Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 132

RECKLESS SQUANDERING OF WEALTH
92
But a difference, more essential even than that between
the characters of the two nations, is observable in con-
nexion with properties. In Europe tlrey are preserved
intact, and are, with but few exceptions^ transmitted from
father to son generation after generatioh.
In India, on
the other hand, there is nothing permanent about them,
especially among the Sudras.
The latter make their money
either by their industry, talents, or cunning, and' once it is
made they do not know how to spend it wisely. ^Realizing
that, do what they may, they will necessarily be looked
down upon as parvenus, they soon acquire all the charac-
teristic vices of the nouveaux riches.
Iri ^me-th£y^become
as proud and arrogant as any Brahmin, and their >;sole
object seems to be to win a name for lordly extravagance.
Money becomes no object to them, so long as it procures
the gratification of their vanity.
Immense- fortunes seldom
survive the second generation, owing i-to.- the manner; in
which the sons foolishly squander the ''wealth laboriously
gained by their fathers. It is not uncoinr^on to rind sons
who have inherited millions from their -father end their
days in beggary.
native's house is besieged as soon -as he is known to
be a wealthy man, and this not only by/his own relatives,
but also by the indigent of his caste, ajid by ar#tf)rde of
parasites of every description, including poverty-stricken
Brahmins, religious mendicants, ballad-mongers, and low
flatterers, who feed his vanity by writing odes to his honour
and glory, and by lavishing on him praise of the most
fulsome nature. All these dependants stick to the wealthy
native like leeches, fighting with each other as to who
shall carry off the largest share of the prize, and never
releasing their hold on their victim until they have stripped
him of everything.
As to the general condition of the natives now, as com-
pared with what it was thirty years ago, the question arises,
has it improved or has it deteriorated ? I have occasionally
heard this important question discussed amongst thoughtful
and well-informed Europeans, but they could rarely agree
with one another on the subject. Some maintained that
the masses are enjoying greater prosperity than ever they
did before
others that they have never been in a more
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