He Bathes By The Family Well And Loosens His
Hair, Of Which, If He Is A Mahratti Or An Inhabitant Of The Dekkan,
He Has Only One Long Lock At The Top Of His Shaven Head.
To cover
the body and the head whilst eating would be sinful.
Wrapping his
waist and legs in a white silk dhuti, he goes once more to salute
the idols and then sits down to his meal.
- - - - -
But here I shall allow myself to digress. "Silk possesses the
property of dismissing the evil spirits who inhabit the magnetic
fluids of the atmosphere," says the Mantram, book v., verse 23.
And I cannot help wondering whether this apparent superstition
may not contain a deeper meaning. It is difficult, I own, to part
with our favorite theories about all the customs of ancient
heathendom being mere ignorant superstitions. But have not some
vague notions of these customs being founded originally on a true
knowledge of scientific principles found their way amongst European
scientific circles? At first sight the idea seems untenable. But
why may we not suppose that the ancients prescribed this observance
in the full knowledge that the effect of electricity upon the organs
of digestion is truly beneficial? People who have studied the
ancient philosophy of India with a firm resolve to penetrate the
hidden meaning of its aphorisms have for the most part grown
convinced that electricity and its effects were known to a
considerable extent to some philosophers, as, for instance,
to Patanjali.
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