2 HINDU LAW IN 



Nor must it be forgotten that it was a necessity of his 

 position for the white Brahman of those days to mix and 

 commune with Brahmans and high-caste folk rather than 

 with Pariahs and Ohucklers. And, lastly, a source of error 

 lay open to Father Bouchet in the fact that the dominant 

 class in his time was the Telugus, who, of course, would hold 

 aloof from the subject Tamils, and trouble themselves but 

 little about the institutions and habits of their inferiors. 

 These and other circumstances must not be lost sight of in 

 perusing Father Bouchet's description of the mode of admin- 

 istering justice in the countries in which he was itinerant ; 

 and whilst many of his statements must be regarded with 

 suspicion, some doubtless must be rejected as erroneous. Bat, 

 if only reasonable precautions are taken, much of the matter 

 here presented may, I think, be accepted as substantially 

 correct. And, looked at as a whole, the epistle may be 

 assumed to give a fairly accurate account of a very large and 

 complex subject ; whilst to the student of history who 

 interests himself in the state of this country prior to the 

 establishment of the British Government, and to the lawyer 

 who seeks to know the reasons of the so-called Hindu law, 

 it offers a mass of most useful information. 



It has recently been suggested by the Indian Jurist that 

 this remarkable epistle should be carefully studied by law- 

 yers for practical purposes, and possibly in the course of a few 

 years some one may undertake the task of editing and 

 annotating it. In the meantime I purpose in the present 

 article to attempt to stimulate curiosity by giving a general 

 view of its contents, and offering such remarks as may occur 

 to me, in passing, upon its more important particulars. A 

 few passages I must give entire as written. 



Preliminarily it should be observed that the opening part 

 of this epistle has been referred to by Anquetil Duperron 

 and Montesquieu as a principal authority for the proposition 



