Risley, Herbert H.; Crooke, William [Hrsg.]: The people of India: being an attempt to trace the progress of the national mind in its various aspects, as reflected in the nation’s literature from the earliest times to the present day ; with copious extracts from the best writers (Calcutta [u.a.], 1915)

CASTE IN PROVERBS AND POPULAR SAYINGS 131

Is dunya men tin kasai,
Pisu, khatmal, Brahman bhai.

Which may be rendered—

Blood-suckers three on earth there be,
The bug, the Brahman and the flea."

Before the Brahman starves the King's larder will be empty ;
cakes must be given to him while the children of the house
may lick the grindstone for a meal; his stomach is a bottomless
Pit; he eats so immoderately that he dies from wind. He will
beg with a lakh of rupees in his pocket, and a silver begging-
bowl in his hand. In his greed for funeral fees he spies out
corpses like a vulture, and rejoices in the misfortune of his
clients. A village with a Brahman in it is like a tank full of
crabs; to have him as a neighbour is worse than leprosy: if
a snake has to be killed the Brahman should be set to do it, for
no one will miss him. If circumstances compel you to perjure
yourself, why swear on the head of your son, when there is
a Brahman handy ? Should he die (as is the popular belief)
the world will be none the poorer. Like the devil in English
Proverbial philosophy, the Brahman can cite scripture for his
Purpose; he demands worship himself but does not scruple to
kick his low-caste brethren; he washes his sacred thread but
does not cleanse his inner man; and so great is his avarice that
a man of another caste is supposed to pray " O God, let me not
be reborn as a Brahman priest, who is always begging and is
never satisfied." He defrauds even the gods ; Vishnu gets the
barren prayers while the Brahman devours the offerings. So
Pan complains in one of Lucian's dialogues that he is done out
of the good things which men offer at his shrine.

The next most prominent figure in our gallery of popular
portraits is that of the Baniya, money-lender, The Baniya.
grain-dealer and monopolist, who dominates
the material world as the Brahman does the spiritual. His
heart, we are told, is no bigger than a coriander seed ; he has
the jaws of an alligator and a stomach of wax ; he is less to be
trusted than a tiger, a scorpion, or a snake; he goes in like
a needle and comes out like a sword; as a neighbour he
is as bad as a boil in the armpit. If a Baniya is on the other
side of a river you should leave your bundle on this side,
for fear he should steal it. When four Baniyas meet they rob
the whole world. If a Baniya is drowning you should not give
him a hand: he is sure to have some base motive for drifting