Storia do Mogor 262.2

262.2

In addition, the Hindus suppose that when a man is above others in nobility of race, he also surpasses them in understanding. They assert, relying on this unsound prejudice, that only those who are as high-born as Brahmans can know religion and true science; and that all those who are low by birth (which they believe to be the matter most essential) are ignorant, and consequently incapable of being superiors. They state openly that a man of low birth is as despicable as is a Farangi; in spite of being rich and brave, he can never be wise. For this paradox they assign as a reason that the highest nobility lies in wisdom; and as no one can be both lowly and noble at once, it is clear that he who is not of abject condition must be wise. But, just as all that the Brahmans say is chimerical and fantastical, so is it with their nobility and their science. For they have no hesitation in carrying loads on their backs day and night in public places, nor in working with an axe and doing other acts which among Europeans would pass for very humble. To all this I need only add that more often than not they cannot read or write.