DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2373#0165
I
142
A JOURNEY FROM MADRAS THROUGH
Sri Vaishna
vain Brdh-
mans.
CHAPTER best fields for this cultivation are composed of a sandy red soil.
.J11' The low black clays are reserved entirely for rice.
June 8. In this part of the country much of the soil is impregnated with
saline matter, and called Soulu munnu. Of this there are two kinds;
one chiefly impregnated with carbonate of soda, the other with the
muriates of soda and magnesia. The latter would produce nothing:
the former is cultivated, although it produces poor crops. The
manure used for it is formed of the branches of the Euphorbmm
Tirucalli, which in this part of the country are never used on any
other kind of rice-ground. In the country near Madras they are,
for all soils, the most esteemed manure.
Having procured a Sri Vaishnavam Brahman, esteemed a man of
great learning, I examined him concerning the peculiarities of his
sect; but with very little satisfaction. However well these men
may be instructed in certain dogmas, and the art of disputation,
they are not qualified to give any satisfactory information con-
cerning the origin of their order, or the means by which it came
to prevail over others; for, of the sectaries which differ from them-
selves, such as those of Budha, Jama, or Siva, they profess an almost
total ignorance, and sovereign contempt.
This man allows, that in the existing Vedas no mention is made
of any division of the Brdhmans into sects ; but he contends, that
from the very beginning of the universe all the three sects of
Smartal, Aayngar, and Madual, existed ; and he says, that they are
mentioned in the eighteen Pur/mas, which, next to the Vklas, are
by the Brdhmans esteemed as most holy. Although the Brdhmans
have existed from the beginning of time, yet in the ninth century
of the era of Sal'wdhana, or tenth century of Christianity, twenty-
one heretical sects had arisen in Bhdrata-khanda, and had turned
from the true worship almost the whole of its inhabitants. Each of
these sects had a Bhdsha, or book explaining their doctrine,
founded partly on dogmas derived from the Vedas, and explained in
the last six of the eighteen Purdnas, and partly on tenets contrary
142
A JOURNEY FROM MADRAS THROUGH
Sri Vaishna
vain Brdh-
mans.
CHAPTER best fields for this cultivation are composed of a sandy red soil.
.J11' The low black clays are reserved entirely for rice.
June 8. In this part of the country much of the soil is impregnated with
saline matter, and called Soulu munnu. Of this there are two kinds;
one chiefly impregnated with carbonate of soda, the other with the
muriates of soda and magnesia. The latter would produce nothing:
the former is cultivated, although it produces poor crops. The
manure used for it is formed of the branches of the Euphorbmm
Tirucalli, which in this part of the country are never used on any
other kind of rice-ground. In the country near Madras they are,
for all soils, the most esteemed manure.
Having procured a Sri Vaishnavam Brahman, esteemed a man of
great learning, I examined him concerning the peculiarities of his
sect; but with very little satisfaction. However well these men
may be instructed in certain dogmas, and the art of disputation,
they are not qualified to give any satisfactory information con-
cerning the origin of their order, or the means by which it came
to prevail over others; for, of the sectaries which differ from them-
selves, such as those of Budha, Jama, or Siva, they profess an almost
total ignorance, and sovereign contempt.
This man allows, that in the existing Vedas no mention is made
of any division of the Brdhmans into sects ; but he contends, that
from the very beginning of the universe all the three sects of
Smartal, Aayngar, and Madual, existed ; and he says, that they are
mentioned in the eighteen Pur/mas, which, next to the Vklas, are
by the Brdhmans esteemed as most holy. Although the Brdhmans
have existed from the beginning of time, yet in the ninth century
of the era of Sal'wdhana, or tenth century of Christianity, twenty-
one heretical sects had arisen in Bhdrata-khanda, and had turned
from the true worship almost the whole of its inhabitants. Each of
these sects had a Bhdsha, or book explaining their doctrine,
founded partly on dogmas derived from the Vedas, and explained in
the last six of the eighteen Purdnas, and partly on tenets contrary