32 CASTE AMONGST ANCIENT NATIONS
ing , are held everywhere in the highest esteem . All castes , from the Brahmin to the Pariah , are permitted to follow the first three , and the fourth can be followed by all the
principal classes of Sudras 1 .
These same caste distinctions observable amongst Hindus
exist likewise , with some differences , amongst the Arabs and Tartars . Probably , indeed , they were common to the majority of ancient nations . Cecrops , it will be remembered , separated the people of Athens into four tribes or classes , while their great lawgiver , Solon , upheld this distinction and strengthened it in several ways . Numa Pompilius , again , could devise no better way of putting an end to the racial hatred between Sabines and Romans than by separating the body of the people into different castes and classes .
The result of his policy was just what he had desired . Both
Sabines and Romans , once amalgamated in this manner ,
forgot their national differences and thought only of those
of their class or caste .
Those who instituted the caste system could not but
perceive that with nations in an embryonic stage the more
class distinctions there are the more order and symmetry there must be , and the more easy it is to exercise control
and preserve order . This , indeed , is the result which caste classification amongst the Hindus has achieved . The shame which would reflect on a whole caste if the faults of one of its individual members went unpunished guarantees that the caste will execute justice , defend its own honour , and keep all its members within the bounds of duty . For , be it noted , every caste has its own laws and regulations , or rather , we may say , its own customs , in accordance with which the severest justice is meted out , just as it was by the patriarchs of old .
Thus in several castes adultery is punishable by death 2 .
Girls or widows who succumb to temptation are made to suffer the same penalty as those who have seduced them .
The largest temple of the town of Conjeeveram , in the Carnatic , an immense building , was constructed , so it is
1
This statement is not quite correct , for in Southern India , at any rate , some classes of Pariahs are most expert weavers , and are honoured as such throughout the country . Ed .
2
This of course is no longer allowed by law . Ed .