completely engaged with them. For all the ceremonies of the religious
life there are prayers, offerings, vows, libations, ablutions. Some of
the religious requirements attach themselves to dress, ornaments,
etiquette, drinking, eating, mode of walking, of lying down, of
sleeping, of dressing, of undressing, of bathing. It is ordered: "That
a Brahman shall not step over a rope to which a calf is attached; that
he shall not run when it rains; that he shall not drink water in the
hollow of his hand; that he shall not scratch his head with both his
hands. The man who breaks clods of earth, who cuts grass with his
nails or who bites his nails is, like the outcast, speedily hurried to
his doom." An animal must not be killed, for a human soul may perhaps
be dwelling in the body; one must not eat it on penalty of being
devoured in another life by the animals which one has eaten.

All these rites have a magical virtue; he who observes them all is a
saint; he who neglects any of them is impious and destined to pass
into the body of an animal.

=Purity.=--The principal duty is keeping one's self pure; for every
stain is a sin and opens one to the attack of evil spirits. But the
Brahmans are very scrupulous concerning purity: men outside of the
castes, many animals, the soil, even the utensils which one uses are
so many impure things; whoever touches these is polluted and must at
once purify himself. Life is consumed in purifications.

=Penances.=--For every defect in the rites, a penance is necessary,
often a terrible one. He who involuntarily kills a cow must clothe
himself in its skin, and for three months, day and night, follow and
tend a herd of cows. Whoever has drunk of arrack[25] must swallow a
boiling liquid which burns the internal organs until death results.