DRESS, HOUSES, EATING, AND SALUTATION OF THE HINDOOS.
My dear Children--The dress of the Hindoos is very simple. A single
piece of cloth uncut, about three yards in length and one in width,
wrapped round the loins, with a shawl thrown over the shoulders,
constitutes the usual apparel of the people of respectability. These
garments are often fringed with red silk or gold. The native ladies
frequently almost encase themselves in cloth or silk. Under such
circumstances, their cloths are perhaps twenty yards in length. Most of
the native gentlemen now wear turbans, an ornament which they have
borrowed from the Mohammedans This consists of a long piece of very fine
stuff, sometimes twenty yards in length and one in breadth. With this
they encircle the head in many folds.
Those who are employed by European or Mohammedan princes, wear a long
robe of muslin, or very fine cloth. This also, is in imitation of the
Mohammedans, and was formerly unknown in the country.
The houses of the Hindoos are generally very plainly built. In the
country, they are commonly made of earth, and thatched with straw. In
the cities, they are covered with tiles. The kitchen is situated in the
most retired part of the house. In the houses of the Brahmins, the
kitchen-door is always barred, to prevent strangers from looking upon
their earthen vessels; for if they should happen to see them, their look
would pollute them to such a degree that they must be broken to pieces.
The hearth is generally placed on the south-west side, which is said to
be the side of the _god of fire_, because they say that this god
actually dwells there.
The domestic customs of this people are very different from ours. The
men and women do not eat together. The husband first eats, then the
wife. The wife waits upon the husband After she has cooked the rice, she
brings a brass plate, if they are possessors of one; or if not, a piece
of a plantain-leaf, and puts it down on the mat before him. She then
bails out the rice, places it upon the leaf, and afterwards pours the
currie over it. This being done, the husband proceeds to mix up the
currie and the rice with his hands, and puts it into his mouth. He never
uses a knife and fork, as is customary with us. The currie of which I
have spoken is a sauce of a yellow color, owing to the _munchel_, a
yellow root which they put in it. This and onions, kottamaly-seeds
mustard, serakum, pepper, etc., constitute the ingredients of the
currie. Some add to these ghea, or melted butter, and cocoa-nut milk. By
the cocoa-nut milk, I do not mean the water of the cocoa-nut.
This--except in the very young cocoa-nut, when it is a most delicious
beverage--is never used. The milk is squeezed from the _meat_ of the
cocoa-nut, after it has been reduced to a pulp by means of an indented
circular iron which they use for this purpose.
After the husband has eaten, the wife brings water for him to wash his
hands. This being done, she supplies him with vettalay, paakku,
shell-lime, and tobacco, which he puts into his mouth as his dessert.
The vettalay is a very spicy leaf. Why they use paakku, I do not know.
It is a nut, which they cut into small pieces, but it has not much
taste. Sometimes the wife brings her husband a segar. This people, I am
sorry to say, are great smokers and chewers, practices of which I hope
that you, my dear children, will never be guilty. In Ceylon, it is
customary for females to smoke. Frequently, after the husband has smoked
for a while, he hands the segar to his wife. She then puts it into her
mouth, and smokes.
Several years ago, one of the schoolmasters in that island became a
Christian. After he had partaken of the Lord's supper, his wife
considered him so defiled, that she would not put his segar into her
mouth for a month afterwards. She, however, has since become a
Christian.
I spoke just now of the plantain-leaf. This leaf is sometimes six feet
long, and in some places a foot and a half wide. It is an unbroken leaf,
with a large stem running through the middle of it. It is one of the
handsomest of leaves. Pieces enough can be torn from a single leaf, to
take the place of a dozen plates. When quite young, it is an excellent
application to surfaces which have been blistered.
When this people eat, they do not use tables and chairs. They sit down
on mats, and double their legs under them, after the manner of our
friends the tailors in America, when they sew. This is the way in which
the natives as a general thing, sit in our churches. It is not common to
have benches or pews for them. Carpenters and other tradesmen also sit
down either on a board, or on the ground, or on their legs, when they
work. It would divert you much to see their manoeuvring. If a carpenter,
for instance, wants to make a little peg, he will take a small piece of
board, and place it in an erect position between his feet, the soles of
which are turned inward so as to press upon the board. He then takes
his chisel in one hand, and his mallet in the other, and cuts off a
small piece. Afterwards he holds the piece in one hand, and while he
shapes it with his chisel with the other, he steadies it by pressing it
against his great toe.
