AND PRACTICES OF THE HINDUS. 35; 



truth B e ec 11 u k and Adher, although Brdhmens, had 

 no knowledge or education suitable to the high dis- 

 tinction of their cast, of which they preserved the 

 pride only ; being as grossly ignorant and prejudiced 

 as the meanest peasants in any part of the world. 

 They seemed surprized when they heard the doom of 

 forfeiture of cast pronounced against them by a 

 learned Pandit, and openly avowed that, so far from 

 conceiving they had committed a barbarous crime, 

 both they and their mother considered their act as a 

 vindication of their honour, not liable to any religious 

 penalty. 



The Society will observe, with s^ome surprize, that 

 the perpetrators of the several acts which I have rela- 

 ted, were Brdhmens. These facts took place within 

 three districts only of the province of Benares, named 

 K:tnlel y Buddhooee, and Kcreat Sekur. I mention 

 these particulars that I may not lead any person into 

 a common error of deducing general conclufions 

 from partial circumstances. In Bengal and Behar, 

 where the passions of jealousy, pride, and revenge, 

 sometimes produce very fatal consequences, I recol- 

 lect no instance where the efforts of their violence 

 have been transferred from the objects which excited 

 it to others that were innocent, as in the preceding 

 cases. 



That the practice of Infanticide fhould ever be 

 so general as to become a custom with any sect or 

 race of people, requires the most unexceptionable 

 evidence to gain belief: and I am sorry to say that 

 the general practice, as far as regards female infants, 



Vol. IV. A a is 



