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hapless culprit; none are to be allied by friendship or by marriage, 
none to eat or to drink with him: he is to become abject, and ex- 
cluded from all social duties; to wander over the earth, deserted 
by all, trusted by none; never to be received with affection, nor 
treated with kindness; but to be branded with infamy and shame; 
the curse of heaven, and the hatred of all good men! 
“ Stand off, for I am holier than thou/’ seems to be the predo- 
minant sentiment of the brahmin, whether dwelling under the 
banian shades in northern Ilindostan, or secluded among the 
cassia groves of Malabar. Flow different is the pride and intole- 
rance of the Flindoo priest from the charity and benevolence of the 
Jewish monarch, who assembled a mixed multitude of all descrip- 
tions, from Dan to Beersheba, to celebrate the passover at Jeru- 
salem ; how different the supplication of the pious king to the 
anathema of the brahmin! “The good Lord pardon everyone 
that prepareth his heart to seek God; though he be not cleansed 
according to the purification of the sanctuary ! and the prayer as- 
cended to His holy place, even unto heaven!” 
The brahmins of Travencore, as in most other parts of India, 
have taken care to be exempted as much as possible from punish- 
ment; at least their sentence is far more lenient than that passed 
on the other castes for the same crimes; and their power and in- 
fluence in Malabar are more unbounded than in the north of India. 
Consulting Herodotus on the purifications and ceremonies of 
the priests in ancient Egypt, we find a striking resemblance between 
them and the brahmins in India, whose time ought to be divided 
between study and devotion. The Egyptian priests possessed 
many and great advantages; the brahmins enjoy still greater pri- 
