NOBLESSE OBLIGE.

the caste and the guild, that is to say, the trade guild consists usually of persons of the same ethnic and sectarian caste; but when the same trade is pursued by men of different castes, as sometimes, but not often, happens, the guild may include all without reference to caste. The craftsman has always his caste, but is not always associated with others into a guild; the guilds are mainly confined to the great polytechnic cities, while the village craftsman stands alone. Yet even he is not alone, for he is a member of a great fraternity, the caste; and how much this means to him, it would be difficult to exaggerate. It means at once his pride and his duty (dharma). Caste is a system of noblesse oblige ; each man is born to his ordained work, through which alone he can spiritually progress. This religious conception of a man's trade or profession as the heaven-ordained work of his caste, may best, perhaps, be likened to the honour of medieval knighthood. For the priest, learning; for the king, excellence in kingcraft; for the craftsman, skill and faithfulness; for the servant, service. The way and the life are various, but progress is possible alone each in his own way : Better is one's own duty even without distinction, than the duty of another, even with excellence; in another's duty danger lies." And so it is that for each, culture comes in life itself, not as a thing separate from life.

SVA-DHARMA.

Take the Vaisya for example; he is to be a grazier or a trader he must, says Manu:

"Know the respective value of gems, of pearls, of coral, of metals, of woven stuffs, of perfume, and of condiments. He must be acquainted with the manner of sowing seeds, and of the good and bad qualities of fields, and he must perfectly know all measures and weights. Moreover, the excellence and defects of commodities, the advantages and disadvantages of different countries, the probable profit and loss on merchandise, and the means of properly rearing cattle. He must be acquainted with the proper wages of servants, with the various languages of men, with the manner of keeping goods, and the rules of purchase and sale. Let him exert himself to the utmost in order to increase his property in a righteous manner*, and let him zealously give food to all created beings."

Thus each man had not only an economic, but a spiritual status in society; national righteousness is often described by saying that "each man lived according to the dharma of his caste, down even to the dancing girl who excelled in the duties of her calling also."

The doctrine of Karma, the strongest, perhaps, of all sanctions for morality, has something to do also

*Cf., the saying of the Tamil poetess Auvvai, "What is acquired without wrong-doing is wealth."

KARMA.

with craftsmanship. A man's deeds follow him as a cart follows the ox; whatsoever a man does will react upon himself, sooner or later, in this life or another; as a man sows, so also shall he reap. These ideas are rather quaintly expressed in some of the technical books of the craftsmen. Here, for instance, are some verses from the Mayamataya, speaking of good and evil craftsmen, and their fate in this life and in lives to come :

;

"Builders that build houses thus, after their death, will be re-born in a royal family; painters, if they make images accordingly, in noble families cunning and skilful builders, though they should die, are friends of mine, for as they do, they become rulers and nobles, such is the old saying of the sages. One who knows amiss his craft, taking hire wrongfully, the which wife and children eat and enjoy, bringing misfortune on the owner of the house, that builder will fall into hell and sufferthese sayings are in Mayamataya, what remedy can there be then, O builders ? There are men who make images of Buddha, though knowing naught of their craft; put no faith in what they say. Builders and painters both, who know naught of their craft, when hire is given according to the work accomplished, take that money and (leaving their work) rush home therewith; though they get thousands, there is nothing even for a meal, they have not so

GOOD AND EVIL CRAFTSMEN.

much as a piece of cloth to wear, that is the reward of past births, as you know; dying, they fall into hell and suffer pain a hundred lacs of years; if they escape they will possess a deformed body, and live in great distress; when born as a man, it will be as a needy builder; the painter's eyes will squint— look ye, what livelihood can there be for him? Builders who know their business well will become rajas lacking nought, so also cunning painters are meet to become nobles. Builders and painters taking money falsely from other men, thereby grow poor, so ancient sages have declared and shewn; doubt not this saying was in the Mayamataya book of sages lore; therefore, let builders and painters study Mayamataya: misfortunes ensuing in this world and the next are told of in its stanzas, behold how excellently."

A few more words may be said as to the craftsman's religious conception of his craft.* I do not refer to the application of the craft to religious ends, but to the conception of its intrinsic religiousness. In "pagan" lands, there is no hard line drawn. between the secular and the religious things in life ; religion is not so much a formula, as a way of looking at things, and so all the work of life may be a sacrament, may be done as it were unto the Lord.† * Appendix VI.

† In this connection, it is interesting to quote from so modern a work as Baha u'llah's Words of Paradise'

VISVAKARMA.

Hindu craftsmen in certain parts of India worship" the implements of their labour at the Dasahra festival. This Hindu custom has survived amongst some Muhammadan converts, e.g., the thavais of Northern India, who worship their tools at the Id al-gitr, making offerings of sweetmeats to them. In Gwalior, in the modern State workshops, the workmen prepare models of trains, machinery, etc., on which they have been engaged and pay honour to these at the Dasahra festival.

There is a God of the arts and crafts, whose name is Visvakarma, who is described as the 'lord of the arts, the carpenter of the gods, the fashioner of all ornaments, who formed the celestial chariots of the deities, on whose craft men subsist, and whom, a a great and immortal god, they continually worship.' The Indian craftsmen, or, at least, the most

the following pronouncement: "It is incumbent on every one of you to engage in some employment such as arts, trades, and the like. We have made this, your_occupation, identical with the worship of God, the True God." Compare with this conception of a man's life-work the following modern teaching of the Soto School of Buddhists in Japan: "Not only the building of a bridge or the provision of a ferry-boat is a work of charity, but so are all forms of benefiting life, commercial and industrial."-Rep. Third Int. Con. Religions, Oxford, 1908, I., pp. 324, 153.

† Arnold, Hindu Survivals among Indian Muslims, Rep. III. Int. Con. Relig., 1908, I., 319.