ASIA 
 
 
CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 D. B. Vail 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tlie Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924024113650 
 
FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES 
 OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
FROM THE 
 
 CAVKS AND JUNGLES 
 
 OF 
 
 HINDOSTAN. 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE RUSSIAN OF 
 
 HELENA PETROVNA BLAVATSKY. 
 
 LONDON. 
 
 Theosophical Publishing Society, 
 
 7, DUKE STREET, ADELPHI, W.C. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 The Path, 144, Madison Avenue. 
 
 MADRAS : 
 Theosophicai, Society, Adyar. 
 
 1892. 
 L. 
 
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 "You must remember," said Mme. Blavatsky, "that 
 I never meant this for a scientific work. My letters 
 to the Russian Messenger, under the general title: 
 'From the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan,' were 
 written in leisure moments, more for amusement than 
 with any serious design. 
 
 "Broadly speaking, the facts and incidents are true; 
 but I have freely availed myself of an author's privi- 
 lege to group, colour, and dramatize them, whenever 
 this seemed necessary to the full artistic effect; 
 though, as I sa}', much of the book is exactly true, 
 I would rather claim kindly judgment for it, as a 
 romance of travel, than incur the critical risks that 
 haunt an avowedly serious work." 
 
 To this caution of the author's, the translator must 
 add another; these letters, as Mme. Blavatsky says, 
 were written in leisure moments, during 1879 ^"^ 
 1880, for the pages of the Ricsski Vyesinik, then edited 
 by M. Katkoff. Mme. Blavatsky's manuscript was 
 often incorrect; often obscure. The Russian com- 
 positors, though they, did their best to render faith- 
 fully the Indian names and places, often produced, 
 through their ignorance of Oriental tongues, forms 
 which are strange, and sometimes unrecognizable. 
 
iv translator's preface. 
 
 The proof-sheets were never corrected by the author, 
 "who was then in India; and, in consequence, it has 
 been impossible to restore all the local and personal 
 names to their proper form. 
 
 A similar difficulty has arisen with reference to 
 quotations and cited authorities, all of which have 
 gone through a double process of refraction: first into 
 Russian, then into English. The translator, also a . 
 Russian, and far from perfectly acquainted with 
 English, cannot claim to possess the erudition neces- 
 sary to verify and restore the many quotations to 
 verbal accuracy; all. that is hoped is that, by a careful 
 rendering, the correct sense has been preserved. 
 
 The translator begs the indulgence of English 
 readers for all imperfections of style and language; 
 in the words of the Sanskrit proverb: "Who is to 
 be blamed, if success be not reached after due effort?" 
 
 The translator's best thanks are due to Mr. John C. 
 Staples, for valuable help in the early chapters. 
 
 London, July, iSgs. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 
 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 In^ Bombay . .... 3 
 
 On the Way to Karli 
 
 
 
 
 43 
 
 In the Karli Caves 
 
 
 
 
 66 
 
 Vanished Glories 
 
 
 
 
 105 
 
 A City of the Dead 
 
 
 
 
 125 
 
 Brahmanic Hospitalities 
 
 
 
 
 140 
 
 A Witch's Den 
 
 
 
 
 176 
 
 God's Warrior 
 
 
 
 
 196 
 
 The Banns of Marriage 
 
 
 
 
 215 
 
 The Caves of Bagh. 
 
 
 
 
 • 234 
 
 An Isle of Mystery 
 
 
 
 • 259 
 
 JUBBLEPORE 
 
 
 
 
 . 276 
 
FROM THE CAYES AND JUNGLES 
 OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 IN BOMBAY. 
 
 Late in the evening of the sixteenth of Februarj-, 
 1879, after a rough voyage which lasted thirt5'-two daj's, 
 joj'ful exclamations were heard everj'where on deck. 
 "Have 3'ou seen the lighthouse?" "There it is at last, 
 the Bomba}' lighthouse." 
 
 Cards, books, music, ever5'thing was forgotten. Ever}-- 
 one rushed on deck. The moon had not risen as j'et, 
 and, in spite of the Starr}' tropical sk}', it was quite dark. 
 The stars were so bright that, at first, it seemed hardly 
 possible to distinguish, far away amongst them, a small 
 fier}- point lit by earthh- hands. The stars winked at us 
 like so man}- huge eyes in the black sky, on one side of 
 which shone the Southern Cross. At last we distin- 
 guished the lighthouse on the distant horizon. It was 
 nothing but a tinj' fier}' point diving in the phosphor- 
 escent waves. The tired travellers greeted it warmly. 
 The rejoicing was general. 
 
 What a glorious daybreak followed this dark night! 
 The sea no longer tossed our ship. Under the skilled 
 guidance of the pilot, who had just arrived, and whose 
 bronze form was so sharply defined against the pale sky, 
 our steamer, breathing heavil}' with its broken machinery, 
 slipped over the quiet, transparent waters of the Indian 
 Ocean straight to the harbour. We were only four miles 
 from Bomba}^ and, to us, who had trembled with cold 
 
4 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 only a few weeks ago in the Bay of Biscay, which has 
 been so glorified by many poets and so heartily cursed 
 by all sailors, our surroundings simply seemed a magical 
 dream. 
 
 After the tropical nights of the Red Sea and the 
 scorching hot days that had tortured us since Aden, we, 
 people of the distant North, now experienced something 
 strange and unwonted, as if the very fresh soft air had 
 cast its spell over us. There was not a cloud in the sky, 
 thickly strewn with dying stars. Even the moonlight, 
 which till then had covered the sky with its silvery garb, 
 was gradually vanishing; and the brighter grew the 
 rosiness of dawn over the small island that lay before 
 us in the East, the paler in the West grew the scattered 
 rays of the moon that sprinkled with bright flakes of 
 light the dark wake our ship left behind her, as if the 
 glory of the West was bidding good-bye to us, while the 
 light of the East welcomed the new-comers from far-off 
 lands. Brighter and bluer grew the sky, swiftly absorb- 
 ing the remaining pale stars one after the other, and we 
 felt something touching in the sweet dignity with which 
 the Queen of Night resigned her rights to the powerful 
 usurper. At last, descending lower and lower, she dis- 
 appeared completely. 
 _— And suddenly, almost withoulHnterval between dark- 
 ness and light, the red-hot globe, emerging on the oppo- 
 site side from under the cape, leant his golden chin on 
 the lower rocks of the island and seemed to stop for 
 a while, as if examining us. Then, with one powerful 
 effort, the torch of day rose high over the sea and glori- 
 ously proceeded on its path, including in one mighty 
 fiery embrace the blue waters of the bay, the shore and 
 the islands with their rocks and cocoanut forests. His 
 golden rays fell upon a crowd of Parsees, his rightful 
 
IN BOMBAY. 5 
 
 worshippers, who stood on shore raising their arms 
 towards the mighty "Eye of Ormuzd." The sight was 
 so impressive that everyone on deck became silent for 
 a moment, even a red-nosed old sailor, who was busy 
 quite close to us over the cable, stopped working, and, 
 clearing his throat, nodded at the sun. 
 
 Moving slowly and cautiously along the charming but 
 treacherous bay, we had plenty of time to admire the 
 picture around us. On the right was a group of islands 
 with Gharipuri or Elephanta, with its ancient temple, at' 
 their head. Gharipuri translated means "the town of 
 caves" according to the Orientalists, and "the town of 
 purification" according to the native Sanskrit scholars. 
 This temple, cut out by an unknown hand in the very 
 heart of a rock resembling porphyry, is a true apple of 
 discord amongst the archaeologists, of whom none can 
 as yet fix, even approximatelj', its antiquity. Elephanta 
 raises high its rocky brow, all overgrown with secular 
 cactus, and right under it, at the foot of the rock, are 
 hollowed out the chief temple and the two lateral ones. 
 Like the serpent of our Russian fairy tales, it seems to 
 be opening its fierce black mouth to swallow the daring 
 mortal who comes, to take possession of the secret mys- 
 tery of Titan. Its two remaining teeth, dark with time, 
 are formed by two huge pillars at the entrance, sustain- 
 ing the palate of the monster. 
 
 How many generations of Hindus, how many races, 
 have knelt in the dust before the Trimurti, your three- 
 fold deity, O Elephanta? How many centuries were 
 spent by weak man in digging out in your stone bosom 
 this town of temples and carving yowc gigantic idols? 
 Who can say? Many years have elapsed since I saw 
 you last, ancient, mysterious temple, and still the same 
 restless thoughts, the same recurrent questions vex me 
 
6 FKOM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 now as they did then, and still remain unanswered. In 
 a few days we shall see each other again. Once more I 
 shall gaze upon your stern image, upon j^our three huge 
 granite faces, and shall feel as hopeless as ever of pierc- 
 ing the mystery of your being. This secret fell into 
 safe hands three centuries before ours. It is not in vain 
 that the old Portuguese historian Don Diego de Cuta 
 boasts that "the big square stone fastened over the arch 
 of the pagoda with a distinct inscription, having been 
 torn out and sent as a present to the King Dom Juan 
 III., disappeared mysteriously in the course of time 
 . . . ," and adds, further, "Close to this big pagoda 
 there stood another, and farther on even a third one, the 
 most wonderful of all in beauty, incredible size, and 
 richness of material. All those pagodas and caves have 
 been built by the Kings of Kanada, (?) the most impor- 
 tant of whom was Bonazur, and these buildings of Satan 
 our (Portuguese) soldiers attacked with such vehemence 
 that in a few years one stone was not left upon another. 
 ." And, worst of all, they left no inscriptions 
 that might have given a clue to so much. Thanks to 
 the fanaticism of Portuguese soldiers, the chronology of 
 the Indian cave temples must remain for ever an enigma 
 to the archaeological world, beginning with the Brah- 
 mans, who say Elephanta is 374,000 3'ears old, and 
 ending with Fergusson, who tries to prove that it was 
 carved only in the twelfth century of our era. When- 
 ever one turns one's eyes to historj', there is nothing to 
 be found but hypotheses and darkness. And yet Ghari- 
 puri is mentioned in the epic Mahabharata, which was 
 written, according to Colebrooke and Wilson, a good 
 while before the reign of Cyrus. In another ancient 
 legend it is said that the temple of Trimurti was built on 
 Elephanta by the sons of Pandu, who took part in the 
 
IN BOMBAY. 
 
 war between the d}-nasties of the Sun and the Moon, 
 and, belonging to the latter, were expelled at the end of 
 the war. The Rajputs, who are the descendants of the 
 first, still sing of this victory; but even in their popular 
 songs there is nothing positive. Centuries have passed 
 and will pass, and the ancient secret will die in the 
 rocky bosom of the cave still unrecorded. 
 
 On the left side of the bay, exactly opposite Elephanta, 
 and as if in contrast with all its antiquity and greatness, 
 spreads the Malabar Hill, the residence of the modern 
 Europeans and rich natives. Their brightly painted 
 bungalows are bathed in the greenery of banyan, Indian 
 fig, and various other trees, and the tall and straight 
 trunks of cocoanut palms cover with the fringe of their 
 leaves the whole ridge of the hilly headland. There, on 
 the south-western end of the rock, you see the almost 
 transparent, lace-like Government House surrounded on 
 three sides by the ocean. This is the coolest and the 
 most comfortable part of Bombay, fanned by three 
 diff"erent sea breezes. 
 
 The island of Bombaj-, designated bj- the natives 
 "Mambai," received its name from the goddess Mamba, 
 in Mahrati Mahima, or Amba, Mama, and Amma, accord- 
 ing to the dialect, a word meaning, literally, the Great 
 Mother. Hardly one hundred ^-ears ago, on the site of 
 the modern esplanade, there stood a temple consecrated 
 to Mamba-Devi. With great difficulty and expense they 
 carried it nearer to the shore, close to the fort, and 
 erected it in front of Baleshwara the "Lord of the Inno- 
 cent" — one of the names of the god Shiva. Bombay is 
 part of a considerable group of islands, the most remark- 
 able of which are Salsetta, joined to Bombay by a mole, 
 Elephanta, so named by the Portuguese because of a 
 huge rock cut in the shape of an elephant thirty-five feet 
 
8 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OE HINDOSTAN. 
 
 long, and Trombay, whose lovely rock rises nine hun- 
 dred feet above the surface of the sea. Bombay looks, 
 on the maps, like an enormous cray-fish, and is at the 
 head of the rest of the islands. Spreading far out into 
 the sea its two cldws, Bombay island stands like a sleep- 
 less guardian watching over his younger brothers. Be- 
 tween it and the Continent there is a narrow arm of a 
 river, which gets gradually broader and then again nar- 
 rower, deeply indenting the sides of both shores, and so 
 forming a haven that has no equal in the world. It was 
 not without reason that the Portuguese, expelled in the 
 course of time by the English, used to call it "Buona 
 Bahia." 
 
 In a fit of tourist exaltation some travellers have com- 
 pared it to the Bay of Naples; .but, as a matter of fact, 
 the one is as much like the other as a lazzaroni is like a 
 Kuli. The whole resemblance between the former con- 
 sists in the fact that there is water in both. In Bombay, 
 :as well as in its harbour, everything is original and does 
 not in the least remind one of Southern Europe. lyOok 
 at those coasting vessels and native boats; both are 
 built in the likeness of the sea bird "sat," a kind of 
 kingfisher. When in motion these boats are the personi- 
 iication of grace, with their longs prows and rounded 
 poops. They look as if they were gliding backwards, 
 and one might mistake for wings the strangely shaped, 
 long lateen sails, their narrow angles fastened upwards 
 to a yard. Filling these two wings with the wind, and 
 careening, so as almost to touch the surface of the water, 
 these boats will fly along with astonishing swiftness. 
 Unlike our European boats, they do not cut the waves, 
 but glide over them like a sea-gull. 
 
 The surroundings of the bay transported us to some 
 fairy land of the Arabian Nights. The ridge of the 
 
IN BOMBAY. 9 
 
 "Western Ghats, cut through here and there by some 
 separate hills almost as high as themselves, stretched all 
 along the Eastern shore. From the base to their fan- 
 tastic, rocky tops, they are all overgrown with impene-, 
 trable forests and jungles inhabited by wild animals. 
 Every rock has been enriched by the popular imagina- 
 tion with an independent legend. All over the slope of 
 the mountain are scattered the pagodas, mosques, and 
 temples of numberless sects. Here and there the hot 
 rays of the sun strike upon an old fortress, once dreadful 
 and inaccessible, now half ruined and covered with 
 prickly cactus. At every step some memorial of sanc- 
 titj'. Here a deep vihara, a cave cell of a Buddhist 
 bhikshu saint, there a rock protected by the sj'mbol of 
 -Shiva, further on a Jaina temple, or a holy tank, all 
 ■covered with sedge and filled with water, once blessed 
 by a Brahman and able to purify every sin, an indispens- 
 able attribute of all pagodas. All the surroundings are 
 •covered with symbols of gods and goddesses. Each of 
 the three hundred and thirty millions of deities of the 
 Hindu Pantheon has its representative in something 
 •consecrated to it, a stone, a flower, a tree, or a bird. On 
 the West side of the Malabar Hill peeps through the 
 trees Valakeshvara, the temple of the "Lord of Sand." 
 A long stream of Hindus moves towards this celebrated 
 temple; men and women, shining with rings on their 
 fingers and toes, with bracelets from their wrists up to 
 their elbows, clad in bright turbans and snow white 
 muslins, with foreheads freshly painted with red, yellow, 
 and white, holy sectarian signs. 
 
 The legend says that Rama spent here a night on his 
 
 vsray from Ayodhya (Oudh) to Lanka (Ceylon) to fetch 
 
 his wife Sita who had been stolen by the wicked King 
 
 ' Havana. Rama's brother Lakshman, whose duty it was 
 
lO FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES O? HINDOSTAN. 
 
 to send him daily a new lingam from B;nare^, was late 
 in doing so on: evening. Losing patience, Rama erected 
 for himself a lingam of sand. When, at last, the symbol 
 arrived from Benares, it Vv'aa put in a temple, and the 
 lingam erected by Rama was left on the shore. There it 
 stayed during long centuries, but, at the arrival of the 
 Portuguese, the "Lord of Sand" felt so disgusted with 
 the feringhi (foreigners) that he jumped into the sea 
 never to return. A little farther on there is a charming" 
 tank, called Vanattirtha, or the "point of the arrow." 
 Here Rama, the much worshipped hero of the Hindus, 
 felt thii'sty and, not finding any vrater, shot an arrow 
 and immediately there' was created a pond. Its crystal 
 waters were surrounded by a high wall, steps were built 
 leading down to it, and a circle of white marble dwel- 
 lings was filled with dwija (twice born) Brahmans. 
 
 India is the land of legends and of m3'sterious nooks- 
 and corners. There is not a ruin, not a monument, not 
 a thicket, that has no story attached to it. Yet, however 
 they may be entangled in the cobweb of popular imagina- 
 tion, which becomes thicker with every generation, it is 
 difficult to point out a single one that is not founded on 
 fact. With patierlce and, still more, with the help of the 
 learned Brahmans you can always get at the truth, when 
 once you have secured their trust and friendship. 
 
 The same road leads to the temple of the Parsee fire- 
 worshippers. At its altar burns an unquenchable fire, 
 which daily consumes hundredweights of sandal wood 
 and aromatic herbs. Lit three hundred years ago, the 
 sacred fire has never been extinguished, notwithstanding 
 many disorders, sectarian discords, and even wars. The 
 Parsees are very proud of this temple of Zaratushta, as 
 they call Zoroaster. Compared with it the Hindu pago- 
 das look like brightly painted Easter eggs. Generally 
 
IX BOMBAY. II 
 
 the3- are consecrated to Hanuman, the monke^'-god and 
 the faithful alh' of Rama, or to the elephant headed 
 Ganesha, the god of the occult wisdom, or to one of the 
 Deris. You meet with these temples in every street. 
 Before each there is a row of pipals {Ficus religiosd) 
 centuries old, which no temple can dispense with, be- 
 cause these trees are the abode of the elementals and 
 the sinful souls. 
 
 All this is entangled, mixed, and scattered, appearing 
 to one's eyes like a picture in a dream. Thirty centuries 
 have left their traces here. The innate laziness and the 
 strong conservative tendencies of the Hindus, even be- 
 fore the European invasion, preserved all kinds of monu- 
 ments from the ruinous vengeance of the fanatics, 
 whether those memorials were Buddhist, or belonged 
 to some other unpopular sect. The Hindus are not 
 naturally given to senseless vandalism, and a phrenolo- 
 gist would vainh' look for a bump of destructiveness on 
 their skulls. If xow meet with antiquities that, having 
 been spared by time, are, nowadays, either destroyed or 
 disfigured, it is not the}- who are to blame, but either 
 Mussulmans, or the Portuguese under the guidance of 
 the Jesuits. 
 
 x\t last we were anchored and, in a moment, were 
 besieged, ourselves as well as our luggage, b}- numbers 
 of naked skeleton-like Hindus, Parsees, Moguls, and 
 various other tribes. All this crowd emerged, as if from 
 the bottom of the sea, and began to .shout, to chatter, 
 and to j-ell, as only the tribes of Asia can. To get rid of 
 this Babel confusion of tongues as soon as possible, we 
 took refuge in the first bunder boat and made for the 
 shore. 
 
 Once settled in the bungalow awaiting us, the first 
 thing we were struck with in Bombay was the millions 
 
,12 FROM THE. CAVES AND JUNGI.ES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 of crows and vultures. The first are, so to speak, the 
 County Council of the town, whose duty it is to clean 
 the streets, and to kill one of them is not only forbidden 
 by the police, but would be very dangerous. By killing 
 one j'ou would rouse the vengeance of every Hindu, who 
 is always ready to offer his own life in exchange for a 
 crow's. The souls of the sinful forefathers transmigrate 
 into crows and to kill one is to interfere with the law of 
 Karma and to expose the poor ancestor to something 
 still worse. Such is the firm belief, not only of Hindus, 
 but of Parsees, even the most enlightened amongst them. 
 The strange behaviour of the Indian crotvs explains, to 
 a certain extent, this superstition. The vultures are, in 
 a way, the grave-diggers of the Parsees and are under 
 the personal protection of the Farvardania, the angel of 
 death, who soars over the Tower of Silence, watching 
 the occupations of the feathered workmen. 
 
 The deafening caw of the crows strikes every new 
 comer as uncanny, but, after a while, is explained very 
 simply. Every tree of the numerous cocoa-nut forests 
 round Bombay is provided with a hollow pumpkin. The 
 sap of the tree drops into it and, .after fermenting, 
 becomes a most intoxicating beverage, known in Bom- 
 baj' under the name of toddj'. The naked toddy wallahs, 
 generally half-caste Portuguese, modestly adorned with 
 a single coral necklace, fetch this beverage twice a day, 
 climbing the hundred and fifty feet high trunks like 
 squirrels. The crows mostly build their nests on the 
 tops of the cocoa-nut palms and drink incessantly out of 
 the open pumpkins. The result of this is the chronic 
 intoxication of the birds. As soon as we went out in the 
 garden of our new habitation, flocks of crows came down 
 heavily from every tree. The noise they uiake whilst 
 jumping about everj^where is indescribable. There 
 
IX BOMBAY. 13 
 
 seemed to be something positively human in the posi- 
 tions of the sh-h- bent heads of the drunken birds, and 
 a fiendish light shone in their ej-es while they were 
 examining us from foot to head. 
 
 We occupied three small bungalows, lost, like nests, 
 in the garden, their roofs literally smothered in roses 
 blossoming on bushes twenty feet high, and their 
 windows covered only with muslin, instead of the usual 
 panes of glass. The bungalows were situated in the 
 native part of the town, so that we were transported, all 
 at once, into the real India. We were living in India, 
 unlike English people, who are only surrounded by 
 India at a certain distance. We were enabled to study 
 her character and customs, her religion, superstitions 
 and rites, to learn her legends, in fact, to live among 
 Hindus. 
 
 Everj'thing in India, this land of the elephant and 
 the poisonous cobra, of the tiger and the unsuccessful 
 English missionary", is original and strange. Everj'- 
 thing seems unusual, unexpected, and striking, even to 
 one who has travelled in Turke}", Egj'pt, Damascus, and 
 Palestine. In these tropical regions the conditions of 
 nature are so various that all the forms of the animal 
 and vegetable kingdoms must radically difi"er from what 
 we are used to in Europe. Look, for instance, at those 
 women on their way to a well through a garden, which 
 is private and at the same time open to anyone, because 
 somebody's cows are grazing in it. To whom does it 
 not happen to meet with women, to see cows, and admire 
 a garden? Doubtless these are among the commonest 
 of all things. But a single attentive glance will sufiice 
 to show j'ou the difference that exists between the same 
 
14 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGEES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 objects in Europe and in India. Nowhere more than in 
 India does a human being feel his weakness and insig- 
 nificance. The majesty of the tropical growth is such 
 that our highest trees would look dwarfed compared 
 with banyans and especially with palms. A European 
 cow, mistaking, at first sight, her Indian sister for a calf, 
 would deny the existence of any kinship between them, 
 as neither the mouse-coloured wool, nor the straight 
 goat-like horns, nor the humped back of the latter 
 would permit her to make such an error. As to the 
 women, each of them would make any artist feel enthu- 
 siastic about the gracefulness of her movements and 
 draper}', but still, no pink and white, stout Anna 
 Ivanovna would condescend to greet her. "Such a 
 shame, God forgive me, the woman is entirety naked ! " 
 This opinion of the modern Russian \voman is nothing 
 but the echo of what was said in 1470 by a distinguished 
 Russian traveller, "the sinful slave of God, Athanasius 
 son of Nikita from Tver," as he styles himself. He de- 
 scribes India as follows : "This is the land of India. Its 
 people are naked, never cover their heads, and wear 
 their hair braided. Women have babies every j^ear. 
 Men and women are black. Their prince wears a veil 
 round his head and wraps another veil round his legs. 
 The noblemen wear a veil on one shoulder, and the 
 noblewomen on the shoulders and round the loins, but 
 everj'one is barefooted. The women walk about with 
 their hair spread and their breasts naked. The children, 
 bo3's and girls, never cover their shame until they are 
 seven years old. . . ." This description is quite 
 correct, but Athanasius Nikita's son is right only con- 
 cerning the lowest and poorest classes. These really do 
 "walk about" covered only with a veil, which often is so 
 poor that, in fact, it is nothing but a rag. But still, even 
 
IX BOMBAY. 15 
 
 the poorest woman is clad in a piece of muslin at least 
 ten j-ards long. One end serves as a sort of short petti- 
 coat, and the other covers the head and shoulders when 
 out in the street, though the faces are always uncovered. 
 The hair is erected into a kind of Greek chignon. The 
 legs up to the knees, the arms, and the waist are never 
 covered. There is no't a single respectable woman who 
 would consent to put on a pair of shoes. Shoes are the 
 attribute and the prerogative of disreputable women. 
 When, some time ago, the wife of the Madras governor 
 thought of passing a law that should induce native 
 women to cover their breasts, the place was actually- 
 threatened with a revolution. A kind of jacket is worn 
 onh' by dancing girls. The Government recognized 
 that it would be unreasonable to irritate women, who, 
 ver}- often, are more dangerous than their husbands and 
 brothers, and the custom, based on the law of Manu, and 
 sanctified by three thousand jxars' obs£r\'ance, remained 
 unchanged. 
 
 For more than two 3-ears before we left America we 
 were in constant correspondence with a certain learned 
 Brahman, whose glory is great at present (1S79) all over 
 India. We came to India to study, under his guidance, 
 the ancient countr,- of Aryas, the I ^cdas, and their diffi- 
 cult language. His name is Dayanand Saraswati Swami. 
 Swami is the name of the learned anchorites who are 
 initiated into many mysteries unattainable by common 
 mortals. They are monks who never marry, but are 
 quite different from other mendicant brotherhoods, the 
 so-called Sannyasi and Hossein. This Pandit is con- 
 sidered the greatest Sanskritist of modern India and is 
 an absolute enigma to everyone. It is only five years 
 since he appeared on the arena of great reforms, but. 
 
l6 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 till then, lie lived, entirely secluded, in a jungle, like the 
 ancient gymnosophists mentioned by the Greek and 
 lyatin- authors. At this time he was studying the chief 
 philosophical systems of the "Aryavartta" and the oc- 
 cult meaning of the Vcdas with the help of mystics and 
 anchorites. All Hindus believe that on the Bhadrinath 
 Mountains (22,000 feet above the level of the sea) there 
 exist spacious caves, inhabited, now for many thousand 
 years, by these anchorites. Bhadrinath is situated in 
 the north of Hindustan on the river Bishegunj, and is 
 celebrated for its temple of Vishnu right in the heart of 
 the town. Inside the temple there are hot mineral 
 springs, visited yearly by about fifty thousand pilgrims,, 
 who come to be purified by them. 
 
 From the first day of his appearance Dayanand Saras- 
 wati produced an immense impression and got the sur- 
 name of the "Luther of India." Wandering from one 
 town to another, to-day in the South, to-morrow in the 
 North, and transporting himself from one end of the 
 country to another with incredible quickness, he has 
 visited every part of India, from Cape Comorin to the 
 Himala3'as, and from Calcutta to Bombay. He preaches 
 the One Deity and, " Vcdas in hand," proves that in the 
 ancient writings there was not a word that could justify 
 polytheism. Thundering against idol worship, the great 
 orator fights with all his might against caste, infant 
 marriages, and superstitions. Chastising all the evils 
 grafted on India by centuries of casuistry and false in- 
 terpretation of the Vcdas, he blames for them the Brah- 
 mans, who, as he openly says before masses of pedple, 
 are alone guilty of the humiliation of their country, once 
 great and independent, now fallen and enslaved. And. 
 yet Great Britain has in him not an enemj^ but rather 
 an ^lly. He says openly — "If you expel the English, 
 
IN BOMBAY. 17 
 
 then, no later than to-morrow, you and I and everyone 
 ■who rises against idol worship will have our throats cut 
 like mere sheep. The Mussulmans are stronger than the 
 idol worshippers ; but these last are stronger than we." 
 
 The Pandit held many a warm dispute with the Brah- 
 mans, those treacherous enemies of the people, and has 
 almost alwa3-s been victorious. In Benares secret 
 assassins were hired to slay him, but the attempt did 
 not succeed. In a small town of Bengal, where he 
 treated fetishism with more than his usual severity, 
 some fanatic threw on his naked feet a huge cobra. 
 There are two snakes deified by the Brahman mytho- 
 logy: the one which surrounds the neck of Shiva on his 
 idols is called Vasuki; the other, Ananta, forms the 
 couch of Vishnu. So the worshipper of Shiva, feeling 
 sure that his cobra, trained purposel)' for the mysteries 
 of a Shivaite pagoda, would at once make an end of the 
 ofiFender's life, triumphantly exclaimed, "Let the god 
 Vasuki himself show which of us is right!" 
 
 Da}"anand jerked off the cobra twirling round his leg, 
 and, with a single vigorous movement, crushed the rep- 
 tile'.s head. 
 
 "Let him do so," he quietly assented. "Your god has 
 been too slow. It is I who have decided the dispute. 
 Now go," added he, addressing the crowd, "and tell 
 everj'one how easily perish the false gods." 
 
 Thanks to his excellent knowledge of Sanskrit the 
 Pandit does a great service, not only to the masses, 
 clearing their ignorance about the monotheism of the 
 Vedas, but to science too, showing who, exactly, are the 
 Brahmans, the only caste in India which, during cen- 
 turies, had the right to study Sanskrit literature and 
 comment on the Vcdas, and which used this right solely 
 for its own advantage. 
 
l8 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OP HINDOSTAN. 
 
 I,ong before the time of such Orientalists as Burnouf, 
 Colebrooke and Max Miiller, there have been in India 
 many reformers who tried to prove the pure monotheism 
 of the Vedic doctrines. There have even been founders 
 of new religions who denied the revelations of these 
 scriptures; for instance, the Raja Ram Mohun Roy, 
 and; after him, Babu Keshub Chunder Sen, both Calcutta 
 Bengalees. But neither of them had much success. 
 They did nothing but add new denominations to the 
 numberless sects existing in India. Ram Mohun Roy 
 died in England, having done next to nothing, and 
 Keshub Chunder Sen, having founded the community of 
 "Brahmo-Saraaj," which professes a religion extracted 
 from the depths of the Babu's own imagination, became 
 a mystic of the most pronounced type, and now is only 
 "a berry from the same field," as we say in Russia, as 
 the Spiritualists, by whom he is considered to be a 
 medium and a Calcutta Swedenborg. He spends his 
 time in a dirty tank, singing praises to Chaitanya, 
 Koran, Buddha, and his own person, proclaiming him- 
 self their prophet, and performs a mystical dance, 
 dressed in woman's attire, which, on his part, is an at- 
 tention to a "woman goddess" whom the Babu calls his 
 "mother, father and eldest brother." 
 
 In short, all the attempts to re-establish the pure 
 primitive monotheism of Aryan India have been a 
 failure. They always got wrecked upon the double rock 
 of Brahmanism and of prejudices centuries old. But lo! 
 here appears unexpectedly the pandit Dayanand. None, 
 even of the most beloved of his disciples, knows who he 
 is and whence he comes. He openly confesses before 
 the crowds that the name under which he is known is 
 not his, but was given to him at the Yogi initiation. 
 
 The mystical school of Yogis was established by 
 
IX BOMBAY. 19 
 
 Patanjali, the founder of one of the six philosophical 
 systems of ancient India. It is supposed that the Neo- 
 platonists of the second and third Alexandrian Schools 
 were the followers of Indian Yogis, more especially 
 was their theurgy- brought from India by Pythagoras, 
 according to the tradition. There still exist in India 
 hundreds of Yogis who follow the system of Patanjali, 
 and assert that they are in communion with Brahma. 
 Nevertheless, most of them are do-nothings, mendicantG 
 by profession, and great frauds, thanks to the insatiable 
 longing of the natives for miracles. The real Yogis 
 avoid appearing in public, and spend their lives in se- 
 cluded retirement and studies, except when, as in Daya- 
 nand's case, they come forth in time of need to aid their 
 country. However, it is perfecth- certain that India 
 never saw a more learned Sanskrit scholar, a deeper 
 metaphj-sician, a more wonderful orator, and a more 
 fearless denunciator of everj- evil, than Dayanand, since 
 the time of Sankharacharj-a, the celebrated founder of 
 the Vedanta philosophy', the most metaph^-sical of Indian 
 systems, in fact, the crown of pantheistic teaching. Then, 
 Daj-anand's personal appearance is striking. He is im- 
 mensely tall, his complexion is pale, rather European 
 than Indian, his ej-es are large and bright, and his greyish 
 hair is long. The Yogis and Dikshatas (initiated) never 
 cut either their hair or beard. His voice is clear and 
 loud, well calculated to give expression to every shade 
 of deep feeling, ranging from a sweet childish caressing 
 whisper to thundering wrath against the evil doings and 
 falsehoods of the priests. All this taken together pro- 
 duces an indescribable effect on the impressionable 
 Hindu. WTierever Da}'anand appears crowds prostrate 
 themselves in the dust over his footprints ; but, unlike 
 Babu Keshub Chunder Sen, he does not teach them a 
 
20 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 new religion, does not invent new dogmas. He only 
 asks them to renew their half-forgotten Sanskrit studies, 
 and, having compared the doctrines of their forefathers 
 with what they have become in the hands of Brahmans, 
 to return to the pure conceptions of Deity taught by the 
 primitive Rishis — Agni, Vayu, Aditya, and Anghira — 
 the patriarchs who first gave the Vedas to humanity. 
 He does not even claim that the Vedas are a heavenly, 
 revelation, but simply teaches that "every word in these 
 scriptures belongs to the highest inspiration possible to 
 the earthly man, an inspiration that is repeated in the 
 history of humanity, and, when necessary, may happen 
 to any nation. . . ." 
 
