Page:Malabari, Behramji M. - Gujarat and the Gujaratis (1882).djvu/220

204 the whispered query, "By the bye, do you, Sir, happen to have a loose pie in your pocket?"

But the most influential of all is the religious order of mendicants. It begins with the domestic priest, the Guru, and ends with that destroyer of all virtues, the Vallabhacháryan Máháráj. The Guru is as meek as he is sleek, and generally a worthy, jovial fellow, who is much, too much, trusted by the "ladies of the house." Then there is the temple priest who keeps the idol, and is, in return, kept in the best style by the worshippers. The moorlis of Máháráshtra and their sisters of Bengálá are also subjects of great interest. They are fair devotees who profess to have consecrated their virginity to the favourite god. But they are very obliging creatures, very frolicsome; and as their highest merit consists in earning most for the temple, they are all anxiety to earn. Several daring youths, who once crossed the threshold of the Kali temple near Calcutta, have come out of it with