Q: mArjArahatyA

[David R. Israel]

Further regarding the "sin of killing a cat" issue, the following 
snippiets happened to appear yesterday on the Sasialit listserv -- 
suggesting that perhaps the utterances of the Pandit in the Hindi 
tale weren't wholly made out of whole cloth (so to say)?

d.i.

[snippets follow]

/ / / / / / / / / /

A says:

> . . . if we look at "Around the World in 80 days", . . .

B says:

>   . . .   On the other hand, Jules Verne exhibits quite a
> bit of cultural confusion with the Passpertout-shoes episode where
> he mixes up Pagodas, Hindu temples and Parsi fire temples.But he is
> accurate about it being a sin (though he overstates it by saying
> that the cat is sacred) to kill cats.

A says:

> . . .  .also can you please explain and throw some light on your 
> statement about its being accurate in that it was a sin to kill cats?

B [a certain Bapa Rao] says:

> p.s. about the cats, I based my statement on my upbringing, which
> held that it was a special sin to kill cats, as opposed to the
> generic sin incurred by killing anything. No one around me
> particularly liked cats, it was just held sinful to kill one. Don't
> know much more about it, I'm afraid.