--------
* Danda and Sanyama are synonymous terms.—­A.S.
---------

This thread is also the reminder to the man of his secular duties, and its material varies, in consequence, according to the occupation of the wearer.  Thus, while the thread of the Brahmans is made of pure cotton, that of the Kshatriyas (the warriors) is composed of flax—­the bow-string material; and that of Vaishyas (the traders and cattle-breeders), of wool.  From this it is not to be inferred that caste was originally meant to be hereditary.  In the ancient times, it depended on the qualities of the man.  Irrespective of the caste of his parents, a man could, according to his merit or otherwise, raise or lower himself from one caste to another; and instances are not wanting in which a man has elevated himself to the position of the highest Brahman (such as Vishvamitra Rishi, Parasara, Vyasa, Satyakam, and others) from the very lowest of the four castes.  The sayings of Yudhishthira on this subject, in reply to the questions of the great serpent, in the Arannya Parva of the Maha-Bharata, and of Manu, on the same point, are well known and need nothing more than bare reference.  Both Manu and Maha-Bharata—­the fulcrums of Hinduism—­distinctly affirm that a man can translate himself from one caste to another by his merit, irrespective of his parentage.

The day is fast approaching when the so-called Brahmans will have to show cause, before the tribunal of the Aryan Rishis, why they should not be divested of the thread which they do not at all deserve, but are degrading by misuse.  Then alone will the people appreciate the privilege of wearing it.

There are many examples of the highest distinctive insignia being worn by the unworthy.  The aristocracies of Europe and Asia teem with such.

—­A.  Sarman

Reading in a Sealed Envelope

Some years ago, a Brahman astrologer named Vencata Narasimla Josi, a native of the village of Periasamudram in the Mysore Provinces, came to the little town in the Bellary District where I was then employed.  He was a good Sanskrit, Telugu and Canarese poet, and an excellent master of Vedic rituals; knew the Hindu system of astronomy, and professed to be an astrologer.  Besides all this, he possessed the power of reading what was contained in any sealed envelope.  The process adopted for this purpose was simply this:—­We wrote whatever we chose on a piece of paper; enclosed it in one, two or three envelopes, each properly gummed and sealed, and handed the cover to the astrologer.  He asked us to name a figure between 1 and 9, and on its being named, he retired with the envelope to some secluded place for some time; and then he returned with a paper full of figures, and another paper containing a copy of what was on the sealed paper—­exactly, letter for letter and word for word.  I tried him often and many others did the same; and we were all satisfied that he was invariably accurate, and that there was no deception whatsoever in the matter.