when the entire nation except the priests was cruelly debarred from knowledge,-that knowledge which is the food of a nation's mind, and the life of a nation's life. There is another legend in the same Upanishad (IV, 2), in which we find a Brâhman imparting knowledge to a Sûdra, accepting presents from him, and taking his daughter for his wife. The legend is in the usual simple language of the Upanishad, and we will therefore quote it :

"I.

Then Jânasruti Putrâyana took six hundred cows, a necklace, and a carriage with mules, went to Raikva and said

"2. Raikva, here are six hundred cows, a necklace, and a carriage with mules; teach me the deity which you worship?'

"3. The other replied: Fie, necklace and carriage be thine O Sûdra, together with the cows.' Then Jânasruti Putrâyana took again a thousand cows, a necklace, a carriage with mules, and his own daughter and went to him.

"4. He said to him: 'Raikva, there are a thousand cows, a necklace, a carriage with mules, this wife, and this village in which thou dwellest, Sir, teach me?'

"5. He opening her mouth, said: 'You have brought these (cows and other presents), O Sûdra, but only by that mouth did you make me speak."

The Sûdra, however, though in exceptional cases admitted to knowledge, does not appear to have been ever

admitted to the sacrifice. On the other hand, the Brâhmans, Kshatriyas and Vaisyas were all able to sacrifice (Satapatha Brâhmana, III, 1, 9), and therefore the distinctions between these castes was small, and the supremacy of the Brâhman was almost nominal yet. In one passage, indeed, we have it boldly stated that a Brâhman may be of uncertain birth, but that he only is a true Brâhman who is born of the Brahman of the sacrifice; wherefore even a Râjanya or a Vaisya should be addressed as Brahman "since who is born of the sacrifice is born of the Brahman and hence a Brâhmana.” (Satapatha Brahmana, III, 2, 1, 40.)

It was in the Epic Period that the sacrificial cord Yajnopavîta came to use. We are told in the Satapatha Brâhmana, II, 4, 2, that when all beings came to Prajapati, the gods and the fathers came, wearing the sacrificial cord. And we are told in Kaushîtaki Upanishad, II, 7, that the all-conquering Kaushîtaki adores the sun when rising, having put on the sacrificial cord.

The Yajnapavîta was worn in this ancient period by Brâhmans, Kshatriyas and Vaisyas alike, but only at the time of performing Yajna or Vedic worship and sacrifices.

Things have changed since those ancient times. The Yajnapavîta is now habitually and ostentatiously worn at all times-by the members of one caste only-the Brahmans, and that caste has forgotten to perform Vedic Yajna !

CHAPTER VI.

SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE. THE POSITION OF

WOMEN.

THE great distinction then between the society of the Vedic times and the society of the Epic Period is that the caste-system was unknown in the former, and had been developed in the latter. But this was not the only distinctive feature of the times. Centuries of culture and progress had their influence on society, and the cultured Hindus of the Epic Period were as widely different in their social manners from the warrior-cultivators of the Vedic Period as the Greeks of the time of Pericles were different from the Greeks of the time of Agamemnon and Ulyses.

The Hindus of the period, of which we are speaking, had attained a high degree of refinement and civilization and had developed minute rules to regulate their domestic and social duties. Royal courts were the seats of learning, and the learned and wise of all nations. were invited, honored and rewarded. Justice was administered by learned officers, and laws regulated every duty of life.

Towns with their strong walls and beautiful edifices multiplied among all nations, and had

their judges, their executive officers and their police. Agriculture was fostered, and the king's officers settled all disputes and looked to the collection of taxes and the comforts of cultivators.

We have said that the courts of enlightened and learned kings, like those of the Vedehas, the Kâsîs, and the Kuru-Panchâlas, were the principal seats of learning in those times. Learned priests were retained in such courts for the performance of sacrifices, and also for the purpose of the cultivation of learning ; and many of the Brâhmanas and Upanishads, which have been handed, down to us, were probably composed in the schools which these priests founded. On great occasions men of learning came from distant towns and villages, and discussions were held not only on ritualistic matters, but on such subjects as the human mind, the destination of the soul after death, the future world, the nature of the gods, the fathers, and the different orders of being, and lastly on the nature of that Universal Being who has manifested himself in all the works

we see.

But learning was not confined to royal courts. There were Parishads or Brâhmanic settlements for the cultivation of learning, answering to the Universities of Europe; and young men went to these Parishads to acquire learning. Thus in Brihadâranyaka Upanishad VI, 2, we learn that Svetaketu went to the Parishads of the Panchâlas for his education. Max Müller in his

History of Sanscrit Literature, quotes passages which show that, according to modern writers, a Parishad ought to consist of twenty-one Brâhmans well versed in philosophy, theology, and law; but these rules, as he points out, are laid down in later law books, and do not describe the character of the Parishads of the Epic Period. Parâsara says that four, or even three able men from amongst the Brâhmans in a village, who know the Veda and keep the sacrificial fire, form a Parishad.

Besides these Parishads, individual teachers established what would he called private schools in Europe, and often collected round themselves students from various parts of the country. These students lived with their teachers, served them in a menial capacity during the time of their studentship and then, after twelve years or longer, made suitable presents and returned to their homes and their longing relatives. Learned Brâhmans who had retired to forests in their old age often collected such students round them, and much of the boldest speculations in the Epic Period has proceeded from these sylvan and retired seats of sanctity and learning. Such is the way in which learning has been cultivated and preserved during thousands of years among the Hindus, a nation who valued learning and knowledge perhaps more than any other nation in ancient or modern times. Good works and religious rites lead, according to the Hindu