Storia do Mogor 254: CHAPTER VII · OF THE MANNERS, GOVERNMENT, AND CUSTOMS OF THE HINDUS AMONG THEMSELVES
Storia do Mogor (Irvine) 254
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Contents
CHAPTER VII · OF THE MANNERS, GOVERNMENT, AND CUSTOMS OF THE HINDUS AMONG THEMSELVES
254.1.1
The first error of these Hindus is to believe that they are the only people in the world who have any polite manners ; and the same is the case with cleanliness and orderliness in business. They think all other nations, and above all Europeans, are barbarous, despicable, filthy, and devoid of order. The civilities they pay to each other are as follows, divisible into five categories. In the first they raise the hands to the head and prostrate themselves on the ground ; this is the form in which they adore God, and salute their spiritual leaders, the Sannyasis, who are their monks, and they also employ it for kings, princes, and the great. Although this is practised by nearly every caste, it is not observed by the Brahmans ; they prostrate themselves only before God, their teachers, who are always Brahmans, and their monks, also invariably of their own caste.
254.1.2
The second manner of salutation is to lift the hands to the head. It is in this fashion that they salute ordinary persons, governors, generals, and ministers of kings and princes. The third manner is to raise the hands only as high as the stomach ; and this is the course adopted by equals and friends, followed by an embrace. The fourth manner is to display the two hands with the palms joined. This is done by the learned and by monks before princes and the great, when those persons make use to them of one of the three methods above described. Finally, the fifth and last mode of salutation is to display the palm of the right hand raised on high; this is how superiors act to inferiors. Brahmans salute kings in the second manner only; and to it the latter respond in the same form. But what is delightful is to see a Brahman on a visit to another man, for without the slightest salutation he seats himself, and in the conversation the host accords him the title of lordship or excellency, and often that of highness. When he takes his leave he goes off most solemnly without being any more polite on going away than on entering.
254.1.3
There are also among these Hindus some families in the east called Sudra, the least noble of the four castes I have spoken of (and to this caste belong nowadays the kings and princes of this country), who are called Vanangamory (Vananga-mori). These people pay no civility either to princes or kings, not even to their own false gods; they appear neither in the palaces nor the temples. If you ask them the reason why, recognising as they do the king for their lord, and confessing the idol to be their god, they do not pay them homage like other men, they tell you that the greatness of their sect consists in this; and with that answer, being content with it themselves, they imagine you ought also to be satisfied.
254.1.4
With respect to their fashions of dress, I may say that the great nobles wear nothing more than the following: They bind their hair with a scarf of very fine gold stuff that they call roumals (rumali). Then they tie round their waist a piece of white cloth (as is the usual practice in India); it is about four cubits in length, and has a red border. It comes down to their knees. Above this they wear a white wrapper; but it is to be noted that the manner of putting this on varies in each caste. Some among them wear gold or silver rings on the toes. The children of these last carry from birth to seven years of age little bells on their legs, either of gold or silver, and a little chain of the same metal round the waist. As for the rest, they are no more covered than when they were brought into the world.
254.1.5
Some great lords wear a sort of turban on their heads, and put on a gown of white cloth that they call a cabaye (qaba), and underneath it very tight drawers; on their feet they have shoes of velvet or of red leather. These they remove when they enter a house or speak to a person of quality, for it is a great piece of bad manners in this country to speak to such a person with your shoes on and your head uncovered. The monks, called Sannyasis, are excepted, also ascetics, called Tavagi (tāpasa), and Brahmans, and all castes up to about the age of eighteen. This last exception is because up to that age they neither allow their hair to grow nor bind on the scarf of gold, of which I spoke above; they only leave on the middle of the head a little tail of hair [113].
254.1.6
The above is the apparel of the princes and the richest nobility. As for the soldiers, labourers, and other ordinary people, they have no more than a cloth bound round their head, and a little string round their middle, attached to which is a morsel of cloth, a span wide and a cubit in length, about the size of one of our ordinary napkins. With this cloth they cover the parts of the body that natural modesty requires to be concealed. Lastly, they have another cloth, somewhat of the same size, bound round the body, which serves in the day-time as a garment and at night as a bed, their mattress being identical with the damp earth. A stone or a piece of wood serves as bolster. Thus what would be looked on in Europe as a severe penance is in this country the ordinary habit. There are some so badly provided that they content themselves with the piece of cloth spoken of above as used to cover the private parts. In this equipment they hold themselves fully dressed and fit to talk to anyone, wherever it might be.
254.1.7
Having spoken of men's dress, the next thing is to say a little about that of women. It is very indifferent, and little can be said about it. From the age of twelve and upwards almost all of them allow their hair to grow long; up to that age they wear only a small tail of hair on the top of the head, like that of the little boys. They do not bind anything on, nor do they make the hair into tresses, but make it into a roll on one side of the head. All have their ears pierced, but not in the European way, for the holes are so large that the ears droop almost to the shoulders. In these holes they wear their ornaments, each according to her degree or her wealth. The custom of having the ears pierced is in this country common to men and women.
