422 



CASTE PREJUDICES. 



Chap. XXV. 



In the centre there is a square island, rising in broad flights 

 of steps from the water, and covered with a grove of trees, 

 above which rises the tall tower of a pagoda. 



The town of IVladm-a, situated on the banks of the river 

 Vaigay, contains about 50,000 inhabitants. It is by far the 

 cleanest and best built city that I saw in India, with fine 

 broad streets, and houses with tiled roofs extending far beyond 

 the walls, so as to form verandahs su]3ported by poles. Here 

 and there a house with an upper story, belonging to some 

 wealthy citizen, rose above the rest ; and in the bazars there 

 was a strong sickly smell of spices. Madura is indebted, for 

 its superiority over other Indian towns, to Mr. Blackburn, a 

 former Collector, and the inhabitants have erected a lamp on 

 a tall pedestal to his memory. 



On the day of my visit to the pagoda, the streets were 

 densely crowded, the women were decked out in all their 

 finery, and those of the Brahmin caste had their faces 

 hideously stained with saffron. It was a festival in honour of 

 some cow or other, who had been tm-ned into a rock, through 

 the excess of her love for Nandi, the buU on which the God 

 Siva rides. The religious feelings of the people are displayed 

 in these festivals, and whether they worship and venerate 

 the stone or wooden image, or the attributes of God-like 

 virtue and wisdom wliich the emblems connected with the 

 image are intended to represent, my observations led me 

 to beheve that, in aU classes, there was a display of most 

 undoubted sincerity. In connection with their religious 

 observances, the people of Southern India feel very strongly 

 on the subject of caste distinctions. The Brahmins are fair 

 skinned, of Aryan descent, and comparatively strangers, 

 having been barely a thousand years in the country.^ Next 



' The Brahmins of cotu-se are of 

 mixed blood, through intercourse with 

 Tamil women. Children are therefore 



Sudras, and are not Brahmins until 

 they arc invested with the sacred 

 thread. 



