Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 229

STRICT RULES OF ABSTINENCE
189
their principal food, are also subject to numerous
Thus they reject any vegetable whose root
exceptions.
or stem grows in the shape of a head, such as onions, garlic,
mushrooms, &c. Is it because they have discovered some
I think not.
The
hurtful properties in these plants ?
greater number of such vegetables are, on the contrary,
considered by other people to possess, in that very hot
climate, antiseptic and health-giving qualities.
I have often tried to find out the reason why these
vegetables are avoided, but I have never been able to ex-
tract any other answer from those I have questioned than
that it was the custom and rule to avoid them \
To adhere strictly to all these rules of abstinence is what
Whoever eats of forbidden things
is called eating properly.
cannot, according to Brahminical doctrine, keep his body
However, I am quite satisfied by experience
really pure.
that there are some who occasionally relax the severity of
but the extreme care which is taken to conceal
these rules
the fact proves what a strong hold the rules have over the
form
;
greater number.
These strict rules of abstinence are observed by all the
they are
respectable people of this large Hindu nation
most scrupulously obeyed in the family circle, without any
one daring to think of violating them, even under the most
They appear to have existed from the
pressing necessity.
time when the natives of India were formed into one
nation
that is to say, at no very distant date from the
Flood, and it seems to me they show a strong indication
of the great antiquity of this people.
And this law of abstinence, far from losing force and
falling into abeyance, has gained many additional adherents
from among the better class of Sudras. Its minute observ-
ance is the surest way of gaining respect even amongst
those who do not feel called upon to impose similar priva-
;
;
1
Whatever the motive may be, there are no doubt some superstitions
attached to it. Every one knows the extreme veneration in which the
Egyptians held onions and other vegetables of the same family. They
even swore by the leeks and onions in their gardens. Juvenal (Satires,
xv) laughs at them about it
Porrum et cepe nefas violare, et frangere morsu,
O sanctas gentes quibus haec nascuntur in hortis
Dubois.
Numina
:
'
'
!