Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 344

BRAHMIN EGOTISM
304
been forced to adopt some
of the conquered people.
of the religious
and
civil practices
It is true that the tyrannical way in which the Maho-
medans have always governed this mild and gentle people
was not calculated to conciliate them but perhaps the
time is not far distant when the Hindus may see themselves
;
delivered from the iron yoke which has weighed so long
upon them. As a rule they care little for the troubles
and ills of this life, but it would be difficult for them to
forget all the miseries that their inhuman masters have
heaped upon them.
The Brahmins in particular cherish an undying hatred
Mahometans. The reason of this is that the
latter think so lightly of the pretensions of these so-called
and, above all, the Mahomedans do not
gods of the earth
scruple to display hearty contempt for their ceremonies
against the
;
Besides, the haughty Mussulmans
generally.
can vie with them in pride and insolence. Yet there is
the arrogance of a Mussulman is based
this difference
only on the political authority with which he is invested,
whereas
or on the eminence of the rank that he occupies
the Brahmin's superiority is inherent in himself, and it
remains intact, no matter what his condition in life may
Rich or poor, unfortunate or prosperous, he always
be.
goes on the principle engrained in him that he is the most
noble, the most excellent, and the most perfect of all created
beings, that all the rest of mankind are infinitely beneath
him, and that there is nothing in the world so sublime or
so admirable as his customs and practices.
With regard to any special exhibitions of wisdom, par-
ticularly in the province of learning, it would be impossible
to persuade Brahmins that there are men outside their
caste who are capable of disputing the first place with
them. As for the industrial or aesthetic arts, they look
upon them as beneath their attention. Probably the gross
and customs
:
;
ignorance of the greater number of the Mahomedan natives
of India, who are not even capable of drawing up their
own almanac, may have helped to contribute to the good
but, on the
opinion that Brahmins have of themselves
other hand, if the Mahomedans had any honesty of feeling
at all, would they not drop some of this 'ridiculous boasting,
;