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256 AN EARLY DUTCH ACCOUNT OF INDIA cause of their promise, and that he will not reckon the evil end of a sinful life to their punishment. They say that Wistnou will never abandon those whom he hath accepted in his love; and they add hereto that no father can kill his child that goeth astray; that man cannot live without sin; and that it is therefore im- possible that Wistnou, having accepted any one, should again abandon him. There are, moreover, many other things wherein these Ramanouja differ from the Tad- wadi Weistnouwa. These Ramanouja Weistnouwa may not cover their heads with any covering, as the other Bramines do, but go bareheaded. Their hair is cut short, except a tuft on the crown of their head, which hangeth down behind and hath a knot tied in it. Nevertheless, the chief of this sect, who hath his residence in Cansjewaram (Con- jevaram), a very great city in the kingdom of Carnatica (the Karnatic), and therefore is a man of honour and regard, hath the pre-eminence over his fellows in that he may have a covering on his head; yet not always hath he such a covering, but whensoever he standeth to speak with any. The Ramanouja say that their sect is better than the Tadwadi, and therefore they say that they may not meddle in any mercature, and also that they go not into bawdy houses, else might it hap to any one of them to be bitterly and severely punished by their chief for this sin. Nor is it permitted the Tadwadi to go into such houses, yet even if they do it, yet are they neither reproved nor punished, as is the case among the Ra-