HISTORY OF CASHMIR. 103 



restraint. They clothe themselves in skins and blankets, and, sound the cym- 

 bal and drum and conch, and cry aloud with hoarse voices ; " We will hasten 

 to delight, in thick forests and in pleasant places ; we will feast and sport ; 

 and gathering on the high ways spring upon the travellers, and spoil, and 

 scourge them." In Sdcdla, a female demon (a Rdcshasi) on the fourteenth day 

 of the dark fortnight sings aloud * I will feast on the flesh of kine, and quaff 

 the inebriating spirit, attended by fair and graceful females." The Sudra-like 

 JBd/ucas have no institutes nor sacrifices, and neither Deities, Manes, nor 

 Brahmans accept their offerings. They eat out of wooden or earthen plates, 

 nor heed their being smeared with wine or viands, or licked by dogs, and they 

 use equally in its various preparations the milk of ewes, of camels, and of ass> 

 es. Who that has drank milk in the city Yugandhara can hope to enter Swerga. 

 Bald and Hlca were the names of two fiends in the Vipdsa river ; the JBdMcas 

 are their descendants, and not of the creation of Brahma: some say the Araiias 

 are the name of the people, and Bdhica of the waters. The Vedas are not 

 known there, nor oblation, nor sacrifice, and the Gods will not partake 

 their food. The Prasthalas, (perhaps borderers,) Madras, Gandhdras, Arai- 

 tas, Khasas, Bdsas, Atisindhus, (or those beyond the Indus) Sauviras, are all 

 equally infamous. There one who is by birth a Brahman, becomes a 

 Cshetriya, or a Vaisya, or a Sadra, or a Barber, and having been a Barberj 

 becomes a Brahman again. A virtuous woman was once violated by Araiia 

 ruffians, and she cursed the race, and their women have ever since been 

 unchaste, on this account their heirs are their sister's children not their own. 

 All countries have their laws and Gods : the Ydvanas are wise, and pre- 

 eminently brave : the Mlechclthas observe their own ritual, but the Ma- 

 dracas are worthless. Madra is the ordure of the earth : it is the region of 

 ebriety, unchastity, robbery and murder: fie on the Pdnchanada people ! fie 

 on the Araita race !"■ — Mahabharat. Kerna Parva. 



