2 8 George E. Hoivard, 



terized by Leist,^ is thus described : '' The inviolabihty of the 

 Brahmin is a fixed principle with the Hindoos, and to deprive 

 him of Hfe, either by direct violence or by causing his death 

 in any mode, is a crime which admits of no expiation. To 

 this principle may be traced the practice called dharna. . . . 

 It is used by the Brahmins to gain a point which cannot be 

 accomplished by any other means, and the process is as 

 follows : The Brahmin who adopts this expedient . . . pro- 

 ceeds to the door or house of the person against whom it is 

 directed, or wherever he may most conveniently arrest him ; 

 he then sits down in dharna with poison, or a poignard, or 

 some other instrument of suicide in his hand, and threatening 

 to use it if his adversary should attempt to molest or pass him, 

 he thus completely arrests him. In this situation the Brahmin 

 fasts, and by the rigour of etiquette the unfortunate object of 

 his arrest ought to fast also, and thus they both remain till 

 the institutor of the dharna obtains satisfaction. In this, as 

 he seldom makes the attempt without the resolution to perse- 

 vere, he rarely fails ; for if the party thus arrested were to 

 suffer the Brahmin sitting in dharna to perish by hunger, the 

 sin would forever lie upon his head." ^ 



It is a rule at the present hour all over the East, says 

 Maine, "that a creditor who requires payment from a debtor 

 of a higher rank than himself 'shall fast upon him.' " Thus, 

 in Persia, "a man intending to enforce payment of a demand 

 by fasting begins by sowing some barley at his debtor's door 

 and sitting down in the middle. The symbolism is plain 

 enough. The creditor means that he will stay where he is 

 without food, either until he is paid or until the barley-seed 

 grows up and gives him bread to eat." ^ And it is remark- 

 able that fasting is also recognized in the Senchus Mor, a 

 collection of ancient Irish customs, the date of whose compi- 

 lation is unknown. "Rather more than half" of this code is 



^ Leist, Alt-Arischcs Jus Gentium, 47S. 



2 Lord Teignmouth, in Forbes' Oriental Afetnoirs, II, 25, cited by Maine, 

 Early Hist, of Inst., 299. 



3 Whitley Stokes, in Maine, Early Hist, of lust., 297. 



262 



