Children are commonly sent to school at the age of five. Girls are not taught to read, under the common idea that they will become widows if they do. ↩
Meaning the place of reading the four Shastras. ↩
A certain goddess who plays tricks with mankind. If a son when grown up act differently from what his parents did, people say that he has been changed in the womb. ↩
Shani is the planet Saturn, which has an exceedingly baleful influence in India as elsewhere. ↩
The Eleatic or Materialistic school of Hindu philosophy, which agrees to explode an intelligent separate First Cause. ↩
The writings of this school give an excellent view of the “progressive system,” which has popularly been asserted to be a modern idea. But Hindu philosophy seems to have exhausted every fancy that can spring from the brain of man. ↩
Tama is the natural state of matter, Raja is passion acting upon nature, and Satwa is excellence. These are the three gunas or qualities of matter. ↩
Spiritual preceptors and learned men. ↩
Under certain limitations, gambling is allowed by Hindu law, and the winner has power over the person and property of the loser. No “debts of honour” in Hindustan! ↩
Quotations from standard works on Hindu criminal law, which in some points at least is almost as absurd as our civilised codes. ↩
Hindus carry their money tied up in a kind of sheet, which is wound round the waist and thrown over the shoulder. ↩
A thieves’ manual in the Sanskrit tongue; it aspires to the dignity of a “Scripture.” ↩
All sounds, say the Hindus, are of similar origin, and they do not die; if they did, they could not be remembered. ↩
Gold pieces. ↩
These are the qualifications specified by Hindu classical authorities as necessary to make a distinguished thief. ↩
Every Hindu is in a manner born to a certain line of life, virtuous or vicious, honest or dishonest; and his Dharma, or religious duty, consists in conforming to the practice and the worship of his profession. The “Thug,” for instance, worships Bhawani, who enables him to murder successfully; and his remorse would arise from neglecting to murder. ↩
Hindu law sensibly punishes, in theory at least, for the same offence the priest more severely than the layman—a hint for him to practise what he preaches. ↩
The Hindu Mercury, god of rascals. ↩
A penal offence in India. How is it that we English have omitted to codify it? The laws of Manu also punish severely all disdainful expressions, such as “tush” or “pish,” addressed during argument to a priest. ↩
Stanzas, generally speaking, on serious subjects. ↩
Whitlows on the nails show that the sufferer, in the last life, stole gold from a Brahman. ↩
A low caste Hindu, who catches and exhibits snakes and performs other such mean offices. ↩
Meaning, in spite of themselves. ↩
When the moon is in a certain lunar mansion, at the conclusion of the wet season. ↩
In Hindustan, it is the prevailing wind of the hot weather. ↩
Vishnu, as a dwarf, sank down into and secured in the lower regions the Raja Bali, who by his piety and prayerfulness was subverting the reign of the lesser gods; as Ramachandra he built a bridge between Lanka (Ceylon) and the main land; and as Krishna he defended, by holding up a hill as an umbrella for them, his friends the shepherds and shepherdesses from the thunders of Indra, whose worship they had neglected. ↩
The priestly caste sprang, as has been said, from the noblest part of the Demiurgus; the three others from lower members. ↩
A chew of betel leaf and spices is offered by the master of the house when dismissing a visitor. ↩
Respectable Hindus say that receiving a fee for a daughter is like selling flesh. ↩
A modern custom amongst the low caste is for the bride and bridegroom, in the presence of friends, to place a flower garland on each others necks, and thus declare themselves man and wife. The old classical Gandharva-lagan has been before explained. ↩
Meaning that the sight of each other will cause a smile, and that what one purposes the other will consent to. ↩
This would be the verdict of a Hindu jury. ↩
Because stained with the powder of Mhendi, or the Lawsonia inermis shrub. ↩
Kansa’s son; so called because the god Shiva, when struck by his shafts, destroyed him with a fiery glance. ↩
“Great Brahman”; used contemptuously to priests who officiate for servile men. Brahmans lose their honour by the following things: By becoming servants to the king; by pursuing any secular business; by acting priests to Shudras (serviles); by officiating as priests for a whole village; and by neglecting any part of the three daily services. Many violate these rules; yet to kill a Brahman is still one of the five great Hindu sins. In the present age of the world, the Brahman may not accept a gift of cows or of gold; of course he despises the law. As regards monkey worship, a certain Rajah of Nadiya is said to have expended £10,000 in marrying two monkeys with all the parade and splendour of the
