[1398] W. E. Marshall, Travels amongst the Todas (London, 1873), pp. 136, 137; cp. pp. 141, 142; F. Metz, Tribes inhabiting the Neilgherry Hills, Second Edition (Mangalore, 1864), pp. 19 sqq. However, at the present day, according to Dr. W. H. R. Rivers, the palol or milkman of the highest class is rather a sacred priest than a god. But there is a tradition that the gods held the office of milkman, and even now the human milkman of one particular dairy is believed to be the direct successor of a god. See W. H. R. Rivers, The Todas (London, 1906), pp. 448 sq.
[1399] Monier Williams, Religious Life and Thought in India, p. 259.
[1400] The Laws of Manu, vii. 8, p. 217, translated by G. Bühler (Sacred Books of the East, vol. xxv.).
[1401] Id. ix. 317, 319, pp. 398, 399.
[1402] Satapatha-Brâhmana, trans. by J. Eggeling, part i. pp. 309 sq.; compare id., part ii. p. 341 (Sacred Books of the East, vols. xii. and xxvi.).
[1403] Monier Williams, op. cit. p. 457.
[1404] Monier Williams, op. cit. pp. 201 sq.
[1405] Monier Williams, op. cit. pp. 259 sq.
[1406] I have borrowed the description of this particular deity from the Rev. Dr. A. M. Fairbairn, who knew him personally (Contemporary Review, June 1899, p. 768). It is melancholy to reflect that in our less liberal land the divine Swami would probably have been consigned to the calm seclusion of a gaol or a madhouse. The difference between a god and a madman or a criminal is often merely a question of latitude and longitude.
Swami departed this life in August 1899 at the age of about seventy. It is only fair to his memory to add that the writer who records his death bears high and honourable testimony to the noble and unselfish character of the deceased, who is said to have honestly repudiated the miraculous powers ascribed to him by his followers. He was worshipped in temples during his life, and other temples have been erected to him since his death. See Rai Bahadur Lala Baij Nath, B.A., Hinduism Ancient and Modern (Meerut, 1905), pp. 94 sq.