Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c19.s3: Section 4. The Agrahāra

Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c19.s3

Language
English

Section 4. The Agrahāra

v2.c19.s3.1

We may now look at the other side of the picture which presents the life of the Brahman amidst the orthodox surroundings of the *agrahāra*.³ The traditions which the Brahmans of Vijayanagara received from those of the earlier times were of learning and piety. Their duties and vocation, as is well known, were already fixed for them by the early canonists.⁴ The Brahmans of Karṇāṭaka seem to have lived, on the whole, a life which was in conformity with classical precepts.⁵ An inscription dated about A.D. 1142 sings the praise of the Brahmans of the Hariharapura *agrahāra*, also called Kellaṅgere, thus: "Possessed of the usual ascetic virtues (*yama-niyama svādhyāya-dhyāna-dhāraṇa-maunānuṣṭhāna-japa-samādhi-śila-guṇa-sampannarum*), devoted to the *ṣaṭ-karma* (*yajana-yājana-adhyāyana-adhyāpana-dāna-pratigraha-ṣaṭ-karma-niyatarum*), versed in the Rig, Yajus, Sāma and Atharvaṇa and their *ṣaḍ-aṅgas*, suns in dispersing the darkness the poverty of the company of panegyrists, restrained by *muñji*, *yajña* and *upavīta*, wearing golden earrings, having at their feet the foreheads of the three (castes of) Kshatriyas, Vaiśyas and Śūdras, of original ability, lights of the Bali-vaṁśa, oceans (of mercy) to those who come for refuge, were the Brahmans of Kellaṅgere......"¹

v2.c19.s3.2

³ For the corporate life of the Brahmans, see Majumdar, *Corp. Life*, p. 337, seq.

v2.c19.s3.3

⁴ *Manu*, X, 75, p. 419; *Gautama*, VIII, 4-11, 14-24, pp. 215-18; *Vaśiṣṭha*, VI, 23, p. 38.

v2.c19.s3.4

⁵ For a detailed description of the chief duties of *mahājanas*, see Majumdar, *ibid*, p. 334.

v2.c19.s3.5

¹ E.C. V, P. I., Ak. 110, p. 160, P. II, text, p. 486.

v2.c19.s3.6

In the eulogy which these Brahmans of Kellaṅgere heap upon themselves, some allowance must be made for their vanity which brings to their feet "the foreheads of the three (castes of) Kshatriyas, Vaiśyas and Śūdras", and which prompts them to style themselves as possessors of the usual ascetic virtues and also of golden earrings! But it is evident that Kellaṅgere was indeed a place of some repute, even in the later times, as is indicated in an inscription assigned to the year A.D. 1300. This epigraph says that the Brahmans of Kellaṅgere were poets, readers, speakers, orators and lovers of fame, devoted to the lotus feet of Keśava.² That it is not improbable that Brahmans in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries were given to learning is evident by comparing the above description of the residents of Kellaṅgere with that of those who lived in the great *agrahāra* Sarvajñapura. An inscription dated A.D. 1234 describes them thus: "In that nāḍ (*i.e.*, Hoysala-nāḍ) exalted was the great *agrahāra* Sarvajñapura. In some streets were those reading the Vēdas, śāstras and six systems of *tarkka*; in some were (?) maṇṭapas for (?) new shows; in some Viṣṇu temples. Ever groups of Brahmans either reading the Vēda, or all at once listening to some higher science, or without ceasing carrying on discussion in logic, or joyously reciting purāṇas, or settling the meaning of all manner of smṛiti, drama and poetry. To study, teaching, listening to good precepts and the rules of their faith, were the Brahmans in Sarvajñapura devoted''.¹

v2.c19.s3.7

² Ibid., Ak. 114, p. 162.

v2.c19.s3.8

¹ E.C., V, P. I, Ak. 82, p. 144.