 During his five years of work Swami Dayanand made 
 about two million proselytes, chiefly amongst the higher 
 castes. Judging by appearances, they are all ready to 
 sacrifice to him their lives and souls and even their 
 earthly possessions, which are often more precious to 
 them than their lives. But Dayanand is a real Yogi, he 
 never touches money, and despises pecuniary afiairs. 
 He contents himself with a few handfuls of rice per day. 
 One is inclined to think that this wonderful Hindu bears 
 a charmed life, so careless is he of rousing the worst 
 human passions, which are so dangerous in India. A 
 marble statue could not be less moved by the raging 
 wrath of the crowd. We saw him once at work. He 
 sent away all his faithful followers and forbade them 
 either to watch over him or to defend him, and stood 
 alone before the infuriated crowd, facing calmly the 
 monster ready to. spring upon him and tear him to 
 pieces. 
 
 Here a short explanation is necessary. A few years 
 ago a society of well-informed, energetic people was 
 
IN BOMBAY. 21 
 
 formed in New York. A certain sharp-witted savant 
 surnamed them "La Societe des Malcontents die Spirii- 
 isme." The founders of this club were people who, 
 believing in the phenomena of spiritualism as much as 
 in the possibility of every other phenomenon in Nature, 
 still denied the theory of the "spirits." They con- 
 sidered that the modern psychology was a science still 
 in the first stages of its development, in total ignor- 
 ance of the nature of the psychic man, and denying, as 
 do many other sciences, all that cannot be explained 
 according to its ov.'n particular theories. 
 
 From the first days of its existence some of the most 
 learned Americans joined the Society, which became 
 known as the Theosophical Society. Its members dif- 
 fered on many points, much as do the members of any 
 other Societj', Geographical or Archaeological, which 
 fights for years over the sources of the Nile, or the 
 Hieroglj-phs of Egypt. But everyone is unanimously 
 agreed that, as long as there is water in the Nile, its 
 sources must exist somewhere. So much about the 
 phenomena of spiritualism and mesmerism. These 
 phenomena were still waiting their Champollion — but 
 the Rosetta stone was to be searched for neither in 
 Europe nor in America, but in the far-away countries 
 where they still believe in magic, where wonders are 
 performed daily by the native priesthood, and where the 
 cold materialism of science has never yet reached — in 
 one word, in the East. 
 
 The Council of the Society knew that the Lama- 
 Buddhists, for instance, though not believing in God, 
 and denying the personal immortality of the soul, are 
 yet celebrated for their "phenomena," and that mes- 
 merism was known and daily practised in China from 
 time immemorial under the name of "gina." In India 
 
22 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 they fear and hate the very name of the spirits whom 
 the Spiritualists venerate so deeply, yet many an ignor- 
 ant fakir can perform "miracles" calculated to turn 
 upside-down all the notions of a scientist and to be the 
 despair of the most celebrated of European prestidigita- 
 teurs. Many members of the Society have visited India 
 — many were born there and have themselves witnessed 
 the "sorceries" of the Erahmans. The founders of the 
 Club, well aware of the depth of n:odern ignorance in 
 regard to the spiritual man, were most anxious that 
 Cuvier's method of comparative anatomy should acquire 
 rights of citizenship among metaphj-sicians, and, so, 
 progress from regions physical to regions psj-chological 
 on its own inductive and deductive foundation. "Other- 
 wise," they thought, "ps3-chology will be unable to move 
 forward a single step, and may even obstruct every other 
 branch of Natural History." Instances have not been 
 wanting of physiology poaching on the preserves of 
 purely metaphysical and abstract knowledge, all the 
 time feigning to ignore the latter absolutely, and seeking 
 to class psychology with the positive sciences, having 
 first bound it to a Bed of Procrustes, where it refuses to 
 yield its secret to its clumsy tormentors. 
 
 In a short time the Theosophical Society counted its 
 members, not by hundreds, but by thousands. All the 
 "malcontents" of American Spiritualism — and there 
 were at that time twelve million Spiritualists in America 
 — joined the Society. Collateral branches were formed 
 in London, Corfu, Australia, Spain, Cuba, California, 
 etc. Everywhere experiments were being performed, 
 and the conviction that it is not spirits alone who are 
 the causes of the phenomena was becoming general. 
 
 In course of time branches of the Society were formed 
 in India and in Ceylon. The Buddhist and Brahmanical 
 
IN BOMBAY. 23 
 
 members became more numerous than the Europeans. 
 A league was formed, and to the name of the Society was 
 added the sub-title, "The Brotherhood of Humanity." 
 After an active correspondence between the Arya-Samaj, 
 founded by Swami Dayanand, and the Theosophical 
 Societj', an amalgamation was arranged between the 
 two bodies. Then the Chief Council of the New York 
 branch decided upon sending a special delegation to 
 India, for the purpose of studying, on the spot, the 
 ancient language of the Vedas and the manuscripts and 
 the wonders of Yogism. On the 17th of December, 1878, 
 the delegation, composed of two secretaries and two 
 members of the council of the Theosophical Society, 
 started from New York, to pause for a while in London, 
 -and then to proceed to Bombaj-, where it landed in 
 February, 1879. 
 
 It maj- easily be conceived that, under these circum- 
 stances, the members of the delegation were better able 
 to study the country and to make fruitful researches 
 than might, otherwise, have been the case. To-day they 
 are looked upon as brothers and aided by the most in- 
 fluential natives of India. They count among the mem- 
 bers of their society pandits of Benares and Calcutta, and 
 Buddhist priests of the Ceylon Viharas — amongst others 
 the learned Sumangala, mentioned by MinayefF in the 
 description of his visit to Adam's Peak — and Lamas of ' 
 Thibet, Burmah, Travancore and elsewhere. The mem- 
 bers of the delegation are admitted to sanctuaries where, 
 as yet, no European has set his foot. Consequently they 
 may hope to render many services to Humanity and 
 Science, in spite of the ill-will which the representatives 
 of positive science bear to them. 
 
 As soon as the delegation landed, a telegram was des- 
 patched to Dayanand, as everyone was anxious to make 
 
24 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 his personal acquaintance. In reply, he said that he was 
 obliged to go immediately to Hardwar, where hundreds 
 of thousands of pilgrims were expected to assemble, but 
 he insisted on our remaining behind, since cholera was 
 certain to break out among the devotees. He appointed 
 a certain spot, at the foot of the Himalayas, in the Pun- 
 jab, where we were to meet in a month's time. 
 
 Alas ! all this was written some time ago. Since then 
 Swami Dayanand's countenance has changed completely 
 toward us. He is, now, an enemy of the Theosophical 
 Society and its two founders — Colonel Olcott and the 
 author of these letters. It appeared that, on entering 
 into an offensive and defensive alliance with the Society, 
 Dayanand nourished the hope that all its members. 
 Christians, Brahmans and Buddhists, would acknowledge 
 his supremacy, and become members of the Arj^a Samaj. 
 Needless to say, this was impossible. TheTheosophical 
 Society rests on the principle of complete non-interfer- 
 ence with the religious beliefs of its members. Toleration 
 is its basis and its aims are purely philosophical. This 
 did not suit Dayanand. He wanted all the members, 
 either to become his disciples, or to be expelled from the 
 Society. It was quite clear that neither the President, 
 nor the Council could assent to such a claim. English- 
 men and Americans, whether they were Christians or 
 Freethinkers, Buddhists, and especially Brahmans, re- 
 volted against Da5'anand, and unanimously demanded 
 that the league should be broken. 
 
 However, all this happened later. At the time of 
 which I speak we were friends and allies of the Swami, 
 and we learned with deep interest that the Hardwar 
 " mela," which he was to visit, takes place every twelve 
 years, and is a kind of religious fair, which attracts 
 representatives from all the numerous sects of India. 
 
IN BOMBAY. . 25 
 
 I^earned dissertations are read by the disputants in 
 -defence of their peculiar doctrines, and the debates are 
 held in public. This year the Hardwar gathering was 
 exceptionally numerous. The Sannyasis — the mendi- 
 cant monks of India — alone numbered 35,000, and the 
 -cholera, foreseen by the Swami, actually broke out. 
 
 As we were not yet to start for the appointed meeting, 
 we had plenty of spare time before us; so we proceeded 
 to examine Bomba3^ 
 
 The Tower of Silence, on the heights of the Malabar 
 Hill, is the last abode of all the sons of Zoroaster. It is, 
 in fact, a Parsee cemeter\'. Here their dead, rich and 
 poor, men, women and children, are all laid in a row, 
 and in a few minutes nothing remains of them but bare 
 skeletons. A dismal impression is made upon a foreigner 
 by these towers, where absolute silence has reigned for 
 •centuries. This kind of building is very common in 
 every place were Parsees live and die. In Bombay-, of 
 six towers, the largest was built 250 j-ears ago, and the 
 least but a short time since. With few exceptions, they 
 are round or square in shape, from twenty to fortj' feet 
 high, without roof, window, or door, but with a single 
 iron gate opening towards the East, and so small that 
 it is quite covered by a few bushes. The first corpse 
 brought to a new tower — "dakhma" — must be the body 
 •of the innocent child of a mobed or priest. No one, not 
 even the chief watcher, is allowed to approach within a 
 distance of thirty paces of these towers. Of all living 
 human beings " nassesalars " — corpse-carriers — alone 
 enter and leave the "Tower of Silence." The life these 
 men lead is simply wretched. No European execu- 
 tioner's position is worse. They live quite apart from 
 the rest of the world, in whose eyes they are the most 
 
26 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 abject of beings. Being forbidden to enter the markets,, 
 they must get their food as they can. They are born,, 
 marry, and die, perfect strangers to all except their own 
 class, passing through the streets only to fetch the dead 
 and carry them to the tower. Even to be near one of 
 them is a degradation. Entering the tower with a corpse, 
 covered, whatever may have been its rank or position,, 
 with old white rags, they undress it and place, it, in 
 silence, on one of the three rows presently to be described- 
 Then, still preserving the same silence, they come out, 
 shut the gate, and burn the rags. 
 
 Amongst the fire-worshippers. Death is divested of all. 
 his majesty and is a mere object of disgust. As soon as- 
 the last hour of a sick person seems to approach, every- 
 one leaves the chamber of death, as much to avoid im- 
 peding the departure of the soul from the body, as to- 
 shun the risk of polluting the living by contact with the- 
 dead. The mobed alone stays with the dying man for 
 a while, and having whispered into his ear the Zend- 
 Avesta precepts, "ashem-vohu" and "Yato-Ahuvarie," 
 leaves the room while the patient is still alive. Then a. 
 dog is brought and made to look straight into his face,. 
 This ceremony is called "sas-did," the "dog's-stare."' 
 A dog is the only living creature that the "Drux-nassu"' 
 — the evil one — fears, and that is able to prevent him' 
 from taking possession of the body. It must be strictly- 
 observed that no one's shadow lies between the dying- 
 man and the dog, otherwise the whole strength of the. 
 dog's gaze will be lost, and the demon will profit by the. 
 occasion. The body remains on the spot where life left, 
 it, until the nassesalars appear, their arms hidden to the 
 shoulders under old bags, to take it away. Having de- 
 posited it in an iron coffin — the same for everyone — they 
 carry it to the dakhma. If any one, who has once been- 
 
IN BOMBAY. 27 
 
 carried thither, should happen to regain consciousness, 
 the nassesalars are bound to kill him; for such a person, 
 ■who has been polluted bj^ one touch of the dead bodies 
 in the dakhma, has thereby lost all right to return to the 
 living, by doing so he would contaminate the whole 
 community. As some such cases have occurred, the 
 Parsees are tr5"ing to get a nev.' law passed, that would 
 allow the miserable ex-corpses to live again amongst their 
 friends, and that would compel the nassesalars to leave 
 the onh' gate of the dakhma unlocked, so that they 
 might find a way of retreat open to them. It is very 
 curious, but it is said that the vultures, which devour 
 without hesitation the corpses, will never touch those 
 who are only apparently dead, but ^y away uttering 
 loud shrieks. After a last prayer at the gate of the 
 dakhma, pronounced from afar by the mobed, and re- 
 peated in chorus by the nassesalars, the dog ceremony 
 is repeated. In Bombay there is a dog, trained for this 
 purpose, at the entrance to the tower. Finally, the body 
 is taken inside and placed on one or other of the rows, 
 according to its sex and age. 
 
 We have twice been present at the ceremonies of 
 d^^ing, and once of burial, if I may be permitted to use 
 such an incongruous term. In this respect the Parsees 
 are much more tolerant than the Hindus, who are 
 offended b\- the mere presence at their religious rites of 
 an European. N. Bayranji, a chief official of the tower, 
 invited us to his house to be present at the burial of 
 some rich woman. So we witnessed all that was going 
 on at a distance of about forty paces, sitting quietly on 
 our obliging host's verandah. While the dog was staring 
 into the dead woman's face, we were gazing, as intently, 
 but with much more disgust, at the huge flock of vul- 
 tures above the dakhma, that kept entering the tower, 
 
28 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 and flying out again with pieces of human flesh in their 
 beaks. These birds, that build their nests in thousands 
 round the Tower of Silence, have been purposely im- 
 ported from Persia. Indian vultures proved to be too 
 weak, and not sufficiently bloodthirsty, to perform the 
 process of stripping the bones with the despatch pre- 
 scribed by Zoroaster. We were told that the entire 
 operation of denuding the bones occupies no more than 
 a few minutes. As soon as the ceremony was over, we 
 were led into another building, where a model of the 
 dakhma was to be seen. We could now very easily 
 imagine what was to take place presently inside the 
 tower. In the centre there is a deep waterless well, 
 covered with a grating like the opening into a drain. 
 Around it are three broad circles, gradually sloping 
 'downwards. In each of them are coffin-like receptacles 
 for the bodies. There are tnree hundred and sixty-five 
 such places. The first and smallest row is destined for 
 children, the second for women, and the third for men. 
 This threefold circle is symbolical of three cardinal 
 Zoroastrian virtues — pure thoughts, kind words, and 
 good actions. Thanks to the vultures, the bones are 
 laid bare in less than an hour, and, in two or three 
 weeks,, the tropical sun scorches them into such a state 
 of fragility, that the slightest breath of wind is enough 
 to reduce them to powder and to carry them down into 
 the pit. No smell is left behind, no source of plagues 
 and epidemics. I do not know that this way may not 
 be preferable to cremation, which leaves in the air about 
 the Ghat a faint but disagreeable odour. The GhSt is a 
 place by the sea, or river shore, where Hindus burn 
 their dead. Instead of feeding the old Slavonic deity 
 "Mother Wet Earth" with carrion, Parsees give to 
 Armasti pure dust. Armasti means, literally, "foster- 
 
IN BOMBAY. 29 
 
 ing COW," and Zoroaster teaches that the cultivation of 
 land is the noblest of all occupations in the eyes of 
 God. According!}-, the worship of Earth is so sacred 
 among the Parsees, that thej' take all possible precau- 
 tions against polluting the "fostering cow" that gives 
 them "a hundred golden grains for ever}' single grain." 
 In the season of the Monsoon, when, during four months, 
 the rain pours incessantly down and washes into the 
 well everything that is left by the vultures, the water 
 absorbed by the earth is filtered, for the bottom of the 
 well, the walls of which are built of granite, is, to this 
 end, covered with sand and charcoal. 
 ■■ The sight of the Pinj arapala is less lugubrious and much 
 more amusing. The Pinj arapala is the Bombay Hospital 
 for decrepit animals, but a similar institution exists in 
 every' town where Jainas dwell. Being one of the most 
 ancient, this is also one of the most interesting, of the 
 sects of India. It is much older than Buddhism, which 
 took its rise about 543 to 477 B.C. Jainas boast that 
 Buddhism is nothing more than a mere heresy of Jain- 
 ism, Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, having been a 
 disciple and follower of one of the Jaina Gurus. The 
 customs, rites, and philosophical conceptions of Jainas 
 place them midway between the Brahmanists and the 
 Buddhists. In view of their social arrangements, they 
 more closely resemble the former, but in their religion 
 they incline towards the latter. Their caste divisions, 
 their total abstinence from flesh, and their non-worship 
 of the relics of the saints, are as strictly observed as the 
 similar tenets of the Brahmans, but, like Buddhists, they 
 deny the Hindu gods and the authority of the Vcdas, 
 and adore their own twenty- four Tirthankaras, or Jinas, 
 who belong to the Host of the Blissful. Their priests, 
 like the Buddhists', never marry, they live in isolated 
 
30 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 viharas and choose their successors from amongst the 
 members of any social class. According to them, Prakrit 
 is the only sacred language, and is used in their sacred 
 literature, as well as in Ceylon. Jainas and Buddhists 
 have the same traditional chronologj'. They do not eat 
 after sunset, and carefuU}'- dust any place before sitting 
 down upon it, that they may not crush even the tiniest ' 
 of insects. Both systems, or rather both schools of philo- 
 sophy, teach the theory of eternal indestructible atoms, 
 following the ancient atomistic school of Kanada. They 
 assert that the universe never had a beginning and 
 never will have an end. "The world and everything in 
 it is but an illusion, a Maya," say the Vedantists, the 
 Buddhists, and the Jainas; but, whereas the followers 
 of Sankaracharya preach Parabrahm (a deity devoid of 
 will, understanding, and action, because "It is absolute 
 understanding, mind and will"), and Ishwara emanating 
 from It, the Jainas and the Buddhists believe in no 
 Creator of the Universe, but teach only the existence of 
 Swabhawati, a plastic, infinite, self-created principle in 
 Nature. Still th^j^ firmly believe, as do all Indian sects, 
 in the transmigration of souls. Their fear, lest, by kill- 
 ing an animal or an insect, they may, perchance, destroy 
 the life of an ancestor, develops their love and care for 
 every living creature to an almost incredible extent. 
 Not only is there a hospital for invalid animals in every 
 town and village, but their priests alwaj's wear a muslin 
 muzzle, (I trust they will pardon the disrespectful ex- 
 pression!) in order to avoid destroying even the smallest 
 animalcule, by inadvertence in the act of breathing. 
 The same fear impels them to drink only filtered water. 
 There are a few millions of Jainas in Gujerat, Bombay, 
 Konkan, and some other places. 
 The Bombay Pinjarapila occupies a whole quarter of 
 
IN BOMBAY. 31 
 
 the town, and is separated into j'ards, meadows and 
 gardens, with ponds, cages for beasts of prey, and en- 
 closures for tame animals. This institution would have 
 sen'ed very well for a model of Noah's Ark. In the 
 first 5'ard, however, we saw no animals, but, instead, a 
 few hundred human skeletons — old men, women and 
 ■children. They were the remaining natives of the, so- 
 called, famine districts, who had crowded into Bombay 
 to beg their bread. Thus, while, a few yards off, the 
 official "Vets." were busily bandaging the broken legs 
 of jackals, pouring ointments on the backs of mangy 
 ■dogs, and fitting crutches to lame storks, human beings 
 were dying, at their ver)' elbows, of star\-ation. Happily 
 for the famine-stricken, there were at that time fewer 
 hungry animals than usual, and so the}' were fed on 
 -what remained from the meals of the brute pensioners. 
 No doubt manj' of these wretched sufferers would have 
 consented to transmigrate instantly into the bodies of 
 any of the animals who were ending so snuglj^ their 
 earthly careers. 
 
 But even the Pinjarapala roses are not without 
 thorns. The graminivorous "subjects," of course, could 
 not wish for anj-thing better; but I doubt very much 
 whether the beasts of prey, such as tigers, hyenas, and 
 wolves, are content with the rules and the forcibly pre- 
 scribed diet. Jainas themselves turn with disgust even 
 from eggs and fish, and, in consequence, all the animals 
 of which they have the care must turn vegetarians. We 
 were present when an old tiger, wounded by an English 
 bullet, was fed. Having sniffed at a kind of rice soup 
 which was ofiered to him, he lashed his tail, snarled, 
 showing his yellow teeth, and with a weak roar turned 
 away from the food. What a look he cast askance upon 
 his keeper, who was meekly trying to persuade him to taste 
 
32 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 his nice dinner ! Only the strong bars of the cage saved the- 
 Jaina from a vigorous protest on the part of this veteran 
 of the forest. A hyena, with a bleeding head and an ear- 
 half torn off, began by sitting in the trough filled with 
 this Spartan sauce, and then, without any further cere- 
 monj^ upset it, as if to show its utter contempt for the 
 mess. The wolves and the dogs raised such disconsolate 
 howls that they attracted the attention of two inseparable 
 friends, an old elephant with a wooden leg and a sore 
 eyed ox, the veritable Castor and Pollux of this institu- 
 tion. In accordance with his noble nature, the first 
 thought of the elephant concerned his friend. He 
 wound his trunk round the neck of the ox, in token of 
 protection, and both moaned dismally. Parrots, storks, 
 pigeons, flamingoes — the whole feathered tribe — revelled 
 in their breakfast. Monkeys were the first to answer 
 the keeper's invitation and greatly enjoyed themselves. 
 Further on we were shown a holy man, who was feeding- 
 insects with his own blood. He lay with his eyes shut, 
 and the scorching rays of the sun striking full upon his- 
 naked body. He was literally covered with flies, mos- 
 quitoes, ants and bugs. 
 
 "All these are our brothers," mildly observed the- 
 keeper, pointing to the hundreds of animals and insects.. 
 "How can you Europeans kill and even devour them?" 
 
 "What would you do," I asked, "if this snake were 
 about to bite you? Is it possible you would not kill it, if 
 you had time?" 
 
 "Not for all the world. I should cautiously catch it, 
 and then I should carry it to some deserted place outside 
 the town, and there set it free." 
 
 "Nevertheless; suppose it bit you?" 
 
 "Then I should recite a mantram, and, if that pro- 
 duced no good result, I should be fain to consider it 
 
IX BOMBAY. 33 
 
 as the finger of Fate, and quietly leave this body for 
 another." 
 
 These were the words of a man who was educated to a 
 certain extent, and very well read. When we pointed 
 out that no gift of Xature is aimless, and that the human 
 teeth are all devouring, he answered 03- quoting whole 
 chapters of Danvin's Theory of Natu:-al Selection and 
 Origin of Species. "It is not true," argued he, "that the 
 first men were born with canine teeth. It was only 
 in course of time, with the degradation of humanity, — 
 only when the appetite for flesh food began to develop — 
 that the jaws changed their first shape under the influ- 
 ence of new necessities.'' 
 
 I could not help asking myself, " Oii la science va-t'clle 
 sefourrcri" 
 
 The same evening, in Elphinstone's Theatre, there 
 was given a special performance in honour of "the 
 American Mission," as we are styled here. Native 
 actors represented in Gujerati the ancient fairy drama 
 Sita-Rama, that has been adapted from the Rdniayana, 
 the celebrated epic by A'a^r.-iki. This drama is com- 
 posed of fourteen acts and no end of tableaux, in addi- 
 tion to transformation scenes. All the female parts, as 
 usual, were acted bj- j-oung boys, and the actors, accord- 
 ing to the historical and national customs, were bare- 
 footed and half-naked. Still, the richness of the cos- 
 tumes, the stage adornments and transformations, were 
 truly wonderful. For instance, even on the stages of 
 large metropolitan theatres, it would have been difiicult 
 to give a better representation of the army of Rama's 
 allies, who are nothing more than troops of monkej's 
 under the leadership of Hanuman — the soldier, states- 
 man, dramatist, poet, god, who is so celebrated in his- 
 
34 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OP HINDOSTAN. 
 
 tory (that of India s.v.p.). The oldest and best of all 
 Sanskrit dramas, Hanuman-Natak, is "ascribed to this 
 talented forefather of ours. 
 
 Alas! gone is the glorious time when, proud of our 
 white skin (which after all may be nothing more than 
 the result of a fading, under the influences of our 
 northern sky), we looked down upon Hindus and other 
 "niggers" with a feeling of contempt well suited to our 
 own magnificence. No doubt Sir William Jones's soft 
 heart ached, when translating from the Sanskrit such 
 humiliating sentences as the following: "Hanuman is 
 said to be the forefather of the Europeans." Rama, 
 being a hero and a demi-god, was well entitled to unite 
 all the bachelors of his useful monkey army to the 
 daughters of the Lanka (Ceylon) giants, the Rakshasas, 
 and to present these Dravidian beauties with the dowry 
 of all Western lands. After the most pompous marriage 
 ceremonies, the monkey soldiers made a bridge, with 
 the help of their own tails, and safely landed with their 
 spouses in Europe, where they lived very happily and had 
 a numerous progeny. This progeny are we, Europeans. 
 Dravidian words found in some European languages, in 
 Basque for instance, greatly rejoice the hearts of the 
 Brahmans, who would gladly promote the philologists 
 to the rank of demi-gods for this important discovery, 
 which confirms so gloriously their ancient legend. But 
 it was Darwin who crowned the edifice of proof with 
 the authority of Western education and Western scien- 
 tific literature. The Indians became still more con- 
 vinced that we are the veritable descendants of Hanu- 
 man, and that, if one only took the trouble to examine 
 carefully, our tails might easily be discovered. Our 
 narrow breeches and long skirts only add to the evi- 
 dence, however uncomplimentary the idea may be to us. 
 
IN BOMBAY. 35 
 
 Still, if you consider seriously, what are we to say when 
 Science, in the person of Darwin, concedes this hypothesis 
 to the wisdom of ancient Aryas. We must perforce sub- 
 mit. And, really, it is better to have for a forefather Hanu- 
 man, the poet, the hero, the god, than any other monkej^ 
 even though it be a tail-less one. Sita-Rama belongs to 
 the category of mythological dramas, something like the 
 tragedies of ^schylus. I^istening to this, production of 
 the remotest antiquit3% the spectators are carried back to 
 the times when the gods, descending upon earth, took 
 an active part in the everyday life of mortals. Nothing 
 reminds one of a modern drama, though the exterior 
 arrangement is the same. "From the sublime to the 
 ridiculous there is but a step," and vice versa. The goat, 
 chosen for a sacrifice to Bacchus, presented the world with 
 tragedy (Tpayo? vSt;). The death bleatings and buttings 
 of the quadrupedal offering of antiquity have been 
 polished bj' the hands of time and of civilization, and, as 
 a result of this process, we get the dj-ing whisper of 
 Rachel in the part of Adrienne Lecouvreur, and the 
 fearfully realistic "kicking" of the modern Croisette in 
 the poisoning scene of The Splmix. But, whereas the 
 descendants of Themistocles gladlj' receive, whether 
 captive or free, all the changes and improvements con- 
 sidered as such by modern taste, thinking them to be a 
 corrected and enlarged edition of the genius of .iEschy- 
 lus; Hindus, happily for archseologists and lovers of 
 antiquity, have never moved a step since the times of 
 our much honoured forefather Hanuman. 
 
 We awaited the performance of Sita-Rama with the 
 liveliest curiosit}'. Except ourselves and the building 
 of the theatre, everything was strictly indigenous and 
 nothing reminded us of the West. There was not the 
 trace of an orchestra. Music was only to be heard from 
 
36 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGtES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 the stage, or from behind it. At last the curtain rose. 
 The silence, which had been very remarkable before the 
 performance, considering the huge crowd of spectators 
 of both sexes, now became absolute. Rama is one of 
 the incarnations of Vishnu and, as most of the audience 
 were worshippers of Vishnu, for them the spectacle was 
 not a mere theatrical performance, but a religious mys- 
 teiy, representing the life and achievements of their 
 favourite and most venerated gods. 
 
 The prologue was laid in the epoch before creation 
 began (it may safely be said that no dramatist would 
 dare to choose an earlier one) — or, rather, before the 
 last manifestation of the universe. All the philosophi- 
 cal sects of India, except Mussulmans, agree that the 
 universe has always existed. But the Hindus divide 
 the periodical appearances and vanishings into days 
 and nights of Brahma. The nights, or withdrawals of 
 the objective universe, are called Prala3'as, and the 
 days, or epochs of new awakening into life and light, 
 are called Manvantaras, Yugas, or "centuries of the 
 gods." These periods are also called, respectively, the 
 inbreathings and outbreathings of Brahma. When 
 Pralaya comes to an end BrahmS awakens, and, with 
 this awakening, the universe that rested in deity, in 
 other words, that was reabsorbed in its subjective 
 essence, emanates again from the divine principle and 
 becomes visible. The gods, who died at the same time 
 as the universe, begin slowly to return to life. The 
 "Invisible" alone, the "Infinite," the "lyifeless," the 
 One who is the unconditioned original "I^ife" itself, 
 soars, surrounded by shoreless chaos. Its holy pre- 
 sence is not visible. It shows itself only in the periodi- 
 cal pulsation of chaos, represented by a dark mass of 
 waters filling the whole stage. These waters are not, 
 
IN BOMBAY. 37 
 
 as yet, separated from the drj' land, because Brahma, 
 the creative spirit of Narayana, has not j-et separated 
 frona the "Ever Unchanging." Then comes a heavy 
 shock of the whole mass and the waters begin to acquire 
 transparencj-. Raj-s, proceeding from a golden egg at 
 the bottom, spread through the chaotic waters. Re- 
 cei-^nng life from the spirit of Naraj-ana, the egg bursts 
 and the awakened Brahma rises to the surface of the 
 water in the shape of a huge lotus. Light clouds appear, 
 at first transparent and web-like. They gradually be- 
 come condensed, and transform themselves into Praja- 
 patis, the ten personified creative powers of Brahma, 
 the god of everything li^•ing, and sing a hymn of praise 
 to the creator. Something naiveh' poetical, to our un- 
 accustomed ears, breathed in this uniform melody un- 
 accompanied by an3' orchestra. 
 
 The hour of general revival has struck. PralaA-a 
 comes to an end. Everj^thing rejoices, returning to 
 life. The sky is separated from the waters and on it 
 appear the Asuras and Gandhar\-as, the heavenly singers 
 and musicians. Then Indra, Yama, Yaruna, and Kuvera, 
 the spirits presiding over the four cardinal points, or the 
 four elements, water, fire, earth, and air, pour forth 
 atoms, whence springs the serpent "Ananta." The 
 monster swims to the surface of the waves and, bend- 
 ing its swanlike neck, forms a couch on which Yishnu 
 reclines with the Goddess of Beauty, his vs-ife Lakshmi, 
 at his feet. "Swatha! Swatha! Swatha!" cries the 
 choir of heavenly musicians, hailing the deity. In the 
 Russian church ser\-ice this is pronounced Swiat! Swiat! 
 Swiat! and means holy! holy! holy! 
 
 In one of his future avatars Yishnu will incarnate in 
 Rama, the son of a great king, and Lakshmi will become 
 Sita. The motive of the whole poem of Rdmayana is 
 
38 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 sung in a few words by the celestial musicians. Kama, 
 the God of Love, shelters the divine couple and, that 
 very moment, a flame is lit in their hearts and the whole 
 world is created. 
 
 Later there are performed the fourteen acts of the 
 drama, which is well known to everybody, and in which 
 several hundred personages take part. At the end of 
 the prologue the whole assembly of gods come forward, 
 one after another, and acquaint the audience with the 
 contents and the epilogue of their performance, asking 
 the public not to be too exacting. It is as though all 
 these familiar deities, made of painted granite and 
 marble, left the temples and came down to remind 
 mortals of events long past and forgotten. 
 
 The hall was full of natives. We four alone were 
 representatives of Europe. Like a huge flower bed, the 
 women displayed the bright colours of their garments. 
 Here and there, among handsome, bronze-like heads, 
 were the pretty, dull white faces of Parsee women, whose 
 beauty reminded me of the Georgians. The front rows 
 were occupied by women only. In India it is quite easy 
 to learn a person's religion, sect, and caste, and even 
 whether a woman is married or single, from the marks 
 painted in bright colours on everyone's forehead. 
 
