538 
A JOURNEY FROM MADRAS THROUGH 
CHAPTER different petty traders that use this kind of cattle. The washermen 
confine their marriages to a few families that they know to he of 
July l6t pure descent. They marry a number or wives if they can afford it; 
but that is seldom the case. The girls, even after the age of pu- 
berty, continue to be marriageable ; but cannot take a second hus- 
band. They can be divorced for no other cause than adultery. 
None of them can read : in fact, although admitted to be Sudras, 
they are a cast most deplorably ignorant. They never take the vow" 
of Daskri. They are allowed to drink spirituous liquors, and to eat 
fish, fowls, and hogs ; but will not touch carrion. They worship a 
god called Bhuma Devaru, who is represented by a shapeless stone. 
At Bangalore , and some other large towns, they have temples dedi- 
cated to this god, and served by a Piijari of their own cast. To 
Bhuma Devaru they offer fruit, and solicit him not to burn or de- 
stroy their cloth. They sacrifice animals to Uhbay ; which, so far 
as I can understand, means steam. They conceive that it is God 
who makes their water boil, and occasionally burns their cloth ; 
and also that the steam, issuing from the water, is the more imme- 
diate residence of the divinity, whom therefore they call Ubbay ; 
but they believe Ubbay and Bhuma to be the same. This seems to 
be the proper worship of the cast ; but they address themselves to 
any other object of superstition that comes in their way, praying 
to Vishnu and the other great gods, and sacrificing to Putalima 
and the Sale t is. These prayers and sacrifices seem intended merely 
to procure temporal prosperity. I could not perceive that they had 
the smallest knowledge or belief of a state of future existence. 
Their Gurus are of the Satdnana cast ; but where they live, or what 
they do, is to their followers totally unknown. They come round 
occasionally, bestowing holy water, and getting food and money as 
charity. The Panchdnga attends at marriages, and tells them the 
times of the new moon ; at which period almost all Hindus observe 
a fast in memory of their deceased parents. They say, that, as they 