v2.c19.s3.9

One characteristic feature of the Brahmans was their corporate life. We infer this not only from the fact that they held their offices in the agrahāras by monthly rotation but also from the grants which they jointly made for social and religious purposes. The tradition of living a corporate existence seems to have been handed down from very early times.² Thus the thousand Brahmans of Maddūr, for example, made a grant of twelve kaṇḍugas of wet land in Oragāla in A.D. 982 for the temple which Polayya had caused to be erected.³ This Maddūr is evidently the same Maddūr the Brahmans of which in A.D. 1327 made a grant, the details of which are missing, to five persons (named), during the month's headship of the Tantra-mantra-chintāmaṇi, the Śravaṇappāchārya Vijñēśvara Dikshitōpādhyāya.⁴ The term used for the "month's headship", which is missing in this inscription, of the learned Brahman of Maddūr (which was also called by the name the all-honoured great agrahāra Upēndrapura), is supplied by another inscription, relating to the same place, dated in the next year (A.D. 1328). This epigraph relates that all the Brahmans of the all-honoured great agrahāra Upēndrapura, during the month's headship (māsa-veggaḍelanadalu) of Aśama Dēva, (his descent given), made a grant to six persons (named), for the purpose of building Upēndrapaṭṭaṇa anew in the dry fields of Chiraduvu.⁵ In A.D. 1336 all the Brahmans of the same agrahāra, during the month's headship of Karaṭṭi of Udugundūr, gave a stone charter to Mambōja, son of the copper-smith Pemmōja, assigning to him certain specified lands for "having by the practice of his calling pleased the Brahmans."¹ If this was the case in A.D. 1336, we may not be far wrong in assuming that the custom of holding office by monthly rotation, at least so far as Upēndrapura *alias* Maddūr was concerned, must also have been in vogue in Vijayanagara times.

v2.c19.s3.10

² Majumdar, Corp. Life, p. 339.

v2.c19.s3.11

³ E.C., IV, Yl. 41, p. 31.

v2.c19.s3.12

⁴ Ibid., Yl. 40, p. 31.

v2.c19.s3.13

⁵ Ibid, 39, p. 31.

v2.c19.s3.14

¹ E. C., IV, Yl. 38, p. 30.

v2.c19.s3.15

In this connection it is interesting to observe a special feature of the *agrahāras* under the Vijayanagara kings. In spite of the freedom given to the Brahmans in certain matters, it appears that the State imposed its own officials over the *agrahāras*. This is proved by an inscription dated A.D. 1532 which narrates that, at the time of setting up the god Yōga-Narasimha in the Durggāgrahāra, Rāmayya, son of Hāra-Mallayya, of Pidave in the Ādavāni country, the seal-bearer of Mallarasa-ayya, the head minister of Śiṅgapa Nāyaka, held the *pārupatya* of Durggāgrahāra, caused the sacred pond to be excavated and restored.²

v2.c19.s3.16

² Ibid., Yl. 45, pp. 31-2.

v2.c19.s3.17

It was not only the Brahmans of Karṇāṭaka who could lay pretensions to learning and piety. The Kāśmīr Brahmans too were famous for their wisdom. Thus are these latter described in an inscription dated A.D. 1368. "......like incarnations of Vidyēśvara, pre-eminent by their virtues and the country of their birth, travellers to the farthest point of the *charaṇanīya-aticharaṇāmnāya*, daily observers of all the rites appointed in the pure Śivāmnāya, ever devoted to the worship of the Aṣṭhamūrti, Kāśmīr Brahmans."³

v2.c19.s3.18

³ E.C., VII, Sk. 281, p. 147.

v2.c19.s3.19

About the *agrahāras* we have some charming notices in contemporary Indian literature, while about the Brahmans themselves, a great deal can be gathered from the accounts of foreign travellers. The *Varadāmbikā Pariṇaya*, written by the talented poetess Tirumalāmbā, thus describes the *agrahāras* of Tuṇḍīra-maṇḍala:

v2.c19.s3.20

वेदवेदान्तविद्याप्रत्युद्वातशेमुषीपथैः दैत्यारिस्तुतिप्रस्तावविस्तारित- हृद्यानवद्यार्थविद्योतमानः गद्यपद्यैः विवारचित सकल अतिथिसत्कारावितथी- कृततिथिः सौजन्यसीमावधिभिः अनितरतत्त्वज्ञानोपज्ञप्रज्ञैः निगमगम- निदर्शनायितनिर्मलनिजकर्मभिः द्विजमणिभिः अलंकृतमहाप्रहारान्... तुण्डीरानतीत्य ¹

v2.c19.s3.21

¹ Varadāmbikā Pariṇaya, quoted by Venkoba Rao, Vyāsayōgi-charitam Intr., p. lvii.