[Illustration]
The blacksmiths, with the exception of those who use the sledge-hammer,
sit as do the carpenters while they hammer the iron. I wish you could
see them at work with their simple apparatus. They have small anvils,
which they place in a hole made in a log of wood which is buried in the
ground. They do not use such bellows as you see in America.
Theirs consist of two leather bags, about a foot wide and a foot and a
half long, each having a nozzle at one end. The other end is left open
to admit the air. When they wish to blow the fire, they extend these
bags to let in the air. They then close them by means of the thumb on
one side, and the fingers on the other, and press them down towards the
nozzle of the bellows, which forces the air through them into the fire.
I should have said before, that the nozzle of the bellows passes through
a small semicircular mound of dried mud.
I mentioned that the natives do not use tables and chairs in their
houses. Neither do they, as a general thing, use bedsteads. They have no
beds. They sleep on mats, which are spread down on the floor. Sometimes
they use a cotton bolster for their heads. More generally their pillows
are hard boards, which they put under the mat. In addition to cooking,
the females have to prepare the rice for this purpose, by taking it out
of the husk. This they do by beating it in a mortar about two feet high.
The pestle with which they pound it, is about five feet long, made of
wood, with an iron rim around the lower part of it. Three women can
work at these mortars at the same time. Of course they have to be very
skilful in the use of the pestle, so as not to interfere with each
others' operations. Sometimes, while thus engaged, the children, who are
generally at play near their mothers, put their hands on the edge of the
mortars. In such cases, when the pestle happens to strike the edge,
their fingers are taken off in a moment.
The Hindoos have many modes of salutation. In some places they raise
their right hand to the heart. In others, they simply stretch it out
towards the person who is passing, if they know him, for they never
salute persons with whom they are not acquainted.
In many places there is no show of salutation. When they meet their
acquaintances they content themselves by saying a friendly word or two
in passing, and then pursue their way. They have borrowed the word
_salam_ from the Mohammedans. They salute both Mohammedans and Europeans
with this word, at the same time raising their hand to the forehead.
When they address persons of high rank, they give them their _salam_
thrice, touching the ground as often with both hands, and then lifting
them up to their foreheads.
The other castes salute the Brahmins by joining the hands and elevating
them to the forehead, or sometimes over the head. It is accompanied with
_andamayya_, which means, Hail, respected lord. The Brahmins stretch out
their hands and say, _aaseervaathum_--benediction.
Another very respectful kind of salutation consists in lowering both
hands to the feet of the person to be honored, or even in falling-down
and embracing them.
Of all the forms of salutation, the most respectful is the
_shaashtaangkum_, or prostration, in which the feet, the knees, the
stomach, the head, and the arms, all touch the ground. In doing this,
they throw themselves at their whole length on the ground, and stretch
out both arms above their heads. This is practised before priests, and
in the presence of an assembly, when they appear before it to beg pardon
for a crime.
Relations, who have long been separated, testify their joy when they
meet by chucking each other under the chin, and shedding tears of joy.
I am not aware that grown persons ever kiss each other. Sometimes
mothers, or other individuals, will put their noses to the cheeks of
little children, and draw the air through them, just as we do when we
smell any thing which is agreeable. At other times they will apply the
thumb and first finger to the cheek of the child, and then apply them to
their own noses, and, as it were, smell them.
The women, as a mark of respect, turn their backs, or at least their
faces aside, when they are in the presence of those whom they highly
esteem. They are never permitted to sit in the presence of men. A
married woman cannot do this, even in the presence of her husband.
If a person meets another of high rank, he must leave the path, if on
foot, or alight, if on horseback, and remain standing until he has
passed. He must at the same time take off his slippers. He also must
take off his slippers when he enters a house. Should he fail to do this,
it would be considered a great impropriety.
In addressing a person of note, they mast keep at a certain distance
from him, and cover their mouths with their hands while they are
speaking, lest their breath, or a particle of moisture, should escape
to trouble him.
When the Hindoos visit a person of distinction for the first time,
civility requires them to take some present as a mark of respect, or to
show that they come with a friendly intention; especially if they wish
to ask some favor in return. When they have not the means of making
large presents, they carry with them sugar, plantains, milk, and other
things of this kind.
In case of mourning, visits must always be made, though at a distance of
a hundred miles. Letters of condolence would by no means be received as
a substitute.