CHILD - MARRIAGES 269
cord to the previous ones; and also each time that a
child is born to them, they may add a cord to the former
ones. This the Vedam doth ordain, yet the Bramin
Padmanaba said that it was not obeyed so nicely by
all; but the more zealous each among them is in heathen-
dom, the nicer he is to obey whatsoever the Vedam
hath ordained respecting these cords/
' The Bramines may not marry their children,
whether sons or daughters/ says Roger in his twelfth
chapter, l save to those who be of their caste, and herein
are they very precise. And although the other castes
also do not ordinarily marry their children except to
their own caste, nevertheless it doth sometimes come to
pass that they give their daughters to men who are
of a higher caste, being led thereto by marking the rev-
erence of the caste. But the Bramines cannot be led
or enticed by such considerations, since if they should
give their daughters to another caste, they must neces-
sarily do despite to their own caste, for that it is the
first in reverence.
One might ask, however: " Be there, then, no Bra-
mines who have wives from other castes? *' I answer,
" Yes," but that cometh to pass thus: These sons of
Bramines, when they are old in years and are no longer
content with the wife of their youth, with whom they
were wedded by their fathers' care, but seek to give
rein to their lusts and to delight the flesh, ofttimes take
to themselves wives of other castes who are well pleas-
ing in their eyes both for the fair comeliness of their
bodies and for the colour which adorneth them. Never-
