Evening star., 1904-03-11
chunder Duff, the Hindu writer referred to

4
| above, provide:
| 1. That individuals cannot be married
| who do not belong to the same CASTE
| 2. That a man may not sit down to eat
with another man who is not OF his own
caste.
| g. That his meals must be cooked either
| by persons of his own caste or Brahmln
4 That no man of an inferior caste is to
| touch his cooked rations or the dishes IN
| which they are served. or even to enter MS
cook room.
s. That no water or other liquor contami-
mated by the touch Of a man of inferior
caste can be made use 'of-rivers, tanks and
other large sheets of water being, however
held to be incapable of defilement.
9. That articles of dry food, excepting
rice, wheat. grains, etc, do not become I'M
pure by passing through the hands OF a
man of inferior caste so long as they re-
main dry but cannot be taken II they get
wet or creased.
T. That certain prohibited articles. such
as cows flesh, pork, fowls, etc., are not to
be taken.
boundaries of India cannot be crossed over
Exclusion of Caste.
The only acts which now lead to exclu-
sion of caste are the following:
1. Embracing Christianity or Mohamme-
danism. H..
q Going to Europe, America or any other
foreign country.
8. Marrying widow.
4. Throwing away the sacred thread.
8. Eating beef, pork or fowl
6. Eating food cooked by Mohammedan'
Christian or low caste Hindu.
z. Officiating as priest in the house OF
low caste Sudra.
8. By a female going away from homf
for an immoral purpose.
8. By widow becoming pregnant
When Hindu is excluded from caste his
fr. dc ffxyoe, %
fuse to partake of his hospitality. he is not
invited to entertainments in their houses,
he cannot obtain wives or husbands for his
children; even his own married daughters
cannot visit him without running the fisk
of being excluded from caste; his priest and
even his barber and washerman refuse to
serve him; his fellow caste men ostracize
him so completely that they refuse to assist
him even in sickness or at the funeral of
member Of his household. In some cases
the man excluded from caste is debarred
from the public temples.
To deprive a man of the services of his
barber and his washerman is becoming
more difficult these days, but the other pen
alties are enforced with more or less rigor.
Warning to Travellers.
They tell us that foreigners cannot ap
preciate the Importance of caste. Murrays
guide book warns the traveller to remem-
ber that fact. and says that the religion of
the Hindu amounts to little more than the
fear of demons, of the loss of caste and of
the priests. Demons have to be propitiated,
the caste rules are strictly kept and the
priests presented with gifts Great care
has to be taken not to eat food cooked by
a man of inferior caste; food cooked in wa
ter must not be eaten together by people
of different castes, and castles are entirely
separated with regard to marriage and
trade. A sacred thread of cotton is worn
by the higher castes. Washing in the sa-
cred rivers, particularly the Ganges ana
especially at Allahabad, Benares, HardWar
and other exceptionally holy spots. is of ef-
ficacy in preserving caste and cleansing the
soul of impurities.
"The traveller should remember" says the
guide book, that all who are not HlnduS
are outcastS contact with whom may cause
the loss of caste to a Hindu He should
not touch any cooking or water holding
utensil belonging to Hindu, nor disturb
Hindus when at their meals; he should not
moleSt cows nor shoot any sacred animal,
and should not pollute holy places by his
presence If any objection is made. The
most sacred of all animals is the COW, then
the serpent, and then the monkey. The
eagle Is the attendant of Vishnu, the bull
of silva, the goose Of Brahma, the elephant
of Indra, the tiger of Durga, the buffalo of
Rama the rat of GaBeSh,A the ram of Agni
the peacock of Kartikkeya, the parrot of
Kama Uhe god of love-, the fish, the tor
toise and boar are incarnations of Vishnu.
and the crocodile, cat, dog, crow, many
trees. plants stones, rivers and tanks are
sacred"
Nevertheless, Brahmins are very clever in
lodging an Issue when it is necessary for
their convenience. For example, when
modern water supply was introduced for the
first time into a city of India the problem
arose-How could the Hindus use water
that came from hydrants in face of the
law which prohibited them drinking it from
vessels which may have been touched by
people of another caste? After much re-
Election and discussion the pundits decided
that the payment of water rates should be
considered an atonement for violating the
ordinances of their religion.