Brahmans observe practices of peculiar difficulty in order to maintain their superiority over the other caste,s. Of these the most strict is an observance of the Nagar Brahmans, called Nuven,' or purity in regard to food. The Brahman, having bathed, dresses himself in silk or woollen clothes, or if he require to use cotton garments, these must be dipped in water, wrung out, and dried in some place where nothing impure can touch them. 4Thus habited, he sits down to dinner ; but he must ipreserve himself from numerous accidents which would render him impure, and compel him to desist from his meal. If he touch an earthen vessel he is defiled, unless the vessel have never contained water. The touch of a piece of cotton cloth, or of a piece of leather or paper, which he may accidentally have sat down upon, renders him impure ; but if Hindu letters have been written on the paper they preserve him from defilement, because they represent Saraswati, the goddess of learning, the sakti of Brahma. If, however, letters be written on cloth or leather, these remain impure. Thus, if the Gita, or any other portion of scripture, be required for use at the time, it must be bound with silk, and not with cotton ; leather ,must be avoided, and instead of common paste of flour and water, the bookbinder must employ paste of pounded tamarind seed. A
printed book will not answer the Brahman's pur pose, because printing ink contains impure water. Some think that the touch of deerskin does not defile. Raw cotton does not render the Brahman impure, but if it have been twisted for the wick of a lamp by a person not in the state of Nuven,' it does ; and again, if it have been dipped in oil or clarified butter it does not. Bones defile, but women's ivory armlets do not, except in those parts of the country where they are not usually worn, and then they do. The touch of the child of the same caste who has not learned how to eat grain does not defile, but if the child have eaten grain it does. The touch of a donkey, a dog, or a pig defiles ; some say that the touch of a cat also defiles ; others are inclined to think that it does not, because, in truth, it is not easy to keep the cat out. If a Brahman who is in Nuven ' be eating, or if he have risen from eating, the touch of his person defiles another Brahman who is in Nuven,' but has not begun his dinner.—Forbes' llasarnala or Hindu Annals, ii. pp. 256-259.