other Districts in Bengal. These emigrants chiefly belong to the higher and educated classes of Hindus, and return in course of time to their native villages. A few elderly Hindus leave the District to end their days at Benares or Brindában, from religious motives. They form a very small number, and no statistics are available regarding them. A small emigration, however, goes on under the provisions of the Labour Transport Act to the Sugar Plantations in the West Indies and Mauritius, and to the tea-growing Districts in North-Eastern Bengal. The emigrants are seldom born natives of the 24 Parganás, being nearly all recruited from among the immigrants from other parts of the country. The following figures show the average annual emigration, for the three years ending 1869, of people belonging to other Districts but recruited in the 24 Parganás:—To Jamaica, 217; Mauritius, 876; St. Vincent, 233; Demerara, 755; Trinidad, 608; Silhet, Káchár, and Assam, 1962—total, 4651. These belong entirely to the classes who are not born natives of the 24 Parganás, but mere denizens originally belonging to other Districts. The annual emigration of people of the District itself for the same three years, is as follows:—To Jamaica, 3; Mauritius, 1; St. Vincent, 2; Demerara, 11; Trinidad, 11; Silhet, Káchár, and Assam, 61—total, 89.
Castes.—The existence of a large number of castes, into which the population has now become divided, is thus accounted for by the Puránas or Sacred Writings. In the Golden Age reigned a king named Bána, who taught his subjects that the precepts of the Vedas were unfounded, and that the observances prescribed in them were unmeaning; that heavenly bliss consisted of earthly enjoyment, and that death was utter annihilation. Hitherto there had only been four grand divisions among the people—the Bráhmans, or sacerdotal class; the Kshattriyas, or warriors; the Vaisyas, or cultivators; and the Súdras, or servants. These castes could not intermarry with each other. Bána, in order to increase the population, revoked this prohibition, and commanded the people, on pain of death, to follow his new doctrine, which sanctioned promiscuous cohabitation among all classes. After Bána’s death, the offspring of these promiscuous marriages were arranged into classes or castes by his successor, Prithu. He also assigned different occupations to the various castes, and many of the castes, up to the present day, have confined themselves to their hereditary employment.