v2.c19.s3.22

To the above we may add Sōmanātha's description of the great agrahāra of Mūḷbāgal, where lived the learned Lakshmī-Nārāyaṇa Yōgi, otherwise known as Śrīpāda-rāja :

v2.c19.s3.23

तत्र सततविहिताधिवासं सनकमिव महर्षिभिः ब्रह्मवादिभिः अन्तेवासिभिः उपास्यमानं प्रतिबिवुधविटपिपाटनक्रीडनकठोरकुठारधारायमाण- वाग्गुम्भं हरिदंतरविसर्पियशःकाशवनप्रवर्तितशाश्वतशरत्समयावतारं निक्षेप- भाजनमिव मध्यमुनिरहस्यस्य...

v2.c19.s3.24

Sōmanātha tells us in the same connection why Vyāsarāya preferred to remain at Mūḷbāgal :

v2.c19.s3.25

स च प्रशस्ततया देशस्य पवित्रतया महातीर्थानां भूयिष्ठतया महत्संघस्य वत्सलतया विद्यागुरोः प्रशान्ततया मनसश्च समग्रसन्निधान- वैभवस्य भगवतो नृसिंहस्य काङ्क्षमाणः करुणां भूयसीं शरत्समय इव प्रसन्नसलिलाशयः समर इव आरब्धवीरासनो रय इव विधुताक्षमालो वनोदेश इव प्रविक्स्वरजपो धिषण इव नियमितमरुद्रणः तरुरिव दरदरीदृश्यमानेनत्रभागः निवृष्टबलाहक इव अचञ्चलस्तपस्तपन्महनीयं तत्रैव चिरमवसन् । ²

v2.c19.s3.26

² Sōmanātha, Vyāsayōgicharitam, pp. 39-40. On page 41 he describes a bath in a tank in the woods.

v2.c19.s3.27

These details one looks for in vain in the accounts of foreigners, who were struck as much by the versatility as by the voracity of the Brahmans. There is a touch of admiration not unmixed with contempt in the remark of ‘Abdur Razzāq who couples “the wise Brahmans and the demon-like elephants” in a verse describing the great Mahānavami festival.³

v2.c19.s3.28

³ Elliot, Hist. of India, IV, p. 117

v2.c19.s3.29

Barbosa has more to say about the Brahmans than the Persian Ambassador. "Among them is another class of people whom they call Bramenes, who are priests and rulers of their houses of worship. These eat nothing subject to death, they marry only one wife, and if she dies, do not marry again (and their sons inherit all their goods). As a mark of their dignity they wear over their shoulders three linen threads. Among them all these men hold the greatest liberties and privileges and are not liable to death for anything whatsoever which they do. The king, the great Lords and men of rank give them much alms on which they live; also many of them have estates while others live in the houses of worship, as in monasteries, which possess good revenues. Some are great eaters and never work except to feed well; they will start at once on a 'six days journey' [twenty or twenty-four miles, *Ramusio*; eight leagues, Spanish] only to get a good bellyfull. Their (food is?) honey and butter, rice, sugar, 'stews of' pulse and milk ".¹

v2.c19.s3.30

¹ *Barbosa*, Dames, I, p. 217. Barbosa describes in almost identical terms the Brahmans of Gujerat. *Ibid.*, I, pp. 114-17; Stanley, p. 94. Cf. the account of the Brahmans as given by William Metthwold who describes Golkonda and its inhabitants. "The Gentiles in the fundamentall points of their little religion doe hold the same principles which their learned clergie, the Bramenes (brāhmans), have from great antiquitie, and doe yet maintayne, but with an implicit faith, not able to give an account of it, nor any of their customes, onely that it was the custome of their ancestors". Metthwold, *Relations of Golconda*, p. 13.