 Since the time when Alexander the Great destroyed 
 the sacred books of the Gebars, they have constantly 
 been oppressed by the idol worshippers. King Ardeshir- 
 Babechan restored fire worship in the years 229-243 A.C. 
 Since then they have again been persecuted during the 
 reign of one of the Shakpurs, either II., IX., or XL, of 
 the Sassanids, but which of them is not known. It is, 
 however, reported that one of them was a great protector 
 of the Zartushta doctrines. After the fall of Yesdejird, 
 the fire-worshippers emigrated to the island of Ormasd, 
 
IN BOMBAY. 39 
 
 and, some time later, having found a book of Zoroas- 
 trian prophecies, in obedience to one of them they set 
 out for Hindustan. After many wanderings, they ap- 
 peared, about I, GOO or 1,200 j-ears ago, in the territory 
 of Maharana-Jaj-adeva, a vassal of the Rajput King 
 Champanir, who allowed them to colonize his land, but 
 onlj- on condition that they laid down their weapons, 
 that they abandoned the Persian language for Hindi, 
 and that their women put off their national dress and 
 clothed themselves after the manner of Hindu women. 
 He, however, allowed them to wear shoes, since this is 
 strictlj- prescribed by Zoroaster. Since then ven,- few 
 changes have been made. It follows that the Parsee 
 women could onh- be distinguished from their Hindu 
 sisters by verj' slight differences. The almost white 
 faces of the former were separated by a strip of smooth 
 black hair from a sort of white cap, and the whole was 
 covered w-ith a bright veil. The latter wore no covering 
 on their rich, shining hair, twisted into a kind of Greek 
 chignon. Their foreheads were brightly painted, and 
 their nostrils adorned with golden rings. Both are fond 
 of bright, but uniform, colours, both cover their arms up 
 to the elbow ■R'ith bangles, and both wear saris. 
 
 Behind the women a whole sea of most wonderful 
 turbans was wa\-ing in the pit. There were long-haired 
 Rajputs with regular Grecian features and long beards 
 parted in the middle, their heads covered with "pagris" 
 consisting of, at least, twenty yards of finest white 
 muslin, and their persons adorned with earrings and 
 necklaces; there were Mahrata Brahmans, who shave 
 their heads, leaving only one long central lock, and 
 wear turbans of blinding red, decorated in front with 
 a sort of golden horn of plenty ; Bangas, wearing three- 
 cornered helmets with a kind of cockscomb on the top ; 
 
40 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 Kachhis, with Roman helmets; Bhillis, from the borders, 
 of Rajastan, whose chins are wrapped three times in the ' 
 ends of their pyramidal turbans, so that the innocent 
 tourist never fails to think that they constantly suffer 
 from toothache; Bengalis and Calcutta Babus, bare- 
 headed all the year round, their hair cut after an 
 Athenian fashion, and their bodies clothed in the proud 
 folds of a white toga-virilis, in no way different from 
 those once worn by Roman senators; Parsees, in their 
 black, oil-cloth mitres; Sikhs, the followers of Nanaka, 
 strictly monotheist and mystic, whose turbans are very 
 like the Bhillis', but who wear long hair down to their 
 waists ; and hundreds of other tribes. 
 
 Proposing to count how many different headgears are 
 to be seen in Bombay alone, we had to abandon the task 
 as impracticable after a fortnight. Every caste, every 
 trade, guild, and sect, every one of the thousand sub- 
 divisions of the social hierarchy, has its own bright 
 turban, often sparkling with gold lace and precious 
 stones, which is laid aside only in case of mourning. 
 But, as if to compensate for this luxury, even the mem- 
 bers of the municipality, rich merchants, and Rai-Baha- 
 durs, who have been created baronets by the Govern- 
 ment, never wear any stockings, and leave their legs 
 bare up to the knees. As for their dress, it chiefly 
 consists of a kind of shapeless white shirt. 
 
 In Baroda some Gaikwars (a title of all the Baroda 
 princes) still keep in their stables elephants and the less 
 common giraffes, though the former are strictly forbidden 
 in the streets of Bombay. We had an opportunity of 
 seeing ministers, and even Rajas, mounted on these 
 noble animals, their mouths full of pansupari (betel 
 leaves), their heads drooping under the weight of the 
 precious stones on their turbans, and each of their 
 
IX BOMBAY. 41 
 
 fingers and toes adorned with rich golden rings. While 
 the evening I am describing lasted, however, we saw no 
 elephants, no giraffes, though we enjoyed the company 
 •of Rajas and ministers. We had in our box the hand- 
 some ambassador and late tutor of the Mahararana of 
 Oodeypore. Our companion was a Raja and a pandit. 
 His name was a Mohunlal-Vishnulal-Pandia. He wore 
 a small pink turban sparkling with diamonds, a pair of 
 pink barege trousers, and a white gauze coat. His raven 
 black hair half covered his amber-coloured neck, which 
 was surrounded by a necklace that might have driven 
 any Parisian belle frantic with env}-. The poor Rajput 
 was awfulh' sleep}-, but he stuck heroically to his duties, 
 and, thoughtfullj- pulling his beard, led us all through 
 the endless labj-rinth of metaphysical entanglements of 
 the Rdinayana. During the entr'actes we were offered 
 coffee, sherbets, and cigarettes, which we smoked even 
 during the performance, sitting in front of the stage in 
 the first row. We were covered, like idols, with gar- 
 lands of flowers, and the manager, a stout Hindu clad in 
 transparent muslins, sprinkled us several times with 
 rose-water. 
 
 The performance began at eight p.m. and, at half-past 
 two, had onlj' reached the ninth act. In spite of each 
 -of us having a punkah-wallah at our backs, the heat was 
 unbearable. We had reached the limits of our endurance, 
 and tried to excuse ourselves. This led to general dis- 
 turbance, on the stage as well as in the auditorium. The 
 airj- chariot, on which the wicked king Ravana was 
 carrj'ing Sita awa}-, paused in the air. The king of the 
 Nagas (serpents) ceased breathing flames, the monkej' 
 soldiers hung motionless on the trees, and Rama him- 
 self, clad in light blue and crowned with a diminutive 
 pagoda, came to the front of the stage and pronounced 
 
42 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 in pure English a speech, in which he thanked us for 
 the honour of our presence. Then new bouquets, pansu- 
 paris, and rose-water, and, finally, we reached home 
 about four a.m. Next morning we learned that the per- 
 formance had ended at half-past six. 
 
ON THE WAY TO KARI.I. 
 It is an earh- morning near the end of March. A 
 light breeze caresses with its velvety hand the sleepy- 
 faces of the pilgrims; and the intoxicating perfume of 
 tuberoses mingles with the pungsnt odours of the 
 bazaar. Crowds of barefooted Brahman women, stately 
 and well-formed, direct their steps, like the biblical 
 Rachel, to the well, with brass water pots bright as 
 gold upon their heads. On our way lie numerous sacred 
 tanks, filled with stagnant water, in which Hindus of 
 both sexes perform their prescribed morning ablutions. 
 Under the hedge of a garden somebody's tame mongoose 
 is devouring the head of a cobra. The headless body of 
 the snake convulsively, but harmlessh', beats against 
 the thin flanks of the little animal, which regards these 
 vain efforts with an evident delight. Side by side with 
 this group of animals is a human figure; a naked mali 
 (gardener), ofiFering betel and salt to a monstrous stone 
 idol of Shiva, with the view of pacif3'ing the wrath of 
 the "Destroyer," excited by the death of the cobra, 
 which is one of his favourite ser\'ants. A few steps 
 before reaching the railway station, we meet a modest 
 Catholic procession, consisting of a few newly converted 
 pariahs and some of the native Portuguese. Under a 
 baldachin is a litter, on which swings to and fro a dusky 
 Madonna dressed after the fashion of the native god- 
 desses, with a ring in her nose. In her arms she carries 
 the holy Babe, clad in yellow pjjamas and a red Brali- 
 manical turban. "Hari, hari, devaki!" ("Glory to the 
 holy Virgin!") exclaim the converts, unconscious of any 
 difference between the Devaki, mother of Krishna, and 
 the Catholic Madonna. All they know is that, excluded 
 
44 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 from the temples by the Brahmans on account of their 
 not belonging to any of the Hindu castes, they are ad- 
 mitted sometimes into the Christian pagodas, thanks to 
 the "padris," a name adopted from the Portuguese 
 padre, and applied indiscriminately to the missionaries 
 of every European sect. 
 
 At last, our gharis — native two-wheeled vehicles 
 drawn by a pair of strong bullocks — arrived at the 
 station. English employes open wide their eyes at the 
 sight of white-faced people travelling about the town in 
 gilded Hindu chariots. But we are true Americans, and 
 we have come hither to study, not Europe, but India 
 and her products on the spot. 
 
 If the tourist casts a glance on the shore opposite to 
 the port of Bombaj^ he will see a dark blue mass rising 
 like a v/all between himself and the horizon. This is 
 Parbul, a flat-topped mountain 2,250 feet high. Its 
 right slope leans on two sharp rocks covered with 
 woods. The highest of them, Mataran, is the object of 
 our trip. From Bombay to Narel, a station situated at 
 ■the foot of this mountain, we are to travel four hours by 
 railway, though, as the crow flies, the distance is not 
 more than twelve miles. The railroad wanders round 
 the foot of the most charming little hills, skirts hun- 
 dreds of pretty lakes, and pierces with more than twenty 
 tunnels the very heart of the rocky ghats. 
 
 We were accompanied by three Hindu friends. Two 
 of them once belonged to a high caste, but were excom- 
 municated from their pagoda for association and friend- 
 ship with us, unworthy foreigners. At the station our 
 party was joined by two more natives, with whom we 
 had been in correspondence for many a 3'ear. All were 
 members of our Society, reformers of the Young India 
 school, enemies of Brahmans, castes, and prejudices. 
 
ON THE WAY TO KARLI. 45 
 
 and were to be our fellow-travellers and visit with us 
 the annual fair at the temple festivities of Karli, stop- 
 ping on the way at Mataran and Khanduli. One was 
 a Brahman from Poona, the second a moodeliar (land- 
 owner) from Madras, the third a Singalese from Kegalla, 
 the fourth a Bengali Zemindar, and the fifth a gigantic 
 Rajput, whom we had known for a long time by the 
 name of Gulab-Lal-Sing, and had called simply Gulab- 
 Sing. I shall dwell upon his personality more than on 
 any of the others, because the most wonderful and di- 
 verse stories were in circulation about this strange man. 
 It was asserted that he belonged to the sect of Raj- 
 Yogis, and was an initiate of the mysteries of magic, 
 alcheni}', and various other occult sciences of India. 
 He was rich and independent, and rumour did not dare 
 to suspect him of deception, the more so because, though 
 quite full of these sciences, he never uttered a word 
 about them in public, and carefull}' concealed his know- 
 ledge from all except a few friends. 
 
 He was an independent Takur from Rajistan, a pro- 
 vince the name of which means the land of kings. 
 Takurs are, almost without exception, descended from 
 the Surj-a (sun), and are accordingly called Surya-vansa. 
 They are prouder than any other nation in the world. 
 They have a proverb, "The dirt of the earth cannot 
 stick to the ra}'S of the sun." The}- do not despise any 
 sect, except the Brahmans, and honour only the bards 
 who sing their military achievements. Of the latter 
 Colonel Tod writes somewhat as follows,"' "The mag- 
 
 * In nearly every instance the passages quoted from various 
 authorities have been re-translated from the Russian. As the 
 time and labour needful for verification would be too great, the 
 sense only of these passages is given here. They do not pretend 
 to be textual.— Translator. 
 
46 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGI<ES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 nificence and luxury of the Rajput courts in the early- 
 periods of history were truly wonderful, even when due 
 allowance is made for the poetical license of the bards. 
 From the earliest times Northern India was a wealthy 
 country^ and it was precisely here that was situated the 
 richest satrapy of Darius. At all events, this country 
 abounded in those most striking events which furnish 
 history with her richest materials. In Rajistan every 
 small kingdom had its Thermop5dse, and every little 
 town has produced its Leonidas. But the veil of the 
 centuries hides from posterity events that the pen of 
 the historian might have bequeathed to the everlasting 
 admiration of the nations. Somnath might have ap- 
 peared as a rival of Delphi, the treasures of Hind might 
 outweigh the riches of the King of Lydia, while com- 
 pared with the army of the brothers Pandu, that of 
 Xerxes would seem an inconsiderable handful of men, 
 worthy only to rank in the second place." 
 
 England did not disarm the Rajputs, as she did the 
 rest of the Indian nadons, so Gulab-Sing came accom- 
 panied by vassals and shield-bearers. 
 
 Possessing an inexhaustible knowledge of legends, 
 and being evidently well acquainted with the antiquities 
 of his country, Gulab-Sing proved to be the most in- 
 teresting of our companions. 
 
 "There, against the blue sky," said Gulab-Ival-Sing, 
 "you behold the majestic Bhao Mallin. That deserted 
 spot was once the abode of a holy hermit; now it is 
 visited yearly by crowds of pilgrims. According to 
 popular belief the most wonderful things happen there 
 — miracles. At the top of the mountain, two thousand 
 feet above the level of the sea, is the platform of a 
 fortress. Behind it rises another rock two hundred 
 and seventy feet in height, and at the very summit of 
 
ON THE WAY TO KARLI. 47 
 
 this peak are to be found the ruins of a still more 
 ancient fortress, which for seventj--five years served as 
 a shelter for this hermit. Whence he obtained his food 
 "tt'ill for ever remain a mysterj'. Some think he ate the 
 roots of wild plants, but upon this barren rock there is 
 no vegetation. The only mode of ascent of this per- 
 pendicular mountain consists of a rope, and holes, just 
 "big enough to receive the toes of a man, cut out of the 
 living rock. One would think such a pathwaj' accessible 
 only to acrobats and monkeys. Surelj- fanaticism must 
 provide wings for the Hindus, for no accident has ever 
 happened to an}' of them. Unfortunately, about forty 
 3-ears ago, a part}- of Englishmen conceived the unhappy 
 thought of exploring the ruins, but a strong gust of 
 ■wind arose and carried them over the precipice. After 
 this. General Dickinson gave orders for the destruction 
 of all means of communication with the upper fortress, 
 and the lower one, once the cause of so many losses and 
 so much bloodshed, is now entirelj* deserted, and serves 
 onlj' as a shelter for eagles and tigers." 
 
 Listening to these tales of olden times, I could not 
 help comparing the past with the present. What a 
 • difference ! 
 
 "Kali-Yug!" cry old Hindus with grim despair. 
 "Who can strive against the Age of Darkness?" 
 
 This fatalism, the certainty that nothing good can 
 be expected now, the conviction that even the powerful 
 god Shiva himself can neither appear nor help them are 
 all deeply rooted in the minds of the old generation. 
 As for the younger men, they receive their education in 
 high schools and universities, learn by heart Herbert 
 Spencer, John Stuart Mill, Darwin and the German 
 philosophers, and entirely lose all respect, not only for 
 their own religion, but for every other in the world. 
 
48 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 The 3'oung "educated" Hindus are materialists almost 
 without exception, and often achieve the last limits of 
 Atheism. They seldom hope to attain to anything 
 better than a situation as "chief mate of the junior 
 clerk," as we say in Russia, and either become syco- 
 phants, disgusting flatterers of their present lords, or, 
 which is still worse, or at any rate sillier, begin to edit 
 a newspaper full of cheap liberalism, which gradually 
 develops into a revolutionary organ. 
 
 But all this is only en passant. Compared with the 
 mysterious and grandiose past of India, the ancient 
 Aryavarta, her present is a natural Indian ink back- 
 ground, the black shadow of a bright picture, the in- 
 evitable evil in the cycle of everj' nation. India has 
 become decrepit and has fallen down, like a huge 
 memorial of antiquity, prostrate and broken to pieces. 
 But the most insignificant of these fragments will for 
 ever remain a treasure for the archaeologist and the 
 artist, and, in the course of time, may even afford a clue 
 to the philosopher and the psychologist. "Ancient 
 Hindus built like giants and finished their work like 
 goldsmiths," says Archbishop Heber, describing his 
 travel.5 in India. In his description of the Taj-Mahal of 
 Agra, that veritable eighth wonder of the world, he calls 
 it "a poem in marble." He might have added that it is 
 difficult to find in India a ruin, in the least state of 
 preservation, that cannot speak, more eloquently than 
 whole volumes, of the past of India, her religious aspira- 
 tions, her beliefs and hopes. 
 
 There is not a country of antiquity, not even exclud- 
 ing the Egypt of the Pharaohs, where the development 
 of the subjective ideal into its demonstration by aa 
 objective symbol has been expressed more graphically, 
 more skilfully, and artistically, than in India. The whole 
 
ON THE WAY TO KARLI. 49 
 
 pantheism of the Vedanta is contained in the symbol of 
 the bisexual deitj- Ardhanari. It is surrounded bj' the 
 double triangle, known in India under the name of the 
 sign of Vishnu. By his side lie a lion, a bull, and an 
 eagle. In his hands there rests a full moon, which is 
 reflected in the waters at his feet. The Vedanta has 
 taught for thousands of j-ears what some of the German 
 philosophers began to preach at the end of last century 
 and the beginning of this one, namely, that everything 
 objective in the world, as well as the world itself, is no 
 more than an illusion, a Ma3-a, a phantom created by our 
 imagination, and as unreal as the reflection of the moon 
 upon the surface of the waters. The phenomenal world, 
 as well as the subjection tj- of our conception concerning 
 our Egos, are nothing but, as it were, a mirage. The 
 true sage will never submit to the temptations of illusion- 
 He is well aware that man will attain to self-knowledge, 
 and become a real Ego, only after the entire union of 
 the personal fragment with the All, thus becoming an 
 immutable, infinite, universal Brahma. Accordingl}^ he 
 considers the whole cj-cle of birth, life, old age, and 
 death as the sole product of imagination. 
 
 Generally speaking, Indian philosophy, split up as it 
 is into numerous metaphj^sical teachings, possesses, 
 when united to Indian ontological doctrines, such a -well 
 developed logic, such a wonderfully refined psycholog}-, 
 that it might well take the first rank when contrasted 
 with the schools, ancient and modern, idealist or posi- 
 tivist, and eclipse them all in turn. That positivism 
 expounded by Leo\'is, that makes each particular hair 
 on the heads of Oxford theologians stand on end, is 
 ridiculous child's play compared with the atomistic 
 school of Vaisheshika, with its world divided, like a 
 chess-board, into six categories of everlasting atoms. 
 
50 FROM Tim CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 nine substances, twenty-four qualities, and five motions. 
 And, however difficult, and even impossible may seem 
 the exact representation of all these abstract ideas, 
 idealistic, pantheistic, and, sometimes, purely material, 
 in the condensed shape of allegorical symbols, India, 
 nevertheless, has known how to express all these teach- 
 ings more or less successfully. She has immortalized 
 them in her ugly, four-headed idols, in the geometrical, 
 complicated forms of her temples, and even in the en- 
 tangled lines and spots on the foreheads of her sectaries. 
 
 We were discussing this and other topics with our 
 Hindu fellow-travellers when a Catholic padre, a teacher 
 in the Jesuit College of St. Xavier in Bombay, entered 
 our carriage at one of the stations. Soon he could con- 
 tain himself no longer, and joined in our conversation. 
 Smiling and rubbing his hands, he said that he was 
 curious to know on the strength of what sophistry our 
 companions could find anything resembling a philo- 
 sophical explanation "in the fundamental idea of the 
 four faces of this ugly Shiva, crowned with snakes," 
 pointing, with his finger to the idol at the entrance to a 
 pagoda. 
 
 "It is very simple," • answered the Bengali Babu. 
 " You see that its four faces are turned towards the four 
 cardinal points, South, North, West, and East — but all 
 these faces are on one body and belong to one god." 
 
 "Would you mind explaining first the philosophical 
 idea; of the four faces and eight hands of your Shiva," 
 interrupted the padre. 
 
 "With great pleasure. Thinking that our great Rudra 
 (the Vedic name for this god) is omnipresent, we repre- 
 sent him with his face turned simultaneously in all 
 directions. Eight hands indicate his omnipotence, and 
 his single body serves to remind us that, he is One, 
 
ON THE WAY TO KARI.I. 51 
 
 though he is ever3"R'here, and nobody can avoid his all- 
 seeing ej'e, or his chastising hand." 
 
 The padre was going to say something when the train 
 stopped ; we had arrived at Narel. 
 
 It is hardly twentj--five years since, for the first time, 
 a white man ascended Mataran, a huge mass of various 
 kinds of trap rock, for the most part crystalline in form. 
 Though quite near to Bombay', and only a few miles 
 from Elhandala, the summer residence of the Europeans, 
 the threatening heights of this giant were long con- 
 sidered inaccessible. On the north, its smooth, almost 
 vertical face rises 2,450 feet over the valley of the river 
 Pen, and, further on, numberless separate rocks and 
 hillocks, covered vA'Ca. thick vegetation, and divided by 
 valleys and precipices, rise up to the clouds. In 1854, 
 the railway pierced one of the sides of Mataran, and now 
 has reached the foot of the last mountain, stopping at 
 Narel, where, not long ago, there was nothing but a 
 precipice. From Narel to the upper plateau is but eight 
 miles, which j'ou may travel on a ponj', or in an open or 
 closed palanquin, as j'ou choose. 
 
 Considering that we arrived at Narel about six in the 
 evening, this course was not very tempting. Civilization 
 has done much with inanimate nature, but, in spite of 
 all its despotism, it has not 3-et been able to conquer 
 tigers and snakes. Tigers, no doubt, are banished to 
 the more remote jungles, but all kinds of snakes, espe- 
 cially cobras and coralillos, which last bj"- preference 
 inhabit trees, still abound in the forests of Mataran as 
 in' days of old, and wage a regular guerilla warfare 
 against the invaders. Woe betide the belated pedestrian, 
 or even horseman, if he happens to pass under a tree 
 which forms the ambuscade of a coralillo snake! Cobras 
 and other reptiles seldom attack men, and \A\\ generally 
 
52, FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 try to avoid them, unless accidentally trodden upon, but 
 these guerilleros of the forest, the tree serpents, lie in 
 wait for their victims. As soon as the head of a man 
 conies under the branch which shelters the coralillo, this 
 enemy of man, coiling its tail round the branch, dives, 
 down into space with all the length of its body, and 
 strikes with its fangs at the man's forehead. This 
 curious fact was long considered to be a mere fable, but 
 it has now been verified, and belongs to the natural 
 history of India. In these cases the natives see in the 
 snake the envoy of Death, the fulfiller of the will of the 
 bloodthirsty Kali, the spouse of Shiva. 
 
 But evening, after the scorchingly hot day, was so 
 tempting, and held out to us from the distance such 
 promise of delicious coolness, that we decided upon 
 risking our fate. In the heart of this wondrous nature 
 one longs to shake off earthly chains, and unite oneself 
 with the boundless life, so that death itself has its attrac- 
 tions in India. 
 
 Besides, the full moon was about to rise at eight p.m. 
 Three hours' ascent of the mountain, on such a moonlit, 
 tropical night as would tax the descriptive powers of the 
 greatest artists, Vv'as worth any sacrifice. Apropos, among' 
 the few artists who can fix upon canvas the subtle charm 
 of a moonlit night in India public opinion begins ta 
 name our own V. V. Vereshtchagin. 
 
 Having dined hurriedly in the dak bungalow we asked 
 for our sedan chairs, and, drawing our roof-like topees 
 over our eyes, we started. Eight coolies, clad, as usual, 
 in vine-leaves, took possession of each chair and hurried 
 up the mountain, uttering the shrieks and yells no true 
 Hindu can dispense with. Each chair was accompanied 
 besides by a relay of eight more porters. So we were 
 sixty-four, without counting the Hindus and their ser- 
 
ON THE WAY TO KARLI. 53 
 
 vants — an army sufficient to frighten any stray leopard 
 or jungle tiger, in fact any animal, except our fearless 
 cousins on the side of our great-grandfather Hanuman. 
 As soon as we titrned into a thicket at the foot of the 
 mountain, several dozeps of these kinsmen joined our 
 procession. Thanks to the achievements of Rama's ally, 
 monkeys are sacred in India. The Government, emulat- 
 ing the earlier wisdom of the East India Companj^ 
 forbids everj'one to molest them, not only when met with 
 in the forests, which in all justice belong to them, but 
 even when they invade the city gardens. Leaping from 
 one branch to another, chattering like magpies, and 
 making the most formidable grimaces, they followed us 
 all the waj', like so many midnight spooks. Sometimes 
 they hung on the trees in full moonlight, like forest 
 nymphs of Russian mythology; sometimes they pre- 
 ceded us, awaiting our arrival at the turns.of the road as 
 if showing us the way. They never left us. One monkey 
 babe alighted on my knees. In a moment the authoress 
 of his being, jumping without any ceremony over the 
 coolies' shoulders, came to his rescue, picked him up, 
 and, after making the most ungodly grimace at me, ran 
 away with him. 
 
 "Bandras (monkeys) bring luck with their presence," 
 remarked one of the Hindus, as if to console me for the 
 loss of my crumpled topee. "Besides," he added, "see- 
 ing them here we may be sure that there is not a single 
 tiger for ten miles round." 
 
 Higher and higher we ascended by the steep winding 
 path, and the forest grew perceptibly thicker, darker, 
 and more impenetrable. Some of the thickets were as 
 dark as graves. Passing under hundred-year-old banyans 
 it was impossible to distinguish one's own finger at the 
 distance of two inches. It seemed to me that in certain 
 
54 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 places it would not be possible to advance without feel- 
 ing our way, but our coolies never made a false step, but 
 hastened onwards. Not one of us uttered a word. It 
 was as if we had agreed to be silent at these moments. 
 We felt as though wrapped in the heavy veil of dark- 
 ness, and no sound was heard but the short, irregular 
 breathing of the porters, and the cadence of their quick, 
 nervous footsteps upon the stony soil of the path. One 
 felt sick at heart and ashamed of belonging to that 
 human race, one part of which makes, of the other mere 
 beasts of burden. These poor wretches are paid for 
 their work four annas a day all the year round. Four 
 annas for going eight miles upwards and eight miles 
 downwards not less than twice a day; altogether thirty- 
 two miles up and down a mountain 1,500 feet high, 
 carrying a burden of two hundredweight! However, 
 -India is a country where everything is adjusted to never 
 changing customs, and four annas a day is the pay for 
 unskilled labour of any kind. 
 
 Gradually open spaces and glades became more fre- 
 quent and the light grew as intense as by day. Millions 
 of grasshoppers were shrilling in the forest, filling the 
 air with a metallic throbbing, and flocks of frightened 
 'parrots rushed from tree to tree. Sometimes the thun- 
 dering, prolonged roars of tigers rose from, the bottom 
 of the precipices thickly covered with all kinds of Vege- 
 tation. Shikaris assure us that, on a quiet night, the 
 roaring of these beasts can be heard for many miles 
 around. The panorama, lit up, as if by Bengal fires, 
 changed at every turn.. Rivers, fields, forests, and rocks, 
 spread out at our feet over an enormous distance, moved 
 and trembled, iridescent, in the silvery moonlight, like 
 the tides of a mirage. The fantastic character of the 
 pictures made us hold our breath. Our heads grew 
 
ON THE WAY TO KARLI. 55 
 
 giddj" if, bj' chance, we glanced down into the depths by 
 the flickering moonlight. "\^'e felt that the precipice, 
 2,000 feet deep, was fascinating us. One of our American 
 fellow travellers, who had begun the vo3"age on horse- 
 back, had to dismount, afraid of being unable to resist 
 the temptation to dive head foremost into the abs'ss. 
 
 Several times we met with lonely pedestrians, men 
 and young women, coming down ^Mataran on their way 
 home after a da\-s work. It often happens that some 
 of them never reach home. The police unconcernedly 
 report that the missing man has been carried off by 
 a tiger, or killed by a snake. All is said, and he is 
 soon entirely forgotten. One person, more or less, 
 out of the two hundred and fort\' millions who in- 
 habit India does not matter much! But there exists 
 a verj- strange superstition in the Deccan about this 
 mysterious, and only partialh^ explored, mountain. The 
 natives assert that, in spite of the considerable number 
 of victims, there has never been found a single skeleton. 
 The corpse, whether intact or mangled b3- tigers, is im- 
 mediately carried awaj- b}- the monkej-s, who, in the 
 latter case, gather the scattered bones, and bury them 
 so skilfulh" in deep holes, that no traces ever remain. 
 Englishmen laugh at this superstition, but the police- 
 men do not deny the fact of the entire disappearance of 
 the bodies. "UTien the sides of the mountain were ex- 
 cavated, in the course of the construction of the railwaj', 
 separate bones, with the marks of tigers' teeth upon 
 them, broken bracelets, and other adornments, were 
 found at an incredible depth from the surface. The fact 
 of these things being broken showed clearlj^ that they 
 were not buried by men, because, neither the religion of 
 the Hindus, nor their greed, would allow them to break 
 and bur}- silver and gold. Is it possible, then, that, as 
 
56 PROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OP HINDOSTAN. 
 
 amongst men one hand washes the other, so in the 
 animal kingdom one species conceals the crimes of 
 another? 
 
 Having spent the night in a Portuguese inn, woven 
 like an eagle's nest out of bamboos, and clinging to the 
 almost vertical side of a rock, we rose at daybreak, and, 
 having visited all the poznis de vue famed for their beauty, 
 made our preparations to return to Narel. By daylight 
 the panorama was still more splendid than by night; 
 volumes would not sufl&ce to describe it. Had it not 
 been that on three sides the horizon was shut out by 
 rugged ridges of mountain, the whole of the Deccan 
 plateau would have appeared before our ej^es. Bombay 
 was so distinct that it seemed quite near to us, and the 
 channel that separates the town from Salsetta shone 
 like a tiny silvery streak. It winds like a snake on its 
 way to the port, surrounding Kanari and other islets, 
 which look the very image of green peas scattered on 
 the white cloth of its bright waters, and, finally, joins 
 the blinding line of the Indian Ocean in the extreme 
 •distance. On the other side is the northern Konkan, 
 terminated b}^ the Tal-Ghats, the needle-like summits of 
 the Jaxio-Maoli rocks, and, lastly, the battlemented ridge 
 of Funell, whose bold silhouette stands out in strong 
 relief against the distant blue pf the dim sky, like a 
 giant's castle in some fairy tale. Further on looms Par- 
 bul, whose flat summit, in the days of old, was the seat 
 of the gods, whence, according to the legends, Vishnti 
 spoke to mortals. And there below, where the defile 
 widens into a valley, all covered with huge separate 
 rocks, each of which is crowded with historical and 
 mythological legends, you may perceive the dim blue 
 ridge of mountains, still loftier and still more strangely 
 shaped. That is Khandala, which is overhung by a 
 
ox THE ■n'AY TO KARLI. 57 
 
 Tinge stone block, known by the name of the Duke's 
 Nose. On the opposite side, under the very summit of 
 the mountain, is situated Karli, which, according to the 
 unanimous opinion of archaeologists, is the most ancient 
 and best preser\'ed of Indian cave temples. 
 
 One who has traversed the passes of the Caucasus 
 again and again; one who, from the top of the Cross 
 Mountain, has beheld beneath her feet thunderstorms 
 and lightnings ; who has \4sited the Alps and the Rigi ; 
 who is well acquainted with the Andes and Cordilleras, 
 and knows every corner of the Catskills in America, may 
 be allowed, I hope, the expression of a humble opinion. 
 The Caucasian Mountains, I do not denj', are more 
 majestic than the Ghats of India, and their splendour 
 cannot be dimmed by comparison with these ; but their 
 beauty is of a classical t}-pe, if I may use this expression. 
 At their sight one experiences true delight, but at the 
 same time a sensation of awe. One feels like a pigmy 
 before these Titans of nature. But in India, the Hima- 
 la3'as excepted, mountains produce quite a different 
 impression. The highest summits of the Deccan, as well 
 as of the triangular ridge that fringes Northern Hindo- 
 stan, and of the Eastern Ghats, do not exceed 3,000 feet. 
 Onh- in the Western Ghats of the Malabar coast, from 
 Cape Comorin to the river Surat, are there heights of 
 7,000 feet above the surface of the sea. So that no 
 comparison can be drawn between these and the hoary- 
 headed patriarch Elbruz, or Kasbek, which exceeds 18,000 
 feet. The chief and, original charm of Indian mountains 
 consists in their wonderfully capricious shapes. Some- 
 times these mountains, or, rather, separate volcanic peaks 
 standing in a row, form chains ; but it is more common 
 to find them scattered, to the great perplexity of geolo- 
 ;gists, without visible cause, in places where the formation 
 
58 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 seems quite unsuitable. Spacious valleys, surrounded 
 by high walls of rock, over the very ridge of which, 
 passes the railway, are common. I^ook below, and it 
 will seem to you that you are gazing upon the studio of 
 some whimsical Titanic sculptor, filled with half finished 
 groups, statues, and monuments. Here is a dream-land 
 bird, seated upon the head of a monster six hundred feet 
 high, spreading its wings and widely gaping its dragon's- 
 mouth; by its side the bust of a man, surmounted by a 
 helmet, battlemented like the walls of a feudal castle r 
 there, again, new monsters devouring each other, statues; 
 with broken limbs, disorderly heaps of huge balls, lonely 
 fortresses with loopholes, ruined towers and bridges. 
 All this scattered and intermixed with shapes changing 
 incessantly like the dreams of delirium. And the chief" 
 attraction is that nothing here is the result of art, every- 
 thing is the pure sport of nature, which, however, has 
 occasionally been turned to account by ancient, builders. 
 The art of man in India is to be sought in the interior of 
 the earth, not on its surface. Ancient Hindus seldom 
 built their temples otherwise than in the bosom of the 
 earth, as though they were ashamed of their efforts, or 
 did not dare to rival the sculpture of nature. Having 
 chosen, for instance, a pyramidal rock, or a cupola 
 shaped hillock like Elephanta, or Karli, they scraped 
 away inside, according to the Puranas, for centuries, 
 planning on so grand a style that no modern architecture- 
 has been able to conceive anything to equal it. Fables (?)• 
 about the Cyclops seem truer in India than in Egypt. 
 • The marvellous railroad from Narel to Khandala re- 
 minds one of a similar line from Genoa up the Apen- 
 nines. One may be said to travel in the air, not on 
 land. The railway traverses a region 1,400 feet above 
 Konkan, and, in some places, while one rail is laid oil 
 
ON THE WAY TO KARLI. 59 
 
 the sharp edge of the rock, the other is supported on 
 vaults and arches. The Mali Khindi viaduct is 163 feet 
 high. For two hours we hastened on between sk)^ and 
 earth, with abysses on both sides thickly covered with 
 mango trees and bananas. Truly English engineers are 
 wonderful builders. 
 
