sacerdotal Sikh families, the practice is suspected to prevail; but as a rule it may be said that English influence has put an end to this cowardly and infamous crime throughout the Punjab. The practice of taking money for the hand of a daughter or sister was also forbidden; a prohibition which was often evaded.
The Sikhs were forbidden to eat meat killed in ordinary fashion, and animals for food were ordered to be slaughtered with one stroke of the sword. No special prohibition of beef is mentioned in the Granth, but the old tradition was too strong to be set aside, and the cow has remained as sacred an animal to the Sikh as to the ordinary Hindu. In frontier raids the vanquished Muhammadans would throw themselves at the feet of their conquerors, and putting a tuft of grass in their mouths, would appeal for quarter, crying out, 'I am your cow.' The Muhammadans were especially held accursed, and the prohibition against Sikhs wearing a cap was to dissociate them from the Muhammadans even in dress. War with these enemies of the faith was enjoined and no quarter was to be given to them. Unorthodox Sikhs, Jains and Jogis, were also declared accursed.
There were many minor prohibitions and directions, and one of the most important, the daily reading of the Granth, was impossible of practice for the reason that the Sikhs were commonly illiterate and were compelled to content themselves with occasionally attending to hear the Granth read by the lay priests,
