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nity ; even us fire is a powerful divinity, whether consecrated or 

 popular. Thus, though brahmins employ themselves in all sorts 

 of mean occupations, they must invariably be honoured, for the} r 

 are something transcendently divine." 



" Of created things, the most excellent are those which are 

 animated; of the animated, those which subsist by intelligence ; 

 of the intelligent, mankind ; and of men, the sacerdotal class. 

 The very birth of a brahmin is a continued incarnation of Dherna, 

 god of justice; for the brahmin is born to promote justice, and to 

 procure ultimate happiness. 



" Whatever exists in the universe, is in effect, though not in 

 form, the wealth of the brahmin, since the brahmin is entitled to it 

 by his primogeniture and eminence of birth. 



" When a brahmin springs to light, he is born above the 

 world, the chief of all creatures ; assigned to guard the treasury of 

 duties, religious and civil. 



" He who, through ignorance of the law, sheds blood from the 

 body of a brahmin, not engaged in battle, as many particles of 

 dust as the blood shall roll up from the ground, for so many years 

 shall the shedder of that blood be mangled by other animals in his 

 next birth ; or so many thousand years shall the shedder of that 

 blood be tormented in hell." 



Such insufferable pre-eminence, either implied or confirmed, 

 in a variety of passages respecting the brahmins, pervades the code 

 of Menu. Great indeed must be the sacrifice such men make, 

 when they embrace a religion of which humility is the foundation 

 stone. It would be difficult to convey an idea to the English 

 reader of the surprize and horror which prevailed throughout the 