 The pass of Bhor-Ghat is safely accomplished and we 
 are in Khandala. Our bungalow here is built on the 
 very edge of a ravine, which nature herself has care- 
 fully concealed under a cover of the most luxuriant 
 vegetation. Everything is in blossom, and, in this un- 
 fathomed recess, a botanist might find sufficient material 
 to occupy him for a life-time. Palms have disappeared ; 
 for the most part they grow only near the sea. Here 
 they are replaced by banyans, mango trees, pipals (/?«« 
 religiosa), fig trees, and thousands of other trees and 
 shrubs, unknown to such outsiders as ourselves. The 
 Indian flora is too often slandered and misrepresented as 
 being full of beautiful, but scentless, flowers. At some 
 seasons this may be true enough, but, as long as jas- 
 mines, the various balsams, white tuberoses, and golden 
 Champa (champaka or frangipani) are in blossom, this 
 statement is far from being true. The aroma of champa 
 alone is so powerful as to make one almost giddy. For 
 size, it is the king of flowering trees, and hundreds of 
 them were in full bloom, just at this time of year, on 
 Mataran and Khandala. 
 
 We sat on the verandah, talking and enjoying the 
 surrounding views, until well-nigh midnight. Every- 
 thing slept around us. 
 
 Khandala is nothing but a big village, situated on the 
 flat top of one of the mountains of the Sahiadra range, 
 about 2,200 feet above the sea level. It is surrounded by 
 isolated peaks, as strange in shape as any we have seen. 
 
6o FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 One of them, straight before us, on the opposite side of 
 the abyss, looked exactly like a long, one-storied build- 
 ing, with a fiat roof and a battlemented parapet. The 
 Hindus assert that, somewhere about this hillock, there 
 exists a secret entrance, leading into vast interior halls, 
 in fact to a whole subterranean palace, and that there 
 still exist people who possess the secret of this abode. 
 A holy hermit, Yogi, and Magus, who had inhabited 
 these caves for "many centuries," imparted this secret 
 to Sivaji, the celebrated leader of the Mahratta armies. 
 Like Tanhauser, in Wagner's opera, the unconquerable 
 Sivaji spent seven years of his youth in this mysterious 
 abode, and therein acquired his extraordinary strength 
 and valour. 
 
 Sivaji is a kind of Indian Ilia Moorometz, though his 
 epoch is much nearer to our times. He was the hero 
 and the king of the Mahrattas in the seventeenth century, 
 and the founder of their shortlived empire. It is to him 
 that India owes the weakening, if not the entire destruc- 
 tion, of the Mussulman yoke. No taller than an ordi- 
 nary woman, and with the hand of a child, he was, 
 nevertheless, possessed of wonderful strength, which, of 
 course, his compatriots ascribed to sorcery. His sword 
 is still preserved in a museum, and one cannot help 
 wondering at its size and weight, and at the hilt, through 
 which only a ten-j^ear-old child could put his hand. The 
 basis of this hero's fame is the fact that he,, the son of 
 a poor of&cer in the service of a Mogul emperor, like 
 another David, slew the Mussulman Goliath, the formid- 
 able Afzul Khan. It was not, however, with a sling that 
 he killed him, he used in this combat the formidable 
 Mahratti weapon, vaghnakh, consisting of five long steel 
 nails, as sharp as needles, and very strong. This weapon 
 is worn on the fingers, and wrestlers use it to tear each 
 
ox THE WAY TO KAELI. 6l 
 
 Other's flesh like wild animals. The Deccan is full of 
 legends about Sivaji, and even the English historians 
 mention him with respect. Just as in the fable respect- 
 ing Charles V, one of the local Indian traditions asserts 
 that Sivaji is not dead, but lives secreted in one of the 
 Sahiadra caves. When the fateful hour strikes (and 
 according to the calculations of the astrologers the time 
 is not far off) he will reappear, and will bring freedom 
 to his beloved countrj-. 
 
 The learned and artful Brahmans, those Jesuits of 
 India, profit bj' the profound superstition of the masses 
 to extort wealth from them, sometimes to the last cow, 
 the only food giver of a large famil}-. 
 
 In the following passage I give a curious example of 
 this. At the end of Jul}-, 1879, this mj'sterious document 
 appeared in Bombaj'. I translate literally from the 
 Mahratti copy, the original having been translated into 
 all the dialects of India, of which there are 273. 
 
 " Shri !" (an untranslatable greeting). " I,et it be known 
 unto every one that this epistle, traced in the origp^nal in 
 golden letters, came down from Indra-loka" (the heaven 
 of Indra), "in the presence of holy Brahmans, on the 
 altar of the Vishveshvara temple, which is in the sacred 
 town of Benares. 
 
 "Listen and remember, O tribes of Hindustan, Rajis- 
 tan, Punjab, etc., etc. On Saturdaj-, the second day of 
 the first half of the month Magha, 1809, of Shall vahan's 
 era" (1887 a.d.), "the eleventh month of the Hindus, 
 during the Ashwini Nakshatra" (the first of the twenty- 
 seven constellations on the moon's path), "when the sun 
 enters the sign Capricorn, and the time of the day will 
 be near the constellation Pisces, that is to pay, exactly 
 one hour and thirty-six minutes after sunrise, the hour 
 of the €nd of Kali-Yug will strike, and the much desired 
 
62 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGtES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 Satya-Yug will commence" (that is to say, the end of 
 the Maha-Yug, the great cycle that embraces the four 
 minor Yugas). "This time Satya-Yug will last i,ioo 
 years. During all this time a man's lifetime will be 128 
 years. The days will become longer and will consist 
 of twenty hours and forty-eight minutes, and the nights 
 of thirteen hours and twelve minutes, that is to say, 
 instead of twenty-four hours we shall have exactly 
 thirty-four hours and one minute. The first day of 
 Satya-Yug will be very important for us, because it is 
 then that will appear to us our new King with white 
 face and golden hair, who will come from the far North. 
 He will become the autonomous Lord of India. The 
 MSyS of human unbelief, with all the heresies over 
 which it presides, will be tlirown down to Patala" (sig- 
 nifying at once hell and the antipodes), "and the 
 MayS of the righteous and pious will abide with them, 
 and will help them to enjoy life in Mretinloka" (our 
 earth). 
 
 "lyCt it also be tnown to everyone that, for the dis- 
 semination of this divine document, every separate copy 
 of it will be rewarded by the forgiveness of as many sins 
 as are generally forgiven when a pious man sacrifices to 
 a Brahman one hundred cows. As for the disbelievers 
 and the indifierent, they will be sent to Naraka" (hell). 
 "Copied out and given, by tlie slave of Vishnu, Madlau 
 Shriram, on Saturday, the 7th day of the first half of 
 Shravan" (the fifth month of the Hindu year), "1801, of 
 Shalivahan's era" (that is, 26th July, 1879). 
 
 The further career of this ignorant and cunning 
 epistle is not known to me. Probably the police put 
 a stop to its distribution; however, this only concerns 
 the wise administrators. But it splendidly illustrates, 
 from one side, the credulity of the populace, drowned in 
 
ON THE WAY TO KARLI. 63 
 
 superstition, and from the other the unscrupnlousness of 
 the Brahmans. 
 
 Concerning the word Patala, which literally means 
 the opposite side, a recent discover}- of Swami Da3-a- 
 nand Saraswati, whom I have alreadj- mentioned in the 
 preceding letters, is interesting, especiallj' if this dis- 
 covery- can be accepted by philologists, as the facts seem 
 to promise. Daj-anand tries to show that the ancient 
 Ar\-ans knew, and even \-isited, America, which in an- 
 cient MSS. is called Patala, and out of which popular 
 fancj' constructed, in the course of time, something like 
 the Greek Hades. He supports his theorj^ by many 
 •quotations from the oldest MSS., especially from the 
 legends about Krishna and his favourite disciple Arjuna. 
 In the history- of the latter it is mentioned that Arjuna, 
 one of the five Pandavas, descendants of the moon 
 dj-nast}-, %-isited Patala on his travels, and there married 
 the vs-idowed daughter of King Xagual, called lUupl. 
 Comparing the names of father and daughter we reach 
 the following considerations, T.-hich speak stronglj' in 
 favour of Daj-anand's supposition. 
 
 (i) Nagual is the name by which the sorcerers of 
 Mexico, Indians and aborigines of America, are still 
 •designated. Like the Ass3-rian and Chaldean Nargals, 
 •chiefs of the Magi, the Mexican Xagual unites in his 
 person the functions of priest and of sorcerer, being 
 served in the latter capacitj- by a demon in the shape of 
 some animal, generalh- a snake or a crocodile. These 
 Naguals are thought to be the descendants of Nagua, 
 the king of the snakes. Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg 
 devotes a considerable amount of space to them in his 
 book about Mexico, and sa^-s that the Naguals are ser- 
 vants of the evil one, who, in his turn, renders them but 
 a temporarj' service. In Sanskrit, likewise, snake is 
 
64 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 Naga, and the "King of the Nagas" plays an important 
 part in the history of Buddha ; and in the Purdnas there 
 exists a tradition that it was Arjuna who introduced 
 snake worship into Patala. The coincidence, and the- 
 identity of the names are so striking that our scientists- 
 really ought to pay some attention to them. 
 
 (2) The name of Arjuna's wife Illupl is purely old 
 Mexican, and if we reject the hypothesis of Swami Daya- 
 nand it will be perfectly impossible to explain the actual 
 existence of this name in Sanskrit manuscripts long 
 before the Christian era. Of all ancient dialects and 
 languages it is only in those of the American aborigines- 
 that you constantly meet with such combinations of con- 
 sonants as pi, tl, etc. They are abundant especially in 
 the language of the Toltecs, or Nahuatl, whereas, neither 
 in Sanskrit nor in ancient Greek are they ever found at 
 the end of a word. Even the words Atlas and Atlantic 
 seem to be foreign to the etymology of the European 
 languages. Wherever Plato may have found them, it 
 was not he who invented them. In the Toltec language 
 we find the root atl, which means water and war, and 
 directly after America was discovered Columbus found 
 a town called Atlan, at the entrance of the Bay of Uraga. 
 It is now a poor fishing village called Aclo. Only in 
 America does one find such names as Itzcoatl, Zem- 
 poaltecatl, and Popocatepetl. To attempt to explain 
 such coincidences by the theory of blind chance would 
 be too much, consequently, as long as science does not 
 seek to deny Dayanand's hypothesis, which, as yet, it 
 is unable to do, we think it reasonable to adopt it, be it 
 only in order to follow out the axiom "one hypothesis is 
 equal to another." Amongst other things Dayanand 
 points out that the route that led Arjuna to America five 
 thousand years ago was by Siberia and Behring's Straits. 
 
ON THE WAY TO KARLI. 65 
 
 It was long past midnight, but we still sat listening to 
 this legend and others of a similar kind. At length the 
 innkeeper sent a servant to warn us of the dangers that 
 threatened us if we lingered too long on the verandah 
 on a moonlit night. The programme of these dangers 
 was divided into three sections — snakes, beasts of- prey, 
 and dacoits. Besides the cobra and the "rock-snake," 
 the surrounding mountains are full of a kind of very 
 small mountain snake, called furzen, the most dangerous 
 of all. Their poison kills with the swiftness of lightning. 
 The moonlight attracts them, and whole parties of these 
 irnin-^-ited guests crawl up to the verandahs of houses, 
 in order to warm themselves. Here they are more snug 
 than on the wet ground. The verdant and perfumed 
 ab^ss below our verandah happened, too, to be the 
 favourite resort of tigers and leopards, who come thither 
 to quench their thirst at the broad brook which runs 
 along the bottom, and then wander until daybreak under 
 the windows of the bungalow. Lastly, there were the 
 mad dacoits, whose dens are scattered in mountains 
 inaccessible to the police, who often shoot Europeans 
 simply to afford themselves the pleasure of sending ad 
 patres one of the hateful bellatis (foreigners). Three 
 daj-s before our arrival the wife of a Brahman disap- 
 peared, carried oif by a tiger, and two favourite dogs of 
 the commandant were killed by snakes. We declined 
 to wait for further explanations, but hurried to our rooms. 
 At daybreak we were to start for Karli, six miles from 
 this place. 
 
IN THE KARIvI CAVES. 
 
 At five o'clock in the morning we had already arrived 
 at the limit, not only of driveable, but, even, of rideable 
 roads. Our bullock-cart could go no further. The last 
 half mile was nothing but a rough sea of stones. We 
 had either to give up our enterprise, or to climb on all- 
 fours up an almost perpendicular slope two hundred feet 
 high. We were utterly at our wits' end, and meekly 
 gazed at the historical mass before us, not knowing what 
 to do next. Almost at the summit of the mountain, 
 under the overhanging rocks, were a dozen black open- 
 ings. Hundreds of pilgrims were crawling upwards, 
 looking, in their holiday dresses, like so many green, 
 pink, and blue ants. Here, however, our faithful Hindu 
 friends came to our rescue. One of them, putting the 
 palm of his hand to his mouth, produced a strident sound 
 something between a shriek and a whistle. This signal 
 was answered from above by an echo, and the next 
 moment several half naked Brahmans, hereditary watch- 
 men of the temple, began to descend the rocks as 
 swiftly and skilfully as wild cats. Five minutes later 
 they were with us, fastening round our bodies strong 
 leathern straps, and rather dragging than leading us 
 upwards. Half an hour later, exhausted but perfectly 
 safe, we stood before the porch of the chief temple, 
 which uotil then had been hidden from us by giant trees 
 and cactuses. 
 
 This majestic entrance, resting on four massive pillars 
 which form a quadrangle, is fiftj^-two feet wide and is 
 covered with ancient moss and carvings. Before it 
 
IN THE KARtl CAVES. 67 
 
 Stands the " lion column," so-called from the four lions 
 carved as large as nature, and seated back to back, at its 
 base. Over the principal entrance, its sides covered with 
 colossal male and female figures, is a huge arch, in front 
 of which three gigantic elephants are sculptured in relief, 
 ■o-ith heads and trunks that project from the wall. The 
 shape of the temple is oval. It is 128 feet long and fort^'- 
 six feet wide. The central space is separated on each side 
 from the aisles bj' forty-two pillars, which sustain the 
 cupola-shaped ceiling. Further on is an altar, which 
 di\'ides the first dome from a second one which rises 
 over a small chamber, formerly used by the ancient 
 Aryan priests for an inner, secret altar. Two side pas- 
 sages leading towards it come to a sudden end, which 
 suggests that, once upou a time, either doors or walls 
 were there which exist no longer. Each of the fortj-two 
 pillars has a pedestal, an octagonal shaft, and a capital, 
 described bj- Fergusson as "of the most exquisite work- 
 manship, representing two kneeling elephants sur- 
 mounted by a god and a goddess." Fergusson further 
 says that this temple, or chaitya, is older and better pre- 
 served than any other in India, and may be assigned to 
 a period about 200 years B.C., because Prinsep, who has 
 read the inscription on the Silastamba pillar, asserts that 
 the lion pillar was the gift of Ajmitra Ukasa, son of Saha 
 Ra%-isobhoti, and another inscription shows that the 
 temple was visited by Dathama Hara, othen^^se Datha- 
 hamini. King of Cej-lon, in the twentieth year of his 
 reign, that is to say, 163 j-ears before our era. For some 
 reason or other, Dr. Stevenson points to seventy years 
 B.C. as the date, asserting that Karlen, or Karli, was 
 built by the Emperor Devobhuti, under the supervision 
 of Dhanu-Kakata. But how can this be maintained in 
 view of the above-mentioned perfectly authentic inscrip- 
 
68 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 tions? Even Fergusson, the celebrated defender of the 
 Egyptian antiquities and hostile critic of those of India, 
 insists that Karli belongs to the erections of the third 
 century B.C., adding that "the disposition of the various 
 parts of its architecture is identical with the architecture 
 of the choirs of the Gothic period, and the polygonal 
 apsides of cathedrals." 
 
 Above the chief entrance is found a gallery, which 
 reminds one of the choirs, where, in Catholic churches, 
 the organ is placed. Besides the chief entrance there,,, 
 are two lateral entrances, leading to the aisles of the 
 temple, and over the gallery there is a single spacious 
 window in the shape of a horseshoe, so that the light 
 falls on the daghopa (altar) entirely from above, leaving 
 the aisles, sheltered by the pillars, in obscurity, which 
 increases as you approach the further end of the build- 
 ing. To the eyes of a spectator standing at the entrance, 
 the whole daghopa shines with light, and behind it is 
 nothing but impenetrable darkness, where no profane 
 footsteps were permitted to tread. A figure on the dag- 
 hopa, from the summit of which "Raja priests" used to 
 pronounce verdicts to the people, is called Dharma-Raja, 
 from Dharma, the Hindu Minos. Above the temple are 
 two stories of caves, in each of which are wide open 
 galleries formed by huge carved pillars, and from these 
 galleries an opening leads to roomy cells and corridors, 
 sometimes very long, but quite useless, as they invariably 
 come to an abrupt termination at solid walls, without the 
 trace of an issue of any kind. The guardians of the 
 temple have either lost the secret of further caves, or 
 conceal them jealously from Europeans. 
 
 Besides the Viharas already described, there are many 
 others, scattered over the slope of the mountain. These 
 temple-monasteries are all smaller than the first, but. 
 
IX THE KARLI CAVES. 69 
 
 according to the opinion of some archaeologists, thej- are 
 much older. To what centurj^ or epoch they belong is 
 not knowTi except to a few Brahmans, who keep silence. 
 Generally speaking, the position of a European archae- 
 ologist in India is very sad. The masses, drowned in 
 superstition, are utterly unable to be of any use to him, 
 and the learned Brahmans, initiated into the mj'steries 
 of secret libraries in pagodas, do all they can to prevent 
 archaeological research. However, after all that has 
 happened, it would be unjust to blame the conduct of 
 the Brahmans in these matters. The bitter experience 
 of manj^ centuries has taught them that their onlj- 
 weapons are distrust and circumspection, without these 
 their national historj- and the most sacred of their trea- 
 sures would be irrevocablj- lost. Political coups d'etat 
 which have shaken their country to its foundation, 
 Mussulman invasions that proved so fatal to its welfare, 
 the all-destructive fanaticism of Mussulman vandals and 
 of Catholic padres, who are read}- for anything in order 
 to secure manuscripts and destroj' them — all these form 
 a good excuse for the action of the Brahmans. How- 
 ever, in spite of these manifold destructive tendencies, 
 there exist in manj- places in India vast libraries capable 
 of pouring a bright and new light, not only on the his- 
 tory of India itself, but also on the darkest problems of 
 universal historj*. Some of these libraries, filled with 
 the most precious manuscripts, are in the possession of 
 native princes and of pagodas attached to their terri- 
 tories, but the greater part is in the hands of the Jainas 
 (the oldest of Hindu sects) and of the Rajputana Takurs, 
 whose ancient hereditarj- castles are scattered all over 
 Rajistan, like so many eagles' nests on high rocks. The 
 existence of the celebrated collections in Jassulmer and 
 Patana is not unknown to the Government, but they 
 
yo FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 remain wholly beyond its reach. The manuscripts are 
 written in an ancient and now completely forgotten 
 language, intelligible only to the high priests and their 
 initiated librarians. One thick folio is so sacred and 
 inviolable that it rests on a heavy golden chain in the 
 centre of the temple of Chintamani in Jassulmer, and is 
 taken down only to be dusted and rebound at the advent 
 of each new pontiff. This is the work of Somaditya 
 Suru Acharya, a great priest of the pre-Mussulman time, 
 well-known in history. His mantle is still preserved in 
 the temple, and forms the robe of initiation of every new 
 high priest. Colonel James Tod, who spent so many 
 years in India and gained the love of the people as well 
 as of the Brahmans — a most uncommon trait in the bio- 
 graphy of any Anglo-Indian — has written the only true 
 history of India, but even he was never allowed to touch 
 this folio. Natives commonly believe that he was offered 
 initiation into the mysteries at the price of the adoption 
 of their religion. Being a devoted archaeologist he 
 almost resolved to do so, but, having to return to Eng- 
 land on account of his health, he left this world before 
 he could return to his adopted country, and thus the 
 enigma of this new book of the sibyl remains unsolved. 
 The Takurs of Rajputana, who are said to possess 
 some of the ■ underground libraries, occupy in India a 
 position similar to the position of European feudal 
 barons of the Middle Ages. Nominally they are depen- 
 dent on some of the native princes or on the British 
 Government; but de facto they are perfectly independent. 
 Their castles are built on high rocks, and besides the 
 natural difiiculty of entering them, their possessors 
 are made doubly unreachable by the fact that long 
 secret passages exist in every such castle, known only to 
 the present owner and confided to his heir only at his 
 
IN THE KARLI CAVES. 7I 
 
 death. We have visited two such underground halls, 
 one of them big enough to contain a whole village. No 
 torture would ever induce the owners to disclose the 
 secret of their entrances, but the Yogis and the initiated 
 Adepts come and go freely, entirely trusted by the 
 Takurs. 
 
 A similar story is told concerning the libraries and 
 subterranean passages of Karli. As for the archaeolo- 
 gists, they are unable even to determine \Vhether this 
 temple was built by Buddhists or Brahmans. The huge 
 daghopa that hides the holy of holies from the eyes of 
 the worshippers is sheltered by a mushroom-shaped roof, 
 and resembles a low minaret with a cupola. Roofs of 
 this description are called "umbrellas," and usually 
 shelter the statues of Buddha and of the Chinese sages. 
 But, on the other hand, the worshippers of Shiva, who 
 possess the temple nowadays, assert that this low build- 
 ing is nothing but a lingam of Shiva. Besides, the 
 carvings of gods and goddesses cut out of the rock for- 
 bid one to think that the temple is the production of the 
 Buddhists. Fergusson writes, "What is this monument 
 of antiquity? Does it belong to the Hindus, or to the 
 Buddhists? Has it been built upon plans drawn since 
 the death of Sakya Sing, or does it belong to a more 
 ancient religion?" 
 
 That is the question. If Fergusson, being bound by 
 facts existing in inscriptions to acknowledge the anti- 
 quity of Karli, will still persist in asserting that Ele- 
 phanta is of much later date, he will scarcely be able to 
 solve this dilemma, because the two styles are exactly 
 the same, and the carvings of the latter are still more 
 magnificent. To ascribe the temples of Elephanta and 
 Kanari to the Buddhists, and to say that their respective 
 periods correspond to the fourth and fifth centuries in 
 
72 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 the first case, and the tenth in the second, is to introduce 
 into history a very strange and unfounded anachronism. 
 After the first century a.d. there was not left a single 
 influential Buddhist in India. Conquered and perse- 
 cuted by the Brahmans, they emigrated by thousands to 
 Ceylon and the trans-Himalayan districts. After the 
 death of King Asoka, Buddhism speedily broke down, 
 and in a short time was entirely displaced by the theo- 
 cratic Brahmanism. 
 
 Fergusson's hypothesis that the followers of Sakya 
 Sing, driven out by intolerance from the continent, 
 probably sought shelter on the islands that surround 
 Bombay, would hardly sustain critical analysis. Ele- 
 phanta and Salsetta are quite near to Bombay, two and 
 five miles distant respectively, and they are full of 
 ancient Hindu temples. Is it credible, then, that the 
 Brahmans, at the culminating point of their power, just 
 before the Mussulman invasions, fanatical as they were, 
 and mortal enemies of the Buddhists, would allow these 
 hated heretics to build temples within their possessions 
 in general and on Gharipuri in particular, this latter 
 being an island consecrated to their Hindu pagodas? 
 It is not necessary to be either a specialist, an architect, 
 ■or an eminent arch^ologist, in order to be convinced at 
 the first glance that such temples as Elephanta are the 
 work of Cyclopses, requiring centuries and not years for 
 their construction. Whereas in Karli everything is 
 built and carved after a perfect plan, in Elephanta it 
 seems as if thousands of different hands had wrought at 
 different times, each following its own ideas and fashion- 
 ing after its own device. All three caves are dug out of 
 a hard porphyry rock. The first temple is practically a 
 square, 130 feet 6 inches long and 130 feet wide. It 
 contains twenty-six thick pillars and sixteen pilasters. 
 
IN THE KARLI CAVES. 73 
 
 Between some of them there is a distance of 12 or 16 feet, 
 between others 15 feet 5 inches, 13 feet 3^ inches, and so 
 on. The same lack of uniformity is found in the 
 pedestals of the columns, the finish and style of which 
 is constantlj' varj-ing. 
 
 "WTi}', then, should we not pay some attention to the 
 explanations of the Brahmans? They say that this 
 temple was begnn by the sons of Pandu, after "the great 
 war," Mahabharata, and that after their death everj' true 
 believer was bidden to continue the work according to 
 his own notions. Thus the temple was graduallj' built 
 during three centuries. Everj' one who wished to re- 
 deem his sins would bring his chisel and set to work. 
 Many were the members of roj-al families, and even 
 kings, who personally took part in these labours. 
 
 On the right hand side of the temple there is a corner 
 stone, a lingam of Shiva in his character of Fructifj-ing 
 Force, which is sheltered by a small square chapel with 
 four doors. Round this chapel are man}^ colossal human 
 figfures. According to the Brahmans, these are statues 
 representing the royal sculptors themselves, they being 
 doorkeepers of the holy of holies, Hindus of the highest 
 caste. Each of the larger figures leans upon a dwarf 
 representative of the lower castes, which have been pro- 
 moted by the popular fancj' to the rank of demons 
 (Pisachas). Moreover, the temple is full of unskilful 
 work. The Brahmans hold that such a holy place could 
 not be deserted if men of the preceding and present 
 generations had not become unworthy- of visiting it. As 
 to Kanari or Kanhari, and some other cave temples, 
 there is not the slightest doubt that thej' were all erected 
 by Buddhists. In some of them were found inscriptions 
 in a perfect state of preservation, and their style does not 
 remind one in the least of the symbolical buildings of 
 
74 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 the Brahmans. Archbishop Heber thinks the Kanari 
 caves were built in the first or second centuries B.C. 
 But Elephanta is much older and must be classed among- 
 prehistoric monuments, that is to say, its date must be 
 assigned to the epoch that immediately followed the 
 "great war," Mahabharata. Unfortunately the date of 
 this war is a point of disagreement between European 
 scientists ; the celebrated and learned Dr. Martin Haug- 
 thinks it is almost antediluvian, while the no less cele- 
 brated and learned Professor Max Miiller places it as. 
 near the first century of our era as possible. 
 
 The fair was at its culmination when, having finished 
 visiting the cells, climbing over all the stories, and 
 examining the celebrated "hall of wrestlers," we de-^ 
 scended, not by way of the stairs, of which there is no 
 trace to be found, but after the fashion of pails bringing 
 water out of a deep well, that is to say, by the aid of" 
 ropes. A crowd of about three thousand persons had 
 assembled from the surrounding villages and towns. 
 Women were there adorned from the waist down in, 
 brilliant-hued saris, with rings in their noses, their ears,, 
 their lips, and on all parts of their limbs that could hold, 
 a ring. Their raven-black hair which was smoothly- 
 combed back, shone with cocoanut oil, and was adorned 
 with crimson flowers, which are sacred to Shiva and to» 
 Bhavani, the feminine aspect of this god. 
 
 Before the temple there were rows of small shops and 
 of tents, where could be bought all the requisites for the- 
 usual sacrifices — aromatic herbs, incense, sandal wood, 
 rice, gulab, and the red powder with which the pilgrim 
 sprinkles first the idol and then his own face. Fakirs, 
 bairagis, hosseins, the whole body of the mendicant- 
 brotherhood, was present among the crowd. Wreathed, 
 
IN THE KARLI CA^-ES. 75 
 
 in chaplets, wdth long uncombed hair twisted at the top 
 of the head into a regular chignon, and with bearded 
 faces, thej- presented a ver\- funn}- likeness to naked 
 apes. Some of them were covered with wounds and 
 bruises due to mortification of the flesh. We also saw 
 some bunis, snake-charmers, with dozens of various 
 snakes round their waists, necks, arms, and legs — models 
 well worth}* of the brush of a painter who intended to 
 depict the image of a male Fur}*. One jadugar was 
 especially remarkable. His head was crowned with a 
 turban of cobras. Expanding their hoods and raising 
 their leaf-like dark green heads, these cobras hissed 
 furiously and so loudh- that the sound was audible a 
 hundred paces off. Their "stings" quivered like light- 
 ning, and their small eyes glittered with anger at the 
 approach of ever\- passer-b}'. The expression, "the sting 
 of a snake," is universal, but it does not describe accu- 
 ratelj" the process of inflicting a wound. The "sting" of 
 a snake is perfect!}- harmless. To introduce the poison 
 into the blood of a man, or of an animal, the snake must 
 pierce the flesh with its fangs, not prick with its sting. 
 The needle-like eye teeth of a cobra communicate with 
 the poison gland, and if this gland is cut out the cobra 
 ■n"ill'not live more than two days. Accordingl}-, the 
 supposition of some sceptics, that the bunis cut out this 
 gland, is quite unfounded. The term "hissing" is also 
 inaccurate when applied to cobras. They do not hiss. 
 The noise they make is exactly like the death-rattle of 
 a dying man. The whole body of a cobra is shaken by 
 this loud and hea\w growl. 
 
 Here we happened to be the witnesses of a fact which 
 I relate exacth" as it occurred, without indulging in ex- 
 planations or hj-potheses of any kind. I leave to 
 naturalists the solution of the enigma. 
 
76 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 Expecting to be well paid, the cobra-turbaned buni 
 sent us word by a messenger boy that he would like 
 very much to exhibit his powers of snake-charming. 
 Of course we were perfectly willing, but on condition 
 that between us and his pupils there should be what Mr. 
 Disraeli would call a "scientific frontier."* We selected 
 a spot about fifteen paces from the magic circle. I will 
 not describe minutely the tricks and wonders that we 
 saw, but will proceed at once to the main fact. With 
 the aid of a vaguda, a kind of musical pipe of bamboo, 
 the buni caused all the snakes to fall into a sort of cata- 
 leptic sleep. The melody that he played, monotonous, 
 low, and original to the last degree, nearly sent us to 
 sleep ourselves. At all events we all grew extremely 
 sleepy without any apparent cause. We were aroused 
 from this half lethargy by our friend Gulab-Sing, who 
 gathered a handful of a grass, perfectly unknown to us, 
 and advised us to rub our temples and eyelids with it. 
 Then the buni produced from a dirty bag a kind of round 
 stone, something like a fish's eye, or an onyx with a 
 white spot in the centre, not bigger than a ten-kopek 
 bit. He declared that anyone who bought that stone 
 would be able to charm any cobra (it would produce no 
 effect on snakes of other kinds) paralyzing the creature 
 and then causing it to fall asleep. Moreover, by his 
 account, this stone is the only remedy for the bite of a 
 cobra. You have only to place this talisman on the 
 wound, where it will stick so firmly that it cannot be 
 torn off until all the poison is absorbed into it, when it 
 will fall off of itself, and all danger will be past. 
 
 Being aware that the Government gladly offers any 
 premium for the invention, of a remedy for the bite of 
 the cobra, we did not show any unreasonable interest on 
 * Written in 1879. 
 
IN THE KARLI CAVES. 77 
 
 the appearance of this stone. In the meamvhile, the 
 buni began to irritate his cobras. Choosing a cobra 
 eight feet long, he literally enraged it. Twisting its tail 
 round a tree, the cobra arose and hissed. The buni 
 quietlj' let it bite his finger, on which we all saw drops 
 of blood. A unanimous cry of horror arose in the 
 crowd. But master buni stuck the stone on his finger 
 and proceeded with his performance. 
 
 "The poison gland of the snake has been cut out," 
 remarked our New York colonel. "This is a mere 
 farce." 
 
 As if in answer to this remark, the buni seized the 
 neck of the cobra, and, after a short struggle, fixed a 
 match into its mouth, so that it remained open. Then 
 he brought the snake over and showed it to each of us 
 separatelj% so that we all saw the death-giving gland in 
 its mouth. But our colonel would not give up his first 
 impression so easilj'. "The gland is in its place right 
 enough," said he, "but how are we to know that it really 
 does contain poison?" 
 
