308 Timehri. . 
of caste. The priest civilly declined to do so, whereupon the king 
struck the Brahman with his whip. The priest cursed him that he might 
become a cannibal. The curse took effect immediately. He deyoured — 
several persons. The curse, was, however, at last removed from him by 
the one who had uttered it. The case of Saudasa “is always quoted as 
an instance of a ‘ Kshatriya,’ hostile to the Brahmans and punished for 
his hostility.” It is remarkable that every Hindu is perfectly satisfied 
with his own caste, however low, nay he is proud of it, and anxious to 
retain it. 
The four great castes above enumerated are again subdivided into 
thousands of minor ones. The subdivisions are most remarkable. Even 
the Brahmans do not and cannot intermarry or take food with some 
Brahmans. The Turas—a subdivision of the lowest class would throw 
away all his cooking utensils if a Brahman were to call upon him! The 
lowest class of Hindus would not defile himself with a European of the 
highest class. We do not know but that they would prefer to eat with 
hogs rather than with Europeans. From the above, we hope, it will be 
seen that the chief inconveniences of caste are that people cannot marry 
whom they please, cannot visit whom they choose, or dine with whom 
they like. There are, however, some observances of rather an unpleasant 
character. At one time the Pariah—a very low caste—was obliged to 
carry a bell to inform passers-by that he, the unclean, was approaching. 
And even a Sudra would shoot a Pariah if he were to come too close to 
him. The fear of losing caste is the greatest deterrent to the Hindu 
joining Christianity. He would have to lose all. Father—mother—wife— 
home ! And then Kuropeans—and in this country even black people—are 
not ready to give the hand of fellowship to the Christian East Indian. 
We may here mention that the Brahmans would willingly admit 
into a subdivision of the lower castes any individual who would 
acknowledge the Vedas as their inspired books and themselves as the priests. 
We will conclude this difficult subject by mentioning one or two 
matters of interest. In India there are no washerwomen. The Hindu, 
however poor, never washes his own clothes. There is the Dhobi, the 
washerman, whose father, grandfather, and all his ancestors have done 
nothing else but washing. The barbers (naus) not only look after the 
hair of the people but are considered excellent newsmongers and capital 
“ 9o-betweens ” in match-making. The Kuli, commonly written “ coolie ” 
is a labourer and not a caste—so called from the daily wages (Kuli) that 
he receives. 
Every coolie in this colony is an outcast, be he Brahman or be he 
Sudra. The moment the Hindu boards a ship or crosses the black 
waters (ocean) his caste is gone. Hence the recruiters of our immigrants 
find it so difficult a task to persuade Hindus to come to this country. 
For a consideration the Brahmans re-admit the coolies of their own 
castes, on their return to India. Caste will be the great friend to the 
Demerara colonist. The rules of it will cause a great many of our Kast 
Indians to return to this land of plenty, of freedom, of wealth, of equality. 