v2.c19.s3.31

We shall see in the next chapter what Paes has to say about the Brahman women; meanwhile we may pass on to the accounts of Nuniz. "And in this kingdom of Bisnaga there is a class of men, natives of the country, namely Brahmans, who the most part of them never kill or eat any live thing, and these are the best that there are amongst them. They are honest men, given to merchandise, very acute and of much talent, very good at accounts, lean men and well-formed, but little fit for hard work. By these and by the duties they undertake the kingdom is carried on. They believe that there are Three Persons and only One God, and they call the Persons of the Most Holy Trinity *Tricebemca* "1. Then again he says: "These people have such devotion to cows that they kiss them everyday, some they say even on the rump—a thing I do not assert for their honour—and with the droppings of these cows they absolve themselves from their sins as if with holy water. They have for a commandment to confess their sins to the Brahman priests, but they do not do it, except only those who are very religious...They give in excuse that they feel a shame to confess themselves to another man, and say that it is sufficient to confess themselves alone after approching God, for he who does not do so does not acquire grace; thus they fulfil the command in one way or another. But they do it so seldom (in reality) that they (may be said to) neglect this command to confess".² These details given by Nuniz about confession among Brahmans are rather strange: the chronicler evidently belongs to the earlier school of Portuguese writers who shared the belief that "the Hindus were Christians of a sort".³

v2.c19.s3.32

² Sewell, ibid., p. 391.

v2.c19.s3.33

³ Dames, ibid., I, p. 115, n. (1).

v2.c19.s3.34

Before we proceed with the account of the death ceremonies which Nuniz gives in some detail, we may record the evidence of two other writers who saw what Barbosa and Nuniz had failed to note—the devotion and learning of the Brahmans. Gasparo Balbi in A. D. 1582 thus describes the Brahmans around Mylapore:

v2.c19.s3.35

"The Bramins are wont to burne Kowes excrements, and with the ashes for devotion meeting with the Gentiles to dawbe their forehead and nose; who so painted wash not that day for devotion of the Kow".⁴ John Huighen Van Linschoten in A. D. 1583 noted the following about the Brahmans:

v2.c19.s3.36

⁴ Gaspare Balbi, *Purchas, Pilgrims*, X, p. 148.

v2.c19.s3.37

"The Bramenes are the honestest and most esteemed

v2.c19.s3.38

¹ Sewell, *For. Emp.*, p. 390 "Triyambaka"? Nuniz evidently refers here to the *Trimurti* of the Hindus. For the confusion the Portuguese once made as regards the Hindu Trimurti and the Holy Trinity, see Dames, *Barbosa*, I, p. 115, n. (1).

v2.c19.s3.39

Nation among all the Indian Heathens:¹ for they doe alwaies serve in the chiefest places about the King, as Receivers, Stewards, Ambassadors, and such like Offices. They are likewise the Priests and Ministers of the Pagodas, or devilish Idols. They are of great authoritie among the Indian people, for that the King doth nothing without their counsel and consent, and that they may bee knowne from other men, they weare upon their naked bodie, from the shoulder crosse under the arme over their bodie downe to the girdle, or the cloth that is wrapped about their middle, three or four strings like sealing thread, whereby they are knowne: which they never put off although it should cost them their lives, for their Profession and Religion will not permit it. They goe naked, saving onely that they have a cloth bound about their middles to hide their privie members. They weare sometimes when they go abroad, a thinne cotton linnen Gowne called Cabaia, lightly cast over their shoulders, and hanging down to the ground like some other Indians, as Benianes (Banyas?) Gusartes (Gujeratis?) and Decanins (Deccanis?). Upon their heads they weare a white cloth, wound twice or thrice about, therewith to hide their haire, which they never cut off, but weare it long and turned up as the women doe. They have most commonly round rings of gold hanging at their eares, as most of the Indians have. They eate not anything that hath life, but feed themselves with herbes and Rice, neither yet when they are sick will for anything be let bloud, but heale themselves by herbs and ointments, and by rubbing their bodies with Sanders, and such like sweet woods. In Goa and on the Sea coasts there are many Bramenes, which commonly doe maintayne themselves with selling of Spices and other Apothecarie ware, but it is not so cleane as others, but full of garbish and dust. They are very subtile in writing and casting accounts, whereby they make other simple Indians beleeve what they will”.¹

v2.c19.s3.40

¹ The brighter side of the character of the Brahman was seen also by Metthwold: "Their moralitie appeares best in their conversation (conduct); murder and violent theft are strangers among them, and seldome happen; but for coozenage (cheating) in bargaining, *caveat emptor*. Poligamy is permitted but not generally practised, unlesse in case of the first wives barrennesse. Adultery is not common, but punishable in women, fornication veniall, and no law but that of modesty restraines the publike action". Metthwold, *Relations of Golconda*, p. 14. The same eye-witness tells us: "The Bramene (brāhman) is priest unto them all, and weareth alwayes three or four twisted threads on one shoulder and under the other arme, and in his forehead a round spot whereon there sticketh cornes of rice dyed yellow in turmericke; they are very good and ready accountants and in that office much employed by Moores (Moslems) of greatest affaires, writing and keeping their accounts in palmito leaves.." *Ibid.*, pp. 14-15.