254.1.8
Women, when they are not widows, also wear ornaments on the neck, according to the diversity of their castes or of their wealth. Up to the age of nine or ten years they have no more clothing than, as I described above, is worn by boys up to the same age. After that time they wear a piece of white or red cotton cloth that they bind on like a petticoat. Sometimes the pane (punjam)—for so they call this cloth—is striped in two colours. One half of the said pane (punjam) is thrown over the shoulders or the head when speaking to a person of any position; but when they go to the well or a spring to fetch water, and when at work in their houses, they keep the whole pane (punjam) bound round the waist, and thence upwards are naked. They wear nothing on the feet, not even princesses and queens; but the latter wear on their legs jewels of great value, and any other women who are able to afford it do the same.
254.1.9
This is briefly the clothing of these people. Their dwellings also are very small. Excluding the temples of their false gods, some of which cost great sums, and the palaces of a few kings, princes, et cetera, which are built of brick and mortar, and even then have no architectural style, all other houses are constructed of earth and pieces of wood bound together with ropes, without much regard to appearances. These wooden posts serve as supporting pillars, and the roof is of thatch. In this way they build a house without using a single nail. The floors of the houses are not stone-paved, nor covered with the sort of cement they make in this country of lime, eggs, and other ingredients mixed together. The floors are of pounded earth only, spread over with a wash of cow's dung. This is the bed of the great majority of humble people in this country, who have no other mattress to lie on. However, rich people have a mat or a quilt on which they sleep ; and those that possess this much believe themselves in possession of one of the greatest luxuries in the world.
254.2.1
The ordinary dwelling of these Hindus being as poverty-stricken as I have described it, their mode of life is no better. For in this land there are no tables or chairs ; everybody sits upon the ground. They do not use table-napkins, table-cloths, knives, spoons, or forks, salt-cellars, dishes, or plates ; they eat no bread, they drink no wine, and all eat seated upon the ground.
254.2.2
Princes and kings eat in the following manner : They are seated on the ground on a piece of fine cloth. Then the house or the room in which they are to eat is rubbed over with a solution of cowdung. As the palaces of kings have floors made of a cement which looks like fine marble, there they do nothing more than throw down some cowdung mixed in water, and then wipe the floor with a piece of cloth. The floor then looks like a looking-glass. Without all this ceremonial of cleansing with the dung of this animal, as above described, no person of quality sits down to eat. These preparations finished, they bring a great platter of enamelled gold, which is placed on the ground in front of the diners, but without allowing it to touch the cloth on which they are seated. After this some small gold dishes are placed around, and the food is brought from the kitchen in bowls or vessels of silver, fashioned in the shape of cooking-pots. First of all, from these bowls they place rice cooked without salt or other condiment in the large dish, and on this they put some stew. If the whole cannot be contained in the large dish, they put the remainder in the small dishes round about it.
254.2.3
Then the rajah takes whatever pleases him, throwing it with his hand into a plate of rice, where he mixes it and rolls it into balls, which he throws into his mouth with the right hand. The left hand is not allowed to touch any food. All is swallowed without mastication. This fashion they consider very cleanly, and that there is no better way of satisfying oneself; and they say that Europeans eat rice like pigs. Then, before finishing the meal, they send as much as they think sufficient to their wives. For in this country these never eat with their husbands, even though those waiting on the king be eunuchs, children, or women. The way of eating among the other castes who are not kings is as follows : Monks, ascetics, Brahmans, and the learned before eating wash their hands and bodies. Then they put upon their foreheads, stomach, shoulders, knees and sides a little ashes mixed in water. This ash is either of a white earth they call naman (nāmam), or of sandal, according to their caste or the faith they follow. Next they enter the house, finding its floors all rubbed over with cowdung, in the way I have spoken of. They bind round their body a piece of cloth, and sit down with their legs crossed, or upon a small mat of about one cubit in length. Before them is placed the large leaf of certain trees, or smaller leaves of other trees stitched together, not with needle and thread, but with rushes.
254.2.4
Upon this leaf is put first of all a pinch of salt and two drops of butter, with which they anoint or rub the leaf. This ceremony completed, they deposit on this platter some rice cooked in water without salt, followed by a little vegetables and some green stuff. When this is eaten, they throw upon the rice left on the said leaf a little sour curds or some whey. When all this food has been swallowed, they rise from the place and move to a courtyard or garden, if [115] there is one in the house where they live. If there is not, they go into the street, and there bathe their hands, mouth, and feet. They do not return to their dwellings till the leaves they have eaten from have been removed, and the ground has been rubbed over afresh in the way already mentioned. For they say that if they did so their bodies would be as polluted as the house.
