marriageable age she is sent for to the house of her future father-in-law. The usual marriage feast is given, followed by music and dancing, and the ceremony is concluded by the bridegroom's mother tying the Mangalasūtram round the bride's neck.

Amongst the Kurambas, who are also dwellers on the Nilgiri slopes, there seem to be, properly speaking, no marriage rites whatever. When a couple decide to come together, or even, in some cases, after they have been living together for some time, a feast is given to their friends and the marriage is complete.

With the Irulas, also, another Nilgiri tribe, there is no marriage ceremony, neither is there any previous betrothal. When a youth comes of age to choose a wife, he finds one for himself and the matter is ended.

The Badagas, who are dwellers on the Nilgiri plateau, are said to be descendants of Canarese colonists. Amongst this people, marriages are contracted without any special rites, and the marriage tie is held by them very loosely. After a couple have agreed to come together, there seems to be a time of probation allowed, during which either of the parties may change their mind, and decline to go on further with the connection. A man may perhaps make several of these temporary alliances before he definitely decides upon a partner for life. There seems to be some feasting when a definite alliance has been agreed to, and that is all by way of rites and ceremonies.

Nothing has been said in this chapter of the Polyandry and Polygamy which exist as institutions amongst some tribes and nations of India; nor have we touched upon the question of divorce which, though unknown amongst orthodox Hindus, is as freely practised amongst some castes and tribes as it is amongst some of their pale faced brethren of more advanced countries. These are matters somewhat beside the object we have had in hand, which is rather to describe the marriage rites and customs prevalent amongst orthodox Hindus, and those who, though nominally, perhaps, are called Hindus, are really outside the pale of the Brahmanical religion.

CHAPTER XI.

HINDU DIET.

आहार. (Ahara).

"For the sustenance of the vital spirit, Brahma created all this animal and vegetable system; and all that is moveable and immoveable, that spirit devours." (Manu V. 28.)

In the chapter on Nitya Karma-The Hindu Daily Round-a brief description was given of a Brahmin family at dinner, but nothing was said about the composition of the various dishes which usually form the bill of fare. It may therefore not be uninteresting to give a little information on this head, and, at the same time, make a few brief remarks on the dietary of the Hindus generally. There is no doubt that in ancient times far more latitude was allowed, in the matter of food, than is the case in modern days. The institutes of Manu, which are supposed to have been compiled about the fifth century before the Christian era, clearly show that, with various restrictions, most of which commend themselves to one's judgment, there was, practically, as much freedom in the choice of food to the good Hindu of those days as there is to most civilized nations in these modern times. In the fifth chapter of the Institutes, the ancient law-giver mentions various kinds of vegetables and animals that may not lawfully be eaten; but these dietary rules are very much on a line with those laid down for the Jewish nation in the book of Leviticus, and the wisdom of many of them, from a sanitary and economic point of view, is very apparent to the dweller in Eastern lands. One can at once see why, for instance, "mushrooms and all vegetables raised in dung" are excluded from the dietary; and one can also well imagine why, in a hot reeking climate " garlic, onions, and leeks" are not recommended. Again, to the Eastern traveller there is no question as to the positive wisdom of the rule forbidding the eating of the flesh

of birds and beasts of prey, and of such vile feeders as the village hog. Of course some of the restrictions do not so commend themselves to one's ideas of the fitness of things; but doubtless there were good and sensible reasons for most of them, if we only knew. Even, however, in the laws of Manu, the permissions and restrictions are of a somewhat conflicting nature; and, as is the case with so much that is connected with Hinduism, they present, to the eye of the uninitiated, manifest contradictions. Nothing can be more free and general than the passage quoted at the head of this chapter. It seems to cover everything, in its general language; and besides this, there is much of a specific nature of the same free character. We find, for instance, the following general statement :—

"Things fixed are eaten by creatures with locomotion; toothless animals, by animals with teeth; those without hands, by those to whom hands were given; and the timid by the bold." (V. 29.)