v2.c19.s3.41

¹ Linschoten, Purchas, Pilgrims, X, pp. 255-6. For some remarks on Brahmans, see Pietro della Valle, Travels, I., pp. 80-1.

v2.c19.s3.42

Nuniz describes in detail the ceremonies practised at the death of Brahmans. “When a Brahman is sick, before he dies, they send to call the learned Brahmans who are his priests, so that they should come to pray, and console the sick man; and they talk to him of the affairs of his soul, and what he must do to save it, bidding him spend money in alms. After this ceremony is over they make the Brahman priests shave the sick man's head, and after shaving they bid them wash it, and after the washing it is their custom to bring to their houses a cow with a calf,—there are very few Brahmans, however poor they be, who do not have one to live in their house,—which cow, when they have finished washing the man's head, they take a turban and tie it to its neck and put the end of the turban into the hand of the sick man, and he gives it and the calf in alms for his soul to those priests who perform these ceremonies. On that day he gives alms according to his position, and gives to eat to some Brahmans who are invited and who come there for the purpose. They believe that when these ceremonies are made for the sick man, if he is to live he is soon cured of his infirmity, and if not that he soon dies.

v2.c19.s3.43

“After the death of the sick man they have the ground washed upon which he lay, and after the washing they take cow-dung and spread it over the ground, and place the body on the top of this dung. They hold that a sick man who dies on a cot, or anything soever except only on the ground, commits a mortal sin. As soon as the body is laid on the ground they make for it a bier covered with boughs of the fig-tree, and before they place the body on the bier they wash it well with pure water, and anoint it with sandal-wood (oil); and they place by the body branches of sweet basil and cover it with a new cloth, and so place it in the bier. Then one of his relatives takes the bier on one side, and they call three other Brahmans whosoever they may be to aid them to lift it; and so they carry it to the place where they are to burn it, accompanied by many Brahmans who go singing in front of the corpse. In front of all goes his son, if he has one, or next younger brother or nearest relative, with fire in the hand for the burning. As soon as they arrive at the place where they have to burn the body, they scatter money according to their ability, and then put the fire to it; and they wait there till the whole body is consumed, and then all go and wash their bodies in a tank and afterwards return each one to his house. The son or brother or relation who put the fire is obliged to sleep on the ground where the man died for nine nights, and after the lapse of nine days from the death come the priests and learned men and they command to shave the head of this man. During these nine days, they feed the poor and they give them the dead man's clothes, and they give the cot with its bed in alms to the priests, with some money in addition; if he is a rich man they give gardens and other things in alms to many Brahmans. When ten days are finished, and the son has been shaved, he goes to the place where they burned his father or his brother, and they perform many ceremonies over the ashes and bones that remain unburned; then they put them in a small vessel and make a pit in the ground and bury them in it, and keep them thus guarded and buried in order (afterwards) to send the bones to be thrown into a sacred river, which is distant from Goa over one thousand leagues (the Ganges). There is a very large temple there, the object of many pilgrimages, and they hold that every pilgrim who dies there is saved, and goes to Paradise, and also every dead man whose bones are thrown into that river. In spite of this they in reality take very few people there. The heir or the father or son of the dead man is obliged, from the day of the death, for eleven days to give food to twenty-seven Brahmans, and until twenty-one days to three others; until twelve days again he feeds seven Brahmans, and until twenty-seven days gives to eat to the three; on the last day of the month he gives food to three others, and thence forward, until one year is finished, he gives meals once a month to three Brahmans. They do this in honour of the Trinity for the Soul of the deceased. When this year is over he gives no more alms, except that each year, on the day on which the death happened, he feeds six Brahmans,—namely, three in honour of the Trinity, and three for the persons of his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather; who thus seemingly eat together. Thus he obtains favour with God, and for these expenses they beg alms of the Brahmans if they are poor. These give him all help for it. Before they dine they wash the feet of all six, and during the meal some ceremonies are performed by Brahman priests who come there for that purpose."¹

