knit into each other, and passes from the right shoulder under the left arm, where it is fastened with three knots. In virtue of this badge the initiated person obtains, besides other privileges, that of assisting at grand offerings, called _Yaga_, or _Yagna_, which are presented to the Sun; and he is ever after authorised to read in the three _Vedas_, or books of the law, known under the names of _Ircu_, _Sàma_, and _Yagiurveda_. He also bears the _Cudumi_, or _Curumbi_, or tuft of hair left by the Brahmans on the crown of their head, which every where else is close shaved. This tuft is likewise a distinguishing mark of their cast, and shows that the person who bears it is consecrated to the priesthood. When a Brahman by his own fault has forfeited his sash, or his tuft of hair, he loses all his privileges, and can no longer discharge any of the sacerdotal functions. If he wishes to be restored to his former condition, various acts of humiliation and penance are prescribed to him; and, in particular, strict fasting and abundant alms-giving. When he has performed all these, he is received by nine Brahmans with the same forms and ceremonies as when first admitted to the priesthood. All mutilated, blind, squint-eyed, or deformed persons, as well as all those who have any kind of scab or eruption on the skin, or white spots in the eyes, are totally excluded for ever from the priesthood[174]. If it is proved that a Brahman has killed a man or a cow, all the other Brahmans of the same _Gràma_ or district unite against him; cut off his _Curumbi_; take from him his sash; deprive him of the sacerdotal dignity, and expel him from the cast. He is then put upon an ass with his face towards the tail, and in that manner conveyed beyond the boundaries of the place. As I have already given, in my _Systema Brahmanicum_[175], a full account of the condition, as well as of the different classes, customs, consecration and institutions of the Brahmans, it would be here superfluous to repeat them. One time when the king of Travancor made a tour in order to inspect the state of his fortresses, and passed through _Parur_, he was attended by more than a thousand of these Brahmans. On that occasion I observed that eight of them bore a square tabernacle suspended from a long pole. Within it stood a small statue of the goddess _Bhagavadi_, for which the Indians have a particular veneration; and it was covered with a piece of yellow cloth, because yellow is in as high esteem among the Indians as red formerly was among the Egyptians. The rest of the Brahmans walked on each side of the tabernacle, and recited, in the Samscred language, a number of prayers. No person belonging to the inferior classes durst approach this sanctuary; for two of the Brahmans who walked at the head of the procession cried out continually, in the Malabar dialect, _Po! Po!_ that is, Away! Away!--as if they meant to say: Keep at a distance, ye contemptible,