After giving utterance to this philosophical observation, embodying a truth evident to the most casual observer of the things of creation, the law-giver goes on to say :

"He who eats according to law commits no sin, even though every day he tastes the flesh of such animals as may lawfully be tasted; since both animals who may be eaten and those who eat them are created by Brahma."

"No sin is committed by him who, having honoured the deities and the manes, eats flesh-meat which he has bought, or which he has himself acquired, or which has been given him by another." (V. 30, 32.)

In all this there is no more restriction than is the case with ordinary Muhammadan customs, for instance; but, further on, we find enactments which seem entirely to do away with this freedom. A generai principle is laid down, and a hard and fast deduction drawn from it as follows::

"He who injures no animated creature shall attain, without hardship whatever he thinks of, whatever he strives for, whatever he fixes his mind on.

Flesh-meat cannot be procured without injury to animals, and the slaughter of animals obstructs the path to beatitude; from flesh-meat therefore let man abstain." (V. 47, 48.)

On the whole, however, whilst there appears to have been great freedom in the matter in those far off times, even the Institutes themselves show a decided leaning to the merit, if not to the absolute necessity, of abstaining from animal food; and, as is well-known, in course of time, ideas have become so crystallized as to make it an absolute matter of religion to rigorously abstain from the slightest approach to eating anything even containing the germ of animal life. I remember a simple thing that occurred many years ago, soon after my arrival in this country, which very much impressed this upon my mind. A Brahmin visitor, in taking that cursory look round upon things in general, that was, perhaps, in those days, more customary than is the case with our visitors now, was struck with the nice appearance of some salt in the salt-cellar on the table. He had only known salt in its dark dirty appearance, as it is seen exposed for sale in the bazaar. He seemed much interested when told that our table salt was nothing but the ordinary native salt clarified, and he expressed a great desire to know the process. When, however, he was told that the white of egg was an ingredient in the clarifying operation, his countenance fell; nothing so closely allied to animal life as that which had to do with a fowl's egg could enter into the inner man of a twice-born! and so, alas! for the sake of personal ceremonial purity he must be content with his salt in its chemically impure condition. At the present day, all the higher classes abstain from animal food in every form and are rigid vegetarians. The lower classes, as will be seen hereafter, are not so restricted in their diet; indeed, as we go lower down in the scale of caste we find the restrictions lessen, and the dietary scale expand, until it comes to include things considered, by even the least fastidious of Europeans, as altogether abominable.

In a country like India, there is no doubt that a vegetarian diet has much in its favour; indeed, it

is a question whether animal food, particularly in its plain form, is absolutely necessary, even for the health of Europeans, in such a climate. Without, however entering upon what might prove a vexed question, it may, I think, be fairly stated as an opinion widely entertained by those who ought to know, that for natives of the country there is no absolute necessity whatever for animal food. It is largely consumed by the lowest classes, when they can get it, in any shape or form, even the most repulsive, but even in their case, it is a question whether without it they might not equally well endure the physical strain of labour which does not, certainly, fall upon their vegetarian fellow-countrymen; that is, if they could procure the good food of their betters which is denied them by their great poverty. It is, perhaps, hardly possible for the average European to at all understand the loathing and disgust with which a high caste Hindu looks upon the eating of animal food. We know how Englishmen, for instance, abhor the thought of eating the flesh of certain animals which is even relished by natives of some countries; and in England, especially amongst the peasantry, there are strange ideas as to what may be eaten that come as a surprise to those who meet with them for the first time. Some years ago a friend of mine, in Gloucestershire, was very kind to a poor sick cottager. One day she sent, as a delicacy, to the sick woman, a plate of hare from her own table. On asking the invalid afterwards if she had enjoyed the food, my friend was astonished to hear her say she could not possibly eat it, as she could not eat varmint'! Added to this state of feeling, in an intensified form, there is, in the case of the Hindu, the religious element, which makes it a crime of the deepest dye, in some cases an unpardonable sin, to partake of such food. Habit, religion, national training which has become an instinct, together with climatic requirements, all point to the wisdom of the vegetarian diet of the Hindu; and anything ought to be looked upon with disfavour which tends to alter the same for what may perhaps be a necessity in colder climes. There are, however, it is said, even