Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 318

SUDKA FEASTS
278
The giver of the entertainment is not permitted to eat
with his guests unless he is himself a Brahmin. If lie is
of another caste he appears after the feast is finished, and
humbly before these gods of the earth
who have done him the honour to devour the food he has
provided, and who in return give him their asirvada or
prostrates himself
crowns the feast by a distribution
money, their fulsome compliments
will know no bounds, and they will exalt him even above
their own deities.
At this the host feels excessively
flattered, thoroughly convinced that such an honour
cannot be too dearly bought. I have already remarked
that all Hindus are particularly susceptible to flattery.
There is an entire caste called Battus, who are in a way
flatterers by profession.
Their only occupation in life is
to grovel before people of position or importance, and to
recite or sing before them verses composed in their honour,
which are full to overflowing of the most extravagant
eulogies.
The most astonishing thing is that, instead of
wounding the modesty and susceptibilities of those to whom
blessing.
If their host
of presents of cloth or
they are addressed, these songs are received with compla-
cency and looked upon as sincere tributes to undoubted
merit, the author being handsomely rewarded for them.
Those who belong to the sects of Siva and Vishnu also
have their samaradhanas, or public feasts, which are given
by the wealthy among them
As all the guests who
crowd to these entertainments are Sudras, and for the
most part low, uneducated people, the festivities are
generally very noisy and disorderly, and frequently end
in a quarrel.
The various classes of common Sudras also
get up feasts amongst themselves, but these have no re-
semblance to the samaradhanas of the Brahmins, the only
motive of the feasters being to enjoy a festivity which
usually ends in a debauch.
At a Brahmin feast the greatest
order and propriety prevail, but Sudra feasts differ in no
wise from the orgies which take place in Europe in the
low pot-houses frequented by the scum of the population.
The Sudras generally postpone the discussion of their many
]
.
and frequent
1
This
mins
will
differences until
some occasion
of this sort
untrue of Vishnavitc Brahmins, for no two Vishnavite Brah-
cat together unless they be very closely related.
Ed.
is