Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 316

BREAKING ESTABLISHED CUSTOMS
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with which the common people regard them. I have
however met with Brahmins who were sufficiently reason-
able to admit that many of their customs were opposed to
all common sense, and that they only practised them out
I know also that
of consideration for their co-religionists.
most of them evade the rules and absolve themselves
without hesitation from the performance of very many
of their trifling ceremonies when they are quite certain
Thus, for
that these lapses will remain a profound secret.
example, there are very few who perform their ablutions
more than once a day, or who strictly observe the pre-
To keep up appearances, to dazzle the eyes
scribed fasts.
of the public, to avoid scandal, such are the limits of their
pious zeal. Although in public they affect the utmost
strictness, they are very much less particular in private
A
and a well-known saying confirms this assertion
life
real Brahmin in the agrahara ., half a Brahmin when seen
afar off, and a Sudra when entirely out of sight
It must be acknowledged, however, that they are very
Any one who
tenacious of these long-established customs.
is believed to openly neglect them incurs severe censure
and contempt, and also lays himself open to serious insults
and annoyances. The gurus of the Brahmins keep a very
watchful eye over the others. Those found guilty of a
breach of discipline are not always let off with severe
reprimands publicly delivered. The saintly gurus rarely
omit the imposition of a heavy fine, the amount of which
is fixed by themselves.
The purohitas also are obliged, for the sake of example
and to keep up appearances, to follow the Brahminical
usages with the utmost strictness, even to the minutest
but it is greatly to their interest to keep up all
details
these practices, seeing that they form a never-failing source
'
:
;
V
;
of profit.
The scrupulous exactitude of the Brahmins is particularly
noticeable at the samaradhanas, or public feasts, to which
they are often invited by persons of high degree, such as
The name
of villages entirely peopled by Brahmins.
This is even more true nowadays than it was in the time of the
Abbe, at any rate among the Brahmins educated on Western lines.
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— Ed