[124] Manu commands, "Should the king be near his end, through some incurable disease, he must bestow on the priests all his riches accumulated from legal fines."
[125] To preserve order and avoid such unseemly practices, a wealthy Baboo—the late Doorgaram Cor—when he invited a number of Brahmins allotted to each two separate rations, one on the plantain leaf for eating on the spot, and another in an earthen handy or pot for carrying home for the absent members of the family. Even this excellent arrangement failed to satisfy the greedy cravings of the voracious Brahmins. As a dernier ressort, he at last substituted cash for eatables, which was certainly a queer mode of satisfying the inner man.
[126] There is a vast difference between a vojun and a jalpan dinner. If there be a thousand guests at the latter, at the most there would be only three hundred at the former, as none but the nearest relatives and friends will condescend to take rice (vath), which is almost akin to one and the same clanship, whereas in a jalpan, not only the members of the same caste but even those of the inferior order are tacitly permitted to partake of the same entertainment without tarnishing the honor of the aristocratic classes.
The following anecdote will, I hope, prove interesting:—
At the marriage procession of a washerman, confessedly very low in the category of caste, two Káyastas (writer caste) joined it on the road in the hope of getting a hearty Jalpan dinner; but lo! when, after the nuptial rites were over, rice and curries were brought out for the guests, the two Káyastas, who sat down with the rest of the company, tried to escape unnoticed, because if they ate rice at a washerman's they were sure to lose their caste, but the host would not let them go away without dinner. They at last spoke the truth, asked forgiveness and were then allowed to leave the house. To such disappointments unfortunate intruders are sometimes subjected.
[127] In the sacred city of Benares vast sums of money have been sunk in building Ghauts with magnificent flights of steps stretching from the bank to the very edge of the water at ebb-tide, affording great convenience to the people both for religious and domestic purposes, but the strong current of the stream in the months of August, September and October, has played a sad havoc with the masonry works. Scarcely a single Ghaut exists in a complete state of preservation.
[128] A Saree is a piece of cloth, 5 yards long with colored borders.
[129] A Hindoo god generally kept by the lower orders of the people, such as Domes, Cháráls and Bagthees.
[130] Kacha means raw; the term Shád is synonymous with desire. The ceremony is so called from the female being allowed that day to eat all kinds of native pickles, preserves, sweetmeats, confectionery, several kinds of fruits then in season, sweet and sour milk, &c., but not rice or any sort of food grains. Her desire is gratified, lest the girl should not survive the childbirth. It should be mentioned here that from the second month of her pregnancy, she feels a great longing to eat Páthkholá (a sort of half burnt very thin earthen cake) which pregnant girls relish very much on account of its peculiar sodha flavour.
[131] Paunchámrita means five kinds of delicacies, the food of the gods, consisting of milk ghee (clarified butter), dhahie (curded milk), cowdung and honey.