 Then a live hen was brought forward and, tying its 
 legs together, the buni placed it beside the snake. But 
 the latter would pay no attention at first to this new 
 victim, but went on hissing at the buni, who teased and 
 irritated it until at last it actually struck at the wretched 
 bird. The hen made a weak attempt to cackle, then 
 shuddered once or twice and became still. The death 
 was instantaneous. Facts will remain facts, the most 
 exacting critic and disbeliever notwithstanding. This 
 thought gives me courage to write what happened fur- 
 ther. Little by little the cobra grew so infuriated that 
 it became evident the jadugar himself did not dare to 
 approach it. As if glued to the trunk of the tree by its 
 tail, the snake never ceased diving into space with its 
 
78 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OP HINDOSTAN. 
 
 upper part and trying to bite everything. A few steps 
 from us was somebody's dog. It seemed to attract the 
 whole of the buni's attention for some time. Sitting on 
 his haunches, as far as possible from his raging pupil, he 
 stared at the dog with motionless glassy eyes, and then 
 began a scarcely audible song. The dog grew restless. 
 Putting his tail between his legs, he tried to escape, but 
 remained, as if fastened to the ground. After a few 
 seconds he crawled nearer and nearer to the buni, whin- 
 ing, but unable to tear his gaze from the charmer. I 
 understood his object, and felt awfully sorry for the dog. 
 But, to my horror, I suddenly felt that my tongue would 
 not move. I was perfectly Unable either to get up or 
 even to raise my finger. Happily this fiendish scene was 
 not prolonged. A.s soon as the dog was near enough, 
 the cobra bit him. The poor animal fell on his back, 
 made a few convulsive movements with his legs, and 
 shortly died. We could no longer doubt that there was 
 poison in the gland. In the meanwhile the stone had 
 dropped from the buni's finger and he approached to 
 show us the healed member. We all saw the trace of 
 the prick, a red spot not bigger than the head of an 
 ordinary pin. 
 
 Next he made his snakes rise on their tails, and, hold- 
 ing the stone between his first finger and thumb, he 
 proceeded to demonstrate its influence on the cobras. 
 The nearer his hand approached to the head of the 
 snake, the more the reptile's body recoiled. I,ooking 
 steadfastly at the stone they shivered, and, one by one, 
 dropped as if paralyzed. The buni then made straight 
 for our sceptical colonel, and made him an offer to try 
 the experiment himself. We all protested vigorously, 
 but he would not listen to us, and chose a cobra of a 
 very considerable size. Armed with the stone, the 
 
IN THE KARI.I CAVES. 79 
 
 colonel braveh- approached the snake. For a moment 
 I positively felt petrified with fright. Inflating its hood, 
 the cobra made an attempt to fly at him, then suddenly 
 stopped short, and, after a pause, began following with 
 all its body the circular movements of the colonel's 
 hand. When he put the stone quite close to the rep- 
 tile's head, the snake staggered as if intoxicated, its 
 hissing grew weak, its hood dropped helplessly on both 
 sides of its neck, and its ej-es closed. Drooping lower 
 and lower, the snake fell at last on the ground like a 
 stick, and slept. 
 
 Only then did we breathe freely. Taking the sorcerer 
 aside we expressed our desire to buy the stone, to which 
 he easily assented, and, to our great astonishment, asked 
 for it only two rupees. This talisman became mj' own 
 propertj' and I still keep it. The buni asserts, and our 
 Hindu friends confirm the story, that it is not a stone 
 but an excrescence. It is found in the mouth of one 
 cobra in a hundred, between the bone of the upper jaw 
 and the skin of the palate. This "stone" is not fastened 
 to the skull, but hangs, wrapped in skin, from the palate, 
 and so is ver\' easily cut off; but after this operation the 
 cobra is said to die. If we are to believe Bishu Nath, 
 for that was our sorcerer's name, this excrescence con- 
 fers upon the cobra who possesses it the rank of king 
 over the rest of his kind. 
 
 "Such a cobra," said the buni, "is like a Brahman, a 
 Dwija Brahman amongst Shudras, they all obe}- him. 
 There exists, moreover, a poisonous toad that also, 
 sometimes, possesses this stone, but its effect is much 
 weaker. To destroy the effect of a cobra's poison j-ou 
 must appty the toad's stone not later than two minutes 
 after the infliction of the wound ; but the stone of a 
 cobra is effectual to the last. Its healing power is certain 
 
8o FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 as long as the heart of the wounded man has not ceased 
 to beat." 
 
 Bidding us good-bye, the buni advised us to keep the 
 stone in a dry place and never to leave it near a dead 
 body, also, to hide it during the sun and moon eclipses, 
 "otherwise," said he, "it will lose all its power." In 
 case we were bitten by a mad dog, he said, we were to- 
 put the stone into a glass of water and leave it there 
 during the night, next morning the sufferer was to drink 
 the water and then forget all danger. 
 
 " He is a regular devil and not a man ! " exclaimed our 
 colonel, as soon as the buni had disappeared on his way 
 to a Shiva temple, where, by the way, we were not 
 admitted. 
 
 "As simple a mortal as you or I," remarked the 
 Rajput with a smile, " and, what is more, he is very- 
 ignorant. The truth is, he has been brought up in a 
 Shivaite pagoda, like all the real snake-charmers. Shiva 
 is the patron god of snakes, and the Brahmans teach the 
 bunis to produce all kinds of mesmeric tricks by empiri- 
 cal methods, never explaining to them the theoretical 
 principles, but assuring them that Shiva is behind every 
 phenomenon. So that the bunis sincerely ascribe to 
 their god the honour of their 'miracles.' " 
 
 "The Government of India offers a reward for an 
 antidote to the poison of the cobra. Why then do the 
 bunis not claim it, rather than let thousands of people 
 die helpless?" 
 
 "The Brahmans would never suffer that. If the 
 Government took the trouble to examine carefully the 
 statistics of deaths caused by snakes, it would be found 
 that no Hindu of the Shivaite sect has e-ff^er died from the 
 bite of a cobra. They let people of other sects die, but 
 save the members of their own flock." 
 
IN THE KARLI CAVES. 8l 
 
 "But did we not see how easily he parted with his 
 secret, notwithstanding we were foreigners. Why should 
 not the English buy it as readily?" 
 
 "Because this secret is quite useless in the hands of 
 Europeans. The Hindus do not try to conceal it, because 
 thej- are perfectly certain that without their aid nobody 
 can make any use of it. The stone will retain its wonder- 
 ful power only when it is taken from a live cobra. In 
 order to catch the snake without killing it, it must be 
 cast into a lethargy-, or, if j'ou prefer the term, charmed. 
 Wlio is there among the foreigners who is able to do 
 this? Even amongst the Hindus, you will not find a 
 single indi^^dual in all India who possesses this ancient 
 secret, unless he be a disciple of the Shivaite Brahmans. 
 Only Brahmans of this sect possess a monopoly of the 
 secret, and not all even of them, only those, in short, 
 who belong to the pseudo-Patanjali school, who are 
 usually called Bhuta ascetics. Now there exist, scattered 
 over the whole of India, only about half-a-dozen of their 
 pagoda schools, and the inmates would rather part with 
 their very lives than with their secret." 
 
 "We have paid only two rupees for a secret which 
 proved as strong in the colonel's hands as in the hands 
 of the buni. Is it then so diflScult to procure a store of 
 these stones?" 
 
 Our friend laughed. 
 
 "In a few days," said he, "the talisman will lose all its 
 healing powers in your inexperienced hands. This is the 
 reason why he let it go at such a low price, which he is, 
 probably, at this moment sacrificing before the altar of 
 his deity. I guarantee you a week's activity for your 
 purchase, but after that time it will only be fit to be 
 thrown out of the window." 
 
 We soon learned how true were these words. On the 
 
 6 
 
82 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 following day we came across a little girl, bitten by a 
 green scorpion. She seemed to be in the last convul- 
 sions. No sooner had we applied the stone than the 
 child seemed relieved, and, in an hour, she was gaily 
 playing about, whereas, even in the case of the sting of 
 a common black scorpion, the patient suffers for two 
 weeks. But when, about ten days later, we tried the 
 experiment of the stone upon a poor coolie, just bitten 
 by a cobra^ it would not even stick to the wound, and 
 the poor wretch shortly expired. I do not take upon 
 myself to offer, either a defence, or an explanation of 
 the virtues of the "stone." I simply state the facts and 
 leave the future career of the story to its own fate. The 
 sceptics may deal with it as they will. Yet I can 
 easily find people in India who will bear witness to my 
 accuracy. 
 
 In this connection I was told a funny story. When 
 Dr. (now Sir J.) Fayrer, who lately published his Tha- 
 natophidia, a book on the venomous snakes of India, a 
 work well known throughout Burope, he categorically 
 stated in it his disbelief in the wondrous snake-charmers 
 of India. However, about a fortnight or so after the 
 book appeared amongst the Anglo-Indians, a cobra bit 
 his own cook. A buni, who happened to pass by, readily 
 offered to save the man's life. It stands to reason that 
 the celebrated naturalist could not accept such an offer. 
 Nevertheless, Major Kelly and other ofiicers urged him 
 to permit the experiment. Declaring that in spite of 
 all, in less than an hour his cook would be no more, he 
 gave his consent. But it happened that in less than an 
 hour the cook was quietb' preparing dinner in the 
 kitchen, and, it is added, Dr. Fayrer seriously thought 
 of throwing his book into the fire. 
 
 The day grew dreadfully hot. We felt the heat of the 
 
IN THE KARLI CAVES. 83 
 
 rocks in spite of our thick-soled shoes. Besides, the 
 general curiosity aroused by our presence, and the un- 
 ceremonious persecutions of the crowd, were becoming 
 tiring. We resolved to "go home," that is to say, to 
 return to the cool cave, six hundred paces from the 
 temple, where we were to spend the evening and to 
 sleep. We would wait no longer for our Hindu com- 
 panions, who had gone to see the fair, and so we started 
 by ourselves 
 
 On approaching the entrance of the temple we were 
 struck by the appearance of a j-oung man, who stood 
 apart from the crowd and was of an ideal beauty. He 
 was a member of the Sadhu sect, a "candidate for saint- 
 ship," to use the expression of one of our party. 
 
 The Sadhus differ greatly from every other sect. 
 They never appear unclothed, do not cover themselves 
 with damp ashes, wear no painted signs on their faces, 
 or foreheads, and do not worship idols. Belonging to 
 the Adwaiti section of the Vedantic school, they believe 
 only in Parabrahm (the great spirit). The j'oung man 
 looked quite decent in his light 3-ellow costume, a kind 
 of nightgown without sleeves. He had long hair, and his 
 head was uncovered. His elbow rested on the back of a 
 cow, which was itself well calculated to attract attention, 
 for, in addition to her four perfectly shaped legs, she had 
 a fifth growing out of her hump. This wonderful freak 
 of nature used its fifth leg as if it were a hand and arm, 
 hunting and killing tiresome flies, and scratching its 
 head with the hoof At first we thought it was a trick to 
 attract attention, and even felt offended with the animal, 
 as well as with its handsome owner, but, coming nearer, 
 we saw that it was no trick, but an actual sport of mis- 
 chievous Nature. From the young man we learned that 
 
84 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 the COW had been presented to him by the Maharaja 
 Holkar, and that her milk had been his only food during 
 the last two years. 
 
 Sadhus are aspirants to the Raj Yoga, and, as I have 
 said above, usually belong to the school of the Vedanta. 
 That is to say, they are disciples of initiates who have 
 entirely resigned the life of the world, and lead a life 
 of monastic chastity. Between the Sadhus and the 
 Shivaite bunis there exists a mortal enmity, which 
 manifests itself by a silent contempt on the side of the 
 Sadhus, and on that of the bunis b}^ constant attempts- 
 to sweep their rivals off the face of the earth. This 
 antipathy is as marked as that between light and dark- 
 ness, and reminds one of the dualism of the Ahura-Mazda 
 and Ahriman of the Zoroastrians. Masses of people look 
 up to the first as to Magi, sons of the sun and of the 
 Divine Principle, while the latter are dreaded as danger- 
 ous sorcerers. Having heard most wonderful accounts, 
 of the former, we were burning with anxiety to see 
 some of the "miracles" ascribed to them by some even 
 among the Englishmen. We eagerly invited the Sadhu 
 to visit our vihara during the evening. But the hand- 
 some ascetic sternly refused, for the reason that we were 
 staying within the temple of the idol-worshippers, the 
 very air of which would prove antagonistic to him. We 
 offered him money, but he would not touch it, and so we 
 parted. 
 
 A path, or rather a ledge cut along the perpendicular 
 face of a rocky mass 200 feet high, led from the chief 
 temple to our vihSra. A man needs good eyes, sure feet, 
 and a very strong head to avoid sliding down the preci- 
 pice at the first false step. Any help would be quite out 
 of the question, for, the ledge being only two feet wide, 
 no one could walk side by side with another. We hai 
 
IN THE KARLI CAVES. 85 
 
 to walk one by one, appealing for aid only to the whole 
 of our personal courage. But the courage of many of us 
 was gone on an unlimited furlough. The position of 
 our American colonel was the worst, for he was very 
 stout and short-sighted, which defects, taken together, 
 caused him frequent vertigos. To keep up our spirits we 
 indulged in a choral performance of the duet from Norma, 
 " Moriam' insieme," holding each other's hands the 
 while, to ensure our being spared by death or d^-ing all 
 four in companj'. But the colonel did not fail to frighten 
 us nearly out of our lives. We were already half way up 
 to the cave when he made a false step, staggered, lost 
 hold of m}' hand, and rolled over the edge. We three, 
 having to clutch the bushes and stones, were quite 
 unable to help him. A unanimous cry of horror escaped 
 us, but died awa}- as we perceived that he had succeeded 
 in clinging to the trunk of a small tree, which grew on 
 the slope a few steps below us. Fortunately, we knew 
 that the colonel was good at athletics, and remarkably 
 cool in danger. Still the moment was a critical one. The 
 slender stem of the tree might give way at any moment. 
 Our cries of distress were answered by the sudden 
 appearance of the mj'sterious Sadhu with his cow. 
 
 Thej' were quietlj' walking along about twenty feet 
 below us, on such invisible projections of the rock that a 
 child's foot could barely have found room to rest there, 
 and they both travelled as calmly, and even carelessly, as 
 if a comfortable causeway were beneath their feet, instead 
 of a vertical rock. The Sadhu called out to the colonel 
 to hold on, and to us to keep quiet. He patted the neck 
 of his monstrous cow, and untied the rope by which he 
 was leading her. Then, with both hands he turned her 
 head in our direction, and clucking with his tongue, he 
 cried "Chal!" (go). With a few wild goat-like bounds 
 
86 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 the animal reached our path, and stood before us motion- 
 less. As for the Sadhu himself, his movements were 
 as swift and as goat-like. In a moment he had reached 
 the tree, tied the rope round the colonel's body, and put 
 him on his legs again ; then, rising higher, with one effort 
 of his strong hand he hoisted him up to the path. Our 
 colonel was with us once more, rather pale, and with the 
 loss of his pince-nez, but not of his presence of mind. 
 
 An adventure that had threatened to become a tragedy- 
 ended in a farce. 
 
 "What is to be done now?" was our unanimous in- 
 quiry. "We cannot let you go alone any further." 
 
 "In a few moments it will be dark and we shall be 
 lost," said Mr. Y , the colonel's secretary. 
 
 And, indeed, the sun was dipping below the horizon, 
 and every moment was precious. In the meanwhile, the 
 Sadhu had fastened the rope round the cow's neck 
 again and stood before us on the pathway, evidently not 
 understanding a word of our conversation. His tall, 
 slim figure seemed as if suspended in the air above the 
 precipice. His long, black hair, floating in the breeze, 
 alone showed that in him we beheld a living being and 
 not a magnificent statue of bronze. Forgetting our 
 recent danger and our present awkward situation. Miss 
 
 X , who was a born artist, exclaimed: "I,ook at the 
 
 majesty of that pure profile; observe the pose of that 
 man. How beautiful are his outlines seen against the 
 golden and blue sky. One would say, a Greek Adonis, 
 not a Hindu!" 
 
 But the "Adonis" in question put a sudden stop to 
 her ecstasy. He glanced at Miss X with half-pity- 
 ing, half-kindly, laughing eyes, and said with his ringing 
 voice in Hindi— 
 
 "Bara-Sahib cannot go any further without the help 
 
IN THE KAELI CAVES. 87 
 
 of someone else's eyes. Sahib's eyes are his enemies. 
 Let the Sahib ride on my cow. She cannot stumble." 
 
 "I! Ride on a cow, and a five-legged one at that? 
 Never! " exclaimed the poor colonel, with such a help- 
 less air, nevertheless, that we burst out laughing, 
 
 "It will be better for Sahib to sit on a cow than to lie 
 on a chitta" (the pyre on which dead bodies are burned), 
 remarked the Sadhu with modest seriousness. "Why 
 call forth the hour which has not yet struck?" 
 
 The colonel saw that argument was perfectly useless, 
 and we succeeded in persuading him to follow the 
 Sadhu' s advice, who carefully hoisted him on the cow's 
 back, then, recommending him to hold on by the fifth 
 leg, he led thewaj*. We all followed to the best of our 
 abilit}-. 
 
 In a few minutes more we were on the verandah of 
 our vihara, where we found our Hindu friends, who had 
 arrived by another path. We eagerly related all our 
 adventures, and then looked for the Sadhu, but, in the 
 meanwhile, he had disappeared together with his cow. 
 
 "Do not look for him, he is gone bj' a road known 
 only to himself," remarked Gulab-Sing carelessly. "He 
 knows you are sincere in j'our gratitude, but he would 
 not take your mone}'. He is a Sadhu, not a buni," 
 added he proudly. 
 
 We remembered that it was reported this proud friend 
 of ours also belonged to the Sadhu sect. "Who can 
 tell," whispered the colonel in my ear, "whether these 
 reports are mere gossip, or the truth?" 
 
 Sadhu-Nanaka must not be confounded with Guru- 
 Nanaka, a leader of the Sikhs. The former are Adwaitas, 
 the latter monotheists. The Adwaitas believe only in 
 an impersonal deity named Parabrahm. 
 
 In the chief hall of the vihara was a life-sized statue 
 
88 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 of Bhavani, the feminine aspect of Shiva. From the 
 bosom of this devaki streams forth the pure cold water 
 of a mountain spring, which falls into a reservoir at her 
 feet. Around it lay heaps of sacrificial flowers, rice, 
 betel leaves and incense. This hall was, in consequence, 
 so damp that we preferred to spend the night on the 
 verandah in the open air, hanging, as it were, between 
 sky and earth, and lit from below by numerous fires 
 kept burning all the night by Gulab-Sing's servants, to 
 scare away wild beasts, and, from above, by the light of 
 the full moon. A supper was arranged after the Eastern 
 fashion, on carpets spread upon the floor, and with thick 
 banana leaves for plates and dishes. The noiselessly 
 gliding steps of the servants, more silent than ghosts, 
 their white muslins and red turbans, the limitless depths 
 of space, lost in waves of moonlight, before us, and 
 behind, the dark vaults of ancient caves, dug out by 
 unknown races, in unknown times, in honour of an 
 unknown, prehistoric religion — all these, our surround- 
 ings, transported us into a strange world, and into 
 distant epochs far different from our own. 
 
 We had before us representatives of five different 
 peoples, five difierent types of costume, each quite un- 
 like the others. All five are known to us in ethno- 
 graphy under the generic name of Hindus. Similarly 
 eagles, condors, hawks, vultures, and owls are known to 
 ornithology as "birds of prey," but the analogous dif- 
 ferences are as great. Each of these five companions, a 
 Rajput, a Bengali, a Madrasi, a Sinhalese and a Mah- 
 ratti, is a descendant of a race, the origin of which 
 European scientists have discussed for over half a cen- 
 tury without coming to any agreement. 
 
 Rajputs are called Hindus and are said to belong to 
 
IN THE KARLI CAVES. 89 
 
 the Ar3'an race; but they call themselves Surj-a-vansa, 
 that is to saj-, descendants of Sun-a or the sun. 
 
 The Brahmans derive their origin from Indu, the 
 moon, and are called Indu-vansa; Indu, Soma, or Chan- 
 dra, meaning moon in Sanskrit. If the first Arj-ans, 
 appearing in the prologue of universal histon,-, are Brah- 
 mans, that is to sa}-, the people who, according to Max 
 Miiller, having crossed the Himalaj-as conquered the 
 country- of the five rivers, then the Rajputs are no 
 Arj'ans; and if they are Aryans thej' are not Brahmans, 
 as all their genealogies and sacred books {Pia-diias) 
 show that the}- are much older than the Brahmans ; and, 
 in this case, moreover, the Aryan tribes had an actual 
 existence in other countries of our globe than the much 
 renowned district of the Oxus, the cradle of the Ger- 
 manic race, the ancestors of Aryans and Hindus, in the 
 fanc3^ of the scientist we have named and his German 
 school. 
 
 The "moon" line begins with Pururavas (see the 
 genealogical tree prepared bj- Colonel Tod from the 
 MS. Puranas in the Oodeypore archives), that is to saj-, 
 two thousand two hundred }"ears before Christ, and 
 much later than Ikshvaku, the patriarch of the Sun.-a- 
 vansa. The fourth son of Pururavas, Rech, stands at 
 the head of the line of the moon-race, and orAy in the 
 fifteenth generation after him appears Harita, who 
 founded the Kanshikagotra, the Brahman tribe. 
 
 The Rajputs hate the latter. They say the children 
 of the sun and Rama have nothing in common with 
 the children of the moon and Krishna. As for the 
 Bengalis, according to their traditions and history, they 
 are aborigines. The Madrasis and the Sinhalese are 
 Dravidians. The}' have, in turn, been said to belong to 
 the Semites, the Hamites, the Aryans, and, lastly, they 
 
go FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 have been given up to the will of God, with the conclu- 
 sion drawn that the Sinhalese, at all events, must be 
 Mongolians of Turanian origin. The Mahrattis are 
 aborigines of the West of India, as the Bengalis are 
 of the East; but to what group of tribes belong these- 
 two nationalities no ethnographer can define, save per- 
 haps a German. The traditions of the people them- 
 selves are generally denied, because they are not in 
 harmony with foregone conclusions. The meaning of 
 ancient manuscripts is disfigured, and, in fact, sacri- 
 ficed to fiction, if only the latter proceeds from the: 
 mouth of some favourite oracle. 
 
 The ignorant masses are often blamed and found to- 
 be guilty of superstition for creating idols in the spiritual 
 world. Is not, then, the educated man, the man who- 
 craves after knowledge, who is enlightened, still more- 
 inconsistent than these masses, when he deals with his 
 favotirite authorities? Are not half a dozen laurel- 
 crowned heads allowed by him to do whatever they like 
 with facts, to draw their own conclusions, according to> 
 their own liking, and does he not stone every one who- 
 would dare to rise against the decisions of these quasi- 
 infallible specialists, and brand him as an ignorant fool ?■ 
 
 Let us remember the case in point of lyouis JacoUiot, 
 who spent twenty years in India, who actually knew the- 
 language and the country to perfection, and who, never- 
 theless, was rolled in the mud by Max Miiller, whose 
 foot never touched Indian soil. 
 
 The oldest peoples of Europe are mere babes com- 
 pared with the tribes of Asia, and especially of India> 
 And oh ! how poor and insignificant are the genealogies- 
 of the oldest European families compared with those 
 of some Rajputs. In the opinion of Colonel Tod, wha 
 for over twenty years studied these genealogies on the 
 
IN THE EARI.I CAVES. 9I 
 
 Spot, they are the completest and most trustworthy of the 
 records of the peoples of antiquit}-. Thej- date from 1,000 
 to 2,200 years B.C., and their authenticity may often be 
 proved by reference to Greek authors. After long and 
 careful research and comparison vnth the text of the 
 Purdnas, and various monumental inscriptions. Colonel 
 Tod came to tlie conclusion that in the Oodej-pore 
 archives (now hidden from public inspection), not 
 to mention other sources, may be found a clue to the 
 history of India in particular, and to universal ancient 
 history in general. Colonel Tod advises the earnest 
 seeker after this clue not to think, with some flippant 
 archaeologists who are insufficiently acquainted with 
 India, that the stories of Rama, the JNIahabharata, 
 Krishna, and the five brothers Pandu, are mere alle- 
 gories. He affirms that he who seriously considers 
 these legends will very soon become thoroughly con- 
 vinced that all these so-called "fables" are founded on 
 historical facts, by the actual existence of the descen- 
 dants of the heroes, by tribes, ancient towns, and coins 
 still extant; that to acquire the right to pronounce a 
 final opinion one must read first the inscriptions on the 
 Inda-Prestha pillars of Purag and Mevar, on the rocks 
 of Junagur, in Bijoli, on Aravuli and on all the ancient 
 Jaina temples scattered throughout India, where are to 
 be found numerous inscriptions in a language utterly 
 unknown, in comparison with which the hieroglj-phs 
 will seem a mere to}*. 
 
 Yet, nevertheless. Professor Max ^liiller, who, as 
 already mentioned, was never in India, sits as a judge 
 and corrects chronological tables as is his wont, and 
 Europe, taking his words for those of an oracle, endorses 
 his decisions. Et c'cst ainsi qice s'c'crii Vhistoire. 
 
 Talking of the venerable German Sanskritist's chron- 
 
92 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 ology, I cannot resist the desire to show, be it only to 
 Russia, on what a fragile basis are founded his scientific 
 discussions, and how little he is to be trusted when he 
 pronounces upon the antiquity of this or that manuscript. 
 These pages are of a superficial and descriptive nature, 
 and, as such, make no pretence to profound learning, so 
 that what follows may seem incongruous. But it must 
 be remembered that in Russia, as elsewhere in Europe, 
 people estimate the value of this philological light by 
 the points of exclamation lavished upon him by his 
 admiring followers, and that no one reads the Veda 
 Bhashya of Swami Dayanand. It may even be that I 
 shall not be far from the truth in saying that the very 
 existence of this work is ignored, which may perhaps be 
 a fortunate fact for the reputation of Professor Max 
 Miiller. I shall be as brief as possible. When Professor 
 Max Miiller states, in his Sahitya-Grantha, that the 
 Aryan tribe in India acquired the notion of God step by 
 step and very slowly, he evidently wishes to prove that 
 the Vedas are far from being as old as is supposed by 
 some of his colleagues. Having presented, in due 
 course, some more or less valuable evidence to prove 
 the truth of this new theory, he ends with a fact which, 
 in his opinion, is indisputable. He points to the word 
 hiranya-garbha in the mantrams, which he trans- 
 lates by the word "gold," and adds that, as the part of 
 the Vedas called chanda appeared 3,100 years ago, the 
 part called mantrams could not have been written earlier 
 than 2,900 years ago. Let me remind the reader that 
 the Vedas are divided into two parts: chandas— slokas, 
 verses, etc.; and mantrams— prayers and rhythmical 
 hymns, which are, at the same time, incantations used 
 in white magic. Professor Max Miiller divides the 
 mantram ("Agnihi Poorwebhihi," etc.) philologically 
 
IN THE KARI^I CAVES. 93 
 
 and chronologicalh', and, finding in it the word hiranya- 
 garbha, he denounces it as an anachronism. The 
 ancients, he says, had no knowledge of gold, and, there- 
 fore, if gold is mentioned in this mantram it means that 
 the mantram was composed at a comparatively modern 
 epoch, and so on. 
 
 But here the illustrious Sanskritist is very much mis- 
 taken. Swami Dayanand and other pandits, who some- 
 times are far from being Dayanand's allies, maintain that 
 Professor Max Miiller has completely misunderstood 
 the meaning of the term hiranya. Originally it did not 
 mean, and, when united to the word garbha, e\'en now 
 does not mean, gold. So all the Professor's brilliant 
 demonstrations are labour in vain. The word hiranya 
 in this mantram must be translated "divine light" — 
 m3-stically a symbol of knowledge; analogically the 
 alchemists used the term "sublimated gold" for "light," 
 and hoped to compose the objective metal out of its rays. 
 The two words, hiranya-garbha, taken together, mean, 
 literally, the "radiant bosom," and, when used in the 
 Vcdas, designate the first principle, in whose bosom, 
 like gold in the bosom of the earth, rests the light of 
 divine knowledge and truth, the essence of the soul 
 liberated from the sins of the world. In the mantrams, 
 as in the chandas, one must always look for a double 
 meaning; (i) a metaphysical one, purely abstract, and 
 (2) one as purely physical ; for everything existing upon 
 the earth is closely bound to the spiritual world, from 
 which it proceeds and by which it is reabsorbed. For 
 instance Indra, the god of thunder, Surj'a, the sun-god, 
 Vayu, god of the wind, and Agni, god of fire, all four 
 depending on this first divine principle, expand, accord- 
 ing to the mantram from hiranya-garbha, the radiant 
 bosom. In this case the gods are the personifications of 
 
94 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 the forces of Natuare. But the initiated Adepts of India 
 understand very clearly that the god Indra, for instance, 
 is nothing more than a mere sound, born of the shock 
 of electrical forces, or simply electricity itself. Surya is 
 not the god of the sun, but simply the centre of fire in 
 our system, the essence whence come fire, warmth, light, 
 and so on ; the very thing, namely, which no European 
 scientist, steering an even course between Tyndall and 
 Schropfer, has, as yet, defined. This concealed meaning 
 has totally escaped Professor Max Miiller's attention, 
 and this is why, clinging to the dead letter, he never 
 hesitates before cutting a Gordian knot. How then 
 can he be permitted to pronounce upon the antiquity 
 of the Vedas, when he is so far from the right under- 
 standing of the language of these ancient writings. 
 
 The above is a resume oi Dayanand's argument, and to 
 him the Sanskritists must apply for further particulars, 
 which they will certainly find in his Rigvedadi Bhashj^a 
 Bhoomika. 
 
 In the cave, every one slept soundly round the fire 
 except myself. None of my companions seemed to 
 mind in the least either the hum of the thousand voices 
 of the fair, or the prolonged, far-away roar of the tigers 
 rising from the valley, or even the loud prayers of the 
 pilgrims who passed to and fro all night long, never 
 fearing to cross the steep passage which, even by day- 
 light, caused us such perplexity. They came in parties 
 of twos and threes, and sometimes there appeared a 
 lonely unescorted woman. They could not reach the 
 large vihara, because we occupied the verandah at its 
 entrance, and so, after grumbling a little, they entered a 
 small lateral cave something like a chapel, containing a 
 statue of Devaki-Mata, above a tank full of water. Each 
 
IN THE KARI.I CAVES. 95 
 
 pilgrim prostrated himself for a time, then placed his 
 ■offering at the feet of the goddess and bathed in the 
 ■" holy waters of purification," or, at the least, sprinkled 
 ■some water over his forehead, cheeks, and breast. Lastly, 
 retreating backwards, he knelt again at the door and 
 disappeared in the darkness with a final invocation: 
 •"Mata, maha mata!" — Mother, O great mother! 
 
 Two of Gulab-Sing's sen-ants, with traditional spears 
 and shields of rhinoceros skin, who had been ordered 
 to protect us from wild beasts, sat on the steps of the 
 verandah. I was unable to sleep, and so watched with 
 increasing curiosity everything that was going on. The 
 Takur, too, was sleepless. Everj^ time I raised m}' eyes, 
 lieavv with fatigue, the first object upon which they fell 
 ■was the gigantic figure of our mysterious friend. 
 
 Having seated himself after the Eastern fashion, with 
 his feet drawn up and his arms round his knees, the 
 Rajput sat on a bench cut in the rock at one end of the 
 verandah, gazing out into the silver^- atmosphere. He 
 ■R-as so near the abj'ss that the least incautious move- 
 ment would expose him to great danger. But the granite 
 goddess, Bhavani herself, could not be more immov- 
 able. The light of the moon before him was so strong 
 that the black shadow under the rock which sheltered 
 him was doubly impenetrable, shrouding his face in 
 absolute darkness. From time to time the flame of the 
 sinking fires leaping up shed its hot reflection on the 
 dark bronze face, enabling me to distinguish its sphinx- 
 like lineaments and its shining eyes, as unmoving as the 
 rest of the features. 
 
 "What am I to think? Is he simply sleeping, or is he 
 in that strange state, that temporarj- annihilation of 
 bodily life? . . . Only this morning he was telling 
 us how the initiate Raj -yogis were able to plunge into 
 
96 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGI,ES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 this State at will Oh, if I could only go to> 
 
 sleep. . . ." 
 
 Suddenly a loud prolonged hissing, quite close to ni5r 
 ear, made me start, trembling with indistinct reminis- 
 cences of cobras. The sound was strident and evi- 
 dently came from under the hay upon which I rested. 
 Then it struck one! two! It was our American alarum- 
 clock, which always travelled with me. I could not 
 help laughing at myself, and, at the same time, feeling" 
 a little ashamed of my involuntary fright. 
 
 But neither the hissing, nor the loud striking of the 
 
 clock, nor my sudden movement, that made Miss X 
 
 raise her sleepy head, awakened Gulab-Sing, who still 
 hung over the precipice. Another half hour passed. 
 The far-away roar of the festivity was still heard, but 
 everything round me was calm and still. Sleep fled 
 further and further from my eyes. A fresh, strong wind 
 arose, before the dawn, rustling the leaves and then, 
 shaking the tops of the trees that rose above the abyss. 
 My attention became absorbed by the group of three 
 Rajputs before me — by the two shield bearers and their 
 master. I cannot tell why I was specially attracted at 
 this moment by the sight of the long hair of the servants, 
 which was waving in the wind, though the place they 
 occupied was comparatively sheltered. I turned my eyes- 
 upon their Sahib, and the blood in my veins stood stilL 
 The veil of somebody's topi, which hung beside him, 
 tied to a pillar, was simply whirling in the wind, while 
 the hair of the Sahib himself lay as still as if it had been 
 glued to his shoulders, not a hair moved, nor a single 
 fold of his light muslin garment. No statue could be 
 more motionless. 
 
