e toes, but
ended in a sharp point curled upwards. And if he did not see these
things which were on the surface, what could he know of matters that lie
deeper?

Now the first and most important thing to be known respecting the
Purbhoo, the fundamental fact of him, is that he is not a Brahmin. If he
were a Brahmin, one essential piece of our administrative apparatus in
India would be wanting, and without it the whole machinery would
assuredly go out of order. Nor is it easy to see how we could replace
him. Not one of the other castes would serve even as a makeshift. They
are all too far removed from the Brahmin. But the Purbhoo is near him,
irritatingly near him, and he has proved in practice to be just the sort
of homoeopathic remedy we require, the counter-irritant, the outward
blister by wise application of which we can keep down the internal
inflammation.

In speaking of the Brahmin as an inflammation in the body politic I
disown all offensive and invidious implications. I am only using a
convenient simile. You may reverse it if you like and make the disease
stand for the Purbhoo, in which case the Brahmin will be the blister.
Which way fits the facts best will depend upon which caste chances at
the time to be nearest to the vitals of Government.

The case stands thus. Before the days of British rule the Brahmin was
the priest and man of letters, the "clerke" in short. The rajahs and
chiefs were much of the same mind as old Douglas:

Thanks to Saint Bothan son of mine,
Save Gawain, ne'er could pen a line,

Gawain being a bishop. As a Mohammedan gentleman related to one of the
ruling Indian princes put the matter when speaking to me a few years
ago, "In those days none of us could write. Our pen was the sword. If
any writing had to be done the Brahmin was called in." And no doubt he
did excellent service, being diligent, astute, and withal pliant and
diplomatic. If to these qualities he added ambition, he might, and often
did, become a Cardinal Wolsey in the state. In Poona, for example, the
Brahmin Prime Minister gradually overshadowed the Mahratta king, and the
descendant of Shivajee was put on a back shelf as Rajah of Sattara,
while the Peishwa ruled at the capital.

Of course this carnal advancement was not gained without some sacrifice
of his spiritual character, and the "secular" Brahmin had to bow, _quoad
sacra_, to the penniless Bhut, or "regular" Brahmin, who, refusing to
contaminate his sanctity