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2 Sing and Heera Sing were accustomed to take their repasts
3 from similar cups and dishes, sitting with their retinue on
4 white cloths, spread upon the ground. Every guest has one
5 or more of these cups placed before him, and they only em-
6 ploy their fingers in eating, as forks, knives or spoons are not
7 used by the native inhabitants. The Maharajah Gholab Sing,
8 however, does not dine in company, but invariably takes his
9 meals alone, in the kitchen where the dishes are prepared,
10 having previously passed an hour or two in performing his
11 ablutions, and repeating his poojah (prayers). It is a common
12 custom in India for every Hindoo to prepare his own dinner.
13 He makes a circle, washing the hearth within it, beyond
14 which no person, even of his own caste, is allowed to pass ;
15 and if any stranger, ignorant of the custom, should place
16 his foot beyond this sacred circle, the dish he has been pre-
17 paring is considered as polluted, and is thrown away un-
18 touched, no matter how expensive the ingredients may have
19 been. There are a large number of Hindoo castes, and much
20 diversity prevails in their habits and customs. In some of
21 these, a person will not eat of a dish prepared even by his
22 own brother; and should he be dangerously ill, would rather
23 confine his diet to dried fruits than take any food which
24 another person had touched. This extreme peculiarity, how-
25 ever, attaches only to a few of the Hindoo castes, as by far
26 the larger number resemble in this respect the Sikhs (reformed
27 Hindoos), who do not object to eat of any dish which has
28 been prepared by a Brahmin. One of my orderlies, i.e.,
29 attendant of my house, who was a Brahmin, had eaten of a
30 cake which had been bought at the bazaar, but which by
31 accident had been touched by one of his companions who
32 was a Musselman, and in consequence, he was looked upon
33 by those of his caste as being polluted. In order to purify
34 himself, he was, by way of penitence, obliged to give a
35 splendid dinner to the Brahmins of the neighbourhood, the
36 cost of which absorbed about a month’s wages; and to eat a
37 sugared paste compounded of milk, butter, urine, and excre-