from the will to create, and assisted by the natural and essential faculty of the object to be created.* * यथर्तीवृतुलिङ्गानि नानारूपाणि पर्यये। “As, in every season, multifarious tokens are, in turn, beheld thereof, so, at the beginnings of the Yugas, it is with their products. Possessed of the desire and of the power to create, and impelled by the potencies of what is to be created, again and again does he, at the outset of a Kalpa, put forth a similar creation." The writer may have had in mind a stanza of the Mánava-dharmasástra: I., 30. CHAPTER VI. Origin of the four castes: their primitive state. Progress of society. Different kinds of grain. Efficacy of sacrifice. Duties of men regions assigned them after death. MAITREYA.—Thou hast briefly noticed, illustrious sage, the creation termed Arváksrotas, or that of mankind. Now explain to me more fully how Brahmá accomplished it; how he created the four different castes;* what duties he assigned to the Brahmans and the rest. 1 PARÁSARA.-Formerly, O best of Brahmans, when the truth-meditating† Brahma was desirous of creating the world, there sprang, from his mouth, beings especially endowed with the quality of goodness; others, from his breast, pervaded by the quality of foulness; others, from his thighs, in whom foulness and darkness prevailed; and others, from his feet, in whom the quality of darkness predominated. These were, in succession, beings of the several castes,-Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaiśyas, and Śúdras; produced from the mouth, 1 The creation of mankind here described is rather out of its place, as it precedes the birth of the Prajapatis, or their progenitors. But this want of method is common to the Puráñas, and is evidence of their being compilations from various sources. * Add “and with what qualities":Ð | † Satyábhidháyin, "true to his will." The commentator here, for the second time, explains it by satya-sankalpa. See my second note in p. 73, supra. the breast, the thighs, and the feet, of Brahmá.1 These he created for the performance of sacrifices; the four castes being the fit instruments of their celebration.* By sacrifices, O thou who knowest the truth, the gods are nourished; and, by the rain which they bestow, mankind are supported:2 and thus sacrifices, the source of happiness, are performed by pious men, attached to their duties, attentive to prescribed obligations, and walking in the paths of virtue. Men acquire (by them) heavenly fruition, or final felicity: they go, after death, to whatever sphere they aspire to, as the consequence of their human nature. The beings who were created by Brahmá, of these four castes, were, at first, endowed with righteousness and perfect faith; they abode wherever they pleased, unchecked by any impediment; their hearts were free from guile; they were pure, made free from soil, by observance of sacred institutes. In their sanctified minds Hari dwelt; and they were filled with perfect wisdom, by which they contemplated the glory This original of the four castes is given in Manu, † and in most of the Puráńas. We shall see, however, that the distinctions are subsequently ascribed to voluntary election, to accident, or to positive institutions. 2 According to Manu, oblations ascend to and nourish the sun; whence the rain falls upon earth, and causes the growth of corn. Burnt-offerings are, therefore, the final causes of the support of mankind. * See Original Sanskrit Texts, Part I., pp. 21 and 22. In the Mánava-dharma-sástra, I., 31, the Kshatriya is said to have proceeded from the arms of Brahma. And so state the Purusha-súkta of the Rig-veda, &c. Mánava-dharma-śástra, III., 76. of Vishnu.1 After a while, (after the Tretá age had continued for some period), that portion of Hari which has been described as one with Kála (time) infused into created beings sin, as yet feeble, though formidable, or passion and the like—the impediment of soul's liberation, the seed of iniquity, sprung from darkness and desire. The innate perfectness of human nature was then no more evolved: the eight kinds of perfection, Rasollásá and the rest, were impaired; and, these 1 This description of a pure race of beings is not of general occurrence in the Puráñas. It seems here to be abridged from a much more detailed account in the Brahmánda, Váyu, and Márkańdeya Puráńas. In those works, Brahmá is said to create, in the beginning of the Kalpa, a thousand pairs of each of the four classes of mankind, who enjoy perfect happiness during the Krita age, and only gradually become subject to infirmities, as the Tretá or second age advances. 2 These eight perfections or Siddhis are not the supernatural faculties obtained by the performance of the Yoga. They are described, the commentator says, in the Skanda and other works; and from them he extracts their description: 1. Rasollásá, the spontaneous or prompt evolution of the juices of the body, independently of nutriment from without: 2. Tripti, mental satisfaction, or freedom from sensual desire: 3. Sámya, sameness of degree: 4. Tulyatá, similarity of life, form, and feature: 5. Viśoká, exemption alike from infirmity or grief: 6. Consummation of penance and meditation, by attainment of true knowledge: 7. The power of going everywhere at will: 8. The faculty of reposing at any time or in any place. These attributes are alluded to, * * I add the text from MSS. at my disposal. To judge from Professor Wilson's translation, his text must have been rather different. रसस्य स्वत एवान्तरुल्लासः स्यात्कृते युगे । being enfeebled, and sin gaining strength, mortals were afflicted with pain, arising from susceptibility to contrasts, (as heat and cold, and the like ) . * They therefore constructed places of refuge, protected by trees, by mountains, or by water; surrounded them by a ditch or a wall, and formed villages and cities; and in them erected appropriate dwellings, as defences against the sun and the cold.' Having thus provided security though obscurely, in the Váyu, and are partly specified in the Márkandeya Puráňa. † 1 In the other three Puráňas, in which this legend has been found, the different kinds of inhabited places are specified and introduced by a series of land measures. Thus, the Márkandeya‡ 1 Parasúkshma; 10 Parasúkshmas = states that 10 Paramánus : 1 Trasareñu; 10 Trasarenus = 1 particle of dust or Mahirajas ; स्त्यादिनिरपेक्षेण सदा तृप्ताः प्रजास्तदा । द्वितीया सिद्धिरुद्दिष्टा सां तृप्तिर्मुनिसत्तमैः ॥ अधमोत्तमत्वं नास्त्यासां सा तृतीयाभिधीयते । चतुर्थी तुल्यता तासामायुषः सुखरूपयोः ॥ ऐकान्त्यबलबाहुल्यं विशोका नाम पञ्चमी । परमार्थपरत्वेन तपोध्यानादिनिष्ठता ॥ षष्ठी निकामचारित्वं सप्तमी सिद्धिरुच्यते । अष्टमी च तथा प्रोक्ता यत्रक्वचन शायिता ॥ * See Original Sanskrit Texts, Part I., pp. 22 and 23. + XLIX., 18, et seq. † XLIX., 36-40: मानार्थानि प्रमाणानि तास्तु पूर्व प्रचक्रिरे ॥ |