Honestly, I have heard variants of crow-sparrow stories BUT NEVER NEVER would have analyzed it from this angle(not that I am incapable of analysis or dumb stupid call what you may) - the white man surely sees beyond what folks like us can - http://www.folklorefellows.fi/netw/ffn20/oncaste.html
In the same article, weightage is given to what Abbe Dubois(Hindu Customs Practices and Ceremonies) has to say(I will add more here)...See below in RED.
Recently, we asked a colleague, Prof. emer. C. N. Ramachandran of Mangalore University, for his opinion of Abbé Dubois. His verdict was: “prejudiced and unreliable”, “he has eyes only for the dung heap”. If quotations are taken from Dubois, they should be framed with source-critical remarks.
From my own initial reading of a few chapters of the book, the approach adopted is too prejudiced and more of shock value highlighting some primitive customs(case in point, paavadam), anti-brahmanical - if the reporting was truly reflective of what the author say rather than author's interpretation...it would have made interesting reading. What is horrifying is H K Beaucomp(guy who translated the French version to English) eulogises the author and his work - I guess there is a reason - Eurocentric scholars kissing each others you-know-what. Hopefully, after completing the book, I will come back and update this space.
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