prayers and the ceremonies are become theologians by profession; the
people revere and obey them. The following is their conception of the
structure of society: the supreme god, Brahma, has produced four kinds
of men to each of whom he has assigned a mission. From his mouth he
drew the Brahmans, who are, of course, the theologians; their mission
is to study, to teach the hymns, to perform the sacrifices. The
Kchatrias have come from his arms; these are the warriors who are
charged with the protection of the people. The Vaïcyas proceed from
the thigh; they must raise cattle, till the earth, loan money at
interest, and engage in commerce. The Soudras issue from his foot;
their only mission is to serve all the others.

There were already in the Aryan people theologians, warriors,
artisans, and below them aborigines reduced to slavery. These were
classes which one could enter and from which one could withdraw. But
the Brahmans determined that every man should be attached to the
condition in which he was born, he and his descendants for all time.
The son of a workman could never become a warrior, nor the son of a
warrior a theologian. Thus each is chained to his own state. Society
is divided into four hereditary and closed castes.

=The Unclean.=--Whoever is not included in one of the four castes is
unclean, excluded from society and religion. The Brahmans reckoned
forty-four grades of outcasts; the last and the lowest is that of the
pariahs; their very name is an insult. The outcasts may not practise
any honorable trade nor approach other men. They may possess only dogs
and asses, for these are unclean beasts. "They must have for their
clothing the garments of the dead; for plates, broken pots; ornaments
of iron; they must be ceaselessly on the move from one place to
another."