Diodorus Siculus[172], however, asserts that the Brahmans engaged in no public business, and accepted no dignified places; but this is a palpable falsehood. The kings who hold the reins of government at _Edapalli_, on the coast of Malabar, and also at _Parur_ and _Aracèri_, are certainly Brahmans; and the king of Travancor, in the year 1776, had a _Dalava_, or prime minister, who also belonged to that cast. In states which are under the dominion of Pagan princes, they are still, as in the time of Diodorus Siculus, overseers of religion, high-priests, instructors of the people, observers of eclipses of the sun and moon, and the king’s counsellors. They are formally consecrated to the priesthood; and for that purpose certain forms of initiation are appointed. In Malabar they go barefooted; and the upper part of their body is quite naked to the girdle. Their dress consists of a piece of muslin fastened round their loins, which hangs down to the feet, and entirely covers them. In one hand they generally bear an umbrella of palm-leaves, and in the other a stick. For the most part also they wear a ring on one of their fingers, and have a _Grantha_ (book) under the arm. Some, besides the above-mentioned piece of muslin, have also another which hangs over their shoulders; and which, according to every appearance, is the _superhumerale_ mentioned by Apollonius of Tyana[173]. When we reflect that these philosophers retain the same principles, manners and customs as they had in the time of Alexander the Great, this perseverance appears really astonishing. No person can remember an instance of their ever having admitted into their cast a man of the common class, or chosen such a one for their chief. When a Brahman comes into the world, his parents immediately hold a feast, or rather solemn festival, which, in the Samscred language, is called _Giàtaga Karma_, that is, the birth-feast. _Giàtaga_ signifies birth, the star of one’s nativity; and _Karma_, a ceremony. The object of this festival is to examine under what constellation the child was born, and thence to foretell its future destiny. Eleven days after, the _Nàma Karma_, or name-feast, takes place. The name given to the child is commonly borrowed from some of the principal deities, as _Krishna_, _Rama_, _Govinna_, &c. On the hundred and fiftieth day after birth, a solemnity called the _Carnakarma_, or _Ceutakarma_, is celebrated, because on that day holes are bored in the ears of the young Brahman, and a pair of gold earrings put into them. In the seventh year he becomes a real _Brahmaciàri_, that is, continent, or chaste; and in the twelfth he is made a _Grahi_, _Grahasta_, that is, betrothed, a husband. For all these solemnities, particular libations, offerings, purifications and festivals are instituted. In the seventh year such a child receives a kind of sash, called _Yagnapavada_, which forms the distinguishing badge of the priesthood. It consists of a hundred and eight threads