case of a few large Temples whose _Tasdik Pattis_ have been revised.
But the time has come, the Government think, for its general
application, and they therefore direct that the policy enunciated in the
abstract given above should be extended to all Muzrai Temples in the
State. It is to be hoped that the good example thus set will bear fruit
elsewhere, where the Temple women evil is more notorious than it was in
Temples of Mysore."

A copy of the Government document to which this cutting relates lies
before me. It is bravely and clearly worded, and its intention is
evident. The high-minded Hindu--and there are such, let it not be
forgotten--revolts from the degradation and pollution of this travesty
of religion, and will abolish it where he can. _But let it be remembered
that, good as this law is, it does not and it cannot touch the great
Secret Traffic itself. That will go on behind the law, and behind the
next that is made, and the next, unless measures are devised to ensure
its being thoroughly enforced._

Cuttings from newspapers, quotations, evidence--it is not interesting
reading, and yet we look to our friends to go through to the end with
us. Let us pause for a moment here and remember the purpose of it all;
and may the thought of some little, loved child make an atmosphere for
these chapters!

CHAPTER XXVIII

Blue Book Evidence

"The precipitous sides of difficult questions."--E. B. B.

OUR first evidence consists of abridged extracts from the Census Report
for 1901. After explaining the different names by which Temple women are
known in different parts of the Madras Presidency, the Report continues:
"The servants of the gods, who subsist by dancing and music and the
practice of 'the oldest profession in the world,' are partly recruited
by admissions and even purchases from other classes. . . . The rise of
the Caste and its euphemistic name seem to date from the ninth and
tenth centuries, during which much activity prevailed in South India
in the matter of building Temples and elaborating the services held in
them. . . . The duties then, as now, were to fan the idol with Tibetan
ox-tails, to carry the sacred light, and to sing and dance before the
god when he is carried in procession. Inscriptions show that in A.D.
1004 the great Temple of the Chola king at Tanjore had attached to it
four hundred women of the Temple, who lived in free quarters in the four
streets round it, and were all