?45
in other parts of India , Cbandalas, Thefe are out-callsfrom their original order, who, by their mifcondud,have forfeited all the privileges of it. Their condition is,undoubtedly, the lowed degradation of human nature.No perfon of any call will have the lead communicationwith them. Sonnerat, tom. i. p. $<; , y<>. If a Pariarapproach a Nayr , i. c. a warrior of high call , on theMalabar coaft, he may put him to death with impunity.Water or milk are confidered as defiled even by theirfhadow palling over them, and cannot be ufed untilthey are purified. Ayeen Akbery, vol. iii. p. 24?. It isalmoit impoflible for words to exprefs the fenfation ofvilenefs that the name of Pariar or Chandala conveys tothe mind of a Hindoo. Every Hindoo who violates therules or inftitutions of his call finks into this degradedfituation. This it is which renders Hindoos fo refolutein adhering to the inftitutions of their tribe, becaufe thelofs of call is, to them, the lofs of all human comfortand refpedability; and is a punifhment , beyond com-parifon, more fevere than excommunication, in the molttriumphant period of Papal power.
The four original calls are named, and their functionsdefcribed in the Mahabarat , the moll ancient book ofthe Hindoos, and of higher authority than any withwhich Europeans are hitherto acquainted. Baghvat-Geeta,p. 130. The fame diftinction of calls was known to theauthor of Heeto - pades, another work of confiderableantiquity, tranllated from the Sanskreet, p. 2yi.
The mention of one circumltance refpecting the diftinc-tion of calls has been omitted in the text. Though theline of feparadon be fo drawn, as to render the afc'entfrom an inferior to a higher call abfolutely impoflible,and it would be regarded as a molt enormous impiety,if one- in a lower order fhould prefume to perform anyfunction belonging to thofe of a fuperior call; yet, incertain cafes , the Pundits declare it to be lawful forperfons of a high clafs to exercife fome of the occupa-tions allotted to a clafs below their own, without loling