throw light upon 

 the ancient history of India, from minute enquiries into the origin of the 



* The goldsmiths, the workers in cane, and many other castes, are of spurious origin, and 

 are noticed by Menu. 



\ " Oh, Nisha'da (Valmiki exclaimed), mayest thou never acquire long enduring renown. 

 •' For, of this pair of herons, thou hast slain one, at the very moment it was intoxicated with 

 '-' love." 



This is asserted, in the poem, to have been the first stanza ever composed in the Sanscrit lan- 

 guage ; as we read, that, when " Valmiki had pronounced these words, it struck him that he 

 " had uttered a very remarkable sentence ; and reflecting on its structure, he observed to his 

 " disciple Bharadwa'ja, that it consisted of four feet of equal syllables, and then directed him 

 " to call it a sloica, or verse. The obedient disciple acquiesced, and they both returned to the 

 " hermitage ; the sage pondering in the way on the nature of his couplet. On his arrival, while 

 " absorbed in deep reflection, arising from this event, he was honoured with a visit from Brahma', 

 " the Lord of creatures. Valm{ki arose, and after duly reverencing the God, he exclaimed, 

 " 'By this depraved and ignorant fowler, has so much misery been caused ! how wantonly has 

 " he killed the sweetly plaintive heron.' 



" Brahma' smiled, and addressing Valmiki, directed him to write the history of Ra'ma, in 

 " such measured words as he had just uttered, in grief for the unfortunate heron. Brahma' then 

 " vanished from his sight, after declaring, that the Ra'ma'yana, he was about to write, should 

 " remain current amongst men, as long as the earth should endure, and that VALMfKi himself 

 " should be rewarded, for its composition, by an abode in heaven, as long as height and depth 

 " could be predicated of that region." 



X The bird, mentioned in the original, is the Ardea torra, familiarly known, in India, by the 

 name of Paildy-hird, from its frequenting the fields of that grain. 



K 2 



