332 IN THE VISION OF GOD
communities. Both of them arc rice and meat eaters. The
hubble-bubble used in smoking is in evidence in every
house, and they have almost a craise for tea drinking, which
they do four or five times a day. For keeping warm in
winter they do not use the stoves employed by Europeans
in their houses in Europe. They have small portable fire-
pots called kangdi made of willow basket having a handle
of the same material, with an earthen bowl-like vessel
fitted into it. Charcoal is usocl to make fire in the bowl.
These kangdis are kept within their phoran causing
the heat to radiate all ovor the body underneath the
gown.
The staple food being rice the cultivation is mainly of
rice crops. The rice they pro-rlnce is u big grain of reddish
colour. The principal vegetable they are very fond of, and
without which they can hardly relish their dinner, is sag
of kadamb. Ghee and milk are seldom used by them. They
take plenty of curds and cheese. Milk is abundant in
Srinagar. Although the Muslim element is in the majority,
there is no cow-slaughter in Kashmir, as the Maharaja's
Government have prohibited it. The fruits of Kashmir are
of the cold climate, and apples, peaches, pears, berries, etc.
can be had iix plenty and very cheap.
The religion of the Pandits is Shaivism and Shakti
worship. They are opposed to the order of sannyas denoting
external renunciation. There are sadlius among the Pandits
and they are mostly house-holders leading a religious life.
The pandit is proud of his learning and intellectual attain-
ments. He would say: "Where the Western philosophy ends
there the Eastern philosophy begins; where the Eastern
philosophy ends there the Kashmiri philosophy begins."
The pandits are undoubtedly an intelligent and keen-
witted race. Their status as brahmans prevented them from
taking up avocations of manual labour, trade and handi-
crafts, in which fields the Muslims are widely employed.
The world-renowned Kashmir shawls are made by the