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AN ESSAY ON HINDUISM

sons who were very strict in maintaining the principle, took with them such eatables from home as could not be polluted by touch.^[1] There were some who would satisfy their hunger by eating fruit. But there were also some who would not hesitate to resort to the non-Brāhmaṇical method of buying prepared food.^[2] There were at this time tea-rooms and restaurants all over the town started by the Persians, where non-Hindus used to go and eat. These shops tempted the Brāhmins and other Hindus to commit the irreligious act of eating prepared food without proper ceremonial, and that, too, from the hands of a Mlechchha. As a result of this, now, in Bombay it is an established custom for a Hindu to drink tea in an Irani restaurant. When Brāhmaṇas began to eat in an Irani restaurant they gave up gradually their scruples against eating other kinds of food

↑ There are some varieties of food which would be very easily polluted, e g., bread made in water. Such a bread a man cannot eat at any time. He should eat it only after bathing and wearing a specially consecrated cloth. The bread also must be specially prepared with such ceremonial purity. If any bread is to be left over for another meal, it should be kept in a select and ceremonially pure place in the house by a man who may be in the pure condition described above. Bread made in milk does not demand so many formalities in order to guard against pollution. You can make the bread in milk, put it in a can of tinned brass, put it in your pocket, and may go to another place, even wearing a shoe made of cow-hide; but still the bread could not be polluted. Articles like Pedha, which are made of milk and sugar only, would not be polluted even if a Mohamedan, Christian, or a low caste Hindu touched them. Fruit cannot be polluted at all, as long as it is physically pure. Nowadays, with the growing scarcity of milk in large cities, Brāhmins have to remain satisfied with bread made in water, and have to concede to such bread the privileges of the bread made in milk.
↑ Eating cooked food is an act which should be performed with due regard to ceremonial; and such ceremonial cannot be observed in a market place. Hence there is an objection to buy prepared food.

[1] There are some varieties of food which would be very easily polluted, e g., bread made in water. Such a bread a man cannot eat at any time. He should eat it only after bathing and wearing a specially consecrated cloth. The bread also must be specially prepared with such ceremonial purity. If any bread is to be left over for another meal, it should be kept in a select and ceremonially pure place in the house by a man who may be in the pure condition described above. Bread made in milk does not demand so many formalities in order to guard against pollution. You can make the bread in milk, put it in a can of tinned brass, put it in your pocket, and may go to another place, even wearing a shoe made of cow-hide; but still the bread could not be polluted. Articles like Pedha, which are made of milk and sugar only, would not be polluted even if a Mohamedan, Christian, or a low caste Hindu touched them. Fruit cannot be polluted at all, as long as it is physically pure. Nowadays, with the growing scarcity of milk in large cities, Brāhmins have to remain satisfied with bread made in water, and have to concede to such bread the privileges of the bread made in milk.

[2] Eating cooked food is an act which should be performed with due regard to ceremonial; and such ceremonial cannot be observed in a market place. Hence there is an objection to buy prepared food.

[1]

[2]