Page:An Essay On Hinduism.pdf/130

prohibited to a Brāhmaṇa, which are available in a Persian restaurant. Such a place is very well suited for the purpose of eating improper food because Hindus, like other peoples, generally trust a foreigner more, in things of which they make a secret, or upon which society frowns.

The influences which brought about a moderation in the feelings of purity and pollution are many; the principal ones may be summarized as follows. First, with the growth of industrial institutions and in the changes in the social structure and institutions caused thereby, it became impracticable to maintain the old rules of purity and pollution in their entirety without any serious inconvenience in life. Second, when the changes in the old customs became necessary, the European ideas and philosophy which are now studied by Indians, justified the rationality of what according to old ideas was considered improper and impure. The younger generation began to appeal to the principles of physical purity and impurity instead of the old ideas of ceremonial purity and impurity which the old shāstras (sciences) inculcated. Third, the system of Western medicine, which made its way into the country, compelled people to take up and consume those things which they regarded as impure, e.g. brandy, cod-liver oil, etc. Fourth, increase of skill, or rather the European skill, presented the "impure" substances in a less disagreeable form, and when they are so presented to the people they do not hurt the sensibilities of the people. For example, if you present to a Marātha Brāhmaṇa a cod-fish and ask him to eat it he would not do so, but if you give him cod-liver oil he would have less objection to take it. No Brāhmaṇa would, for example, eat any fat of the cow, but if you give him a piece of pie, his sensibilities would not be hurt while eating