320 
A JOURNEY FROM MADRAS THROUGH 
CHAPTER Sri P aishnavam Brahman came to the place, and was called their 
Guru . The Panchdnga acts as their Purohita at marriages, and at 
July 13 , fee, the ceremonies performed, both annually, and at the new moons, 
in commemoration of their deceased parents. The Brahmans , when 
they subjugated the different rude tribes in the south of India, 
seem to have made very little difficulty about religious opinions 
and customs. Every tribe seems to have retained their own; and 
the Brahmans were contented with an acknowledgment of their 
authority, and with contributions given for the performance of 
' certain ceremonies, much connected with astrology and magic; by 
pretensions to which their power was probably extended. They 
themselves have perhaps been influenced by the superstitions of 
their converts, whose gods, being malignant spirits, they adopted 
as servants of Iswara , the power of destruction. The Brahmans , 
when in sickness and distress, invoke with fear and trembling the 
power of Bhairava , and of the female Saktis ; who were formerly, 
perhaps, considered by the natives as the malignant spirits of the 
woods, mountains, and rivers; and worshipped by sacrifices, like 
the gods of the rude tribes which now inhabit the hilly region 
cast from Bengal, and whose poverty has hitherto prevented the 
incursions of the sacred orders of their more learned western 
neighbours. 
None of the Morasu can read or write ; and they never take the 
vow of Daseri. They believe in transmigration as a state of 
reward and punishment, and of course believe in the immortality 
of the soul ; which, so far as I can learn, is not in this country an 
universal belief among the lower casts, nor among the rude tribes 
who inhabit the hills. They have hereditary chiefs, called Gauda . 
The present possessor of that rank here is a boy. He is brought 
into the assembly, and sits there, while the heads of families settle 
all disputes, and punish all transgressions against the rules of cast. 
It is lawful for a Morasu to eat every kind of animal food, except 
beef and carrion. They are prohibited from drinking spirituous 