v2.c19.s3.44

¹ Sewell, For. Emp., pp. 393-5. As regards the time when the śrāddha is to be peformed, see Apastamba, II, 7, 16, pp. 140-2; II, 7, 17, 22; II, 8, 18, pp. 146-8, seq.; Vishnu, LXXVI-LXXVIII, pp. 240-6; Vaśiṣṭha XI, 16-17, p. 51; XI, 43-4, pp. 55-6; Manu, III, 122, p. 97; III, 274-80; p. 127. About the persons who are to be invited for the śrāddha, Apastamba, II, 7-17, 21-2, pp. 145-6; II, 8, 18, 9, p. 148; Gautama, XV, p. 255 seq.; Vishnu, LXXXII-LXXXIII, pp. 251-5; Manu, III, 124-95, pp. 98-111; 208, p. 114; 234-70, pp. 118-25. Śrāddha to be performed monthly during the first year after the decease of a person: Vishnu, XXI, 11-21, pp. 85-6; Manu, III, 167, 203-8, 256-265, 279, 282, p. 110, seq. Śrāddha on the anniversary of the deceased relative's death: Vishnu, XXI, 22-3, pp. 86-7.

v2.c19.s3.45

We are not able to determine the veracity of the above account, since we have no other description from the pen of foreign travellers, which could be compared with that of Nuniz. Nevertheless it is evident from the details which he gives that the Brahmans followed the orthodox rules about the performance of the funeral and śrāddha cermonies. Nuniz speaks of the rather large number of Brahmans being fed by the heir or father "from the day of the death"; and then he says that three Brahmans were fed for twenty-seven days. About the number three we have the following in Vaśiṣṭha : "After issuing an invitation on the day preceding (the śrāddha, he shall feed on that occasion), three ascetics or three virtuous householders, who are Śrotriyas, who are not aged, who do not follow forbidden occupations, and neither (have been his pupils, nor are (living as) pupils in his house".¹ According to Manu: "I will fully declare what and how many Brāhmaṇas must be fed on that (occasion), who must be avoided and on what kinds of food (they shall dine). One must feed two (Brāhmaṇas) at the offering to the gods, and three at the offering to the manes, or one only on either occasion; even a very wealthy man shall not be anxious (to entertain) a large company".² It is highly doubtful if the orthodox Brahmans of Vijayanagara, to whom gold was as precious as learning, would have violated the next injunction of Manu who gives reasons why a large company of Brahmans should not be entertained at a śrāddha. "A large company destroys these five (advantages), the respectful treatment (of the invited, the propriety of) place and time, purity, and (the selection of) virtuous Brāhmaṇa (guests); he therefore shall not seek (to entertain) a large company".³ The Portuguese chronicler dwells twice on the Trinity which makes one suspect that he was still labouring under the earlier misconception of his countrymen who confounded the principles of the Hindu religion with those of Christianity.⁴

v2.c19.s3.46

¹ *Vasiṣṭha*, XI, 17, p. 51. ² *Manu*, III, 124-5, p. 98. ³ *Ibid*, III, 126, p. 98. ⁴ For further notices of Brahmans, see Bāṇa, *Harṣacharita*, pp. 32-3, 66; 72; 78; 79; 233; Watters, *Yuan Chwang*, I, pp. 159-60; Foster, *Early Travels in India*, pp. 19, 21-2 where an account of the north Indian Brahmans by Ralph Fitch is given (A.D. 1583-91); Lockman, *Travels*, II, p. 380, seq., where the Jesuits, (in their usual disparaging terms) speak of the philosophy, mathematics and astronomy of the Brahmans. For a wholesale condemnation of the Brahmans, who, according to the Jesuits, were "a great Burthen to the Public", "proud", "artful", "great impostors", read Lockman, ibid., I, pp. 360 (n), 361, where reference is given to *Thirty-four Conferences between the Danish Missionaries*, etc. Trans. by Philips, London, 1719, for further enlightenment on the subject. The observations of the Abbé Dubois, whose "pen would refuse to describe all their wrong doing", may also be noted in this connection. *Hind. Man. Cust.* I, pp. 309, seq. (1897). Another writer, whose views on the subject may also be read, is William Ward. In his book called *A View of the History, Literature and Mythology of the Hindoos*, III, pp. 67-71, 84 seq.

Linked texts (7)