For the same reason great care is taken of the ashes, which must be removed with caution and not allowed to fall on the ground. We have seen that it is used to identify the spirits of the returning dead, and ashes blown over by a holy man are used to expel the Evil Eye. In Bombay a person excommunicated from caste is re-admitted on swallowing ashes given him by the religious teacher of the caste.
Most Hindus particularly dislike being watched at their meals, and make a pretence of eating in secret. If on a walk round your camp you come on one of your servants eating, he pretends not to recognize his master, and his hang-dog look is the equivalent of the ordinary salaam. This is an idea which prevails in many parts of the world. The Vaishnava sect of Râmânujas[165] are very particular in this respect. They cook for themselves, and should the meal during its preparation, or while they are eating, attract the looks of a stranger, the operation is instantly stopped, and the food buried in the ground.
Ghosts of Filthy Places.
Bhûts, again, frequent privies and dirty places of all kinds. Hence the caution with which a Hindu performs the offices of nature, his aversion to going into a privy at night, and the precaution he uses of taking a brass vessel with him on such occasions. Mr. Campbell supposes this to depend on the experience of the disease-bearing properties of dirt.[166] “This belief explains the puzzling inconsistencies of Hindus of all classes that the house, house door, and a little in front is scrupulously clean, while the yard may be a dung-heap or a privy. As long as the house is clean, the Bhût cannot come in. Let him live in the privy; he cannot do much harm there.”
The House Roof.
Lastly comes the house roof. We have already seen that the Drâvidian tribes will not allow their women to touch the thatch during a whirlwind. So, most people particularly object to people standing on their roof, and in a special degree to a buffalo getting upon it. It is on the roof, too, that the old shoe or black pot or painted tile is always kept to scare the Bhûts which use it as a perch.
END OF VOL. I.