Storia do Mogor 281.17.1

281.17.1

The second of the proximate and principal causes of the persecution was an imprudent act of one of the reverend Jesuit fathers' native (Malabar) catechists. These men always accompany the reverend fathers in all the gatherings they call together in the market-places. The catechist made so bold as to say several times in addressing the Hindu crowd, that the father whom they saw and heard speaking their language was the brother of, and of the same Society as, the Brahman priests of the Christians who dwelt at Tanjor, and consequently those referred to were this one's brothers, members of one and the same body or company. Thus they (the Tanjor fathers) must be Pariahs, for he (the Pondicherry Jesuit), of whom he spoke was reputed such in the minds of these peoples. But in order to understand fully the importance of the words that this catechist let slip on this occasion, and how imprudent they were, you must know that these Hindus have considerable contempt for Europeans, whom they call Franguis (Farangi, a Frank). This contempt is even greater than that of persons of quality in France for night-soil workers and scavengers. For the Hindus account Europeans to be Pariahs, since they eat cow's flesh, or, in other words, are of the very lowest caste or tribe, men with whom they cannot eat without losing their own [caste] — that is, their position in life.