Evening star., 1904-03-11
FETCH OF THE HINDUS
INFLUENCES UNDERMINING THE
INSTITUTION.
Meaning of the Forehead or "doo
Marks"-Laws Of Caste-Warn-
ing to Travellers.
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.

is convinced tnaI tHe cdS.o' 'iAo AAAN
portant fetch of the Hindus. is graouaiiy
losing it's hold, particularly upon the upper
classes. because they cannot adjust 1t 10
the requirements of modern civlilzatloh an.
to the foreign customs they initiate ana
va,ue so much. Very high authorities have
predicted in my hearing that caste Will pe
practically obsolete within the next fifty
wears and entirely disappear before the emo
of tbe century. provided the missionaries
and other reformers will let it alone ana
not keen it alive by controversy. 1t is
sacred fetch, and when it is attacked the
Iova1 Hindu is compelled to defend and JUS
+if,, n no matter what his private opinion
of ;ts nracticability and advantages may
no. h,t if foreigners will ignore 1t the pro-
gressive. cultured Hndus will themselves
discard 1t. oo,,
The influences of travel, official and COM
mercial relations and social lntelcou.so 80
Nth foreigners personal ambition 1or pre-
ferment in the military and civil servioe,
the adoption of modern customs any o'un. IN.
agencies are at work undermining 'he III
stitution, and when Hindu finds that tne
laws interfere with his comfort or conVe-
nience. he is very certain to Ignore theni.
The experience of the Mahara1a Oh 1e9p 9poie'
of whom 1 wrote you yesterday Is lot u
usual His case is only one or thousands,
for nearly every native prince and wealtny
Hindu has broken caste again anu asaIn
without suffering the slightest dlsauVan'
tage which has naturally mace lheii III
different.
The Forehead Marks.
Travellers see very little of this peculiar
institution, and it is so complicated that
+hey cannot comprehend it without months
of study. They notice that half the men
thev meet on the streets have odd-lookins
signs on their foreheads. Ryas. our pearer'
calls them "god marks" but they are en-
t;re,v artificial. and indicate the particular
daity which the wearersis in the haplt oi
worshiping as well as the caste 10 wnlIii
he belongs A white triangle means hrlsh-
mn and a red circle means Slva-the wv
areatest eods-or vice versa, l have for
Gotten which and Hindus who are lnchnea
TO let their light shine before men spieau
on these symbols with great care ana reg
uIarity At every temple, every market
niace. at the places where Hindus go TO
hathe. at the railway stations, public build-
ings in the baZaars and wherever else ilu, ii,
titudes are accustomed to gather you VIII
find Brahmins squatting on piece OF ma,-
ting behind trays covered with little bowls
filed with different-colored ochers and otner
paints. These men know the dlstlncslVe
marks of all the castles, ana 1or small ices
paint the proper signs upon the foreheaos
of their patrons who wear them with great
nride. You frequently see them upon chill
dren also and on holidays and religious an
niversaries, when the people come ou, ioI
their temples, nearly everybody wars
"god mark" just as he would wear badge
denoting his regiment and corps at Grand
Army reunion.
caste the more confusing it becomes. but 1t
is interesting and important. because II is
the peculiar institution of India and Is not
found in any other country in the world
The number of castes is almost infinite.
The 900 coo, coo or more Hindus in this en-
pire are divided into a vast number OF IN
dependent, well-organized and unchanged
BILE groups, which are separated by wide
differences. who cannot eat together or
drink from the same vessel or sit at the
same table or intermarry.
There have been and still are eminent
and learned philosophers and social scien
lists who admire caste as one of the high
est agencies of social perfection, and they
argue that 1t alone has prevented the peo-
pie of India from relapsng into barbarism:
but foreigners in general and Christian mis-
sonaries in particular take a very different
view. and many thoughtful and patriotic
Hindus publicly declare that 1t is the real
and only cause of the wretched condition of
their people and the greatest obstacle to
their progress. Mr. Shoshee Chunder Dutt,
a very learned Hindu and author of
standard book entitled india, Past and
Present" declares that civilization has
been brought to a standstill by it's mis-
chievous restrictions and there is no hope
of it's being remedied until those restric-
tionS are removed.
II IS curious 10 learn CnaC tne WOrQ
caste" is not Hindu at all, but Portu-
guese and that instead of being an ancient
feature of the Hindu religion 1t is compare
lively modern idea.
Nature First Worshiped.
The first form of religion in India was the
worship of nature. and the chief gods of
the people were the sun, fire, water and
other natural phenomena, which were in
terpreted to the ignorant masses by priests
who gradually developed what is now called
Brahminism, and in the course of time
for special reasons, divided the people into
four classes-first. the Brahmins, which in
clude the priestly, the literary and the rul-
ing portion of the population; second, the
Ksha tryas. or warriors, who were like the
knighthoods of Europe in the middle age;
then the Vaisyas, or land owners. the farm
ing population, and those engaged In mer-
camille and manufacturing industries, and
| finally the SudraS, or servants, who attend
ed the other castes toiled in the fields and
| did the heavy labor of the community.
Gradually these grand divisions became
! divided into sections or social groups. Pro-
| fessions, trades, tribes and clans, and par
| ticularly those who worshiped the same
| god. naturally drifted together and were
| watchful of their mutual interests. AS there
| are as many gods in the Hindu pantheon
| as there are inhabitants of India, these re-
| ligious associations very numerous. Oc-
| cupatiOn is not sign of caste.
| Brahmin the Most Numerous Caste.
| Every caste, and particularly the Brah-
Minis. have members in every possible oc-
| cupation. Nearly every cook in India is a
! Brahmn, which is a matter of almost i'm
| perative necessity, because no man can
| partake of food cooked or even touched
| by persons of lower caste. The Brahmins
| are also more numerous than any other
! caste According to the recent census they
| number Il, 4,SSS, coo adult men only being
counted. The soldier caste numbers more
| than 100G0,000, the farmer caste and the
| leather workers have nearly as many. Near
| ly 20 per cent of the population of India is
/ included in these four castles, and there
| are forty or fifty others, each having more
| than coo COO members
| There are more than 1,So0 groups of Brah-
| Minis. who have become so numerous and
| SO influential that they are found every
| where. The number in the public service is
! very large. representing about 35 per cent
| of the entire mass of employees of the gov
! ernment in every capacity and station, and
! they have the largest proportion of educated
| men. 1t is popular delusion that every
| Brahmin is priest when the fact is that
| they are so numerous that not more than
| small percentage are employed in reli-
| gious functions But for more than 1000
years they have maintained their stIperjor-