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PUNDIT JOWALLA NATH.
(209)

The gentleman here represented is a fine specimen of his class, a secular Brahmin, in the service of Government. Well educated and liberal in their ideas, they are for the most part above the narrow-minded and exclusive sectarianism of Brahmins of religious or priestly profession, and prove most intelligent and valuable public officers. The Pundit is, or was, tehsildar, or collector of revenue of the Roorkee district. He is a native of the valley of Cashmere; and, as will be evident from the Photograph, his features are of the highest class of Aryan character - identical, in fact, with the European; and the difference between them, and those of other Brahmins represented in this work, will be at once evident on comparison. Pundit Jowalla Nath is a person of essentially European mind. He has mastered the English language, which he both writes and speaks with a fluency and correctness rarely attained by a foreigner; and his honorary title of Pundit could only be assumed upon a high standard of proficiency in the Sanscrit literature of his own country. 

His costume is a richly embroidered robe or choga of Cashmere cloth, trimmed with fur, with an under vest of cloth. His trowsers and shoes are of English fashion, and the embroidered cap is perhaps an invention of his own, since it is not common among his people. Notwithstanding his English habits and manners, the Pundit preserves the rules of his own caste inviolate; while he, and his class generally, are free from those gross superstitions and idolatrous observances, which are followed by Brahmins of other and less enlightened professions. There is no doubt that educated natives of India, in the class to which the Pundit belongs, are increasing in numbers and in influence; but they can do little as yet, perhaps, to affect the ignorance and bigotry of their countrymen.