Essay on the Architecture of the Hindus c4.40

c4.40

mentioned. Nay, some have gone even so far as to forbid the lower class from occupying the ground suited to the higher, and *vice versâ*, on pain of incurring the severest vengeance of heaven; but the principle on which these distinctions are founded is altogether nugatory. It signifies little whether the ground designed for the residence of a Brahman be square or oblong, white or red, sweet or sour, provided that the situation is convenient, and that it furnishes a firm bottom for laying the foundation; nor is it possible to find a place possessing all the qualities required by this prescription for the residence of any one of the classes; and, in order perhaps to obviate this difficulty, another more general classification of the soil into three sorts is added, with a declaration that the two first will answer the purposes of all classes of men without exception.