 What is this then ? I said to myself. Is it delirium ? 
 Is this a hallucination, or a wonderful inexplicable 
 
IN THE KARI.! CAVES. 97 
 
 reality? I shut my eyes, telling myself I must look no 
 longer. But a moment later I again looked up, startled 
 by a crackling sound from above the steps. The long, 
 dark silhouette of some animal appeared at the entrance, 
 clearly outlined against the pale sky. I saw it in profile. 
 Its long tail was lashing to and fro. Both the servants 
 rose swiftlj' and noiselessly and turned their heads 
 towards Gulab-Sing, as if asking for orders. But where 
 was Gulab-Sing? In the place which, but a moment 
 ago, he occupied, there was no one. There lay only the 
 topi, torn from the pillar bj' the wind. I sprang up: a 
 tremendous roar deafened me, filling the vihara, waken- 
 ing the slumbering echoes, and resounding, like the 
 softened rumbling of thunder, over all the borders of the 
 precipice. Good heavens! A tiger! 
 
 Before this thought had time to shape itself clearly in 
 my mind, the sleepers sprang up and the men all seized 
 their guns and revolvers, and then we heard the sound 
 of crashing branches, and of something heavy sliding 
 down into the precipice. The alarm was general. 
 
 "What is the matter now?" said the calm voice of 
 Gulab-Sing, and I again saw him on the stone bench. 
 "Why should you be so frightened?" 
 
 "A tiger! Was it not a tiger?" came in hasty, 
 questioning tones from Europeans and Hindus. 
 
 Mis3 X trembled like one stricken with fever. 
 
 "Whether it was a tiger, or something else, matters very 
 little to us now. Whatever it was, it is, by this time, at 
 the bottom of the abyss," answered the Rajput yawning. 
 
 "I wonder the Government does not destroy all these 
 
 horrid animals," sobbed poor Miss X , who evidently 
 
 believed firmly in the omnipotence of her Executive. 
 
 "But how did you get rid of the 'striped one'?" in- 
 sisted the colonel. " Has any one fired a shot?" 
 
g8 FROM THB CAVES AND JUNGLES OP HINDOSTAN. 
 
 "You Europeans think that shooting is, if not the 
 only, at least the best way to get rid of wild animals. 
 We possess other means, which are sometimes more 
 efficacious than guns," explained Babu Narendro-Das- 
 Sen. "Wait until you come to Bengal, .there you will 
 have many opportunities to make acquaintance with the 
 tigers.'' 
 
 It was now getting light, and Gulab-Sing proposed to 
 us to descend and examine the rest of the caves and the 
 ruins of a fortress before the day became too hot, so, at 
 half-past throe, we went by another and easier way to 
 the valley, and, happily, this time we had no adventures. 
 The Mahratti did not accompany us. He disappeared 
 without informing us whither he was going. 
 
 We saw Logarh, a fortress which was captured by 
 Sivaji from the Moguls in 1670, and the ruins of the 
 hall, where the widow of Nana Farnavese, under the 
 pretext of aii English protectorate, became de facto the 
 captive of General Wellesley in 1804, with a yearly 
 pension of 12,000 rupees. We then started for the village 
 of Vargaon, once fortified and still very rich. We were 
 to spend the hottest hours of the day there, from nine in 
 the morning until four in the afternoon, and proceed 
 afterwards to the historical caves of Birsa and Badjah, 
 about three miles from Karli. 
 
 At about two P.M. when, in spite of the huge punkahs 
 waving to and fro, we were grumbling at the heat, 
 appeared our friend the Mahratta Brahman, whom we 
 thought we had lost on the way. Accompanied by half- 
 a-dozen Daknis (inhabitants of the Dekhan plateau) he 
 was slowly advancing, seated almost on the ears of his 
 horse, which snorted and seemed very unwilling to 
 move. When he reached the verandah and jumped 
 
IN THE KARLI CAVES. , 99 
 
 down, we saw the reason of his disappearance. Across 
 the saddle was tied a huge tiger, whose tail dragged in 
 the dust. There were traces of dark blood in his half- 
 opened mouth. He was taken from the horse and laid 
 down by the doorstep. 
 
 Was it our visitor of the night before? I iDoked at 
 Gulab-Sing. He lay on a rug in a corner, resting his 
 head on his hand and reading. He knitted his brows 
 slightly, but did not say a word. The Brahman who had 
 just brought the tiger was very silent too, watching 
 over certain preparations, as if making ready for some 
 solemnity. We soon learned that, in the eyes of a 
 superstitious people, what was about to happen was a 
 solemnity indeed. 
 
 A bit of hair cut from the skin of a tiger that has been 
 killed, neither by bullet, nor by knife, but bj^ a "word," 
 is considered the best of all talismans against his tribe. 
 "This is a very rare opportunity," explained the 
 Mahratti. "It is very seldom that one meets with a 
 man who possesses the word. Yogis and Sadhus do not 
 generally kill wild animals, thinking it sinful to destro)^ 
 any living creature, be it even a cobra or a tiger, so they 
 simply keep out of the way of noxious animals. There 
 exists only one brotherhood in India whose members 
 possess all secrets, and from whom nothing in nature 
 is concealed. Here is the body of the tiger to testify 
 that the animal was not killed with a weapon of any 
 kind, but simply by the word of Gulab-Lal-Sing. I 
 found it, very easily, in the bushes exactly under our 
 vihara, at the foot of the rock over which the tiger had 
 rolled, alread}' dead. Tigers never make false steps. 
 Gulab-Lal-Sing, you are a Raj-Yogi, and I salute you!" 
 added the proud Brahman, kneeling before the Takur. 
 "Do not use vain words, Krishna Rao!" interrupted 
 
lOO FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 Gulab-Sing. " Get up ; do not play the part of a 
 Shudra." 
 
 "I obey you, Sahib, but, forgive me, I trust my own 
 judgment. No Raj-Yogi ever yet acknowledged his 
 connection with the brotherhood, since the time Mount 
 Abu came into existence." 
 
 And he began distributing bits of hair taken from the 
 dead animal. No one spoke. I gazed curiously at the 
 group of my fellow-travellers. The colonel, President 
 of our Society, sat with downcast eyes, very pale. His 
 
 secretary, Mr. Y , lay on his back, smoking a cigar 
 
 and looking straight above him, with no expression in 
 his eyes. He silently accepted the hair and put it in 
 his purse. The Hindus stood round the tiger, and 
 the Sinhalese traced mysterious signs on its forehead. 
 Gulab-Sing continued quietly reading his book. 
 
 The Birza cave, about six miles from Vargaon, is 
 constructed on the same plan as Karli. The vault-like 
 ceiling of the temple rests upon twenty-six pillars, 
 eighteen feet high, and the portico on four, twenty-eight 
 feet high ; over the portico are carved groups of horses, 
 oxen, and elephants, of the most exquisite beauty. The 
 "Hall of Initiation " is a spacious, oval room, with pillars, 
 and eleven very deep cells cut in the rock. The Bajah 
 caves are older and more beautiful. Inscriptions may 
 still be seen showing that all these temples were built 
 by Buddhists, or, rather, by Jainas. Modern Buddhists 
 believe in one Buddha only, Gautama, Prince of Kap^la- 
 vastu (six centuries before Christ) whereas the Jainas 
 recognize a Buddha in each of their twenty-four divine 
 teachers (Tirthankaras) the last of whom was the Guru 
 (teacher) of Gautama. This disagreement is very em- 
 barrassing when people try to conjecture the antiquity 
 
IN THE KARLI CAVES. lOI 
 
 of this or that vihara or chaitj^a. The origin of the 
 Jaina sect is lost iu the remotest, unfathomed antiquit}-, 
 so the name of Buddha, mentioned in the inscriptions, 
 may be attributed to the last of the Buddhas as easily as 
 to the first, who lived (see Tod's genealogy) a long time 
 before 2,200 B.C. 
 
 One of the inscriptions in the Baira cave, for instance, 
 in cuneiform characters, saj-s: "From an ascetic in 
 Nassik to the one who is worthy, to the holy Buddha, 
 purified from sins, heavenl}' and great." 
 
 This tends to convince scientists that the cave was 
 cut out by Buddhists. 
 
 Another inscription, in the same cave, but over an- 
 other cell, contains the following : "An agreeable ofi"er- 
 ing of a small gift to the mo^-ing force [life], to the mind 
 principle [soul], the well-beloved material body, fruit of 
 Manu, priceless treasure, to the highest and here present, 
 Heavenlj-." 
 
 Of course the conclusion is dra'mi that the building 
 does not belong to the Buddhists, but to the Brahmans, 
 who believe in Manu. 
 
 Here are two more inscriptions from Bajah caves. 
 "An agreeable gift of the S5Tnbol and vehicle of the 
 purified Saka-Saka." 
 
 " Gift of the vehicle of Radha [wife of Krishna, symbol 
 of perfection] to Sugata who is gone for ever." 
 
 Sugata, again, is one of the names of Buddha. A new 
 contradiction ! 
 
 It was somewhere here, in the neighbourhood of Var- 
 gaon, that the Mahrattis seized Captain Vaughan and his 
 brother, who were hanged after the battle of Khirki. 
 
 Next morning we drove to Chinchor, or, as it is called 
 here, Chinchood. This place is celebrated in the annals 
 
I02 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 of the Dekkan. Here one meets with a repetition in 
 miniature of what takes place on a larger scale at L'hassa 
 in Tibet. As Buddha incarnates in every new Dalai- 
 I^ama, so, here, Gunpati (Ganesha, the god of wisdom 
 with the elephant's head) is allowed by his father Shiva 
 to incarnate in the eldest son of a certain Brahman 
 family. There is a splendid temple erected in his 
 honour, where the avatars (incarnations) of Gunpati 
 have lived and received adoration for over two hundred 
 years. 
 
 This is how it happened. 
 
 About 250 years ago a poor Brahman couple were 
 promised, in sleep, by the god of wisdom that he would 
 incarnate in their eldest son. The boy was named 
 Maroba (one of the god's titles) in honour of the deity. 
 Maroba grew up, married, and begot several sons, after 
 which he was commanded by the god to relinquish the 
 world and finish his days in the desert. There, during 
 twenty-two years, according to the legend, Maroba 
 wrought miracles and his fame grew day by day. He 
 lived in an impenetrable jungle, in a corner of the thick 
 forest that covered Chinchood in those days. Gunpati 
 appeared to him once more, and promised to incarnate 
 in his descendants for seven generations. After this 
 there was no limit to his miracles, so that the people 
 began to worship him, and ended by building a splendid 
 temple for him. 
 
 At last Maroba gave orders to the people to bury 
 him alive, in a sitting posture, with an open book in his 
 hands, and never to open his grave again under penalty 
 of his wrath and maledictions. After the burial of 
 Maroba, Gunpati incarnated in his first-born, who began 
 a conjuring career in his turn. So that Maroba-Deo I. 
 was replaced bj' Chintaman-Deo I. This latter god had 
 
IN THE KARLI CAVES. IO3 
 
 eight wives and eight sons. The tricks of the eldest of 
 these sous, Xarayan-Deo I., became so celebrated that 
 his fame reached the ears of the Emperor Alamgir. In 
 order to test the extent of his "deification," Alamgir 
 sent him a piece of a cow's tail wrapped in rich stuffs 
 and coverings. Xow, to touch the tail of a dead cow is 
 the worst of all degradations for a Hindu. On receiving 
 it Xarayan sprinkled the parcel with water, and, when 
 the stuffs were unfolded, there was found enclosed in 
 them a nosegay of white syringa, instead of the ungodly- 
 tail. This transformation rejoiced the Emperor so much 
 that he presented the god with eight villages, to cover 
 his private expenses. Xarayan's social position and 
 property were inherited by Chintaman-Deo II., whose 
 heir was Dharmadhar, and, lasth", Xarayan II. came 
 into power. He drew down the malediction of Gunpati 
 b}" violating the grave of ^laroba. That is whj' his son, 
 the last of the gods, is to die without issue. 
 
 When we saw him he was an aged man, about ninetj- 
 years old. He was seated on a kind of platform. His 
 head shook and his eyes idiotically stared without seeing 
 us, the result of his constant use of opium. On his 
 neck, ears, and toes, shone precious stones, and all 
 around were spread offerings. We had to take off our 
 shoes before we were allowed to approach this half- 
 ruined relic. 
 
 On the evening of the same day we returned to Bom- 
 bay. Two days later we were to start on our long 
 journey to the Xorth-West Pro\-inces, and our route 
 promised to be ver],- attractive. We were to see Xassik, 
 one of the few towns mentioned bj- Greek historians, its 
 caves, and the tower of Rama; to visit Allahabad, the 
 ancient Prayaga, the metropolis of the moon dynasty, 
 
I04 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 "built at the confluence of the Ganges and Jumna; 
 Benares, the town of five thousand temples and as many- 
 monkeys ; Cawnpur, notorious for the bloody revenge of 
 Nana Sahib; the remains of the city of the sun, de- 
 stroyed, according to the computations of Colebrooke, 
 six thousand years ago; Agra and Delhi; and then, 
 having explored Rajistan with its thousand Takur 
 castles, fortresses, ruins, and legends, we were to go to 
 lyahore, the metropolis of the Punjab, and, lastly, to stay 
 for a while in Amritsar. There, in the Golden Temple, 
 built in the centre of the " I,ake of Immortality," 
 was to be held the first meeting of the members of our 
 Society, Brahmans, Buddhists, Sikhs, etc. — in a word, 
 the representatives of the one thousand and one sects of 
 India, who all sympathized, more or less, with the idea 
 of the Brotherhood of Humanity of our Theosophical 
 Society. 
 
VAXISHED GLORIES. 
 
 Benares, Prayaga i^uow Allahabad), Xassik, Hurd- 
 "war, Bhadrinath, Matura — these were the sacred places 
 of prehistoric India which we were to \-isit one after the 
 other; but to visit them, not after the usual manner of 
 tourists, a vol d'oiscaic, with a cheap guide-book in our 
 hands and a cicerone to weary our brains, and wear out 
 our legs. We were well aware that all these ancient 
 places are thronged with traditions and overgrown with 
 the weeds of popular fanc}", like ruins of ancient castles 
 covered with i\-y-; that the original shape of the building 
 is destroyed bj" the cold embrace of these parasitic plants, 
 and that it is as difficult for the archaeologist to form an 
 idea of the architecture of the once perfect edifice, judg- 
 ing only bj- the heaps of disfigured rubbish that cover 
 the country-, as for us to select from out the thick mass 
 of legends good wheat from weeds. Xo guides and no 
 cicerone could be of any use whatever to us. The onlj' 
 thing they could do would be to point out to us places 
 -where once there stood a fortress, a castle, a temple, a 
 sacred grove, or a celebrated town, and then to repeat 
 legends which came into existence only lately, under 
 the Mussulman rule. As to the undisguised truth, the 
 original histon.- of even,- interesting spot, we should 
 have had to search for these by ourselves, assisted only 
 by our own conjectures. 
 
 Modem India does not present a pale shadow of 
 -what it was in the pre-Christian era, nor even of the 
 Hindostan of the days of Akbar, Shah-Jehan and Au- 
 Tungzeb. The neighbourhood of everj- town that has 
 
Io6 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 been shattered by many a war, and of every ruined 
 hamlet, is covered with round reddish pebbles, as if 
 with so many petrified tears of blood. But, in order to 
 approach the iron gate of some ancient fortress, it is not 
 over natural pebbles that it is necessary .to walk, but 
 over the broken fragments of some older granite re- 
 mains, under which, very often, rest the ruins of a third 
 town, still more ancient than the last. Modern names- 
 have been given to them by Mussulmans, who generally 
 built their towns upon the remains of those they had 
 just taken by assault. The names of the latter are 
 sometimes mentioned in the legends, but the names of 
 their predecessors had completely disappeared from the 
 popular memory even before the Mussulman invasion. 
 Will a time ever come for these secrets of the centuries- 
 to be revealed? 
 
 Knowing all this beforehand, we resolved not to lose 
 patience, even though we had to devote whole years to- 
 explorations of the same places, in order to obtain better 
 historical information, and facts less disfigured than 
 those obtained by our predecessors, who had to be con- 
 tented with a choice collection of naive lies, poured fortk 
 from the mouth of some frightened semi-savage, or some 
 Brahman, unwilling to speak and desirous of disguising 
 the truth. As for ourselves, we were differently situated. 
 We were helped by a whole society of educated Hindus, 
 Vi'ho were as deeply interested in the same questions as- 
 ourselves. Besides, we had a promise of the revelation 
 of some secrets, and the accurate translation of some 
 ancient chronicles, that had been preserved as if by a 
 miracle. 
 
 The history of India has long since faded from the 
 memories of her sons, and is still a mystery to her 
 conquerors. Doubtless it still exists, though, perchance, 
 
VANISHED GLORIES. I07 
 
 onlj' parti}', in manuscripts that are jealously concealed 
 from every European eye. This has been shown by 
 some pregnant words, spoken by Brahmans on their 
 rare occasions of friendly expansiveness. Thus, Colonel 
 Tod, whom I have already quoted several times, is said 
 to have been told by a Mahant, the chief of an ancient 
 pagoda-monastery: "Sahib, you lose your time in vain 
 researches. The Bellati India [India of foreigners] is 
 before j-ou, but you will never see the Gupta India 
 [secret India]. We are the guardians of her mysteries, 
 and would rather cut out each other's tongues than 
 speak." 
 
 Yet, nevertheless. Tod succeeded in learning a good 
 deal. It must be borne in mind that no Englishman 
 has ever been loved so well by the natives as this old 
 and courageous friend of the Maharana of Oodej-pur, 
 who, in his turn, was so friendly towards the natives 
 that the humblest of them never saw a trace of con- 
 tempt in his demeanour. He wrote before ethnology 
 had reached its present stage of development, but his 
 book is still an authority on everything concerning 
 Rajistan. Though the author's opinion of his work 
 was not very high, though he stated that "it is nothing 
 but a conscientious collection of materials for a future 
 historian," still in this book is to be found many a thing 
 undreamed of by any British civil servant. 
 
 Let our friends smile incredulously. Let our ene- 
 mies laugh at our pretensions "to penetrate the world- 
 mysteries of Aryavarta," as a certain critic recently 
 expressed himself. However pessimistic may be our 
 critics' views, yet, even in the event of our conclusions 
 not proving more trustworthy than those of Fergusson, 
 Wilson, Wheeler, and the rest of the archaeologists and 
 Sanskritists who have written about India, still, I hope, 
 
I08 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 they will not be less susceptible of proof. "We are daily- 
 reminded that, like unreasonable children, we have 
 undertaken a task before which archaeologists and his- 
 torians, aided by all the influence and wealth of the 
 Government, have shrunk dismayed; that we have taken 
 upon ourselves a work which has proved to be beyond 
 the capacities of the Royal Asiatic Society. 
 
 Let it be so. 
 
 Let ever3'one try to remember, as we ourselves re- 
 member, that not verj^ lon^ ago a poor Hungarian, 
 who not only had no means of any kind but was 
 almost a beggar, travelled on foot to Tibet through 
 unknown and dangerous countries, led only by the love 
 of learning and the eager wish to pour light on the 
 historical origin of his nation. The result was that 
 inexhaustible mines of literary treasures were dis- 
 covered. Philology, which till then had wandered in 
 the Egyptian darkness of etymological labyrinths, and 
 was about to ask the sanction of the scientific world to 
 one of the wildest of theories, suddenly stumbled on 
 the clue of Ariadne. Philology discovered, at last, that 
 the Sanskrit language is, if not the forefather, at least — 
 to use the language of Max Miiller — "the elder brother" 
 of all classical languages. Thanks to the extraordinary 
 zeal of Alexander Csoma de Koros, Tibet yielded a 
 language the literature of which was totally unknown. 
 He partly translated it and partly analyzed and ex- 
 plained it. His translations have shown the scientific 
 world that (i) the originals of the Zend-Avesta, the 
 sacred scriptures of the sun-worshippers, of Tripitaka, 
 that of the Buddhists, and oi Aytareya-Brahmanani, that 
 of the Brahiuans, were written in one and the same 
 Sanskrit language; (2) that all these three languages — 
 Zend, Nepalese, and the modern Brahman Sanskrit — are 
 
VANISHED GLORIES. IO9 
 
 more or less dialects of the first; (3) that old Sanskrit 
 is the origin of all the less ancient Jndo-European 
 languages, as well as of the modem European tongues 
 and dialects ; (4) that the three chief religions of heathen- 
 dom — Zoroastrianism, Buddhism and Brahmanism — are 
 mere heresies of the monotheistic teachings of the Vcdas, 
 which does not prevent them from being real ancient 
 religions and not modern falsifications. 
 
 The moral of all this is evident. A poor traveller, 
 without either money or protection, succeeded in gain- 
 ing admittance to the Lamaseries of Tibet and to the 
 sacred literature of the isolated tribe which inhabits it, 
 probably because he treated the Mongolians and the 
 Tibetans as his brothers and not as an inferior race — a 
 feat which has never been accomplished by generations 
 of scientists. One cannot help feeling ashamed of hu- 
 manity and science when one thinks that he whose 
 labours first gave to science such precious results, he 
 who was the first sower of such an abundant har\'est, 
 remained, almost until the day of his death, a poor and 
 obscure worker. On his way from Tibet he walked to 
 Calcutta without a penny in his pocket. At last C?oma 
 de Koros became known, and his name began to be 
 pronounced with honour and praise whilst he was dying 
 in one of the poorest parts of Calcutta. Being already 
 very ill, he wanted to get back to Tibet, and started on 
 foot again through Sikkhim. He succumbed to his ill- 
 ness on the road and was buried in Darhjeeling. 
 
 It is needless to say we are fully aware that what we 
 have undertaken is simply impossible within the limits 
 of ordinary newspaper articles. All we hope to accom- 
 plish is to lay the foundation stone of an edifice, whose 
 further progress must be entrusted to future generations. 
 In order to combat successfully the theories worked out 
 
no FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 by two generations of Orientalists, half a century of 
 diligent labour would be required. And, in order to 
 replace these theories with new ones, we must get new 
 facts, facts founded not on the chronology and false 
 evidence of scheming Brahmans, whose interest is to 
 feed the ignorance of European Sanskritists (as, unfortu- 
 nately, was the experience of Lieutenant Wilford and 
 Louis JacoUiot), but on indubitable proofs that are to be 
 found in inscriptions as yet undeciphered. The clue to 
 these inscriptions Europeans do not possess, because, as 
 I have already stated, it is guarded in MSS. which are 
 as old as the inscriptions and which are almost out of 
 reach. Even in case our hopes are realized and we 
 obtain this clue, a new difficulty will arise before us. 
 We shall have to begin a systematic refutation, page by 
 page, of many a volume of hypotheses published by the 
 Royal Asiatic Society. A work like this might be 
 accomplished by dozens of tireless, neyer-resting Sans- 
 kritists — a class which, even in India, is almost as rare 
 as white elephants. 
 
 Thanks to private contributions and the zeal of some 
 educated Hindu patriots, two free classes of Sanskrit 
 and Pali had already been opened — one in Bombay by 
 the Theosophical Society, the other in Benares under 
 the presidency of the learned Rama-Misra-Shastri. In 
 the present year, 1882, the Theosophical Society has, 
 altogether, fourteen schools in Ceylon a.nd India. 
 
 Our heads full of thoughts and plans of this kind, we, 
 that is to say, one American, three Europeans, and three 
 natives, occupied a whole carriage of the Great Indian 
 Peninsular Railroad on our way to Nassik, one of the 
 oldest towns in India, as I have already mentioned, and 
 the most sacred of all in the eyes of the inhabitants of 
 the Western Presidency. Nassik borrowed its name 
 
VANISHED GLORIES. Ill 
 
 from the Sanskrit word "Nasika," which means nose. 
 An epic legend assures us that on this \^ry spot Laksh- 
 man, the eldest brother of the deified King Rama, cut 
 off -the nose of the giantess Sarpnaka, sister of Ravana, 
 ■n-ho stole Sita, the "Helen of Tro3^" of the Hindus. 
 
 The train stops six miles from the town, so that we had 
 to finish our journey in six two-wheeled, gilded chariots, 
 called ekkas, and drawn \>y bullocks. It was one o'clock 
 A.M., but, in spite of the darkness of the hour, the horns 
 of the animals were gilded and adorned with flowers, and 
 brass bangles tinkled on their legs. Ourwaj' laj' through 
 ravines overgrown with jungle, where, as our drivers 
 fastened to inform us, tigers and other four-footed 
 misanthropes of the forest plaj-ed hide-and-seek. How- 
 ever, we had no opportunity of making the acquaintance 
 of the tigers, but enjoyed instead a concert of a whole 
 community of jackals. The)" followed us step by step, 
 piercing our ears with shrieks, wild laughter and bark- 
 ing. These animals are anno3"ing, but so cowardl)^ that, 
 though numerous enough to devour, not onh" all of us, 
 but our gold-horned bullocks too, none of them dared to 
 come nearer than the distance of a few steps. Ever}'' 
 time the long whip, our weapon against snakes, alighted 
 on the back of one of them, the whole horde disappeared 
 with unimaginable noise. Nevertheless, the drivers did 
 not dispense with a single one of their superstitious 
 precautions against tigers. Thej' chanted mantrams in 
 unison, spread betel over the road as a token of their 
 respect to the Rajas of the forest, and, after every coup- 
 let, made the bullocks kneel and bow their heads in 
 honour of the great gods. Needless to say, the ekka, as 
 light as a nutshell, threatened each time to fall with its 
 passenger over the horns of the bullocks. We had to 
 endure this agreeable way of travelling for five hours 
 
112 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 under a very dark sky. We reached the Inn of the' 
 Pilgrims in the morning at about six o'clock. 
 
 The real cause of Nassik's sacredness, however, is not 
 the mutilated trunk of the giantess, but the situation of 
 the town on the banks of the Godavari, quite close to the 
 sources of this river which, for some reason or other, are 
 called by the natives Ganga (Ganges). It is to this magic- 
 name, probably, that the town owes its numerous magni- 
 ficent temples, and the selectness of the Brahmans who- 
 inhabit the banks of the river. Twice a year pilgrims 
 flock here to pray, and on these solemn occasions the- 
 number of the visitors exceeds that of the inhabitants, 
 Vi^hich is only 35,000. Very picturesque, but equally 
 dirty, are the houses of the rich Brahmans built on both, 
 sides of the way from the centre of the town to the 
 Godavari. A whole forest of narrow pyramidal temples, 
 spreads on both sides of the river. All these new 
 pagodas are built on the ruins of those destroyed by the 
 fanaticism of the Mussulmans. A legend informs us 
 that most of them rose from the ashes of the tail of the 
 monkey god Hanuman. Retreating from Lanka, where 
 the wicked Ravana, having anointed the brave hero's 
 tail with some combustible stuif set it on fire, Hanuman, 
 with a single leap through the air, reached Nassik, his 
 fatherland. And here the noble adornment of the 
 monkey's back, burned almost entirely during the- 
 voyage, crumbled into ashes, and from every sacred 
 atom of these ashes, fallen to the ground, there rose a 
 
 temple And, indeed, when seen from the 
 
 mountain, these numberless pagodas, scattered in a most 
 curious disorderly way, look as if they had really been 
 thrown down by handfuls from the sky. Not only the 
 river banks and the surrounding country, but every little 
 island, every rock peeping from the water is covered 
 
VANISHED GLORIES. II3 
 
 with temples. And not one of them is destitute of a 
 legend of its own, different versions of which are told by 
 everj' individual of the Brahmanical communit}- accord- 
 ing to his own taste — of course in the hope of a suitable 
 reward. 
 
 Here, as everywhere else in India, Brahmans are 
 divided into two sects — worshippers of Shiva and wor- 
 shippers of Vishnu — and between the two there is rivalry 
 and warfare centuries old. Though the neighbourhood 
 of the Godavari shines with a twofold fame derived from 
 its being the birthplace of Hanuman and the theatre of 
 the first great deeds of Rama, the incarnation of Vishnu, 
 it possesses as many temples dedicated to Shiva as to 
 Vishnu. The material of which the pagodas consecrated 
 to Shiva are constructed is black basalt. And it is, 
 exacth', the colour of the material which is the apple of 
 discord in this case. The black material is claimed by 
 the Vaishnavas as their own, it being of the same colour 
 as the burned tail of Rama's ally. They try- to prove 
 that the Shivaites have no right to it. From the first 
 day-s of their rule the English inherited endless law-suits 
 between the fighting sectarians, cases decided in one law- 
 court only to be transferred on appeal to another, and 
 alwaj'S having their origin in this ill-omened tail and 
 its pretensions. This tail is a mysterious dais ex machina 
 that directs all the thoughts of the Nassik Brahmans pro 
 and contra. 
 
 On the subject of this tail were written more reams 
 of paper and petitions than in the quarrel about the 
 goose between Ivan Ivanitch and Ivan Nikiphoritch ; 
 and more ink and bile were spilt than there was mud in 
 Mirgorod, since the creation of the universe. The pig 
 that so happily decided the famous quarrel in Gogol 
 would be a priceless blessing to Nassik, and the struggle 
 
114 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 for the tail. But unhappily even the "pig" if it hailed 
 from "Russia" would be of no avail in India; for the 
 English would suspect it at once, and arrest it as a 
 Russian spy! 
 
 Rama's bathing place is shown in Nassik. The ashes 
 of pious Brahmans are brought hither from distant parts 
 to be thrown into the Godavari, and so to mingle for ever 
 with the sacred waters of Ganges. In an ancient MS. 
 there is a statement of one of Rama's generals, who, 
 somehow or other, is not mentioned in the Ramayana. 
 This statement points to the river Godavari.as the frontier 
 between the kingdoms of Rama, King of Ayodya (Oude), 
 and of Ravana, King of Lanka (Ceylon). Legends and 
 the poem o{ Ramayana state that this was the spot where 
 Rama, while hunting, saw a beautiful antelope, and, in- 
 tending to make a present to his beloved Sita of its skin, 
 entered the regions of his unknown neighbour. No 
 doubt Rama, Ravana, and even Hanuman, promoted, for 
 some unexplained reason, to the rank of a monkey, are 
 historical personages who once had a real existence. 
 About fifty years ago it was vaguely suspected that the 
 Brahmans possessed priceless MSS. It was reported 
 that one of these MSS. treats of the prehistoric epoch 
 when' the Arj^ans first invaded the country, and began an 
 endless war with the dark aborigines of southern India. 
 But the religious fanaticism of the Hindus never allowed 
 the English Government to verify these reports. 
 
 The most interesting sights of Nassik are its cave- 
 temples, about five miles from the town. The day before 
 we started thither, I certainly did not dream that a "tail" 
 would have to play an important part in' our visit to 
 Nassik, that, in this case, it would save me, if not from 
 death, at least from disagreeable and perhaps dangerous 
 bruises. This is how it happened. 
 
VANISHED GLORIES. II5 
 
 As the difiicult task of ascending a steep mountain 
 lay before us, we decided to hire elephants. The best 
 couple in the town was brought before us. Their owner 
 assured us "that the Prince of Wales had ridden upon 
 them and was very contented." To go there and back 
 and have them in attendance the whole daj- — in fact 
 the whole pleasure-trip — was to cost us two rupees for 
 each elephant. Our native friends, accustomed from 
 infancy to this way of riding, were not long in getting 
 on the back of their elephant. They covered him like 
 flies, with no predilection for this or that spot of his 
 vast back. Thej- held on bj' all kinds of strings and 
 ropes, more with their toes than their fingers, and, on 
 the whole, presented a picture of contentment and com- 
 fort. We Europeans had to use the lady elephant, as 
 being the tamer of the two. On her back there were 
 two little benches with sloping seats on both sides, and 
 not the slightest prop for our backs. The wretched, 
 undergrown 3-oungsters seen in European circuses give 
 no idea of the real size of this noble beast. The mahout, 
 or driver, placed himself between the huge animal's 
 ears whilst we gazed at the "perfected" seats ready for 
 us with an uneasy feeling of distrust The mahout 
 ordered his elephant to kneel, and it must be owned that 
 in climbing on her back with the aid of a small ladder 
 I felt what the French call c/iair de pou/e. Our she- 
 elephant answered to the poetical name of "Chanchuli 
 Peri," the Active Fairj', and really was the most obedient 
 and the merriest of all the representatives of her tribe 
 that I have ever seen. Clinging to each other we at last 
 gave the signal for departure, and the mahout goaded 
 the right ear of the animal with an iron rod. First the 
 elephant raised herself on her fore-legs, which move- 
 ment tilted us all back, then she heavily rose on her 
 
Il6 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 hind ones, too, and we rolled forwards, threatening to 
 upset the mahout. But this was not the end of our 
 misfortunes. At the very first steps of Peri we slipped 
 about in all directions, like quivering fragments of 
 blancmange. 
 
