cow dung used for the real cooking, and then he began to heat a curved
pan containing _ghee_, butter that had been boiled and strained to
prevent rancidity. Although the Rajputs cooked in vegetable oil, Nayka
had insisted from the first that a personage as important as the
English _feringhi_ should eat only clarified butter. The smoldering
chips of dung took a long time to heat, but finally the ghee seemed
ready. Nayka had ground spices as he waited, and he began to throw them
into the hot fat to sputter. Then he chopped vegetables and dropped
them in to fry. In a separate pot he was already boiling lentils,
together with a yellow spice he called turmeric. As the meal neared
readiness, he began to fry _chappatis_, thin patties of unleavened
wheat flour mixed with water and ghee. Then Hawksworth watched in shock
as Nayka discreetly dropped a coal of burning cow dung into the pot of
cooking lentils.
"What the hell was that?"
"Flavoring, Captain Sahib." Nayka's Turkish had been learned through
procuring women for Turkish seamen, and it was heavily accented and
abrupt. "It's the secret of the flavor of our lentils."
"Is that 'high-caste' practice?"
"I think it is the same for all." Nayka examined him for a moment,
twisting his head deferentially. "Does the Sahib know about caste?"
"I know it's a damnable practice."
"The Sahib says what the Sahib says, but caste is a very good thing."
"How do you figure that?"
"Because I will be reborn a Brahmin. I went to a soothsayer who told
me. My next life will be marvelous."
"But what about this life?"
"My present birth was due to a very grave mistake. The soothsayer
explained it. He said that in my last life I was a Rajput. Once I
ordered my cook to prepare a gift for some Brahmins, to bake bread for
them, and inside the bread I had put gold. It was an act of great
merit. But the faithless cook betrayed me. He stole the gold and put
stones in its place. The Brahmins were very insulted, but no one ever
told me why. Because I had insulted Brahmins, I was reborn as I am. But
my next life will be different. I will be rich and have many women.
Like a Brahmin or a Rajput." Nayka's eyes gleamed in anticipation.
"The improvement in money I can understand." Hawksworth examined
Nayka's ragged dhoti. "But what does it matter when it comes to women?
There seems to be plenty of randy women to go around, in all castes."
"That's true if you are a Rajput or a Brahmin. Then no woman of any
caste can refuse you. But if you are a low caste, and you are caught
with a high-caste woman, you'll probably be beaten to death by the
Rajputs. They would say you were polluting her caste."
"Wait a minute. I thought Rajputs would have nothing to do with a low-
caste woman." Hawksworth remembered Vasant Rao's stern denial.
"Who told you that?" Nayka smiled at Hawksworth's naivete. "I would
guess a Rajput. They always deny it to strangers, so you won't form
unfavorable ideas about the high castes. Let me tell you that it is a
lie, Captain Sahib. They take our women all the time, and there is
nothing we can say. But a low-caste man with a high-caste woman is
another matter."
"But what about their 'ritual pollution'? They're not supposed to touch
the low castes."
"It's very simple. A Rajput can take one of our women if he chooses,
and then just take a bath afterward and he is clean again."
"But can't a high-caste woman do the same, if she's been with a low-
caste man?"
"No, Captain Sahib. Because they say her pollution is internal. She has
the polluting emissions of the low-caste man within her. So there is no
way she can be purified. It's the way the high castes control their
women. But if you're a man, you can have any woman you please, and
there's nothing anyone can say." Again Nayka's eyes brightened. "It
will be wonderful the day I am reborn. Caste is a wonderful thing."