Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 313

BRAHMIN GLUTTONY
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being accustomed to it, this habit of eating to excess would
in the end be productive of disastrous consequences in
a climate where moderation in all things must be the rule
of life, if fasts enforced by custom did not give their stomachs
a little rest from time to time.
If Brahmins can with a certain amount of justice reproach
Europeans for intemperance in drinking, with no less justice
can Europeans retort that Brahmins show great want of
moderation in eating. Besides, drunkenness is not an
habitual vice among respectable Europeans, and those who
frequently give way to it are looked upon with contempt
by their own countrymen whereas Brahmins, who are
the cream of Hindu society, and the gods of the earth.'
Indeed the most
are perfect slaves to their stomachs.
revolting gluttony does not horrify them, and they even
It is by no means
justify it under the cloak of religion.
uncommon for them to gorge themselves to such repletion
that they are unable to rise from the place where they
have been eating.
Far from being ashamed of this, they pretend that it is
infinitely pleasing to the god Jivattma, that is to say, to
The more
the "principle of life, which they have deified.
liquefied butter and other food they can cram into their
stomachs, the better the god Jivattma will be pleased.
When they sit down to a feast it is curious to watch the
preparations that are made so that nothing may hinder
the full play of the appetite, and Jivattma be thoroughly
To prevent themselves from being inconvenienced
satisfied.
in any way during this important operation of eating, they
begin by taking off their turbans and clothes, sitting down
While eating they occasionally
to the feast almost naked.
;
'
stroke their heads, their throats, their chests, and their
stomachs, and rub these portions of their bodies in order-
as it were, to help the food to descend more quickly into
the abdominal regions.
They never get up from a meal
until it is absolutely impossible to swallow another morsel
and then, to alleviate the enormous amount of work their
stomachs are put to, they swallow a piece of asafoetida,
;
the aperient and sudorific qualities of which no doubt pre-
vent the ill effects which would otherwise infallibly result
from such excesses.