Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 60

A SABBATH OF THE 'LINGAYATS'
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Yet this revolting habit is most religiously observed,
and, if anybody were so rash as to wash but once in water
the cloths with which he or she is covered, exclusion from
caste would be the inevitable consequence.
This custom,
however, may be due to the scarcity of water, for in this
part of the country there are only a few stagnant ponds,
which would very soon be contaminated if all the in-
habitants of a village were allowed to wash their garments
in
them.
Many
customs are followed only by certain
are of purely local character.
For instance, it
is only in the districts of Western Mysore that I have
observed Monday in each week kept nearly in the same
way as Sunday is among Christians. On that day the
villagers abstain from ordinary labour, and particularly
from such as, like ploughing, requires the use of oxen and
kine.
Monday is consecrated to Basava (the Bull), and
is set apart for the special worship of that deity.
Hence
it is a day of rest for their cattle rather than for themselves.
This practice, however, is not in vogue except in the
districts where the Lingayats, or followers of Siva 1 pre-
dominate. This sect pays more particular homage to the
Bull than the rest of the Hindus
and, in the districts
where it predominates, not only keeps up the strict observ-
ance of the day thus consecrated to the divinity, but forces
other castes to follow its example.
Independently of the divisions and subdivisions common
to all castes, one may further observe in each caste close
family alliances cemented by intermarriage. Hindus of
good family avoid as far as possible intermarriage with
families outside their own circle.
They always aim at
marrying their children into the families which are already
sects,
religious
and
,
;
1
Mr. L. Rice, in his Mysore and Coorg, remarks
Lingayats The
distinctive mark of this caste is the wearing on the person of a Jangama
lingam, or portable linga. It is a small black stone about the size of
an acorn, and is enshrined in a silver box of peculiar shape, which is
worn suspended from the neck or tied round the arm. The followers of
Basava (the founder of the sect, whose name literally means Bull, was
in fact regarded as the incarnation of Nandi, the bull of Siva) are properly
called Liugavantas, but Lingayats has become a well-known designation,
though not used by themselves, the name Sivabhakta or Sivachar being
'
:
one they generally assume.'
Ed.
: