^70 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1813. 



all those civil usages and customs 

 of the tribes to wfiich they be- 

 longed, that they can practise, 

 without infringing the tenets of 

 Nanac, or the institutions of Guru 

 Govind. They are most particular 

 with regard to their interraarriges ; 

 and, on this point, Sikhs de- 

 scended from Hindus almost inva- 

 riably conform to Hindu customs, 

 every tribe intermarrying within 

 itself. The Hindu usage, regard- 

 ing diet, is also held equally sa- 

 cred ; no Sikh, descended from a 

 Hindu family, ever violating it, 

 except upon particular occasions, 

 such as a Guru-mata, when they 

 are obliged, by their tenets and 

 institutions, to eat promiscuously. 

 The strict observance of these 

 usages has enabled many of the 

 Sikhs, particularly of theyit and 

 Gujar tribes, which include almost 

 all those settled to the south of the 

 Satlej, to preserve an intimate in- 

 tercourse with their original tribes ; 

 who, considering the Sikhs not as 

 having lost their cast, butas Hindus 

 that have joined a political asso- 

 ciation which obliges them to 

 conform to general rules establish- 

 ed for its preservation, neither re- 

 fuse to intermarry nor to eat with 

 them. 



The higher cast of Hindus, such 

 as Brahmins and Cshatriyas, who 

 have become Sikhs, continue to 

 intermarry with converts of their 

 own tribes, but not with Hin- 

 dus of the cast they have aban- 

 doned, as they are polluted by 

 eating animal food ; all kinds of 

 which are kuvful to Sikhs, except 

 the cow, which it is held sacrilege 

 to slay. Nanac, whose object it was 

 to conciliate the Muhammedans to 

 his creed, prohibited hog's flesh 

 also ; but it was introduced by 



his successors, as much, perhaps, 

 from a spirit of revenge against the 

 Moslems, as from considerations of 

 indulgence to the numerous con- 

 verts of the J^t and Gujar tribes, 

 among whom wild hog is a favou- 

 rite species of food. 



The Muhammedans, who be- 

 come Sikhs, intermarry with each 

 other, but are allowed to preserve 

 none of their usages, being obliged 

 to eat hog's flesh, and abstain from 

 circumcision. 



The Sikhs are forbid the use of 

 tobacco, but allowed to indulge in 

 spirituous liquors, which they al- 

 most all drink to excess; and it is 

 rare to see a Singh soldier, after 

 sun-set, quite sober. Their drink 

 is an ardent spirit, made in the 

 Penjab ; but they have no objec- 

 tion to either the wine or spirits 

 of Europe, when they can obtain 

 them. 



The use of opium, to intoxicate, 

 is very common with the Sikhs, 

 as with most of the military tribes 

 of India. They also take B'hang, 

 another inebriating drug. 



The conduct of the Sikhs to their 

 women differs in no material re- 

 spect from that of the tribes of 

 Hindus, or Muhammedans, from 

 whom ihey are descended. Their 

 moral character with regard to 

 women, and indeed in most other 

 points, may, from the freedom of 

 their habits, generally be consi- 

 dered as much more lax than that 

 of their ancestors, who lived under 

 the restraint of severe restrictions, 

 and whose fear of excommunica- 

 tion from their cast, at least 

 obliged them to cover their sins 

 with the veil of decency. This 

 the emancipated Sikhs despise : , 

 and there is hardly an infamy 

 which this debauched and dissolute 



