In bringing a case of immorality before this tribunal the evil is
intensified. The matter is gone into minutely, with much freedom of
expression. Nor does it end there. The members of the Panchayat return
to their homes, and, with the fullest detail, repeat to wife and
children the incidents that the inquiry has disclosed. For days it is
the all-engrossing subject of conversation. "There is no reserve
amongst us in the sense that you English people have it," said a
leading Indian Christian to me; "there is nothing which our children
do not know." Consulting an intelligent Christian Indian on the
difficult question as to how much might be said with safety when
warning the young on the subject of purity, he replied: "It is
impossible to teach them anything which they do not know already.
Other people talk to them, and the youngest know all that there is to
be known."
It should be added, that although with very few exceptions this is
certainly true, the knowledge of evil does not, as a matter of course,
produce evil, and there are many Indian Christian lads who, sustained
by the power of sacramental grace, are leading lives of exemplary
self-control, while living in circumstances of great temptation.
Whatever may have been the case in years gone by, the out-caste people
of a village are not now the downtrodden, servile folk such as they
are commonly supposed to be, although there are still instances of
individual oppression. Most of them are leading more wholesome lives
than those of the richer, self-indulgent men, and this is evidenced
by their more vigorous and manly frame. They are, to some extent, at
the beck and call of the chief men of the place, and more especially
of the _Patel_, but they are independent in their bearing, and obey
cheerfully without cringing. Some of their duties may sound unsavoury.
As, for instance, they are responsible for the removal of a dead
carcase found within the village boundary. But if it is the body of an
animal fit for food, such as a buffalo, sheep, or goat, they feast
upon it themselves, quite regardless of what disease it may have died
of.
A buffalo belonging to the Mission died from snake-bite, as it was
supposed, though that sometimes is only another name for wilful
poisoning. The disposal of its immense carcase seemed a perplexity.
But just as we were considering this point, we saw the buffalo
travelling away at a rapid pace on the shoulders of the village
Mahars, who took it as their natural perquisite, and did not think it
necessary to wait for leave. The horns, hoofs, skin, and bones are
marketable commodities, so that, besides the feast, they often make a
good thing out of agricultural tragedies.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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