Volume 1

The Hindoos / [Anon.].

  • St. John, James Augustus, 1795-1875.
Date:
1834-35
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Hindoos / [Anon.]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    408/438 (page 374)
    The complexion of the Hindoos, according to climate and circumstances, varies from a dark olive, ap- proaching to black, to a light, transparent, beautiful brown, with still an olive tinge, resembling that of the natives of northern Italy or Provence. The Pariahs are said, by some writers, to be dark, wrhile the Brahmins are fair; and they have a proverb which says,—‘‘ Never trust a biack Brahmin, or a white Pariah;” but the rule by no means holds generally, many persons of low' caste, and numerous wild mountain hordes, being much fairer than their superiors. The Hindoos seldom betray in their countenances the fiery passions which are at work within. Their look is calm, placid, prepossessing; with nothing of the sinister aspect, of the Malay or the impassioned expression of the Persians or Arabs. The face of the Hindoo is oval; his forehead moderately large and high; his eyes and hair are black; though men- tion is made in the Institutes of Menu of women with reddish hair. His eyebrows are finely turned, and his nose and mouth of an European cast. The wo- men, when»not exposed to the air, or stunted by severe labour, are often possessed of extraordinary beauty. “Their forms are delicate and graceful; their limbs finely tapered and rounded ; their features mild ; their eyes dark and languishing; their hair fine and long; their complexions glowing as if they were radiant , and their skins remarkably polished and soft40. Of all the Hindoo women those of the Brahminical caste seem to bear away the palm of loveliness, more par- ticularly those of the Canara and Malabar coasts, who might perhaps sustain no disadvantageous com- Picture of India, vol. ii. p. 307. The author has here used, with taste and judgment, the materials furnished by Forbes and Orme, and therefore we have not scrupled to borrow his language. See Oriental Memoirs, vol. i. p. 73.