2 Dr. J. Wise — The Hindus of Eastern Bengal. [No. 1, 



Sreni, or orders, for the Vaidika and Bhat, refusing to be classified by 

 a Vaidya, retired into the hill countries of Sylhet and Orissa ; and the 

 other tribes, who had become hopelessly demoralised, were left un- 

 touched. 



The chief object of the reform organised by Ballal Sen was the 

 creation of an aristocratic and powerful hierarchy, placed in such a posi- 

 tion of dignity, that no misdemeanour and no immortality could deprive 

 it of hereditary privileges, or the reverence of the lower classes. An 

 illegal marriage was the only transgression entailing loss of rank and 

 forfeiture of respect. Wo provision was made in this new code for the 

 elevation of the lower ranks Avhen families became extinct ; consequent- 

 ly, as Kulin houses disappeared, the difficulty of procuring husbands 

 for daughters vastly increased, and when the third recognisation of 

 the order was made by Devi Vara, in the fourteenth century, polygamy 

 and the buying and selling of wives was the engrossing occupation of 

 the twice-born Brahmans. 



In spite of these successive endeavours for securing the purity of 

 the Bengali Brahmans, it is remarkable that Kanaujiya, and other 

 Brahmanical tribes of Hindustan, have always despised and repudiated 

 any connection with their Bengali brethren. In their religious and 

 domestic ceremonies, habits of life, and mode of living, Bengali Brah- 

 mans are quite distinct from any of the other tribes, and the only point 

 of attachment between them is when outcast Kanaujiyas marry Srotriya 

 maidens and become absox-bed into their ranks. Although clinging with 

 characteristic pertinacity to all the prerogatives of their order, modern 

 ideas are gradually undermining their bulwarks, and the exclusive rules 

 are step by step yielding to education and the progress of the nation. 

 Kulin Brahmans are now found adorning the bench, the bar, and the 

 medical profession, and, while proving useful members of society, exert 

 a rare influence for good over their Hindu countrymen. 



Besides the Rarhi and Varendra tribes, there were in Bengal four 

 inferior classes of Brahmans left out of the organisation of Ballal Sen, 

 namely, the Vaidika, Sapta-sati, A'charya, and Agradana. The three 

 first claim to have been resident in Bengal before the reign of that 

 monarch, and the services of all the four are still required by the Rarhi 

 Sreni at many important ceremonies. The Vaidika is the only division 

 that has preserved an honourable position ; but whether this is owino- 

 to their being descendants of Kanaujiya Brahmans, to the respectability 

 and decency of their lives, or to their independence of character, is very 

 doubtful. They decline to give their daughters in marriage to the 

 Kulin Brahmans of Bikarampur, and refuse to act for any clean Siidra, 

 or Brahman, unless his family can trace their origin to Kanauj . The 



