ng evenly
distributed over the human race, considered as a whole.

And, first of all, as to the origin of caste--a point which seems to have
been thought of no little importance by our caste-condemning missionaries.
I confess that I, for my part, do not attach much importance to this
question of the origin of caste, and think it of far more importance to
ascertain its present bearing and effect. But, as many have raised the
question, and asserted that caste had an idolatrous origin, and was the
invention of an idolatrous priesthood, it may be worth while to gather
together such facts as we can lay our hands on regarding this somewhat
obscure subject. And it seems to me that the first thing we have to do is
to clear away the rubbish which has been piled upon it in common with
most Indian institutions--to ask what is evidence, and what is not. Our
missionaries have asserted that caste can be clearly traced to an
idolatrous origin, and that the institution is entirely unaccountable on
any other supposition, and they pointed to the Code of Manu in proof of
that assertion. But, on referring to Mrs. Manning's valuable work on
"Ancient and Mediaeval India," we can find no evidence that caste
originated in any special way whatever. And we are told, on the authority
of Mr. Muir, that the sacred books of the Hindoos contain no uniform or
consistent account of the origin of caste, and that the freest scope is
given by the individual writers to fanciful and arbitrary conjecture. The
story that the castes issued from the mouth, arms, thighs, and feet of
Brahma was simply an allegory, which, in the course of time, hardened into
a literal statement of fact. The Brahmins, of course, came out of the
mouth of Brahma; and, considering that they were the authors and compilers
of all the principal books relating to castes and customs, it would have
been extremely odd if they had not exalted their own order, and indulged
in a tone of Oriental exaggeration which was eminently calculated to
deceive, not perhaps, their successors, but the Englishmen who went to
India. But the most curious thing is, that it never seems to have occurred
to our missionaries to suspect that what they took as evidence of facts,
and of a state of things really existing, was, in reality, only evidence
of what an order or set of people could write, with the view of exalting
themselves, and depressing the rest of the society amongst which they
lived. The Brahmins chose t