After the ceremony of punchakaryam is finished the person who has been
expelled from his caste must give a grand feast. This finishes all he
has to do, and he is then restored to favor.

There are certain offences which, when committed cut off all hope that
the offender will ever be restored to his caste. For instance, should he
eat the flesh of the cow, no presents which he might make, nor any fines
which lie might be disposed to pay, no, not even the punchakaryam
itself, would be of any avail for his restoration or purification.

I will make a remark here, which I might have made before. It is, that
in Christian countries, there is a spirit of pride which much resembles
the spirit of caste. Many are to be found who are very proud that they
have descended from rich and honorable _ancestors_, and who look down,
almost with disdain, upon those in other situations. I need hardly tell
you that this is a very wicked spirit, and entirely opposed to the
spirit of the Gospel. No matter what may be our high thoughts of
ourselves, we appear but very low in the sight of Him who created us. We
are all sinners, and, as such, are offensive in his sight. If we would
go to heaven, the first thing which we have to do, is to humble
ourselves for the pride of our hearts, and become as little children
before him. We must have that spirit of which the apostle speaks, when
he says, "Let each esteem others better than themselves." With a humble
spirit we may approach a holy God, with the assurance that he will, for
Christ's sake, forgive all our sins.

CHAPTER IX.

HINDOO TEMPLES--CARS--PROCESSION OF IDOLS.

My dear Children--I will proceed to give you a description of the Hindoo
temples. These are very numerous. One is to be found in almost every
village. They are to be found, also, in out-of-the-way places, distant
from villages, in woods, on the banks and in the middle of rivers; but,
above all, on mountains and steep rocks.

This latter practice, of building temples on mountains, is very ancient.
The Israelites were accustomed to choose a mountain when they offered up
their sacrifices to the Lord. Solomon, before the building of the
temple, chose Mount Gibeon on which to offer his burnt-offerings; and
when the ten tribes separated themselves, in the reign of Jeroboam, they
built their altars on the mountain of Samaria. This practice may have
come from the circumstance, that Noah offered to God a great sacrifice
of thanks on