m HINDO 
ous dialedts of men, the bell way of keeping goods, and 
whatever elfe belongs to purchafe and fale. 
“ Let him apply the molt vigilant care to augment his 
wealth by perfqrming his duty; and with great folici- 
tude let him give nourilhment to all fentient creatures. 
“ Servile attendance on Brahmins learned in the Veda, 
chiefly on fuch as keep houfe, and are famed for virtue, 
is of itlelf the highelt duty of a Sudra, and leads him to 
future beatitude. 
“ Pure in body and in mind, humbly ferving the three 
higher claffes, mild in lpeech, never arrogant, ever l'eek- 
ing refuge in Brahmins principally, he may attain the 
molt eminent clafs in another tranfmigratlon.” 
The Indian legillator has marked with degradation the 
offspring produced by a promifcuous conneftion between 
perl'ons or different claffes, proportioned to the difparity 
between their progenitors ; and to each of the mixed 
■ tribes a particular occupation is affigned. Public execu¬ 
tioners, thofe who burn the dead, and thofe who perform 
the meaneft and molt difgufting offices for hire, are found 1 
in the mixed clalfes. The twice-born claffes may all'o be 
degraded by neglecting their prefcribed duties ; for we 
find feveral races of the military clafs enumerated, who, 
bv their omiffion of holy rites, have gradually fun ken to 
the lowelt of the four claffes. In times of diftrefs, the 
neceffity of procuring fubfiltence juftifies a greater lati¬ 
tude of employment for each clafs ; and it is worth}'- of 
remark, that it is in confequence of this law, that we find 
the Brahmins in polfeffion of a coniiderable portion of the 
commerce of Bengal at this day. 
To excite to integrity and truth in all tranfaftions 
through life, whether of a public or a private nature, the 
Indian legiffator holds up to view the rewards afforded in 
their belief of the metempfychofis; which doctrine di¬ 
vides all moral qualities into goodnefs, pajjion, and darknefs. 
“ To the quality of goodnefs belongs every aCt, by 
which he hopes to acquire divine knowledge, which he is 
never afhamed of doing, and which brings placid joy to 
his confidence. 
“ Of the dark quality, as defcribed, the principal objeft 
is pleafure ; of the paffionate, worldly profperity; but of 
the good quality the chief objeft is virtue; the lall-men- 
tioned objects are fuperior in dignity. 
“ Souls, endued with goodnefs, attain always the ftate 
of deities ; thofe filled with ambitious pafiions, the con¬ 
dition of men ; thofe immerfed in darknels, the nature of 
beafts ; this is the triple order of tranfmigration.” 
The law of Dherna, which is that of caption, or arrejf, is. 
very extraordinary, and has ho where its prototype. The 
procefs is faid to be confined to the Brahmin caft; and is 
as follows : 
“ Any one who fits dherna at another’s door, or in his 
houfe, for the recovery of a debt, or for other purpofe; 
the party fitting takes with him fome 'weapon of poifon, 
and fits down ; nor does he eat hintfelf, nor allow the 
party again ft whom he is fitting, or his family, to eat; 
nor does he allow any perfon ingrefs into that perfon’s 
houfe, nor egrefs from it; and, addreffing himfelf in terms 
of the Itrongelt oaths to the people of the houfe, he fays, 
“ If any of thofe of your houfe flia.ll eat victuals, or go 
into your houfe, or go out of it, I {hall either kill myfelf 
with this weapon, or fwaliow this poifon ;” and it does 
fometimes happen that both thefe .events take place; yet 
he who fits in dherna is not to remove from it without' 
the intreaty of thofe on whom he is fitting, or the order 
of the Hakim.'" 
In this fituation, therefore, the Brahmin falls ; and by 
the rigour of the etiquette, which is rarely infringed, the 
objeCt of his arrelt alfo falls and thus they both remain, 
until the iuilitutor of the dherna obtains latisfaction. In 
this, as he feldom makes the attempt without rel’olution 
to perlevere, he rarely fails ; for, if the party thus arrelted 
were to fuller the Brahmin fitting in dherna to perilh by 
hunger, the fin would for ever lie upon his head. 