 The journey came to a sudden pause. We were 
 picked up in a hasty way, replaced on our respective 
 seats, during which proceeding Peri's trunk proved very 
 active, and the journey continued. The very thought 
 of the five miles before us filled us with horror, but we 
 would not give up the excursion, and indignantly re- 
 fused to be tied to our seats, as was suggested by our 
 Hindu companions, who could not suppress their merry 
 laughter. . . However, I bitterly repented this dis- 
 play of vanity. This unusual mode of locomotion was 
 something incredibly fantastical, and, at the same time, 
 ridiculous. A horse carrying our luggage trotted . by 
 Peri's side, and looked, from our vast elevation, no 
 bigger than a donkey. At every mighty step of Peri 
 we had to be prepared for all sorts of unexpected 
 acrobatic feats, while jolted from one side to the other 
 by her swinging gait. This experience, under the 
 scorching sun, unavoidably induced a state of body 
 and mind something between sea-sickness and a de- 
 lirious nightmare. As a crown to our pleasures, when 
 we began to ascend a tortuous little path over the 
 stony slope of a deep ravine, our Peri stumbled. This 
 sudden shock caused me to lose my balance altogether. 
 I sat on the hinder part of the elephant's back, in the 
 place of honour, as it is esteemed, and, once thoroughly- 
 shaken, rolled down like a log. No doubt, next moment. 
 I should have found myself at the bottom of the ravine, 
 with some more or less sad loss to my bodily constitu- 
 tion, if it had not been for the wonderful dexterity and 
 
VANISHED GLORIES. II7 
 
 instinct of the clever animal. Having felt that some- 
 thing was wrong she twisted her tail round me, stopped 
 instantaneously and began to kneel down carefully. But 
 my natural weight was too much for the thin tail of this 
 kind animal. Peri did not lose hold of me, but, having 
 at last knelt down, she moaned plaintively, though dis- 
 creetly, thinking probably that she had nearly lost her 
 tail through being so generous. The mahout hurried to 
 my rescue and then examined the damaged tail of his 
 animal. 
 
 We now witnessed a scene that clearly showed us the 
 coarse cunning, greediness and cowardice of a low-class 
 Hindu, of an outcast, as they are denominated here. 
 
 The mahout very indiflferently and composedly ex- 
 amined Peri's tail, and even pulled it several times to 
 make sure, and was alread}' on the point of hoisting 
 himself quietly into his usual place, when I had the 
 unhappy thought of muttering something that ex- 
 pressed my regret and compassion. Mj- words worked 
 a miraculous transformation in the mahout's behaviour. 
 He threw himself on the ground, and rolled about like a 
 demoniac, uttering horrible wild groans. Sobbing and 
 crying he kept on repeating that the Mam-Sahib had 
 torn off his darling Peri's tail, that Peri was damaged 
 for ever in everybody's estimation, that Peri's husband, 
 the proud Airavati, lineal descendant of Indra's own 
 favourite elephant, having witnessed her shame, would 
 renounce his spouse, and that she had better die. . . . 
 Yells and bitter tears were his only answer to all remon- 
 strances of our companions. In vain we tried to per- 
 suade him that the "proud Airavati" did not show the 
 slightest disposition to be so cruel, in vain we pointed 
 out to him that all this time both elephants stood quietly 
 together, Airavati even at this critical moment rubbing 
 
Il8 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 his trunk aiFectionately against Peri's neck, and Peri not 
 looking in the least discomfited by the accident to her 
 tail. All this was of no avail ! Our friend Narayan lost 
 his patience at last. He was a man of extraordinary 
 muscular strength and took recourse to a last original 
 means. With one hand he threw down a silver rupee, 
 with the other he seized the mahout's muslin garment 
 and hurled him after the coin. Without giving a 
 thought to his bleeding nose, the mahout jumped at the 
 rupee with the greediness of a wild beast springing upon 
 its pre}'. He prostrated himself in the dust before us 
 repeatedly, with endless "salaams," instantly changing 
 his deep sorrow into mad joy. He gave another pull at 
 the unfortunate tail and gladly declared that, thanks to 
 the "prayers of the sahib," it really was safe; to demon- 
 strate which he hung on to it, till he was torn away and 
 put back on his seat. 
 
 "Is it possible that a single, miserable rupee can have 
 been the cause of all this?" we asked each other in utter 
 bewilderment. 
 
 "Your astonishment is natural enough," answered the 
 Hindus. "We need not express how ashamed and how 
 disgusted we all feel at this voluntary display of humilia- 
 tion and greed. But do not forget that this wretch, who 
 certainl)^ has a wife and children, serves his employer 
 for twelve rupees a j'ear, instead of which he often gets 
 nothing but a beating. Remember also the long cen- 
 turies of tyrannical treatment from Brahmans, from 
 fanatical Mussulmans, who regard a Hindu as nothing 
 better than an unclean reptile, and, nowadays, from the 
 average Englishman, and maybe you will pity this 
 wretched caricature of humanity." 
 
 But the "caricature" in question evidently felt per- 
 fectly happy and not in the least conscious of a humilia- 
 
VANISHED GLORIES. Jig 
 
 tion of any kind. Sitting on the roomj^ forehead of his 
 Peri, he was telling her of his unexpected wealth, re- 
 minding her of her "divine" origin, and ordering her to 
 salute the "sahibs" with her trunk. Peri, whose spirits 
 had been raised by the gift of a whole stick of sugar- 
 cane from me, lifted her trunk backwards and playfully 
 blew into our faces. 
 
 On the threshold of the Nassik caves we bid good- 
 bye to the modern pigmy India, to the petty things of 
 her everyday life, and to her humiliations. We re- 
 en'ered the unknown world of India, the great and the 
 mysterious. 
 
 The main caves of Nassik are excavated in a mountain 
 bearing the name of Pandu-Lena, which points again to 
 the undoing, persistent, primaeval tradition that ascribes 
 all such buildings to the five mythical (?) brothers of 
 prehistoric times. The unanimous opinion of archae- 
 ologists esteems these caves more interesting and more 
 important than all the caves of Elephanta and Karli put 
 together. And, nevertheless — is it not strange ? — with the 
 exception of the learned Dr. Wilson, who, it maj' be, was 
 a little too fond of forming hasty opinions, no archae- 
 ologist has, as j-et, made so bold as to decide to what 
 epoch they belong, by whom they were erected, and 
 which of the three chief religions of antiquity was the 
 one professed bj' their mysterious builders. 
 
 It is evident, however, that those who wrought here 
 did not all belong either to the same generation or to 
 the same sect. The first thing which strikes the atten- 
 tion is the roughness of the primitive work, its huge 
 dimensions, and the decline of the sculpture on the solid 
 walls, whereas the sculpture and carvings of the six 
 colossi which prop the chief cave on the second floor. 
 
I20 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 are magnificently preserved and very elegant. This 
 circumstance would lead one to think that the work 
 was begun many centuries before it was finished. But 
 when? One of the Sanskrit inscriptions of a com- 
 paratively recent epoch (on the pedestal of one of the 
 colossi) clearly points to 453 B.C. as the year of the 
 building. At all events, Barth, Stevenson, Gibson, 
 Reeves, and some other scientists, who being Westerns 
 can have none of the prejudices proper to the native 
 Pundits, have formed this conjecture on the basis of 
 some astronomical data. Besides, the conjunction of 
 the planets stated in the inscription leaves no doubt as 
 to the dates, it must be either 453 B.C., or 1734 of our era, 
 or 2640 B.C., which last is impossible, because Buddha 
 and Buddhist monasteries are mentioned in the inscrip- 
 tion. I translate some of the most important sentences: 
 "To the most Perfect and the Highest! May this be 
 agreeable to Him ! The son of King Kshaparata, Lord of 
 the Kshatriya tribe and protector of people, the Ruler of 
 Dinik, bright as the dawn, sacrifices a hundred thousand 
 cows that graze on the river Banasa, together with the 
 river, and also the gift of gold by the builder of this holy 
 shelter of gods, the place of the curbing of the Brahmans' 
 passions. There is no more desirable place than this 
 place, neither in Prabhasa, where accumulate hundreds o^ 
 thousands of Brahmans repeating the sacred verse, nor in 
 the sacred city Gaya, nor on the steep mountain near 
 Dashatura, nor on the Serpents' Field in Govardhana, 
 nor in the city Pratisraya where stauds the monastery of 
 Buddhists, nor even in the edifice erected by Depana- 
 kara on the shores of the fresh water [?] sea. This 
 place, giving incomparable favours, is agreeable and 
 useful in all respects to the spotted deerskin of an as- 
 cetic. A safe boat given also by him who built the 
 
VANISHED GLORIES. 121 
 
 : gratuitous fern* dail}- transports to the well-guarded 
 shore. B\- him also who built the house for travellers 
 ;and the public fountain, a gilded lion was erected by 
 the ever-assaulted gate of this Govardhana, also another 
 [lion] by the ferr3--boat, and another bj' Ramatirtha. 
 Various kinds of food will always be found here by the 
 scanty flock; for this flock more than a hundred kinds 
 of herbs and thousands of mountain roots are stored 
 bj- this generous giver. In the same Govardhana, in 
 the luminous mountain, this second cave was dug by 
 the order of the same beneficent person, during the very 
 year ichai the Stoi, Shiikra and Rahu, mnch respected by 
 men, zc-ere hi the full glory of their rise; it was in this }-ear 
 that the gifts were oflFered. Lakshmi, Indra and Yama 
 having blessed them, returned with shouts of triumph 
 to their chariot, kept on the waj' free from obstacles 
 [the skj'J, by the force of mantrams. \Mien the}- [the 
 gods] all left, poured a heavj- shower. . . " and so on. 
 
 Rahu and Kehetti are the fixed stars which form the 
 head and the tail of the constellation of the Dragon. 
 -Shukra is Venus. Lakshmi, Indra and Yama stand here 
 for the constellations of Virgo, Aquarius and Taurus, 
 •which are subject and consecrated to these three among 
 the twelve higher deities. 
 
 The first caves are dug out in a conical hillock about 
 "two hundred and eight}- feet from its base. In the chief 
 of them stand three statues of Buddha ; in the lateral 
 ones a lingam and two Jaina idols. In the top cave there 
 is a statue of Dharma Raja, or Yudhshtira, the eldest of 
 the Pandus, who is worshipped in a temple erected in his 
 Tionour between Pent and Nassik. Farther on is a whole 
 labj-rinth of cells, where Buddhist hermits probably 
 lived, a huge statue of Buddha in a reclining posture, 
 .and another as big, but surrounded with pillars adorned 
 
122 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 with figures of various animals. Styles, epochs and" 
 sects are here as ijiuch mixed up and entangled as 
 different trees in a thick forest. 
 
 It is very remarkable that almost all the cave temples- 
 of India are to be found inside conical rocks and moun- 
 tains. It is as though the ancient builders looked 
 for such natural pyramids purposely. I noticed this 
 peculiarity in Karli, and it is to be met with only in 
 India. Is it a mere coincidence, or is it one of the rules 
 of the religious architecture of the remote past? And 
 which are the imitators — the builders of the EgyptiarL" 
 P3'ramids, or the unknown architects of the under- 
 ground caves of India? In pyramids as well as in caves- 
 everything seems to be calculated with geometrical 
 exactitude. In neither case are the entrances ever at 
 ,the bottom, but always at a certain distance from the 
 ground. It is well known that nature does not imitate 
 art, and, as a rule, art tries to copy certain forms of 
 nature. And if, even in this similarity of the symbols of 
 Egypt and India, nothing is to be found but a coinci- 
 dence, we shall have to own that coincidences are some- 
 times ver3' extraordinarj'. Egypt has borrowed many 
 things from India. We must not forget that nothing 
 is known about the origin of the Pharaohs, and that the 
 few facts science has succeeded in discovering, far from 
 contradicting our theor}^ suggest India as the cradle of 
 the Egyptian race.' In the days of remote antiquity 
 Kalluka-Bhatta wrote : "During the reign of Visvamitra, 
 first king of the Soma-Vansha dynast}', after a five days- 
 battle, Mann- Vena, the heir of ancient kings, was aban- 
 doned by the Brahmans, and emigrated with his army, 
 and, having traversed Arya and Barria, at last reached 
 the shores of Masra " 
 
 Arya is Iran or Persia; Barria is an ancient name of 
 
Vanished glories. 123 
 
 Arabia; Masr or Masra is a name of Cairo, disfigured by 
 Mussulmans into Misro and Musr. 
 
 Kalluka-Bliatta is an ancient writer. Sanskritists still 
 quarrel over his epoch, wavering between 2,000 j^ears 
 B.C., and the reign of the Emperor Akbar (the time of 
 John the Terrible and Elizabeth of England). On the 
 grounds of this uncertainty, the evidence of Kalluka- 
 Bhatta might be objected to. In this case, there are the 
 words of a modem historian, who has studied Eg>'pt all 
 his life, not in Berlin or London, like some other his- 
 torians, but in Eg}.'pt, deciphering the inscriptions of 
 the oldest sarcophagi and papj-ri, that is to saj-, the 
 words of Henr,' Brugsch-Bey: 
 
 ". . . I repeat, my firm conviction is that the 
 EgA-ptians came from Asia long before the historical 
 period, having traversed the Suez promontor}-, that 
 bridge of all the nations, and found a new fatherland 
 on the banks of the Xile." 
 
 An inscription on a Hammamat rock says that San- 
 kara, the last Pharaoh of the eleventh d3"nast}", sent a 
 nobleman to Punt: "I was sent on a ship to Punt, to 
 bring back some aromatic gum, gathered by the princes 
 of the Red Land." 
 
 Commenting on this inscription, Brugsch-Bey explains 
 that "under the name of Punt the ancient inhabitants of 
 Chemi meant a distant land surrounded by a great 
 ocean, full of mountains and vallejs, and rich in ebony 
 and other expensive woods, in perfumes, precious stones 
 and metals, in wild beasts, giraffes, leopards and big 
 monkeys." The name of a monkej- in Egj'pt was KafF, 
 or Kafi, in Hebrew Koff, in Sanskrit Kapi. 
 
 In the eyes of the ancient Egj'ptians, this Punt was a 
 sacred land, because Punt or Pa-nuter was "the original 
 land of the gods, who left it under the leadership of 
 
124 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGXES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 A-Mon [Manu-Venaof Kalluka-Bhatta?] Hor and Hator, 
 and duly arrived in Chemi." 
 
 Hanuman lias a decided family likeness to the Egyptian 
 Cynocephalus, and the emblem of Osiris and Shiva is the 
 same. Qui vivra verra ! 
 
 Our return journey was very agreeable. We had 
 adapted ourselves to Peri's movements, and felt our- 
 selves first-rate jockeys. But for a whole week after- 
 v/ards we could hardly walk. 
 
A CITY OF THE DEAD. 
 
 What would be j-our choice if j-ou had to choose be- 
 tween being blind and being deaf? Xine people out of 
 ten answer this question by positivelj- preferring deafness 
 to blindness. And one whose good fortune it has been to 
 contemplate, even for a moment, some fantastic fairj-like 
 comer of India, this countr}' of lace-like marble palaces 
 and enchanting gardens, would willingly add to deafness, 
 lameness of both legs, rather than lose such sights. 
 
 We are told that Saadi, the great poet, bitterly com- 
 plained of his friends looking tired and indifferent while 
 he praised the beauty and charm of his lady-love. "If 
 the happiness of contemplating her wonderful beaut}-," 
 remonstrated he, "was yours, as it is mine, j'ou could 
 not fail to understand my verses, which, alas, describe 
 in such meagre and inadequate terms the rapturous 
 feelings experienced by everj- one who sees her even 
 from a distance!" 
 
 I fully sympathize with the enamoured poet, but can- 
 not condemn his friends who never saw his ladj'-love, 
 and that is why I tremble lest mj" constant rhapsodies 
 on India should bore my readers as much as Saadi bored 
 his friends. But what, I pray }-ou, is the poor narrator 
 to do, when new, undreamed-of charms are daih' dis- 
 covered in the lady-love in question ? Her darkest 
 aspects, abject and immoral as they are, and sometimes 
 of such a nature as to excite your horror — even these 
 aspects are full of some wild poetrj-, of originality, 
 which cannot be met with in any other country. It is 
 not unusual for a European novice to shudder with 
 
126 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 disgust at some features of local everyday life; but at 
 the same time these very sights attract and fascinate the 
 attention like a horrible nightmare. We had plenty of 
 these experiences whilst our e'cole buissoniere lasted. We 
 spent these days far from railways and from any other 
 vestige of civilization. Happily so, because European 
 civilization does not suit India any better than a fashion- 
 able bonnet would suit a half naked Peruvian maiden, a 
 true " daughter of Sun," of Cortes' time. 
 
 All the day long we wandered across rivers and 
 jungles, passing villages and ruins of ancient fortresses, 
 over local-board roads between Nassik and Jubblepore, 
 travelling with the aid of bullock cars, elephants, horses, 
 and very often being carried in palks. At nightfall we 
 put up our tents and slept anywhere. These days offered 
 us an opportunity of seeing that man decidedly can sur- 
 mount trying and even dangerous conditions of climate, 
 though, perhaps, in a passive way, by mere force of habit. 
 In the afternoons, when we, white people, were very 
 nearly fainting with the roasting heat, in spite of thick 
 cork topis and such shelter as we could procure, and 
 even our native companions had to use more than the 
 usual supplies of muslin round their heads — the Bengali 
 Babu travelled on horseback endless miles, under the 
 vertical rays of the hot sun, bareheaded, pjotected only 
 by his thick crop of hair. The sun has no influence 
 whatever on Bengali skulls. They are covered only on 
 solemn occasions, in cases of weddings and great fes- 
 tivities. Their turbans are useless adornments, like 
 flowers in a European lady's hair. 
 
 Bengali Babus are born clerks; they invade all rail- 
 road stations, post and telegraph ofiices and Government 
 law courts. Wrapped in their white muslin toga virilis, 
 their legs bare up to the knees, their heads unprotected, 
 
A CITY OF THE DEAD. 1 27 
 
 they proudlj' loaf on the platforms of railwaj^ stations, 
 or at the entrances of their offices, casting contemptuous 
 glances on the Mahrattis, who dearlj' love their numerous 
 rings and lovelj' earrings in the upper part of their right 
 ears. Bengalis, unlike the rest of the Hindus, do not 
 paint sectarian signs on their foreheads. The only 
 trinket thej' do not completelj' despise is an expensive 
 necklace; but even this is not common. Contrary' to all 
 expectations, the ]\Iahrattis, with all their little effemi- 
 nate waj-s, are the bravest tribe of India, gallant and 
 experienced soldiers, a fact which has been demonstrated 
 by centuries of fighting; but Bengal has never as yet 
 produced a single soldier out of its sixty-five million 
 inhabitants. Xot a single Bengali is to be found in the 
 native regiments of the British army. This is a strange 
 fact, which I refused to believe at first, but which has 
 been confirmed by man\' English officers and by Bengalis 
 themselves. But with all this, they are far from being 
 cowardly. Their wealthy classes do lead a somewhat 
 effeminate life, but their zemindars and peasantrj- are 
 undoubtedly brave. Disarmed by their present Govern- 
 ment, the Bengali peasants go out to meet the tiger, 
 which in their country is more ferocious than elsewhere, 
 armed only with a club, as composedly as they used to 
 go with rifles and swords. 
 
 Many out-of-the-way paths and groves which most 
 probably had never before been trodden by a European 
 foot, were visited bj- us during these short daj's. Gulab- 
 L^l-Sing was absent, but we were accompanied by a 
 trusted ser\-ant of his, and the welcome we met with 
 almost everj-where was certainly the result of the magic 
 influence of his name. If the wretched, naked peasants 
 shrank from us and shut their doors at our approach, the 
 Brahmans were as obliging as could be desired. 
 
128 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 The sights around Kandesh, on the way to Thalner- 
 and Mhau, are very picturesque. But the effect is not. 
 entirely due to Nature's beauty. Art has a good deal to- 
 do with it, especially in Mussulman cemeteries. Now 
 they are all more or less destroyed and deserted, owing- 
 to the increase of the Hindu inhabitants around them, 
 and to the Mussulman princes, once the rightful lords of" 
 India, being expelled. Mussulmans of the present day 
 are badly oif and have to put up with more humiliations- 
 than even the Hindus. But still they have left many^ 
 memorials behind them, and, amongst others, their 
 cemeteries. The Mussulman fidelity to the dead is a. 
 very touching feature of their character. Their devotion. 
 to those that are gone is always more demonstrative- 
 than their affection for the living members of their- 
 families, and almost entirely concentrates itself on their 
 last abodes. In proportion as their notions of paradise: 
 are coarse and material, the appearance of their ceme- 
 teries is poetical, especially in India. One may pleasantly 
 spend whole hours in these shadj', delightful gardens^, 
 amongst their white monuments crowned with turbans, 
 covered with roses and jessamine and sheltered with- 
 rows of cypresses. We often stopped in such places ta 
 sleep and dine. A cemetery near Thalner is especially 
 attractive. Out of several mausoleums in a good state oF 
 preservation the most magnificent is the monument of 
 the f mil}' of Kiladar, who was hanged on the city tower- 
 by the order of General Hislop in iSiS. Four other- 
 mausoleums attracted our attention and we learned that, 
 one of them is celebrated throughout India. It is a. 
 white marble octagon, covered from top to bottom with, 
 carving, the like of which could not be found even in. 
 Pere I,a Chaise. A Persian inscription on its base 
 records that it cost one hundred thousand rupees.. 
 
A CITY OF THE DEAD. 1 29 
 
 By day, bathed in the hot rays of the sun, its tall minaret- 
 like outline looks like a block of ice against the blue 
 sky. By night, with the aid of the intense, phosphores- 
 cent moonlight proper to India, it is still more dazzling 
 and poetical. The summit looks as if it were covered 
 with freshly fallen snov\-cr\"stals. Raising its slender 
 profile above the dark background of bushes, it suggests 
 some pure midnight apparition, soaring over this silent 
 abode of destruction and lamenting what will never 
 return. Side by side ■n4th these cemeteries rise 
 the Hindu ghats, generally by the river bank. There 
 really is something grand in the ritual of burning the 
 dead. Witnessing this ceremony the spectator is struck 
 with the deep philosophy underl}'ing the fundamental 
 idea of this custom. In the course of an hour nothing 
 remains of th; body but a few handfuls of ashes. A pro- 
 fessional Brahman, like a priest of death, scatters these 
 ashes to the ■^\-inds over a river. The ashes of what once 
 lived and felt, loved and hated, rejoiced and wept, are 
 thus given back again to the four elements: to Earth, 
 which fed it during such a long time and out of which it 
 grew and developed ; to Fire, emblem of purity, that has 
 just devoured the body in order that the spirit may be 
 rid of ever>-thing impure, and may freelj- gra-^-itate to 
 the new sphere of posthumous existence, where every 
 sin is a stumbling block on the way to "Moksha," or 
 infinite bliss; to Air. which it inhaled and through which 
 it lived, and to Water, which purified it physically and 
 spiritually, and is now to receive its ashes into her pure 
 bosom. 
 
 The adjective "pure" must be understood in the figu- 
 rative sense of the mantram. Generally speaking, the 
 rivers of India, beginning with the thrice sacred Ganges, 
 are dreadfully dirty, especially near villages and towns. 
 
130 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 In these rivers about two hundred millions of people 
 daily cleanse themselves from the tropical perspiration 
 and dirt. The corpses of those who are not worth burn- 
 ing are thrown in the same rivers, and their number is 
 great, because it includes all Shudras, pariahs, and 
 various other outcasts, as well as Brahman children 
 under three years of age. 
 
 Only rich and high-born people are buried pompously. 
 It is for them that the sandal-wood fires are lit after sun- 
 set; it is for them that mantrams are chanted, and for 
 them that the gods are invoked. But Shudras must not 
 listen on any account to the divine words dictated at 
 the beginning of the world by the four Rishis to Veda- 
 Vyasa, the great theologian of Aryavarta. No fires for 
 them, no prayers. As during his life a Shudra never 
 approaches a temple nearer than seven steps, so even 
 after death he cannot be put on the same level with 
 the "twice-born." 
 
 Brightly burn the fires, extending like a fiery serpent 
 along the river. The dark outlines of strange, wildly- 
 fantastical figures silently move amongst the flames. 
 Sometimes they raise their arms towards the sky, as if 
 in a prayer, sometimes they add fuel to the fires and 
 poke them with long iron pitchforks. The dying flames 
 rise high, creeping and dancing, sputtering with melted 
 human fat and shooting towards the sky whole showers 
 of golden sparks, which are instantly lost in the clouds 
 of black smoke. 
 
 This on the right side of the river. I^et us now see 
 what is going on on the left. In the early hours of the 
 morning, when the red fires, the black clouds of miasmas, 
 and the thin figures of the fakirs grow dim and vanish 
 little by little, when the smell of burned flesh is blown 
 away by the fresh wind which rises at the approach of 
 
A CITY OF THE DEAD. 13I 
 
 the dawTi, when, in a word, the right side of the river 
 ■with its ghotas plunges into stillness and silence, to be 
 reawakened when the evening comes, processions of a 
 different kind appear on the left bank. We see groups of 
 Hindu men and women in sad, silent trains. They 
 approach the river quietlj-. Thej- do not crj', and have 
 no rituals to perform. We see two men carrj'ing some- 
 thing long and thin, wrapped in an old red rug. Hold- 
 ing it by the head and feet thej- swing it into the dirt}', 
 yellowish waves of the river. The shock is so violent 
 that the red rug flies open and we behold the face of a 
 young woman tinged with dark green, who quickly dis- 
 appears in the river. Further on another group; an old 
 man and two yotmg women. One of them, a little girl 
 of ten, small, thin, hardly fully developed, sobs bitterly. 
 She is the mother of a still-bom child, whose body is to 
 be thrown in the river. Her weak voice monotonouslj" 
 resounds over the shore, and her trembling hands are 
 not strong enough to lift the poor little corpse that is 
 more like a tiny brown kitten than a human being. The 
 old man tries to console her, and, taking the body in 
 his own hands, enters the water and throws it right in 
 the middle. After him both the women get into the 
 river, and, having plunged seven times to purifj- them- 
 selves from the touch of a dead bodj-, thej' return home, 
 their clothes dripping with wet. In the meanwhile 
 vultures, crows and other birds of prej' gather in thick 
 clouds and considerablj' retard the progress of the bodies 
 down the river. Occasionally some half-stripped skele- 
 ton is caught by the reeds, and stranded there helplessly 
 for weeks, until an outcast, whose sad duty it is to busy 
 himself all his life long w4th such unclean work, takes 
 notice of it, and catching it by the ribs with his long 
 hook, restores it to its highway towards the ocean. 
 
132 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 But let us leave the river bank, which is unbearably 
 hot in spite of the early hour. I,et us bid good-bye to 
 the watery cemetery of the poor. Disgusting and heart- 
 rending are such sights in the eyes of a European ! And 
 unconsciously we allow the light wings of reverie to 
 transport us to the far North, to the peaceful village 
 cemeteries where there are no marble monuments 
 crowned with turbans, no sandal-wood fires, no dirty 
 rivers to serve the purpose of a last resting place, but 
 where humble wooden crosses stand in rows, sheltered 
 by old birches. How peacefully our dead repose under 
 the rich green grass ! None of them ever saw these 
 gigantic palms, sumptuous palaces and pagodas covered 
 with gold. But on their poor graves grow violets and 
 lilies of the valley, and in the spring evenings nightin- 
 gales sing to them in the old birch-trees. 
 
 No nightingales ever sing for me, either in the neigh- 
 bouring groves, or in my own heart. The latter least 
 of all. 
 
 Let us stroll along this wall of reddish stone. It will 
 lead us to a fortress once celebrated and drenched with 
 blood, now harmless and half ruined, like many another 
 Indian fortress. Flocks of green parrots, startled by our 
 approach, fiy from under every cavity of the old wall, 
 their wings shining in the sun like so many flying 
 emeralds. This territory is accursed by Englishmen. 
 This is Chandvad, where, during the Sepoy mutiny, 
 the Bhils streamed from their ambuscades like a mighty 
 mountain torrent, and cut many an English throat. 
 
 Taiva, an ancient Hindu book, treating of the geo- 
 graphy of the times of King Asoka (250-300 B.C.), teaches 
 us that the Mahratti territory spreads up to the wall of 
 Chandvad or Chandor, and that the Kandesh country 
 
A CITY OF THE DEAD. 133 
 
 begins on the other side of the river. But English 
 people do not believe in Tatva or in any other authority 
 and want us to learn that Kandesh begins right at the 
 foot of Chandor hillocks. 
 
 Twelve miles south-east from Chandvad there is a 
 
 whole town of subterranean temples, known under the 
 
 name of Enkay-Tenkay. Here, again, the entrance is a 
 
 hundred feet from the base, and the hill is pyramidal. 
 
 I must not attempt to give a full description of these 
 
 temples, as this subject must be worked out in a way 
 
 quite impossible in a newspaper article. So I shall only 
 
 note that here all the statues, idols, and carvings are 
 
 ascribed to Buddhist ascetics of the first centuries after 
 
 the death of Buddha. I wish I could content myself with 
 
 this statement. But, unfortunatel}^ messians les arche- 
 
 ologues meet here with an unexpected difficulty, and a 
 
 more serious one than all the difficulties brought on them 
 
 bj' the inconsistencies of all other temples put together. 
 
 In these temples there are more idols designated 
 
 Buddhas than anj-where else. The)' cover the main 
 
 entrance, sit in thick rows along the balconies, occupy 
 
 the inner walls of the cells, watch the entrances of all 
 
 the doors like monster giants, and two of them sit in the 
 
 chief tank, where spring water washes them centur}' after 
 
 centur>' without any harm to their granite bodies. Some 
 
 of these Buddhas are decently clad, with pyramidal 
 
 pagodas as their head gear; others are naked; some sit, 
 
 others stand; some are real colossi, some tiny, some of 
 
 middle size. However, all this would not matter; we 
 
 may go so far as to overlook the fact of Gautama's or 
 
 Siddhartha-Buddha's reform consisting precisely in his 
 
 earnest desire to tear up by the roots the Brahmanical 
 
 idol-worship. Though, of course, we cannot help re- 
 
134 FKOM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 membering that his religion remained pure from idol- 
 worship of any kind during centuries, until the llamas 
 of Tibet, the Chinese, the Burmese, and the Siamese 
 taking it into their lands disfigured it, and spoilt it with 
 heresies. We cannot forget that, persecuted by conquer- 
 ing Brahman s, and expelled from India, it found, at last, 
 a shelter in Ceylon where it still flourishes like the 
 legendary aloe, which is said to blossom once in its life- 
 time and then to die, as the root is killed by the exuber- 
 ance of blossom, and the seeds cannot produce anything 
 but weeds. All this we may overlook, as I said before. 
 But the difificultj' of the archeeologists still exists, if not 
 in the fact of idols being ascribed to early Buddhists, 
 then in the physiognomies, in the type of all these 
 Enkay-Tenkay Buddhas. They all, from the tiniest to 
 the hugest, are Negroes, with flat noses, thick lips, forty- 
 five degrees of the facial angle, and curly hair! There 
 is not the slightest likeness between these negro faces 
 and any of the Siamese or Tibetan Buddhas, which all 
 have purely Mongolian features and perfectly straight 
 hair. This unexpected African type, unheard of in 
 India, upsets the antiquarians entirely. This is why 
 the archaeologists avoid mentioning these caves. Enkay- 
 Tenkay is a worse difficulty for them than even Nassik; 
 they find it as hard to conquer as the Persians found 
 Thermopylae. 
 
 We passed by Maleganva and Chikalval, where we 
 examined an exceedingly curious ancient temple of the 
 Jainas. No cement was used in the building of its 
 outer walls, they consist entirely of square stones, which 
 are so well wrought and so closely joined that the blade 
 of the thinnest knife cannot be pushed between two of 
 them; the interior of the temple is richly decorated. 
 
A CITY OF THE DEAD. 135 
 
 On our way back we did not stop in Thalner, but 
 went straight on to Ghara. There we had to hire ele- 
 phants again to visit the splendid ruins of Mandu, once 
 a strongly fortified town, about twenty miles due north- 
 east of this place. This time we got there speedily 
 and safel}'. I mention this place because some time 
 later I witnessed in its vicinity a most curious sight, 
 offered by the branch of the numerous Indian rites, 
 which is generally called "devil worship." 
 
 Mandu is situated on the ridge of the Vindhya Moun- 
 tains, about two thousand feet above the surface of the 
 sea. According to Malcolm's statement, this town was 
 built in A.D. 313, and for a long time was the capital of 
 the Hindu Rajas of Dhara. The historian Ferishtah 
 points to Mandu as the residence of Dilivan-Khan- 
 Ghuri, the first King of Malwa, who flourished in 1387- 
 1405. In 1526 the town was taken by Bahadur-Shah, 
 King of Gujerat, but in 1570 Akbar won this town 
 back, and a marble slab over the town gate still bears 
 his name and the date of his visit. 
 
