Page:An Essay On Hinduism.pdf/126
may regard himself and his caste as holiest of mortals, following all the orthodox Vedic rites, performing sandhyā three times a day, and spending over five hours in his sacerdotal practices. Both classes of men belong to the same caste, feel strong sympathy for each other notwithstanding all their differences, marry with each other with perfect freedom, and generally get along very well together, though their forefathers used to feel polluted by the food of a Sārasvata Brāhmaṇa, an important caste in the Maratha country, who differ from the Chittapāvana Brāhmaṇas only in the use of fish by the former in their diet, which the Chittapāvanas have prohibited to their own caste men.
Thus a man who belongs to the caste which represents priesthood may commit any infraction of the rules of convention or of scripture, or may do actions which even many non-priestly castes prohibit. He may engage himself in any trade he pleases. He may go and eat where he wants to, drink anything he desires, may go to a foreign country and act according to the manners of the foreign country, may refuse to make atonement for what a traditionalist Hindu regards as sin, and may still retain his position in the community, that is, may claim the membership of the sacred priestly caste, and his claim would go unchallenged. Even after doing all this, if he cares to take up the occupation of a priest, nobody would be able to prevent him from doing so.
Such is the latitude which men who belong to the Chittapāvana Brāhmaṇa caste can take. This would seem very ironical when we pay attention to the high claims and pretensions of this caste.[1]
- ↑ Maratha Brāhmins have unfortunately too great an opinion of themselves. They regard themselves not only as the élite of man-