The practice of fitting in dherna is not confined to 
O S T A No 
. male Brahmins only. The following inflance, which hap¬ 
pened at Benares in 1789, will at once prove and exem¬ 
plify it:—Beenoo Bnai, the widow of a man of the Brah- 
minical tribe, had a litigation with her brother-in-law 
Balkiftien, which was tried by arbitration ; and the trial 
and lentence were revifed by the court of jultice at Be- 
nares, and again in appeal. The fuit of Beenoo involved 
a claim of property and a confideration of caft, which her 
antagonift declared Ihe had forfeited. The decifion was 
favourable to her, but not to the extent of her wifhes ; 
and file refolved therefore to procure by the expedient 
of the dherna, what neither the award of arbitration, nor 
the judicial decifion, had granted. 
In conformity to this refolution, Beenoo fat down in 
dherna on Balkilhen ; and he, after a perfeverance of le- 
veral days, apprehenfive of her death, repaired with her 
to a Hindoo temple in Benares ; where they both con¬ 
tinued to fad fome time longer. Thirteen days had elapfed 
from the commencement of Balkilhen’s arreft, when he 
yielded to the conteft, by entering into a conditional 
agreement with Beenoo, that if Ihe could eftablilh the 
validity of her call, and, in proof thereof, prevail on fome 
creditable members of her own tribe to partake with her 
of an entertainment of her providing, he would not only 
defray the expence of it, but would alfo difcharge her 
debts. The conditions were accepted by Beenoo, who 
fulfilled her part of the obligation; and her antagonift, 
without heiitation, defrayed the charges of the entertain¬ 
ment ; but the non-performance of his engagement to 
difcharge her debts, induced Beenoo Bhai to inititute a 
fuit agai 11ft him; and the practice of the dherna, with 
the proofs of it, were thus brought forward to official- 
notice. 
The following inftance is of later occurrence. In Ja¬ 
nuary 1794, Mohun Panreh, an inhabitant of a diftricl in 
the province of Benares, fat down in dherna before the 
houfe of I'ome rajahpouts, for the purpofe of obtaining 
the payment of birt, or a charitable fubfiftCnce to which 
he had a claim, and in this-fituation he deftroyed himfelf 
by fwallowing poifon. Some of the relations of the de- 
ceafed retained his eorpfe for two days at the door of the 
houfe of the rajahpouts; who were thus compelled to 
forego taking fullenance, in order to induce them to let- 
tie the birt on the heir of the deceafed Brahmin, which 
they fubmitted to. 
Another practice, of a fomewhat fimilar nature, is 
called eroding a koor, or circular pile of wood, which is 
prepared ready for conflagration. Upon this, fometimes 
a cow, and fomethnes an old woman, is placed by the 
conftrudtors of the pile ; and the whole is confumed to¬ 
gether. The objeCt of this practice is to intimidate the 
officers of the government, or others, from importunate 
demands ; as the eftefit of the facrifice is fuppol’ed to in¬ 
volve in great fin. the perfon whole conduct forces the 
conftru&or of the koor to this expedient. 
An inftance of this practice occurred in the province 
of Benares in 1788. Three Brahmins had erected a koor, 
upon which an "old woman had fullered herfelf to be 
placed ; and the object of temporary intimidation was' 
fully attained by it. It cannot be uninterefting to know 
the caufe which urged the three Brahmins to this delpe^ 
rate refource. Their own explanation was 1 'ummarily- 
this: That they held lands in partnership with others, 
but that the public afl'eflrnent was unequally impoied 
upon them ; as their partners, paid lefs, whilft they were 
charged with more than their due proportion ; they there¬ 
fore refilled to difcharge any part of the revenues what¬ 
ever, and erected a koor to intimidate the government’s 
officers from making any demands upon them. Their 
foie object, as they explicitly declared, was to obtain an 
equal dlftribution of the public alleffiment between them- 
lelves and their partners. 
A woman, nearly blind from age, had in this inftance 
been placed upon the koor; file was lummoned to ap¬ 
pear before the Englhh fuperintend.mt of the province, 
hut 
