HINDU CASTE MARKS 255
they are protected against the devil, or lamma (Yama),
the judge of hell, so that none of them may lay hands
upon them or draw nigh them.
The Tadwadi promise Wistnou to acknowledge him
as the only god and to obey him without accepting any
other one deity or obeying any other god. Nevertheless,
they add hereto that it is not enough to make such a
promise, but that a godly and virtuous life must be led
at all times, and that a promise which is not fulfilled
shall profit nothing, but that such service shall find its
meet punishment. The Tadwadi Weistnouwa have a
chief of their sect who liveth in the neighbourhood of
Paliacatta, in a place called Combeconne, where he is
well known. He weareth no cord about his neck like
the other Bramines, nor hath he any wife, but when he
entereth upon his dignity, he leaveth all, and commonly
goeth with a bamboo reed in his hand.
The Ramanouja Weistnouwa mark themselves with
a mark which is almost a Greek upsilon, making it on
the forehead extending upward from the nose. For this
they use namou, a material almost like white chalk; but
where the arms join the shoulder-blades, they brand
another mark, and say that this mark branded in their
flesh is enough, and that they need not mark all their
limbs daily. They say that when they have given them-
selves to their god with a good and upright heart, and
have promised to be his servants without recognizing
any other, that this is enough, and that, even if they
do not conduct themselves well for the rest of their
life, nevertheless God will be gracious unto them be-
