Lieut.-Colonel Tod on the Religions Establislmients of Mewar. 275 



frequently exemplified in cases alike prejudicial to the interests of society and 

 the personal welfare of the sovereign. The latter is often surrounded by 

 lay-Brahmans as confidential servants, in the capacities of butler, keeper 

 of the wardrobe, or seneschal,* besides the Gwrw or domestic chaplain, who 

 to the duty of ghostly comforter sometimes joins that of astrologer and 

 physician, in which case God help the prince !t These Gurus and Purohits 

 having the education of the children, acquire immense influence ; and they 

 are not backward in improving " the greatness thrust upon them." All 

 these are continually importuning their prince for grants of land for them- 

 selves and the shrines they are attached to ; and every chief, as well as 



* These lay-Brahmans are not wanting in energy or courage ; the sword is as famiHar to 

 them as the mala (cliaplet). The grandfather of Ra.mnat'h, the present worthy seneschal of 

 the Rana, was governor of the turbulent district of Jehajpur, which has never been so well 

 ruled since. He left a curious piece of advice to his successors, inculcating vigorous measures. 

 « With two thousand men you may eat khitchri ; with one thousand dalb'hat ; with five hundred 

 juti, (the shoe). Khitchri is a savoury mess of pulse, rice, butter, and spices ; Dalb'hat is 

 simple rice and pulse ; the Shoe, is indelible disgrace. 



•j- Menu, in his rules on government, commands the king to impart his momentous counsel and 

 entrust all transactions to a learned and distinguished Brahman. Chap. vii. p. 195. 



There is, no being more aristocratic in his ideas than the secular Brahman or priest, who deems 

 the bare name a passport to respect. The Kulun Brahman of Bengal piques himself upon this 

 title of nobility granted by the last Hindu king of Canouj (whence they migrated to Bengal), 

 and in virtue of which his alliance in matrimony is courted. But although Menu has imposed 

 obligations towards the Brahman little short of adoration, these are limited to the " learned in 

 the Vedas :" he classes the unlearned Brahman with " an elephant made of wood, or an antelope 

 of leather ;" nullities, save in name. And he adds further, that " as liberality to a fool is 

 useless, so is a Brahman useless if he read not the holy texts :" comparing the person who gives 

 to such an one, to a husbandman " who, sowing seed in a barren soil, reaps no gain ;" so, the 

 Brahman " obtains no reward in heaven." These sentiments are repeated in numerous texts, 

 holding out the most powerful inducements to the sacerdotal class to cultivate their minds, since 

 their power consists solely in their wisdom. For such, there are no privileges too extensive, v 



no homage too great. " A king, even though dying with want, must not receive any tax from 

 a Brahman learned in the Vedas." His person is sacred. " Never shall the king slay a Braliman, 

 though convicted of all possible crimes," is a premium at least to unbounded insolence, and 

 unfits them for members of society, more especially for soldiers : banishment, with person and 

 property untouched, is the declared punishment for even the most heinous crimes. " A Brah- 

 man may seize without hesitation, if he be distressed for a subsistence, the goods of his Sudra 

 slave." But the following text is the climax : " What prince could gain wealth by oppressing 

 these [Brahmans], who, if angry, could frame other worlds, and regents of worlds, and could 

 give birth to new gods and mortals ?" — Menu, chaps, ii, iii, vii, viii, ix. 



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