Chapter 442 [Discussing Donations]
Bel Singer took his pet, the lion king Simba, to wander around the Lagar Valley and see that his goats were all fat and strong and dark. They lived leisurely and happily on the hillside, just like they were covered with a layer of oil. Bel Singer drooled when he saw them.
Although such black goats are not big, they are absolutely delicious. In addition, the Indian subcontinent is in a tropical climate, and plants grow very richly. Eating a variety of wild plants, many of which have medicinal value, and then drinking mountain spring water, the goats grown in this way have no sheep smell and the meat is delicious and delicate.
They are much tastier than those goats raised on pasture feed in Europe, but they are smaller in size. The dozens of camels in his own home lie leisurely on the hillside. The little camels surround their mothers, running and chasing each other, and there are even several batches of female camels that have been selected long ago, and they are about to give birth.
These female camels have been carefully selected. Each of them is about to enter the labor period. They will give birth in a few months, just in time for Tagore to wean off breast milk. Then they will choose to use camel milk for a period of time. The nutritional value of camel milk is several times higher than that of cow milk. Children who grow up drinking camel milk are very healthy and have a good appetite. They grow up very strong. Bel Singh grew up drinking camel milk when he was a child.
Although the Singh family does not raise camels in the valley, it is still quite easy to drink camel milk. The reason why these female camels are fixed at a specific time is to wean the children. Then there are many benefits of consuming camel milk, which I will not list here one by one.
After a round, Bel Singh felt the moist air. I heard that it rained moderately last night. It was not bad. It relieved a lot of hot weather. The air exuded a fragrance of soil and fresh plants. It was much better than the streets in Europe that smelled of car exhaust, but there was one bad thing, that was it was too hot and I was sweating after a few steps.
Especially the lion king Simba had long hair, and it was black. The little guy had never returned his tongue since he was a child. The dog's heat dissipation measure is very simple, that is, using the tongue as a radiator will not sweat, so the dog always droops his tongue when cooling down, and pant.
Fortunately, the lion king Simba has a dedicated swimming pool, and he can run to the river or even the small lake in the back mountain to take a bath. This is all allowed by Belsinger. The status of the villagers in Pet Du Lagar is much higher. After walking around and sweating, he took Simba back to the cool Xinge Castle.
Before he could drink a sip of tea in the living room, he was called over by Lina, and familiarized himself with the location and storage of various items in his room. Then he came to the living room, drank a sip of tea, moistened his throat, and then the family sat together to discuss the ceremony of Master Tagore wearing the holy thread.
It is a ceremony that is not complicated. It is to take the boys born in the upper caste family to the temple. If your family is a standard Brahmin, then you will have a temple belonging to your family. All boys born in Brahmin families will be registered in the temple and then worshiped by Brahmins, wearing holy threads, and receiving money every month from the moment they are born.
And the amount is not small, and they will receive it until the moment they die, that is to say, from birth to death, the temple will pay the special subsidies to the Brahmin caste on time every month. They get money from the temple. Don’t look at it, the Kshatriya caste is the only one that can compete with the Brahmin caste. One is in charge of divine power and the other is in charge of secular power, but the rights they enjoy in the temple are not as good as those of the Brahmin caste.
Even the oldest Kshatriya caste like Bel Singh, who was a royal relative in the past, cannot do this. You have to pay every time you visit the temple. You mean the Singh family uses money to support the priests in the temple. Brahmin children use money from the temple to support themselves since they are born. One is to support the Brahmin caste Kshatriya, and the other is the Brahmin caste who lives on money from the temple.
When Tagore of the Singh family was born, he was taken to the temple within seven days to receive baptism and wear the holy thread ceremony. Now it is too late. Of course, there are reasons. At that time, he was abroad. But even if you were the eldest son of the Kshatriya family, you had to pay money when completing the baptism and wearing the holy image ceremony, and the amount of money you took was not small.
This is to give money to pray for the child, so that the priests in the Brahmin temple can chant and pray. The longer the chanting time and the more times it is repeated, the better the child's future healthy marriage and luck will be. It depends on how thick your wallet is. If you give more money, you can let the Brahmin priests in the entire temple, regardless of their status, chant for you repeatedly.
The lowest is seven days, the highest is 49 days, 24 hours a day, chanting sutras and praying for you next to Master Tagore's magic lamp, Bel Singh does not believe this. But everyone in the Singh family believes that the longer the chanting time, the safer Master Tagore will be, and the smarter he will be when he grows up. You don't believe it, but you can't stop the people in your family from believing it.
So the whole family discussed how much money should be given? The amount of money should be very auspicious, similar to China, and auspicious numbers such as six and eight. I asked the old butler Jamal how many rupees he could use? Bel Singh would not give dollars, so he could only use rupees to bribe these Brahmin priests.
The final amount was 6 million rupees. Even if the rupee is worthless, it is still money. 6 million was given at once. This is equivalent to 600,000 Chinese currency. Is it too much? It is not much because the Brahman temple in Sinjar Town is the holy temple of the Bel Singh family. Dozens of generations of the Singh family have performed rituals in this temple.
There is this tradition. Every year, the Singh family must give a certain amount of money to the temple. Every year, some give less and some give more, but you have to give. This 6 million rupees is not a small amount, but it can mobilize all the large and small sacrifices in the temple, chanting sutras 24 hours a day for 49 days.
Is it worth it? Bel Singh tells you that it is worth it. Anyway, the entire Singh family thinks it is worth it. This money cannot be less. Lina and the old housekeeper Jamal even think that the 6 million rupees is a bit stingy. The Singh family is not short of money now, but they can't throw money into the water, so Bel Singh made the decision, not a penny more than 6 million rupees.
The master had decided, so it was set in stone. The next morning, all the official members of the Singh family bathed, changed their clothes and fasted for three days. They ate vegetarian food for three days, which made it difficult for Bel Singh to eat black goat. It was understandable that Bel Singh was vegetarian, but it was more difficult for the women to burn incense. On the morning of the fourth day, the whole family took a car and dressed up to attend the event where the eldest son of Tagore wore the holy thread.