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 to assert that the castes were of divine origin.  They wrote that down and handed it on.  We came to India, and finding these statements ready to hand, have simply swallowed them down, and added them to the number of illusions existing as regards India.  But the facts really are, that castes and orders of men sprang up, we don’t exactly know how.  Brahmin writers described the castes, or at least part of them, and, in the course of time, the writings were said to have caused the castes, instead of the castes having caused the writings.