The introduction, however, into so extensive a country, by a
foreign priesthood, of so singular an institution as that of Cast,
appears to present a serious difficulty ; for it seems most reasonable
to suppose that so marked a distinction of ranks could only originate
when men first formed themselves into societies, and when they
could not foresee the consequences that might result from it ; and
that its permanency ought to be attributed to that veneration
with which institutions, however objectionable, become invested by



by the shores of the eastern and western seas towards the south, contains fifty-seven [six]
provinces according to some lists, and eighty-four according to others. Each of these pro-
vinces has its peculiar dialect, which appears, however, in most instances to be a varieQr
only of some one among the ten principal idioms," — Asiatic Researches^ 8vo, vol. viL p. 219.
But from the preceding remarks it appears that even these ten idioms are reducible to
two principal languages, one of which anciently prevailed in the south and the other in the
north of India.