254.2.5
Since neither Brahmans, ascetics, monks, nor the learned eat any meat or fish in this country (eggs, being here included under the head of meat, are also avoided), I think it as well here to state the food and manner of eating of the other castes. None of those I have hitherto spoken of ever eat cow's flesh. To do so is a very low thing, a defilement, and sinful beyond all imagination. But they eat all the other meats consumed in Europe, and, in addition thereto, rats and lizards. As for shell-fish, these also are classed among the most impure of things, and are not used except by the pariahs. However, almost all the castes eat of the other kinds of meat, and judge it to be most delicious fare. The food of these people is usually placed on a little cooked rice, and it consists generally of a portion of dry and salted fish. For goats, sheep, chicken, rats, and lizards, are only for the nobility, and if other men eat of these, it is solely at their festivals and at marriages. Their plate is a leaf, as described above, or a small plate of copper, out of which the whole family eats, one after the other.
254.2.6
Although these people hold it an abomination to eat of the cow, they believe, however, that it is a venerable thing, and one worthy of all praise, to drink that animal's urine, and to smother their faces with it. It is in pursuance of this opinion that the most noble and the most gallant among them rise betimes in the morning, and holding a cow's tail, worship the spot covered thereby. The reason they give is that this is Lakshmi, mother of their god, Vishnu, and goddess of prosperity. Their worship over, they hold out their two hands and receive the cow's urine, of which they take a drink. Then, turning the tail into a sort of holy-water sprinkler, they immerse it in the said liquid, and with it they daub their faces. When this ceremonial is over, they declare they have been made holy. To obtain plenary indulgence for all their sins, they say it is necessary to obtain a beverage composed of milk, butter, cow-dung and cow's urine. With this medicament not only is all sin driven away, but all infamy. In this the Brahmans intervene, for it is they alone who can secure this 'jubilee.' It is obligatory when marrying for the first time, when women arrive at puberty, and on any unlucky day. Even the cleverest men, those who look down on the rest of the world, have their houses rubbed with cowdung before they eat, and then, without other ceremony, have their food brought, and eat it.
254.2.7
There is another class of persons called Nostiguer (?Nastika), who not only may not be looked upon when eating, but may not hear the sound of any human voice while so occupied. So far is this carried [116] that, when eating, they cause a copper vessel to be beaten hard at their door. Men of this caste do not allow their beard to be touched, either by the razor or by scissors, but it is dragged out, hair by hair, with a small pincers. The first time that the pulling out of the hair of the head and beard is begun, if the patient betrays no sign of pain, he is accepted as a firm disciple ; if, on the contrary, he weeps, cries, or makes faces, they say he is too tender, and thereby unworthy to be admitted into the confraternity. These men are not the only ones who may not be seen eating, for other castes may not look at Brahmans who are eating. In regard to this these Hindus have a rather amusing habit. The Brahmans, according to their view, are the noblest family of all mankind, and the one most venerated, not merely as superiors, but as gods. Other castes cannot wait on them or fetch them water, nor cook for them. They must wait upon each other for these two purposes, or do it each for himself. With all that, however, they may carry water and cook for the other castes, which appears a moral contradiction, for if it dishonours them to be served by others, how can they be servants to others ?
254.2.8
When Brahmans cook for another caste they act as follows : after having cooked the food, they bring it in brass or copper vessels to the house where it is to be eaten — that is, of the man who has given the order. Not being a Brahman, he cannot enter the kitchen, nor inspect the pots in which the food is being cooked. The food having been brought, it is laid out upon leaves, or on copper or brass vessels made like dishes. Having helped the food, the Brahmans do the waiting until the end of the repast. Then they and the master and his guests, if any, come out, and the Brahmans throw water over the eaters' hands and feet ; but they do not clear away what has not been eaten, for that would be a dishonour and a disgrace beyond repair. To remove the unused food it is necessary to have another man who is not a Brahman, and if there is none such, he who has eaten must himself remove the leavings, along with the leaf or dish from which he has eaten, and afterwards cleanse the house in the way already described.
254.2.9
As to their mode of eating, it is as follows : they all eat with the right hand, and may not touch anything with the left, not even the plate or leaf from which they have eaten, nor the spoon with which they sup a concoction by way of wine, which is some water boiled with pepper. But a vessel of cold water they lift with the left hand, at the same time never putting the vessel to the mouth. They hold their mouth open and raised to catch the liquid they pour into it. In fine, the greatest piece of refinement in this country is considered to be eating in a clean and orderly way, but this is carried out in no other manner than that described above. Yet, being so very different from that practised by Europeans and Mahomedans, it forms the ground for their strong contempt for these latter [117].