Page:Advice to the Indian Aristocracy.djvu/67

29 tice among Brahmins and also to some extent among other classes of Hindus. These people go to a rich man and say they will eat so much rice, so much ghee and so much of other things at one time, or in a given time, and for amusement the rich man provides the required articles and watches the eating of them. Though this kind of amusement is not a cruel one, yet it hurts the general health, and in a few cases it may kill the person who eats to such an excess. On the other hand, some people make a vow to fast for so many days and weeks. To fast so long is beyond human nature. If a strict watch be kept, it will be found that food is secretly obtained, and that the fast is a sham. Long fasting hurts the body much, or may even kill the person who tries to fulfil such a vow for the sake of obtaining notoriety.