Page:History of India Vol 9.djvu/290

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242
AN EARLY DUTCH ACCOUNT OF INDIA

is forbidden to all castes alike by the Vedam; so that, like as the Mohammedans abstain from the flesh of swine, so also all the castes here refrain from the meat of kine, and have more fear and horror thereof than the Mohammedans feel for the flesh of the pig. Thus the Weinsjas likewise refrain from all that hath had life, even as the Bramines.

A GROUP OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN.

The fourth caste is the Soudraes (Sanskrit Sūdra), who be the common people. This caste hath within it many and divers divisions, whereof each pretendeth to surpass the others; and therefore it doth ofttimes hap that great strife ariseth in the land, insomuch as one caste or another, be it in marriage or in burial of the dead, goeth beyond what is the custom. Therefrom a whole city ofttimes falleth in an uproar, even as I

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