310 SKETCH OF THE 



from the duties and habits to which they were originally devoted. Nei- 

 ther of these classes, therefore, can with propriety make use of the Vaidik 

 ritual, and their manual of devotion must be taken from some other 

 source. 



How far the preference of any individual Divinity, as an especial 

 object of veneration, is authorised by the Vedas, remains yet to be deter- 

 mined ; but there is no reason to doubt that most of the forms to which 

 homage is now paid are of modern canonization. At any rate such is the 

 highest antiquity of the most celebrated Teachers and Founders of the 

 popular sects; andBASAVA in the Dckhin, Vallabha Swami in Hindustan, 

 and Chaitanya in Bengal, claim no earlier a date than the eleventh and 

 sixteenth centuries. 



Consistent with the introduction of new objects of devotion, is the 

 elevation of new races of individuals to the respect or reverence of the 

 populace as their ministers and representatives. The Brahmans retain, it 

 is true, a traditional sanctity ; and when they cultivate pursuits suited to 

 their character, as the Law and Literature of their sacred language, they 

 receive occasional marks of attention, and periodical donations from the 

 most opulent of their countrymen. But a very mistaken notion prevails 

 generally amongst Europeans of the position of the Brahmans in Hindu 

 society, founded on the terms in which they are spoken of by Menu, 

 and the application of the expression ' Priesthood,' to the Brahmanical 

 Order, by Sir William Jones. In the strict sense of the phrase it never 

 was applicable to the Brahmans, for although some amongst them acted 

 in ancient times as family priests, and conducted the fixed or occasional 

 ceremonials of household worship, yet even Menu holds the Brahman, 

 who ministers to an idol, infamous during life, and condemned to the 

 infernal regions after death, and the Sanscrit language abounds with 

 synonimes for the priest of a temple, significant of his degraded condition 



