k ever produced by the human
intellect, a work, too, which is to-day as popular with Indians as when
40 centuries ago it was chanted to instruct the youth and beguile the
tedium of the princes of Hastinapura. Unlike all systems of government
known to the West, the Hindu system contains no popular element
whatever. In it we find no Witanagemote in which the nobles may advise
the monarch; still less has it any place for a _comitia centuriata_,
with its stormy masses of spearmen, to scrutinize and control the
encroachments of the Royal prerogative. In the kingdoms described In the
_Mahabharata_ the inhabitants are rigidly divided into four wholly
distinct and separate classes (_Udhyog Parva_, p. 67, Roy's
translation). First come the Brahmans whose duty it is to study, to
teach, to minister at sacrifices--receiving in return gifts from,
"known" or, as we should say, respectable persons. Then follow the
_Kshattriyas_ or the warrior class, whose whole life has to be spent in
fighting and in warlike exercises. Thirdly come the _Vaisyas_ who
acquire merit by accumulating wealth through commerce, cattle-breeding,
and agriculture. Fourthly, we have the _Sudras_, or serfs, who are bound
to obey the other three classes, but who are forbidden to study their
scriptures or partake in their sacrifices.

High over all classes is the King. He is the living symbol of strength
and power. He is "the tiger among men," the "bull of the Bharata race,"
and his form and features bear the visible impress of the Most High. The
whole arduous business of government rests on his shoulders. He cannot
appeal to his subjects to help him in carrying out good administration
nor can he leave his duties to others. For to beseech and to renounce
are both against the laws of his order (_Vana Parva_, p. 457). At the
utmost he can employ counsellors to advise him, but their numbers must
never exceed eight (_Canti Parva_, p. 275). In any case they only tender
advice when asked (_Udhyog Parva_, p. 100), and the full responsibility
of all acts rests on the King only. It is he who must keep up the
arsenals, the depots, the camps, the stables for the cavalry, the lines
for the elephants, and replenish the military storehouses with bows and
arrows. It is he who must maintain in efficient repair his six different
kinds of citadels--his water citadels, his earth citadels, his hill
citadels, his human citadels, his forest citadels, and his mud citadels
(_Canti Parva_,