V.

guard when in company with women, and to be- CHAP. ware how he trusts himself in a sequestered place even with those who should be the most sacred in his eyes.

. Some notion of the pleasures most indulged in may be formed from those against which a King is cautioned (VII. 47.). Among them are hunting, gaming, sleeping by day, excess with women, intoxication, singing, instrumental music, dancing, and useless travel. Some little light is also thrown on manners, by the much-frequented places where thieves, quacks, fortune-tellers, and other impostors are said to haunt. They include cisterns of water, bakehouses, the lodgings of harlots, taverns and victualling shops, squares where four ways meet, large well-known trees, assemblies, and public spectacles.

Minute rules are given for the forms of salutation and civility to persons of all classes, and in all relations.

Great respect is inculcated for parents and for age; for learning and moral conduct, as well as for wealth and rank. 66 Way must be made for a man in a wheeled carriage, or above ninety years old, or afflicted with disease, or carrying a burden, for a woman, for a priest (in certain cases), for a prince, and for a bridegroom.'

I scarcely know where to place, so as to do justice to the importance assigned to it in the Code,

I Chap. II. 211-215. 1 Chap. II. 130-138.

k Chap. II. 225-237.

BOOK

I.

Arts of

life.

m

It is

the respect enjoined to immemorial custom. declared to be "transcendent law," and "the root of all piety." It is, indeed, to this day the vital spirit of the Hindú system, and the immediate cause of the permanence of these institutions. Learning is greatly honoured throughout the Code, and the cultivation of it is recommended to all classes. It is true the Védas, and the commentaries on them, with a few other books, are the only ones to which the student is directed; but he is to learn theology, logic, ethics, and physical science from those works"; and we know that those subjects are discussed in the tracts appended to each Véda each is also accompanied by a treatise entirely relating to astronomy; and, from the early excellence of the Bramins in all these branches of learning, it is probable that they had made considerable progress even when this Code was formed. The arts of life, though still in a simple state, were far from being in a rude one. Gold and gems, silks and ornaments, are spoken of as being in all families. Elephants, horses, and chariots are familiar as conveyances for men, as are cattle, camels, and waggons for goods. Gardens, bowers, and terraces are mentioned; and the practice, still subsisting, of the construction of ponds and orchards by wealthy men for the public benefit, is here, perhaps, first enjoined." Cities are seldom

m

Chap. I. 108-110.

• Chap. V. 111, 112.; VII. 130.

P Chap. IV. 226.

n

Chap. XII. 98. 105, 106.

alluded to, nor are there any regulations or any officers beyond the wants of an agricultural township. The only great cities were, probably, the capitals.

The professions mentioned show all that is necessary to civilised life, but not all required for high refinement. Though gems and golden ornaments were common, embroiderers and similar workmen, who put those materials to the most delicate uses, are not alluded to; and painting and writing could scarcely have attained the cultivation which they reached in after times, when they were left among the trades open to a Súdra in times of distress.

Money is often mentioned, but it does not appear whether its value was ascertained by weight or fixed by coining. The usual payments are in panas, the name now applied to a certain number of the shells called couris, which are used as change for the lowest copper coins.

The number of kinds of grain, spices, perfumes, and other productions, are proofs of a highly cultivated country; and the code in general presents the picture of a peaceful and flourishing community. Some of the features which seem to indicate misgovernment are undiminished at the present day, but affect the society in a far less degree than would seem possible to a distant ob

server.

On the other hand, the frequent allusions to times of distress give ground for a suspicion that

CHAP.

V.

BOOK

I.

General remarks.

the famines, which even now are sometimes the scourge of India, were more frequent in ancient times. There is no trace of nomadic tribes, such as still subsist in most Asiatic countries.

Of all ancient nations, the Egyptians are the one whom the Hindús seem most to have resembled ; but our knowledge of that people is too limited to reflect light on any other with which they might be compared."

It might be easier to compare them with the Greeks, as painted by Homer, who was nearly contemporary with the compilation of the Code; and, however inferior in spirit and energy, as well as in elegance, to that heroic race, yet, on contrasting their law and forms of administration, the state of the arts of life, and the general spirit of order and obedience to the laws, the eastern nation seems clearly to have been in the more advanced stage of society. Their internal institutions were less rude; their conduct to their enemies more humane; their general learning was much more considerable; and, in the knowledge of the being and nature of God, they were already in possession of a light which was but faintly perceived even by the loftiest intellects in the best days of Athens. Yet the Greeks were polished by free communication with many nations, and have recorded the improvements which they early derived from each;

a The particular points of resemblance are set forth by Heeren Historical Researches (Asiatic Nations), vol. iii. p. 411. to the end.

V.

while the Hindú civilisation grew up alone, and CHAP. thus acquired an original and peculiar character, that continues to spread an interest over the higher stages of refinement to which its unaided efforts afterwards enabled it to attain. It It may, however, be doubted, whether this early and independent civilisation was not a misfortune to the Hindus; for, seeing themselves superior to all the tribes of whom they had knowledge, they learned to despise the institutions of foreigners, and to revere their own, until they became incapable of receiving improvement from without, and averse to novelties even amongst themselves.

the Hindús

ation of

On looking back to the information collected Origin of from the Code, we observe the three twice-born and formclasses forming the whole community embraced by their sothe law, and the Súdras in a servile and degraded ciety. condition. Yet it appears that there are cities governed by Súdra kings, in which Bramins are advised not to reside', and that there are "whole territories inhabited by Súdras, overwhelmed with atheists, and deprived of Bramins."*

The three twice-born classes are directed invariably to dwell in the country between the Himáwat' and the Vindya mountains", from the eastern to the western ocean.

Г

Chap. IV. 61.

t Hémalaya.

S

s Chap. VIII. 22.

"Still so called, and forming the boundaries of Hindostan Proper, on the south, as Hémaláya does on the north. The legislator must have had an indistinct idea of the eastern termination of the range.