DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5832#0203
PARIAHS.
173
one occasion, with a feeling of painful compassion to-
wards these poor outcasts, the indignation with which a
high-cast Hindoo dashed an earthen jar of milk upon
the ground, and broke it to atoms, merely because the
shadow of the pariah had fallen upon it as he passed.
This numerous tribe are in a condition of the
most abject degradation; the worst state of bondage
would be comparative blessedness if substituted for
the position in which they stand among the commu-
nities that surround them. They are considered by
the higher order of Hindoos, and in fact by every
caste above their own, not only utterly despicable in
this world, but aliens from the beatitudes of another.
The indignities heaped upon them in consequence are
repugnant to humanity: nothing can exceed the heart-
less scorn with which they are everywhere met. They
are denied the common social privileges of man, and
degraded below the vilest of the brute creation. The
pariah is forbidden communion with all but his own
immediate tribe, and whatever even his shadow over-
casts, belonging to a person of superior rank, is
deemed polluted. If it be food of any kind, it is
thrown away; if anything of a frangible nature, it
is destroyed; and if a thing of value, it is only to
be recovered from its contamination by the most ri-
gorous purifications.
These unhappy beings are held in such utter abhor-
rence by the whole Hindoo population, that the laws
of the latter award no punishment for the murder
of a pariah, save that of a small fine, and which is
seldom enforced, except in very aggravated cases.
The occupation of this despised race consists in the
Q3
173
one occasion, with a feeling of painful compassion to-
wards these poor outcasts, the indignation with which a
high-cast Hindoo dashed an earthen jar of milk upon
the ground, and broke it to atoms, merely because the
shadow of the pariah had fallen upon it as he passed.
This numerous tribe are in a condition of the
most abject degradation; the worst state of bondage
would be comparative blessedness if substituted for
the position in which they stand among the commu-
nities that surround them. They are considered by
the higher order of Hindoos, and in fact by every
caste above their own, not only utterly despicable in
this world, but aliens from the beatitudes of another.
The indignities heaped upon them in consequence are
repugnant to humanity: nothing can exceed the heart-
less scorn with which they are everywhere met. They
are denied the common social privileges of man, and
degraded below the vilest of the brute creation. The
pariah is forbidden communion with all but his own
immediate tribe, and whatever even his shadow over-
casts, belonging to a person of superior rank, is
deemed polluted. If it be food of any kind, it is
thrown away; if anything of a frangible nature, it
is destroyed; and if a thing of value, it is only to
be recovered from its contamination by the most ri-
gorous purifications.
These unhappy beings are held in such utter abhor-
rence by the whole Hindoo population, that the laws
of the latter award no punishment for the murder
of a pariah, save that of a small fine, and which is
seldom enforced, except in very aggravated cases.
The occupation of this despised race consists in the
Q3