208 



THE LIVING RACES OF MANKIND 



only what was given to him. All 

 through life he practised a strict 

 temperance, drank no wine, and set 

 an example to others of "plain living 

 and high thinking." For ''what is 

 the world?" said a Brahman sage. 

 "It is even as the bough of a 

 tree, on which a bird rests for a 

 night, and in the morning flies 

 away." 



Doubtless a certain number of 

 individuals out of such a large class 

 would find the yoke a hard one, and 

 might relapse into worldliness. This 

 has happened to a certain extent; 

 and, moreover, the struggle of life 

 in modern times has forced very 

 many of these sacred persons to take 

 up secular pursuits. But all Sanskrit 

 literature bears witness to the fact 

 that this ideal life was constantly 

 before the eyes of the Brahmaus, and 

 that they did to some considerable 

 extent live up to this high standard 

 in its two essential features of self- 

 culture and self-restraint. Certain 

 incidents recorded in the history of 

 Buddha in the sixth century before 

 Christ show that numbers of Brahmans. 

 were then living according to the 

 rules of life laid down for them. 

 Three centuries later the Greek 

 ambassador Megasthenes found them 

 discoursing in their groves chiefly 

 on subjects such as life and death. 

 To this day they have their colleges, 

 and English visitors to these retreats 

 are struck with the strict discipline 

 enforced and the devotion of the 

 students to their studies. 

 Brahmans marry only within their caste; they become fathers when in their prime; and 

 not being called upon for military service, they have not lost any of their best and strongest 

 sons in war. Hence their best qualities have been transmitted in an ever-increasing measure 

 to their descendants. The Brahmans of to-day, therefore, present to us the result of nearly 

 3,000 years of hereditary education and self-restraint, and the result is that they have 

 produced quite a distinct type. Even the passing traveller in India marks them out 

 both from the muscular and athletic Rajputs, or warrior class, and from the dark-skinned, 

 thick-lipped, and short aborigines (Dravidians and Kolarians). The class has become the ruling 

 power, not by force of arms, but by superior mind and the effects of culture and true 

 temperance. Dynasties rose and fell; conquests took place; religions, such as Buddhism, have 

 spread themselves over the land and disappeared; but the Brahman has calmly ruled, swaying 

 the counsels of kings and princes, and receiving the homage of the people, as beings half 



Photo by Messrs. Bourne <& Sfiepkerd] 



AN EXECUTIONER OF REWA. 



