Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 280

RULES FOR CLEANING THE TEETH
240
mouth out
eight times \
When
he
is
doing this last act
must take very great care to spit out the water on his
left side, for if by carelessness or otherwise he unfortunately
spits it out on the other side, he will assuredly go to hell.
XXIII. He will think three times on Vishnu and will
lie
swallow a
Section
little
II.
water three times in doing so
Rules
to be
2
.
when cleaning
observed
the teeth
3
.
clean his teeth a Hindu must use a small twig cut
from either an uduga, a rengu, or a neradu tree, or from
one of a dozen others of which the names are given by the
author.
II. If such a twig is unobtainable, he may use a bit of
wood cut from any thorny or milky shrub.
III. Before cutting the twig he must repeat the following
gods of the woods
prayer to the gods of the woods
Grant
I cut one of your small twigs to cleanse my teeth.
me, for this action, long life, strength, honours, wit, many
cattle and much wealth, prudence, judgement, memory,
and power.'
IV. This prayer ended, he cuts a twig a few inches in
length, and softens one end into the form of a painter's
brush.
V. Squatting on his heels and facing either east or north,
I.
To
'
:
!
1
It is necessary to rinse the mouth out after every action which is
The rule is to rinse the mouth out
calculated to cause any defilement.
four times after making water, eight times after answering an ordinary
food, and sixteen times after
taking
call of nature, twelve times after
sexual intercourse. It is easy to recognize in this rule one of those
wise ordinances of hygiene so appropriate to the climate and rendered
Dubois.
obligatory by usage.
2
Ed.
This is called achamania.
3
The practice of rinsing out the mouth and scrubbing the teeth well
with a small piece of green wood freshly cut from the branch of a tree
is very general, not only amongst Brahmins, but also amongst all other
Europeans, as a rule, are considered to neglect this practice
castes.
so indispensable to cleanliness and comfort, and in consequence are still
further despised on that account ; while those Europeans who do clean
their teeth are held to do so in such an objectionable manner as rather
to add to the disgust which Hindus feel for those who are neglectful
of this custom, because they use for this purpose a brush made with the
bristles of a dead animal, and therefore impure, and also because they
use the same brush many times, though it has after the first time been
—
defiled
by
saliva.
Dubois.