ya was made his arms, the Vaisya became
his thighs, the Sudra was born from his feet." Martin Haug finds in this
a subtle allegory that the Brahmans were teachers, the Kshatriyas the
warriors of mankind. But this is opposed to the simple and direct
language of the Vedic hymns, and to the fact that in the accounts of
creation there the origin of many things besides classes of men is
attributed in the same fanciful manner to parts of the divine person. It
is in the Puranas and the Laws of Manu, neither of which claims direct
inspiration, where they differ from the letter of the Veda, that the
texts are to be found on which all that is objectionable in caste has
been based. Even in the Vishnu Purana, however, the legend of caste
speaks of the four classes as being at first "perfectly inclined to
conduct springing from religious faith." It is not till after the whole
human race has fallen into sin that separate social duties are assigned
to the classes. The same hymn speaks of the evolution of qualities of
Brahma. Sattva, or goodness, sprang from the mouth of Brahma; Rajas, or
passion, came from his breast; Tamas, or darkness, from his thighs;
others he created from his feet. For each one of these gunas, or
primitive differences of quality, a thousand couples, male and female,
have been created, to which the distinct heavens, or places of
perfection of Prajapati, Indra, Maruts and Gandharvas are assigned. To
the gunas are related the yugas, or ages: 1st, the Krita, or glorious
age of truth and piety, in which apparently no distinctions, at least no
grades of excellence were known; 2nd, the Treta, or period of knowledge;
3rd, the Dvapara, or period of sacrifice; 4th, the Kali, or period of
darkness. Bunsen supposes there may be an historical element in the
legend that Pururava, a great conqueror of the Treta age, founded caste.
The yugas are hardly periods of historical chronology, but there is no
doubt that the Vayu Purana assigns the definite origin of caste to the
Treta period. "The perfect beings of the first age, some tranquil, some
fiery, some active and some distressed, were again born in the Treta, as
Brahmans, &c., governed by the good and bad actions performed in former
births." The same hymn proceeds to explain that the first arrangement
did not work well, and that a second was made, by which force, criminal
justice and war were declared to be the business of the Kshatriyas;
officiating at sacrifices, sacred study a