Page:Malabari, Behramji M. - Gujarat and the Gujaratis (1882).djvu/266

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
250
GUJARÁT AND THE GUJARÁTIS.

the sacred toe. (Cries of "Shame! shame!" "The hypocrite!")

Mánhordas.—It is false. I can prove it false.

Khokhrá Shett.—Prove it, young man.

Manhordás.—Because on the 5th vad of Vaishák 19—the Máháráj's toe was bitten off by rats whilst he lay exhausted after a drunken frolic. Dr. Bhan Daji[1] could prove it. (Hisses and groans and uproar.)

Thákar Khokhrá (upsetting the hubble-bubble).—You shameless infidel! I have put you out of caste.

Veshdhári (a man who loves widows inprivate and hates them in public).—I declare that Manhordás is a Kristan[2] fellow. He is a vutlel (convert). What are these Sudháráwálá? One cheats widows out of their portions; another keeps a number of widows in his house under pretence of protection; a third gambles and becomes a bankrupt: they become Sudhárawala to please the Sahib loques, and that way assume importance. They are the thieves and pirates of society. Shame upon their birth!

  1. Our most accomplished Hindu physician and scholar of Bombay—died in 1872.
  2. Christian.