274 STOPPAGE OF WORK ON FAST-DAYS
To / ill one ' s. stomach well is a very favourite expression amongst Hindus, and one you very often hear. Whenever
they feast in another ' s house the host never fails to ask
The first
his guests if their stomachs are well filled. question that a Brahmin ' s wife and children ask on his
'
return from a feast is, Have you filled your stomach
well? and ' it affords him the greatest pleasure to be able to answer, while he gently rubs that part of his person,
'
My stomach is well filled.'
Hindus belonging to other castes which have the right to wear the triple cord also keep most of the Brahminical
fasts, and so do even some Sudras who have not that privilege, but who wish to gain the respect and consideration of the public. When these days of mortification come round all manual labour is stopped, all outdoor
work is suspended, the shops are closed, and workmen, artisans, and labourers give themselves and their cattle
a rest. Fasts which recur so often naturally cause a considerable waste of time, but in a country where industry meets with so little encouragement this drawback is not
much felt; and the indolent Hindu has generally more time on his hands than he requires to look after his business, which is never of a very pressing nature. It is indeed quite probable that their natural indolence and dislike for work of all kinds partly contributed to the institution of so many days of rest!
All these practices which the Hindu thinks himself called upon to observe are so overladen with fanciful and even ridiculous details that it is difficult to understand how any civilized people could have preserved them intact up to the present day. The Hindus, however, are so obstinately
devoted to custom and precedent that no sensible person amongst them would think for a moment of trying to
bring about a change. It is true that several of their modern philosophers, such as Vemana, Tiruvalluvar, Pattanattu-pillai, Agastya and others, have ridiculed such
customs; yet they nevertheless recommend people to follow them, and themselves conform minutely to every observance \
1
Amongst the few Hindu works which are written in a free philosophical vein, and in which the Hindu religion and its customs are openly