Page:Ramtanu Lahiri, Brahman and Reformer - A History of the Renaissance in Bengal.djvu/94

 were believed, by almost every Hindu, to be the means whereby the pardon of sins of the darkest dye could be obtained. They were held also to be the only passports into heaven. A man’s position in God’s sight depended on what he ate. Fare cooked by oneself, and consisting of boiled rice and peas with a little ghee or melted butter, was regarded in itself as sanctifying. Caste distinctions were very rigidly observed. A Brahman who served under Europeans used, every evening on returning from work, to take a bath in the holy river, supposed to have the power of washing away the pollution he had contracted from a Mlechchha; then to go through the routine of his daily devotion, and at length to take his meal to break his whole day’s fast. This austere life made everyone think highly of his virtues.

There was a class of Brahmans who devoted their lives to the study of the Shastras, and followed the priestly vocation. They were newspapers in flesh and blood. After bathing in the Ganges early, and greeting the sun with words of adoration, they went about gossiping from house to house. The chief subject of their conversation was how So-and-so had performed his father’s or his mother’s Shradh or funeral ceremonies, with what spirit he had fed and given presents to Brahmans, and so forth. And in relating these circumstances, they extolled some for their munificence, and ran down others for their niggardliness, their main object in doing this being to give their hearers an inkling of the praises or censures they themselves would have according as they were liberal or close-fisted, and thus to screw out valuable gifts from them by working on their desire for fame or fear of slander. And the wily priests were always successful. These Brahmans were versed in Smriti [theology] or Naya [logic or science of