Manchurian Books

The lot
of these poor creatures is the most wretched that can be imagined.
They are so despised by the other four castes, that no one will hold
the slightest intercourse with them. If a Hindoo happens to touch a
Paria as he is passing, he thinks himself defiled, and is obliged to
bathe immediately.
The Parias are not allowed to enter any temple, and have particular
places set apart for their dwellings. They are miserably poor, and
live in the most wretched huts; their food consists of all kinds of
offal and even diseased cattle; they go about nearly naked, or with
only a few rags at most on them, and perform the hardest and
commonest work.
The four castes are subdivided into an immense number of sects,
seventy of which are allowed to eat meat, while others are compelled
to abstain from it altogether. Strictly speaking, the Hindoo
religion forbids the spilling of blood, and consequently the eating
of meat; but the seventy sects just mentioned are an exception.
There are, too, certain religious festivals, at which animals are
sacrificed.


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