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are the reveries of the modern brahmins, with whom I found it 

 fruitless to argue upon the metempsychosis or any religious sub- 

 ject; their pride and self-sufficiency militated against every attempt 

 to convince them of their errors. The brahmins of Malabar 

 usually treated such kinds of conversation with arrogance and 

 contempt: those at Dhuboy affected either an air of superiority, 

 or indifference. Indeed these extraordinary beings are so highly 

 exalted in the institutes of Menu, that it is almost impossible it 

 should be otherwise; for thus sailh this celebrated Hindoo law- 

 giver: 



" From his high birth alone, a brahmin is an object of vene- 

 ration, even to deities; his declarations to mankind are decisive 

 evidence; and the Veda itself confers on him that character. Never 

 shall the king slay a brahmin, though convicted of all possible 

 crimes; let him banish the offender from his realm, but with all 

 his property secure, and his body unhurt. Although brahmins 

 employ themselves in all sorts of mean occupations, they must 

 invariably be honoured; for they are something transcendently 

 divine." 



Such were doubtless, in their own estimation, the brahmins at 

 Dhuboy, who reposed under the solemn groves, or offered sacrifices 

 in their temples. But how shall I describe the poor out-cast Chan- 

 dalas, who were not allowed to have a habitation within the city 

 walls, and were compelled to live in wretched huts at a distance 

 from the western gate! which, on that account, was seldom fre- 

 quented by the other tribes; while the gate of diamonds, on the 

 eastern face, was the resort of the zemindars, banians, and 

 chief men of the city. I have described the abject condition of 



