In connection with this subject I may remark, that what may be called "foot-worship" (_p[=a]duk[=a]-p[=u]j[=a]_), or the veneration of footprints, seems to be common to Hind[=u]s, Buddhists, and Jainas. Even during life, when a Hind[=u] wishes to show great respect for a person of higher rank or position than himself, he reverentially touches his feet. The idea seems to rest on a kind of _a fortiori_ argument. If the feet, as the lowest members of the body, are treated with honour, how much more is homage rendered to the whole man. Children honour their parents in this manner. They never kiss the faces of either father or mother. In some families, sons prostrate themselves at their fathers' feet. The arms are crossed just above the wrist, both feet are touched, and the hands raised to the forehead. The notion of honouring the feet as the highest possible act of homage runs through the whole Hind[=u] system. Small shrines may often be observed in different parts of India, sometimes dedicated to holy men, sometimes to Sat[=i]s, or faithful wives who have burnt themselves with their husbands. They appear to be quite empty. On closer inspection two footprints may be detected on a little raised altar made of stone. These are called P[=a]duk[=a], "shoes," but are really the supposed impression of the soles of the feet. In the same way, the wooden clog of the god Brahm[=a] is worshipped at a particular shrine somewhere in Central India, and we know that the footprint of both Buddha and Vishnu at Gay[=a], and that of Buddha at Adam's Peak, are objects of adoration to millions. Analogous ideas and practices prevail in Roman Catholic countries. There is a wooden image of Christ on the cross in a church at Vienna, which is so venerated that, although it is a little elevated, some worshippers stand on tiptoe to kiss its feet, while others touch its feet with their fingers, and then raise their fingers to their mouths. Similarly, at Munich, in Bavaria, numbers of worshippers may be seen kissing the feet of an image of the Virgin Mary, and most travellers can testify that images of St. Peter, not to mention the living representative of St. Peter, are treated in a similar manner.