"Cleanliness was literally next to godliness in India; hygiene was not, as Anatole France thought it, la seule morale, but it was made an essential part of piety. Manu laid down, many centuries ago, an exacting code of physical refinement. “Early in the morning,” one instruction reads, “let him” (the Brahman) “bathe, decorate his body, clean his teeth, apply collyrium to his eyes, and worship the gods.” The native schools made good manners and personal cleanliness the first courses in the curriculum. Every day the caste Hindu would bathe his body, and wash the simple robe he was to wear; it seemed to him abominable to use the same garment, unwashed, for more than a day. “The Hindus,” said Sir William Huber, “stand out as examples of bodily cleanliness among Asiatic races, and, we may add, among the races of the world. The ablutions of the Hindu have passed into a proverb.”"
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Will Durant, Our Oriental Heritage (1935)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Water_supply_and_sanitation_in_India
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Water supply and sanitation in India
8 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Water supply and sanitation in India →
Related Quotes
"At a time when the British showed no particular enthusiasm for cleanliness, Indian women for example introduced Briti…"
""The fact that even smaller towns and villages had impressive drainage systems” remarks Kenoyer, “indicates that remo…"
"A surprising spirit of cleanliness is to be observed among the Hindoos: the streets of their villages are commonly sw…"
"The Brahman usually washed his hands, feet and teeth before and after each meal; he ate with his fingers from food on…"
"You would, my Arabella, be enraptured at the extreme neatness of even the meanest attendant; but besides the beauty a…"
"Purity means cleanliness of mind and body; the latter is effected by the use of water etc. No nation in the world is …"
"For their part, Indians and Asians considered Westerners puzzlingly dirty. To some extent, it was a matter of merocri…"
"When are we to get into the right path of devotion to god? When I ask this, the Brahmins dub us as atheists. Believin…"
"Under the guise of religion the Brahmin has his finger in every thing, big or small, which the Shudra undertakes. Go …"
"Of all the living creatures man is the most intelligent. It is man who created god, religion, philosophy and spiritua…"