426 



SCIENCES AND SOCIAL ARTS. 



[PART IV. 



theoretically maintained by the Hindus ; among them 

 there are neither Brahmans, Vaisyas, nor Kshastryas ; 

 and at the head of the class which they retain, they 

 place the Goi-wanse or Vellalas, nominally " tillers of 

 the soil." In earlier times the institution seems to have 

 been recognised in its entirety, and in the glowing de- 

 scription given in the Mahawanso of the planting of the 

 great Bo-tree, "the sovereign the lord of chariots 

 directed that it should be lifted by the four high caste 

 tribes and by eight persons of each of the other castes." * 

 In later times the higher ranks are seldom spoken of in 

 the historical books but by specific titles, but frequent 

 allusion is made to the Chandalas, the lowest of all, who 

 were degraded to the office of scavengers and carriers of 

 corpses. 2 



Slavery. The existence of slavery is repeatedly re- 

 ferred to, and in the absence of any specific allusion to 

 its origin in Ceylon, it must be presumed to have been 

 borrowed from India. As the Sudras, according to the 

 institutes of Menu, were by the laws of caste consigned 

 to helpless bondage, so slavery in Ceylon was an attri- 

 bute of race 3 ; and those condemned to it were doomed 

 to toil from their birth, with no requital other than the 

 obligation on the part of their masters to maintain 

 them in health, to succour them in sickness, and appor- 

 tion their burdens to their strength. 4 And although the 

 liberality of theoretical Buddhism threw open, even to 

 the lowest caste, all the privileges of the priesthood, the 



1 Mahawanso, ch. xix. p. 116. 



2 Ibid., ch. x. p. 66. The Chandala 

 in one of the Jatakas is represented 

 as " one born in the open air, his pa- 

 rents not being possessed of a roof; 

 and as he lies amongst the pots when 

 his mother goes to cut fire-wood, he 

 is suckled by the bitch along with her 

 pups." HAKDY'S Buddhism, ch. iii. 

 p. 80. 



3 In later times, slavery was not 

 confined to the low castes ; insolvents 

 could be made slaves by their credi- 

 tors the chief frequently buying the 

 debt, and attaching the debtor to his 

 followers. The children of freemen, 

 by female slaves, followed the status 

 of their mothers. 



4 HAKDY'S JJuddhism, ch. x. p. 482. 



