Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Página 320

PARIAH FEASTS
280
would be waste of labour to try to arrange a difference
between Sudras without first allowing them to
quarrel and abuse each other, and even come to blows '.
After these preliminaries, which they generally repeat
several times, you may attempt the task of reconciliation
with some hope of success.
The Pariahs also sometimes have feasts amongst them-
it
of opinion
but these are invariably disgusting orgies. Follow-
ing the customs of their caste, they make a point of in-
toxicating themselves with the juice of the palm-tree, of
which there is always a vast quantity drunk. The guests,
who know that these orgies always end in a free fight, go
ready armed with stout sticks, and the feast rarely concludes
without bloodshed. Similar quarrels almost always form
part of the wedding ceremonies of a Sudra. During the
time that I lived in India, I celebrated over 2,000 marriages
amongst Christian Sudras of all castes and I only remember
one such occasion on which there was not a violent alterca-
tion, which ended more often than not in a furious, if not
sanguinary, battle. The principal cause of dissension is
the marriage settlement. It is seldom that the bride's
parents do not try to cheat those of the bridegroom over
the quantity or value of the jewels, or over the colour and
price of the wedding garments.
At other times, perhaps, it
is the friends and relations who feel themselves aggrieved.
They complain bitterly that the respect and consideration
which were their due have not been shown them, either
in not consulting them before the marriage was arranged,
or by a lack of due form and ceremony in their invitation.
There are many small details which must be attended to
when a feast is given amongst the various Sudra classes.
The quality of the food, the method of preparing and serving
it, and a thousand other minutiae, are all points which
have long since been settled by immemorial custom, the
non-observance of which would entail very serious con-
selves,
;
The truth is, a marriage or funeral ceremony is the only occasion
when all the members of one family or members of one caste meet, and
1
therefore offers the best, if not the only, opportunity for an aggrieved
to lay his complaint before his castc-beadmen.
It is too much
to say that they come determined to have a good light," with or without
reason.
En.
it
member
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