Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/302

260 day they exercise no power beyond their own sect. Their temples have been broken down, their idols destroyed, and, except a remnant, they have been swallowed up in the mass of Hinduism.

In Southern India, there are still quite large bodies of them living in their own villages, with their own shastiris and gurus, (religious teachers,) maintaining their protest against Brahminism. Their hatred of their enemies, though powerless, is often bitter, nor is it unreturned. They are generally tradesmen, mechanics, and farmers.

In many of their customs they do not differ from other Hindus; but in their horror of taking life, they exceed even the Brahmins. Not only do they abstain from eating all kinds of meat, but also from some kinds of vegetables, lest they should kill the insects often found in them. Before scouring their floors, they sweep them lightly with a soft broom, so as to spare the lives of fleas and other insects with which their houses are usually well stocked. Even scorpions, snakes, and mosquitos must not be injured, no matter how blood-thirsty or annoying in their propensities.

Our friend, the shastiri of Perumanaloor,