Of these four divisions the first alone has been preserved in its purity to the present day, although the Rajputs claim to be the representatives of the second class.  The others have been lost in a multitude of mixed castes formed by intermarriage, and bound together by similarity of trade or occupation.  With regard to the sacerdotal class, the Brahmans, who formed it, were held to be the chief of all human beings; they were superior to the king, and their lives and property were protected by the most stringent laws.  They were to divide their lives into four quarters, during which they passed through four states or conditions, viz. as religious students, as householders, as anchorites, and as religious mendicants.

81. That he is pleased with ill-assorted unions.

The god Brahma seems to have enjoyed a very unenviable notoriety as taking pleasure in ill-assorted marriages, and encouraging them by his own example in the case of his own daughter.

82. [S’]achi’s sacred pool near Sakravatara.

[S’]akra is a name of the god Indra, and Sakravatara is a sacred place of pilgrimage where he descended upon earth. [S’]achi is his wife, to whom a Urtha, or holy bathing-place, was probably consecrated at the place where [S’]akoontala had performed her ablutions.  Compare note 14.

83. The wily Koil.

Compare note 66.

84. With the discus or mark of empire in the lines of his hand.

When the lines of the right hand formed themselves into a circle, it was thought to be the mark of a future hero or emperor.

85. A most refined occupation, certainly!

Spoken ironically.  The occupation of a fisherman, and, indeed, any occupation which involved the sin of slaughtering animals, was considered despicable.  Fishermen, butchers, and leather-sellers were equally objects of scorn.  In Lower Bengal the castes of Jaliyas and Bagdis, who live by fishing, etc., are amongst the lowest, and eke out a precarious livelihood by thieving and dacoity.

86. And he should not forsake it.

The great Hindu lawgiver is very peremptory in restricting special occupations (such as fishing, slaughtering animals, basket-making) to the mixed and lowest castes.  ’A man of the lowest caste, who, through covetousness, lives by the acts of the highest, let the king strip of all his wealth and banish.  His own business, though badly performed, is preferable to that of another, though well performed.’—­Manu, x. 96.  In the later Hindu system the sacrifice of animals is practised by the priests of the goddess Kali only.

87. Carp.

That is, the Rohita, or Rohi (red) fish (Cyprinus rohita), a kind of carp found in lakes and ponds in the neighbourhood of the Ganges.  It grows to the length of three feet, is very voracious, and its flesh, though it often has a muddy taste, is edible.  Its back is olive-coloured, its belly of a golden hue, its fins and eyes red.  This fish is often caught in tanks in Lower Bengal of the weight of twenty-five or thirty pounds.