terable permanency. But, its own heartless selfishness and cruel tendencies had so far overdone the work that it was found practically impossible to sustain the integrity of the arrangements. Innovations crept in and conflicts ensued, and, despite the desperate efforts of the Brahmins, confusion has marred Menu's strange designs, while the introduction of Western civilization, the teachings of Christianity, and the light of true knowledge, have delivered such severe and repeated shocks that the venerable and hideous monstrosity is tottering to its final fall.
Four Stages of Life are marked out by Menu for the Brahmin: 1. The Brahmachari, or Studentship of the Veda; 2. The Grihastha, or Married State; 3, The Vanaprastha, or Hermit Life; 4. The Sannyasi, or Devotee Condition.
The Brahmachari stage begins with the investiture of the sacred thread, which act signifies “a second birth.” The investiture takes place in his eighth year in case of a Brahmin, the eleventh year for a Kshatriya, and the twelfth for a Vaisya. The investiture introduces the “twice-born” Brahmin boy to a religious life, and is supposed to sanctify him for the study of the Veda.
The thread of the Brahmin is made of cotton and formed of three strings; that of the Kshatriya is made of hemp, and that of the Vaisya is of wool. It is termed the “sacrificial cord,” because it entitles the wearer to the privilege of sacrifice and religious services. Certain ceremonies are observed for girls as well as for boys, but neither girls nor women are invested with the sacred thread nor the utterance of the sacred mantras. They have consequently no right to sacrifice. Indeed, the nuptial ceremony is considered to be for woman equivalent to the investiture of the thread, and is the commencement of the religious life of the female, (Menu, II, 66, 67.) So that, a lady remaining unmarried, has nothing equivalent to their “second birth” here, and can look forward to no certainty of a happy life hereafter. The poor Sudra is entirely excluded. Thus, the Servile Man and the unmarried woman of any, even the highest, caste are equally left outside the pale of Brahminical salvation—exactly that condition to which
