DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.636#0467
Taste in relation to Trades and Industries. 457
produce, the rents, and assessment. In some respects a far
more important functionary than either headman or notary-
is the priest (purohita), the spiritual head of the society, who
performs all religious ceremonies for its members whether
at births, marriages, or deaths, and is supported by fixed
allotments of grain, or special offerings on solemn occasions.
As a Brahman he may be of higher caste than either the
headman or notary (who are not generally Brahmans), and
his spiritual power is unbounded. His anger is as terrible as
that of the gods. His blessing makes rich, his curse withers.
Nay, more, he is himself actually worshipped as a god.
No marvel, no prodigy in nature is believed to be beyond
the limits of his power to accomplish. If the priest were
to threaten to bring down the sun from the sky or arrest
it in its daily course in the heavens, no villager would for a
moment doubt his ability to do so. And indeed the priests
of India, in their character of Brahmans, claim to have worked
a few notable miracles at different times and on various
occasions. One of their number once swallowed the ocean
in three sips, another manufactured fire, another created all
animals, and another turned the moon into a cinder. The
priest confers incalculable benefits on the community of which
he is a member by merely receiving their presents. A cow
given to him secures heaven of a certainty to the lucky donor.
The consequences of injuring him are terrific. The man who
does him the smallest harm must make up his mind to be
whirled about after death, for at least a century, in a hell
of total darkness. This will suffice to account for the respect
paid to the priest by the simple-hearted peasantry, who some-
times drink the water in which his feet have been washed,
by way of getting rid of their sins with the least possible
difficulty.
Sometimes the priest combines the functions of village
astrologer—a very necessary official, since the chief religion
of all Indian peasantry consists in a fear of evil spirits,
produce, the rents, and assessment. In some respects a far
more important functionary than either headman or notary-
is the priest (purohita), the spiritual head of the society, who
performs all religious ceremonies for its members whether
at births, marriages, or deaths, and is supported by fixed
allotments of grain, or special offerings on solemn occasions.
As a Brahman he may be of higher caste than either the
headman or notary (who are not generally Brahmans), and
his spiritual power is unbounded. His anger is as terrible as
that of the gods. His blessing makes rich, his curse withers.
Nay, more, he is himself actually worshipped as a god.
No marvel, no prodigy in nature is believed to be beyond
the limits of his power to accomplish. If the priest were
to threaten to bring down the sun from the sky or arrest
it in its daily course in the heavens, no villager would for a
moment doubt his ability to do so. And indeed the priests
of India, in their character of Brahmans, claim to have worked
a few notable miracles at different times and on various
occasions. One of their number once swallowed the ocean
in three sips, another manufactured fire, another created all
animals, and another turned the moon into a cinder. The
priest confers incalculable benefits on the community of which
he is a member by merely receiving their presents. A cow
given to him secures heaven of a certainty to the lucky donor.
The consequences of injuring him are terrific. The man who
does him the smallest harm must make up his mind to be
whirled about after death, for at least a century, in a hell
of total darkness. This will suffice to account for the respect
paid to the priest by the simple-hearted peasantry, who some-
times drink the water in which his feet have been washed,
by way of getting rid of their sins with the least possible
difficulty.
Sometimes the priest combines the functions of village
astrologer—a very necessary official, since the chief religion
of all Indian peasantry consists in a fear of evil spirits,