Page:The People of India — a series of photographic illustrations, with descriptive letterpress, of the races and tribes of Hindustan Vol 5.djvu/46

 SUKOOSATEE BEAHMIN. (235)

RAHMINS have been described on several occasions in previous illustrations (Photographs 127, 147, 160, Vol. III.; 200, Vol. IV), and the subject of the present plate does not appear to require any very detailed description. He belongs to the highest and most sacred division of his order in the Punjab, who themselves form a distinct class from, and do not intermarry with, other Brahminical classes of the Punjab or elsewhere. Their designation is derived from the river Suroosatee, or Suruswutee, which runs through the district of Hastinapoor, near Delhi, the most sacred of Hindoo territory, as the locality in which the Aryan invaders first settled, and afterwards became famous from the contest of the solar and lunar races described in the Mahabharat. The Suroosatee Brahmins, therefore, are of the purest Aryan blood, and, as a consequence, esteem themselves in proportion, and are in the last degree exclusive. They are for the most part good Sanscrit scholars, and are employed as family priests, directors of ceremonials, and expounders of the sacred books. They are also astrologers and astronomers, in this capacity constructing horoscopes, and arranging marriages, predicting lucky or unlucky days, proper seasons for undertakings, journeys, and mercantile transactions. The Suroosatee Brahmins abstain entirely from animal food, and from fish; they do not smoke, or drink spirits; in short, it is impossible to conceive more temperate lives. They are for the most part worshippers of Vishnu, under his incarnation of Krishna, which, indeed, is the most popular phase of Hindoo belief in Northern India; and in general ceremonies and observances, there is no difference between them and high class Brahmins in other parts of India, described in the illustration No. 200. The dress of the figure represented is very simple. It consists of fine white calico or muslin, with a plain white muslin scarf hung round the neck, and a white turban. This costume is seldom varied, and during the performance of religious worship the Brahmin divests himself of all upper clothing, retaining only the waist cloth worn below all.