﻿386 ACCOUNT OF AN 



The Deo is, ex officio^ what is called a dewanna-— 

 but the term *'lool," may not in this instance, as in 

 most others, give the hest translation of the word. 

 He is totally unmindful and ignorant of worldly af- 

 fairs — unable, they say, to hold conversation beyond 

 the proposition, reply, and rejoinder, and then in a 

 chiklish bhibbering manner. To some questions on 

 points of futurity he replies, accordingly as he is in- 

 spired, in pointed negatives or affirmatives ; toothers 

 enigmatically, or by benignant or indignant gesture; 

 sometimes he is totally silent, and, apparently ab- 

 sorbed in abstract cogitation, doth not recognize the 

 suppliant. From such data is deduced how propi- 

 tious, or otherwis , is the almighty will on the pur- 

 suits of the petitioner. 



The ordinary occupations of the Deo do not dif- 

 fer materially from those of other holy men — he eats, 

 takes wives to himself, &c. &c. like other Bramins, 

 but by some is said to be exempt from illness ; others 

 say he is subject to bodily infirmities. So regular a 

 life, however, in point of regimen, unruffled by 

 worldly cares, may well ensure a continuance of 

 health, and, in general, prolongation of existence. 



As the elder son inherits the spark of divinity, it 

 is necessary that he also be a fool, as he hath ever 

 proved. To the question " whether, the second son 

 being sane, and the elder dying without male issue, 

 the second, to whom the patrimony then descends, 

 would become dezmnna on his accession?" the Bru- 

 mins demur: It hath never, they say, happened. 

 God made the covenant, and the means of fulfilling 

 it are not for man to point out. 



However remote the degree of consanguinity 

 may be, all of this family assume the final name 

 Deo — It did not occur to me to inquire if the fe- 

 males are peculiarly estimable— I judge not very 

 liighly so, from never having heard of exalted per- 

 sonages seeking them as wives — the males, indeed, 



do 



