Page:The People of India — a series of photographic illustrations, with descriptive letterpress, of the races and tribes of Hindustan Vol 8.djvu/41

 KAZEE. (415)

HE Photograph represents the Kazee of Mysore, who was formerly a mutawulli, or subordinate religious officer in the city, but was promoted to the office of Kazee some years ago. He was also confidentially employed by the late Maharajah to convey messages to and from the European gentlemen connected with the residency. He is a Syud by descent, and in virtue of his office performs, either personally or by deputy, all Mussulman marriages, attends dying persons, and presides over religious ceremonies, of which ex officio he is the regulator. He makes and registers wills, and decides caste or other disputes, as far as his authority extends. The Kazee is usually a learned man, and is able to explain all points of Mussulman civil law, as that of inheritance, deeds of gift or sale, &c.; and is thus of great use to the Mussulman community over which he presides. He has naibs, or deputies, in every town of his province, who perform the ordinary rites at festivals, marriages, burials, and the like; and thus the lower classes of Mussulmans are cared for, and gross immorality checked, as far as possible. Kazees can inflict fines in cases of misconduct or irregularity, or suspend a transgressor of the social or religious law from the rites and privileges of his faith, and thus a very tolerable general control is carried out. There is little difference between the Mussulmans of the south and those of the north. The southern are, however, no doubt more ignorant and superstitious, and certainly more bigoted. Many Hindoo superstitions and observances have become incorporated with their own; and the belief in magic, in charms and philters, and in astrological science, is, if possible, more thorough than among Hindoos. The southern Mussulmans are perhaps stricter ritualists than the northern, and they do not drink spirits; but they use fermented palm juice to a great extent, which is equally intoxicating in its effect, and they smoke intoxicating compounds of tobacco and hemp. They prefer any service to cultivation or trade, in which they rarely engage. They enlist readily in the native army, and make good soldiers, brave, patient, and enduring; but are extremely jealous of their privileges, and