 On entering this vast city in its present state of soli- 
 tude (the natives call it the "dead town") we all expe- 
 rienced a peculiar feeling, not unlike the sensation of a 
 man who enters Pompeii for the first time. Ever3'lhing 
 shows that Mandu was once one of the wealthiest towns 
 of India. The town wall is thirty-seven miles long. 
 Streets ran whole miles, on their sides stand ruined 
 palaces, and marble pillars lie on the ground. Black 
 excavations of the subterranean halls, in the coolness 
 of which rich ladies spent the hottest hours of the day, 
 peer from under dilapidated granite walls. Further on 
 are broken stairs, dry tanks, waterless fountains, endless 
 empt}'^ yards, marble platforms, and disfigured arches of 
 majestic porches. All this is overgrown with creepers 
 
136 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 and shrubs, hiding the dens of wild beasts. Here and 
 there a well-preserved wall of some^ palace rises high 
 above the general wreck, its empty windows fringed 
 with parasitic plants blinking and staring at us like 
 sightless eyes, protesting against troublesome intruders. 
 And still further, in the very centre of the ruins, the 
 heart of the dead town sends forth a whole crop of 
 broken cypresses, an untrimmed grove on the place where 
 heaved once so many breasts and clamoured so many 
 passions. 
 
 In 1570 this town was called Shadiabad, the abode of 
 happiness. The Franciscan missionaries, Adolf Aqua- 
 viva, Antario de Moncerotti, and others, who came here 
 in that very year as an embassy from Goa to seek 
 various privileges from the Mogul Government, de- 
 scribed it over and over again. At this epoch it was 
 ■one of the greatest cities of the world, whose magnifi- 
 ■cent streets and luxurious ways used to astonish the 
 most pompous courts of India. It seems almost in- 
 credible that in such a short period nothing should 
 remain of this town but the heaps of rubbish, amongst 
 which we could hardly find room enough for our tent. 
 At last we decided to pitch it in the only building which 
 remained in a tolerable state of preservation, in Yami- 
 Masjid, the cathedral-mosque, on a granite platform 
 about twenty-five steps higher than the square. The 
 stairs, constructed of pure marble like the greater part 
 of the town buildings, are broad and almost untouched 
 bj^ time, but the roof has entirely disappeared, and so 
 we were obliged to put up with the stars for a canopy. 
 
 All round this building runs a low gallery supported 
 by several rows of thick pillars. From a distance it 
 reminds one, in spite of its being somewhat clumsy and 
 lacking in proportion, of the Acropolis of Athens. From 
 
A CITY OF THE DEAD. 137 
 
 the Stairs, where we rested for a while, there was a view 
 -of the mausoleum of Gushanga-Guri, King of Malwa, 
 in whose reign the town was at the culmination of its 
 lirillianc}' and glorj-. It is a massive, majestic, white 
 xnarble edifice, with a sheltered peristjie and fineh' 
 •carved pillars. This peristyle once led straight to the 
 palace, but now it is surrounded with a deep ravine, full 
 of broken stones and overgrown with cacti. The interior 
 ■of the mausoleum is covered with golden lettering of 
 inscriptions from the Koran, and the sarcophagus of 
 the sultan is placed in the middle. Close by it stands 
 the palace of Baz-Bahadur, all broken to pieces— nothing 
 now but a heap of dust covered with trees. 
 
 We spent the whole daj- visiting these sad remains, 
 and returned to our sheltering place a little before sun- 
 set, exhausted with hunger and thirst, but triumphantly 
 carrj-ing on our sticks three huge snakes, killed on our 
 way home. Tea and supper were waiting for us. To 
 -our great astonishment we found visitors in the tent. 
 "The Patel of the neighbouring village — something be- 
 tween a tax-collector aud a judge — and two zemindars 
 (land owners) rode over to present us their respects and 
 to invite us and our Hindu friends, some of whom they 
 had known previoush% to accompany thein to their 
 houses. On hearing that we intended to spend the 
 night in the "dead town" the}' grew awfulh' indignant. 
 "They assured us it was highh" dangerous and utterly 
 impossible. Two hours later h3"enas, tigers, and other 
 beasts of prey were sure to come out from under ever}' 
 bush and even' ruined wall, without mentioning thou- 
 sands of jackals and wild cats. Our elephants would 
 not staj-, and if the}' did stay no doubt they would be 
 devoured. We ought to leave the ruins as quickly as 
 possible and go with them to the nearest village, which 
 
138 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN". 
 
 would not take us more than half an hour. In the 
 village everything had been prepared for us, and our 
 friend the Babu was already there, and getting impatient, 
 at our dela}'. 
 
 Only on hearing this did we become aware that our 
 bareheaded and cautious friend was conspicuous by his- 
 absence. Probably he had left some time ago, without, 
 consulting us, and made straight to the village where 
 he evidently had friends. Sending for us was a mere 
 trick of his. But the evening was so sweet, and we felt- 
 so comfortable, that the idea of upsetting all our plans- 
 for the morning was not at all attractive. Besides, it 
 seemed quite ridiculous to think that the ruins, amongst 
 which we had wandered several hours without meeting" 
 anything more dangerous than a snake, swarmed with 
 wild animals. So we smiled and returned thanks, but 
 would not accept the invitation. 
 
 "But }?ou positively must not dare to stay here," in- 
 sisted the fat Patel. "In case of accident, I shall be- 
 responsible for you to the Government. Is it possible 
 you do not dread a sleepless night spent in fighting 
 jackals, if not something worse? You do not believe 
 that you are surrounded with wild animals. ... It 
 is true they are invisible until sunset, but nevertheless, 
 they are dangerous. If you do not believe us, believe 
 the instinct of your elephants, who are as brave as you,, 
 but a little more reasonable. Just look at them!" 
 
 We looked. Truly, our grave, philosophic-looking" 
 elephants behaved very strangely at this moment.. 
 Their lifted trunks looked like huge points of interroga- 
 tion. They snorted and stamped restively. In another 
 minute one of them tore the thick rope, with which 
 he was tied to a broken pillar, made a sudden volte-face- 
 with all his heavy bodj^ and stood against the wind„ 
 
A CITY OF THE DEAD. 1 39 
 
 sniffing the air. Evidently he perceived some dangerous 
 animal in the neighbourhood. 
 
 The colonel stared at him through his spectacles and 
 whistled very meaningly. 
 
 "Well, well," remarked he, "what shall we do if tigers 
 really assault us?" 
 
 "What shall we do indeed?" was my thought. "Takur 
 Gulab-Lal-Sing is not here to protect us." 
 
 Our Hindu companions sat on the carpet after their 
 oriental fashion, quietly chewing betel. On being asked 
 their opinion, they said they would not interfere with 
 our decision, and were ready to do exacth" as we liked. 
 But as for the European portion of our party, there was 
 no use concealing the fact that we were frightened, and 
 we speedih- prepared to start. Five minutes later we 
 mounted the elephants, and, in a quarter of an hour, 
 just when the sun disappeared behind the mountain and 
 heavy darkness instantaneously fell, we passed the gate 
 of Akbar and descended into the valley. 
 
 We were hardly a quarter of a mile from our aban- 
 doned camping place when the cypress grove resounded 
 with shrieking howls of jackals, followed b}' a well- 
 known might}- roar. There was no longer anj' possibility 
 of doubting. The tigers were disappointed at our escape. 
 Their discontentment shook the ver}- air, and cold per- 
 spiration stood on our brows. Our elephant sprang 
 forn-ard, upsetting the order of our procession and 
 threatening to crush the horses and their nders before 
 us. We ourselves, however, were out of danger. We 
 sat in a strong howdah, locked as in a dungeon. 
 
 "It is useless to deny that we have had a narrow 
 escape! " remarked the colonel, looking out of the -n-indow 
 at some twenty- servants of the Patel, who were busily 
 lisrhting torches. 
 
BRAHMANIC HOSPITALITIES. 
 
 In an hour's time we stopped at the gate of a large bun- 
 galow, and were welcomed by the beaming face of our 
 bareheaded Bengali. When we were all safely gathered 
 on the verandah, he explained to us that, knowing be- 
 forehand that our "American pigheadedness" would not 
 listen to any warning, he had dodged up this little scheme 
 of his own and was very glad he had been successful. 
 
 "Now let us go and wash our hands, and then to 
 supper. And," he added, addressing me, "was it not j-our 
 wish to be present at a real Hindu meal? This is your 
 opportunity. Our host is a Brahman, and you are the 
 first Europeans who ever entered the part of his house 
 inhabited by the family." 
 
 Who amongst Europeans ever dreamed of a country 
 where every step, and the least action of everyday life, 
 especially of the family life, is controlled by religious 
 rites and canytot be performed except according to a 
 certain programme? India is this country. In India 
 all the important incidents of a man's life, such as birth, 
 reaching certain periods of a child's life, marriage, father- 
 hood, old age and death, as well as all the physical and 
 physiological functions of everyday routine, like morning 
 ablutions, dressing, eating, et tout ce qui s'en suit, from a 
 man's first hour to his last sigh, everj'thing must be 
 performed according to a certain Brahmanical ritual, on 
 penalty of expulsion from his caste. The Brahmans 
 may be compared to the musicians of an orchestra in 
 which the different musical instruments are the nu- 
 
BRAHMANIC HOSPITALITIES. I4I 
 
 merous sects of their countn*. They are all of a different 
 shape and of a different timbre; but still every one of 
 them obeys the same leader of the band. However 
 ■nndely the sects maj- differ in the interpretation of their 
 sacred books, however hostile the^- may be to each other, 
 stri\-ing to put forward their particular deity, ever>' one 
 of them, obeying blindly the ancient custom, must 
 follow like musicians the same directing wand, the laws 
 of Manu. This is the point where they all meet and 
 form a unanimous, single-minded community, a strongly 
 united mass. And woe to the one who breaks the 
 symphon}" by a single discordant note! The elders and 
 the caste or sub-caste councils (of these there are any 
 number), whose members hold office for life, are stem 
 rulers. There is no appeal against their decisions, and 
 this is why expulsion from the caste is a calamity, entail- 
 ing trul}- formidable consequences. The excommuni- 
 cated member is worse off than a leper, the solidarity of 
 the castes in this respect being something phenomenal. 
 The only thing that can bear any comparison with it is 
 the solidarity of the disciples of Loyola. If members of 
 two different castes, united by the sincerest feelings of 
 respect and friendship, may not intermarn.-, maj- not dine 
 together, are forbidden to accept a glass of water from 
 each other, or to offer each other a hookah, it becomes 
 clear how much more severe all these restrictions must 
 be in the case of an excommunicated person. The poor 
 wretch must literally die to ever\-body, to the members 
 of his own familj- as to strangers. His own household, 
 his father, wife, children, are all bound to turn their 
 faces from him, under the penalty of being excommuni- 
 cated in th^ turn. There is no hope for his sons and 
 daughters of getting married, however innocent they 
 mav be of the sin of their father. 
 
142 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 From the moment of "excommunication" the Hindu 
 must totally disappear. His mother and wife must not 
 feed him, must not let him drink from the family well. 
 No member of any existing caste dares to sell him his 
 food or cook for him. He must either starve or buy 
 eatables from outcasts and Europeans, and so incur the 
 dangers of further pollution. When the Brahmanical 
 power was at its zenith, such acts as deceiving, robbing 
 and even killing this wretch were encouraged, as he was 
 beyond the pale of the laws. Now, at all events, he is 
 free from the latter danger, but still, even now, if he 
 happens to die before he is forgiven and received back 
 into his caste, his body may not be burned, and no 
 purifying mantrams will be chanted for him ; he will be 
 thrown into the water, or left to rot under the bushes 
 like a dead cat. 
 
 This is a passive force, and its passiveness only makes 
 it more formidable. Western education and English 
 influence can do nothing to change it. There exists 
 only one course of action for the excommunicated; he 
 must show signs of repentance and submit to all kinds 
 of humiliations, often to the total loss of all his worldly 
 possessions. Personally, I know several young Brah- 
 mans, who, having brilliantly passed the university 
 examinations in England, have had to submit to the 
 most repulsive conditions of purification on their return 
 home; these purifications consisting chieflj' in shaving 
 off half their moustaches and eyebrows, crawling in the 
 dust round pagodas, clinging during long hours to the 
 tail of a sacred cow, and, finally, .swallowing the excre- 
 ments of this cow. The latter ceremony is called 
 "Pancha-Gavya," literally, the five products of the cow: 
 miik, curds, butter, etc. The voyage over Kalapani, 
 the black water, that is to say the sea, is considered the 
 
BRAHIIAXIC HOSPITALITIES. 143 
 
 A-.'orst of all the sins. A niau who commits it is con- 
 sidered as polluting himself continually, from the first 
 moment of his going on board the bellati (foreign) ship. 
 Only a few days ago a friend of ours, who is an LL.D., 
 Tiad to undergo this "purgation," and it nearh' cost him 
 his reason. When we remonstrated vrith. him, pointing 
 out that in his case it was simplj' foolish to submit, he 
 being a materialist b}- con\"iction and not caring a straw 
 for Brahmanism, he replied that he was bound to do so 
 for the following reasons : 
 
 "I have two daughters," he explained, "one five, the 
 other six years old. If I do not find a husband for the 
 •eldest of them in the course of the coming j-ear, she will 
 grow too old to get married, nobody will think of 
 espousing her. Suppose I suSer my caste to excom- 
 municate me, both mj- girls -v^-ill be dishonoured and 
 miserable for the rest of their lives. Then, again, I 
 must take into consideration the superstitions of mj- old 
 mother. If such a misfortune befell me, it would simply 
 kill her. . . ." 
 
 But wh5- should he not free himself from even.- bond 
 to Brahmanism and caste? WTij- not join, once for all, 
 the ever-growing communitj' of men who are guiltj' of 
 the same offence? Why not ask all his family to form a 
 colony and join the ci^-ilization of the Europeans? 
 
 All these are verj- natural questions, but unfortunately 
 there is no difficulty in finding reasons for answering 
 them in the negative. 
 
 There were thirty-two reasons given whj- one of 
 Napoleon's marshals refused to besiege a certain fortress, 
 but the first of these reasons was the absence of gun- 
 powder, and to it excluded the necessitj' of discussing 
 the remaining thirt}--one. Similarly the first reason 
 ■whj- a Hindu cannot be Europeanized is quite sufficient, 
 
144 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 and does not call for any additional ones. This reasoa. 
 is that by doing so a Hindu would not improve his position,. 
 Were he such an adept of science as to rival Tyndall, 
 were he such a clever politician as to eclipse the genius 
 of Disraeli and Bismarck, as soon as he actually had 
 given up his caste and kinsmen, he would indubitably 
 find himself in the position of Mahomet's cofSn ; meta- 
 phorically speaking, he would hang half-way between 
 the earth and the sky. 
 
 It would be an utter injustice to suppose that this 
 state of things is the result of the policy of the English 
 Government; that the said Government is afraid of 
 giving a chance to natives who may be suspected of 
 being hostile to the British rule. In reality, the Govern- 
 ment has little or nothing to do with it. This state of 
 things must be attributed entirely to the social ostracism, 
 to the contempt felt by a "superior" for an "inferior" 
 race, a contempt deeply rooted in some members of the 
 Anglo-Indian society and displayed at the least provo- 
 cation. This question of racial "superiority" and "in- 
 feriority" plays a more important part than is generally- 
 believed, even in England. Nevertheless, the natives- 
 (Mussulmans included) do not deserve contempt, and sO' 
 the gulf between the rulers and the ruled widens with, 
 every j^ear, and long centuries would not suffice to fill 
 it up. 
 
 I have to dwell upon all this to give my readers a clear- 
 idea on the subject. And so it is no wonder the ill-fated 
 Hindus prefer temporary humiliations and the physical 
 and moral sufferings of the "purification," to the 
 prospect of general contempt until death. These were 
 the questions we discussed with the Brahmans during" 
 the two hours before dinner. 
 
 Dining with foreigners and people belonging- to, dif- 
 
beah:\ianic hospitalities. 145 
 
 ferent castes is, no doubt, a dangerous breach of Manu's 
 sacred precepts. But this time, for once, it was easily 
 explained. First, the stout Patel, our host, was the 
 head of his caste, and so was be3-ond the dread of ex- 
 communication; secondlj', he had alreadj- taken all 
 the prescribed and advisable precautions against being 
 polluted by our presence. He was a free-thinker in his 
 o^^^l wa}-, and a friend of Gulab-Lal-Sing, and so he 
 rejoiced at the idea of showing us how much skilful 
 sophistry and strategical circumspection can be used by 
 adroit Brahmans to avoid the law in some circumstances, 
 while adhering at the same time to its dead letter. Be- 
 sides, our good-natured, well-favoured host evidently 
 desired to obtain a diploma from our Society-, being well 
 aware that the collector of his district was enrolled 
 amongst our members. 
 
 These, at anj- rate, were the explanations of our Babu 
 when we expressed our astonishment; so it was our 
 concern to make the most of our chance, and to thank 
 Providence for this rare opportunity. And this we 
 accordingly did. 
 
 Hindus take their food onh' twice a daj-, at ten o'clock 
 in the morning and at nine in the evening. Both meals 
 are accompanied by complicated rites and ceremonies. 
 Even ven,- young children are not allowed to eat at odd 
 times, eating without the prescribed performance of 
 certain exorcisms being considered a sin. Thousands 
 of educated Hindus have long ceased to believe in all 
 these superstitious customs, but, nevertheless, they are 
 daily practised. 
 
 Sham Rao Bahunathji, our host, belonged to the ancient 
 caste of Patarah Prabhus, and w?.s very proud of his 
 origin. Prabhu means lord, and this caste descends 
 
146 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 from the Kshatriyas. The first of them was Ashvapati 
 (700 B.C.), a lineal descendant of Rama and Prithu, who, 
 as is stated in the local chronology, governed India in 
 the Dvapara and Treta Yugas, which is a good while 
 ago! The Patarah Prabhus are the only caste within 
 which Brahmans have to perform certain purely Vedic 
 rites, known under the name of the "Kshatriya rites." 
 But this does not prevent their being Patans, instead of 
 Patars, Patan meaning the fallen one. This is the fault 
 of King Ashvapati. Once, when distributing gifts to 
 holy anchorites, he inadvertently forgot to give his due 
 to the great Bhrigu. The offended prophet and seer 
 declared to him that his reign was drawing near its 
 end, and that all his posterity would perish. The king, 
 throwing himself on the ground, implored the prophet's 
 pardon. But his curse had worked its fulfilment already. 
 All that he could do to stop the mischief consisted in a 
 solemn promise not to let the king's descendants dis- 
 appear completely from the earth. However, the Patars 
 soon lost their throne and their power. Since then they 
 have had to "live by their pens," in the employment of 
 many successive governments, to exchange their name of 
 Patars for Patans, and to lead a humbler life than many 
 of their late subjects. Happily for our talkative Am- 
 phitryon, his forefathers became Brahmans, that is to 
 say "went through the golden cow." 
 
 The expression "to live by their pens" alludes, as we 
 learned later on, to the fact of the Patans occupying all 
 the small Government posts in the Bombay Presidencj-, 
 and so being dangerous rivals of the Bengali Babus since 
 the time of British rule. In Bombay the Patan clerks 
 reach the considerable figure of five thousand. Their 
 complexion is darker than the complexion of Konkan 
 Brahmans, but they are handsomer and brighter. As to 
 
BRAHMAXIC HOSPITALITIES. I47 
 
 the m^'sterious expression, "went through the golden 
 cow," it ilhistrates a verj- curious custom . The Kshatriyas, 
 and even the much-despised Shudras, may become a sort 
 of left-hand Brahmans. This metamorphosis depends on 
 the will of the real Brahmans, who ma}-, if they like, sell 
 this right for several hundreds or thousands of cows. 
 When the gift is accomplished, a model cow, made of 
 pure gold, is erected and made sacred by the perform- 
 ance of some mystical ceremonies. The candidate must 
 now crawl through her hollow body three times, and 
 thus is transformed into a Brahman. The present 
 Maharaja of Travankor, and even the great Raja of 
 Benares, who died recenth% were both Shudras who 
 acquired their rights in this manner. "\\'e received all 
 this information and a notion of the legendary Patar 
 chronicle from our obliging host. 
 
 Ha%-ing announced that we must now get readj- for 
 dinner, he disappeared in the company of all the gentle- 
 men of our party. Being left to ourselves, :Miss X and 
 
 I decided to have a good look at the house whilst it was 
 empt}-. The Babu, being a do'miright, modem Bengali, 
 had no respect for the religious preparations for dinner, 
 and chose to accompany us, proposing to explain to us 
 all that we should otherwise fail to understand. 
 
 The Prabhu brothers always live together, but even,- 
 married couple have separate rooms and ser^-ants of 
 their own. The habitation of our host was very spacious. 
 There were small several bungalows, occupied bj- his 
 brothers, and a chief building containing rooms for 
 ■\-isitors, the general dining-room, a h"ing-in ward, a 
 small chapel w-ith any number of idols, and so on. The 
 ground floor, of course, was surrounded by a verandah 
 pierced vdih arches leading to a huge hall. All round 
 this hall were wooden pillars adorned with exquisite 
 
148 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 carving. For some reason or other, it struck me that 
 these pillars once belonged to some palace of the "dead 
 town." On close examination I only grew more con- 
 vinced that I was right. Their style bore no traces of 
 Hindu taste; no gods, no fabulous monster animals, 
 only arabesques and elegant leaves and flowers of non- 
 existent plants. The pillars stood very close to each 
 other, but the carvings prevented them from forming- 
 an uninterrupted wall, so that the ventilation was a 
 little too strong. All the time we spent at the dinner 
 table miniature hurricanes whistled from behind every 
 pillar, waking up all our old rheumatisms and tooth- 
 aches, which had peacefully slumbered since our arrival 
 in India. 
 
 The front of the house was thickly covered with iron, 
 horse-shoes — the best precaution against evil spirits and 
 evil eyes. 
 
 At the foot of a broad, carved staircase we came across. 
 a couch or a cradle, hung from the ceiling by iron 
 chains. I saw somebody lying on it, whom, at first 
 sight, I mistook for a sleeping Hindu, and was going tO' 
 retreat discreetly, but, recognizing my old friend Hanu- 
 man, I grew bold and endeavoured to examine him.. 
 Alas ! the poor idol possessed only a head and neck, the- 
 rest of his body was a heap of old rags. 
 
 On the left side of the verandah there were many more- 
 lateral rooms, each with a special destination, some of 
 which I have mentioned already. The largest of these 
 rooms was called "vattan," and was used exclusively by 
 the fair sex. Brahman women are not bound to spend 
 their lives under veils, like Mussulman women, but still 
 they have very little communication with men, and keep- 
 aloof. Women cook the men's food, but do not dine 
 with them. The elder ladies of the family are oftert 
 
BRAHMAXIC HOSPITALITIES. I49 
 
 ield in great respect, and husbands sometimes show a 
 shy courteousness towards their wives, but still a woman 
 has no right to speak to her husband before strangers, 
 nor even before the nearest relations, such as her sisters 
 and her mother. 
 
 As to the Hindu widows, the}- realh" are the most 
 wretched creatures in the whole world. As soon as a 
 woman's husband dies she must have her hair and her 
 eyebrows shaven off. She must part with all her trinkets, 
 her earrings, her nose jewels, her bangles and toe-rings. 
 After this is done she is as good as dead. The lowest 
 outcast would not niarrj- her. A man is polluted by her 
 slightest touch, and must immediately proceed to purify 
 himself The dirtiest work of the household is her duty, 
 and she must not eat ^vith the married women and 
 the children. The "sati," the burning of the widows, is 
 abolished, but Brahmans are clever managers, and the 
 widows often long for the sati. 
 
 At last, having examined the family chapel, full of 
 idols, flowers, rich vases with burning incense, lamps 
 hanging from its ceiling, and aromatic herbs covering 
 its floor, we decided to get ready for dinner. We care- 
 full}- washed ourselves, but this was not enough, we 
 were requested to take ofi" our shoes. This was a some- 
 what disagreeable surprise, but a real Brahmanical 
 supper was worth the trouble. 
 
 However, a truly amazing surprise was still in store 
 for us. 
 
 On entering the dining-room we stopped short at the 
 entrance — both our European companions were dressed, 
 or rather undressed, exactly like Hindus ! For the sake 
 of decency they kept on a kind of sleeveless knitted 
 vest, but they were barefooted, wore the snow-white 
 Hindu d/iu/is (a piece of muslin wrapped round to the 
 
150 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 waist and forming a petticoat), and looked like some- 
 thing between white Hindus and Constantinople garcons 
 de bains. Both were indescribably funny, I never saw 
 an5'thing funnier. To the great discomfiture of the men, 
 and the scandal of the grave ladies of the house, I could 
 
 not restrain myself, but burst out laughing. Miss X 
 
 blushed violently and followed my example. 
 
 A quarter of an hour before the evening meal every 
 Hindu, old or young, has to perform a "puja" before the 
 gods. He does not change his clothes, as we do in Europe, 
 but takes off the few things he wore during the day. He 
 bathes by the family well and loosens his hair, of which, 
 if he is a Mahratti or an inhabitant of the Dekkan, he 
 has only one long lock at the top of his shaven head. 
 To cover the body and the head whilst eating would be 
 sinful. Wrapping his waist and legs in a white silk 
 dhuti, he goes once more to salute the idols and then 
 sits down to his meal. 
 
 But here I shall allow myself to digress. "Silk pos- 
 sesses the property of dismissing the evil spirits whO' 
 inhabit the magnetic fluids of the atmosphere," says the 
 Mantram, book v., verse 23. And I cannot help wonder- 
 ing whether this apparent superstition may not con- 
 tain a deeper meaning. It is difficult, I own, to part 
 with our favourite theories about all the customs of 
 ancient heathendom being mere ignorant superstitions. 
 But have not some vague notions of these customs being 
 founded originally on a true knowledge of scientific 
 principles found their way amongst European scientific 
 circles? At first sight the idea seems untenable. But 
 why may we not suppose that the ancients prescribed 
 this observance in the full knowledge that the effect of 
 electricity upon the organs of digestion is truly bene- 
 
BRAHMANIC HOSPITALITIES. I5I 
 
 ficial? People who have studied the ancient philosophy 
 of India \Vith a firm resolve to penetrate the hidden 
 meaning of its aphorisms have for the most part grown 
 convinced that electricity and its effects were known to 
 a considerable extent to some philosophers, as, for in- 
 stance, to Patanjali. Charaka and Sushruta had pro- 
 pounded the sj-stem of Hippocrates long before the time 
 of him who in Europe is supposed to be the "father of 
 medicine." The Bhadrinath temple of Vishnu possesses 
 a stone bearing evident proof of the fact that Surj-a- 
 Sidhanta knew and calculated the expansive force of 
 steam many centuries ago. The ancient Hindus were 
 the first to determine the velocity of light and the laws 
 of its reflection; and the table of Pythagoras and his 
 celebrated theorem of the square of h3-pothenuse are to 
 be found in the ancient books of Jyotisha. All this 
 leads us to suppose that ancient Arj-ans, when institut- 
 ing the strange custom of wearing silk during meals, 
 had something serious in view, more serious, at all 
 events, than the "dismissing of demons." 
 
 Having entered the "refectory," we immediatel}^ no- 
 ticed what were the Hindu precautions against their 
 being polluted b}' our presence. The stone floor of 
 the hall was divided into two equal parts. This divi- 
 sion consisted of a line traced in chalk, with Kabalistic 
 signs at either end. One part was destined for the 
 host's party and the guests belonging to the same 
 caste, the other for ourselves. On our side of the 
 hall there was yet a third square to contain Hindus 
 of a different caste. The furniture of the two bigger 
 squares was exactly similar. Along the two opposite 
 walls there were narrow carpets spread on the floor, 
 covered with cushions and low stools. Before every 
 
152 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 occupant there was an oblong on the bare floor, traced 
 also with chalk, and divided, like a chess board, into 
 small quadrangles which were destined for dishes and 
 plates. Both the latter articles were made of the thick 
 strong leaves of the butea frondosa: larger dishes of 
 several leaves pinned together with thorns, plates and 
 saucers of one leaf with its borders turned up. All the 
 courses of the supper were already arranged on each 
 square ; we counted forty-eight dishes, containing about 
 a mouthful of forty-eight different dainties. The ma- 
 terials of which they were composed were mostly terra 
 incognita to us, but some of them tasted very nice. All 
 this was vegetarian food. Of meat, fowl, eggs and fish 
 there appeared no traces. There were chutneys, fruit 
 and vegetables preserved in vinegar and honey, pan- 
 chamrits, a mixture of pampello -berries, tamarinds, 
 cocoa milk, treacle and olive oil, and kicshmer, made 
 of radishes, honey and flour; there were also burning 
 hot pickles and spices. All this was crowned with a 
 mountain of exquisitely cooked rice and another moun- 
 tain of chapatis, which are something like brown pan- 
 cakes. The dishes stood in four rows, each row con- 
 taining twelve dishes; and between the rows burned 
 three aromatic sticks of the size of a small church taper. 
 Our part of the hall was brightly lit with green and red 
 candles. The chandeliers which held these candles 
 were of a very queer shape. They each represented the 
 trunk of a tree with a seven-headed cobra wound round 
 it. From each of the seven mouths rose a red or a 
 green wax candle of spiral form like a corkscrew. 
 Draughts blowing from behind every pillar fluttered the 
 yellow flames, filling the roomy refectory with fantastic 
 moving shadows, and causing both our lightly-clad 
 gentlemen to sneeze very frequently. Leaving the dark 
 
BRAHMAXIC HOSPITALITIES. 1 53 
 
 silhouettes of the Hindus in comparative obscurit}-, this 
 Tinstead}' light made the two white figures still more 
 conspicuous, as if making a masquerade of them and 
 laughing at them. 
 
 The relatives and friends of our host came in one 
 after the other. They were all naked down to the 
 waist, all barefooted, all wore the triple Brahmanical 
 thread and white silk dhutis, and their hair hung loose. 
 Ever^- sahib was followed b}- his own ser\-ant, who 
 carried his cup, his silver, or even gold, jug filled with 
 ■water, and his towel. All of them, having .saluted the 
 host, greeted us, the palms of their hands pressed to- 
 gether and touching their foreheads, their breasts, and 
 then the floor. They all said to us: "Ram-Ram" and 
 "Xamaste"' (salutation to thee), and then made straight 
 for their respective seats in perfect silence. Their civili- 
 ties reminded me that the custom of greeting each other 
 Tvith the twice pronounced name of some ancestor was 
 usual in the remotest antiquit}-. 
 
 We all sat down, the Hindus calm and statel}', as if 
 preparing for some mystic celebration, we ourselves 
 feeling awkward and uneas}-, fearing to prove guilty 
 of some unpardonable blunder. An invisible choir of 
 women's voices chanted a monotonous hymn, celebrat- 
 ing the glory of the gods. These were half a dozen 
 nautch-girls from a neighbouring pagoda. To this ac- 
 companiment we began satisfying our appetites. Thanks 
 to the Babu's instructions, we took great care to eat only 
 with our right hands. This was somewhat diflScult, be- 
 cause we were hungry and hastj-, but quite necessary. 
 Had we only so much as touched the rice with our left 
 hands whole hosts of Rakshasas (demons) would have 
 been attracted to take part in the festivity that verj^ 
 moment; which, of course, would send all the Hindus 
 
154 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 out of the room. It is hardly necessary to say that 
 there were no traces of forks, knives or spoons. That 
 I might run no risk of breaking the rule I put my left 
 hand in my pocket and held on to my pocket-handker- 
 chief all the time the dinner lasted. 
 
 The singing lasted only a few minutes. During the 
 rest of the time a dead silence reigned amongst us. It 
 was Monda3r, a fast da}^ and so the usual absence of 
 noise at meal times had to be observed still more strictly 
 than on any other daj^ Usually a man who is com- 
 pelled to break the silence by some emergeficy or other- 
 hastens to plunge into water the middle finger of his- 
 left hand, which till then had remained hidden behind 
 his back, and to moisten both his. eyelids with it. But a 
 really pious man would not be content with this simple 
 formula of purification; having spoken, he must leave- 
 the dining-room, wash thoroughly, and then abstain 
 from food for the remainder of the day. 
 
 Thanks to this solemn silence, I was at liberty to- 
 notice everything that was going on with great atten- 
 tion. Now and again, whenever I caught sight of the 
 
 colonel or Mr. Y , I had all the difficulty in the world 
 
 to preserve my gravity. Fits of foolish laughter would 
 take possession of me when I observed them sitting 
 erect with such comical solemnity and working so 
 awkwardly with their elbows and hands. The long- 
 beard of the one was white with grains of rice, as if 
 silvered with hoar-frost, the chin of the other was yellow 
 with liquid saffron. But unsatisfied curiosity happily 
 came to my rescue, and I went on watching the quaint 
 proceedings of the Hindus. 
 
 Each of them, having sat down with his legs twisted 
 under him, poured some water with his left hand out of 
 the jug brought by the servant, first into his cup, then 
 
BRAHMAXIC HOSPITALITIES. i55 
 
 into the palm of his right hand. Then he slowly and 
 carefully sprinkled the water round a dish with all 
 kinds of dainties, which stood by itself, and was destined, 
 as we learned afterwards, for the gods. During this 
 procedure each Hindu repeated a Vedic mantram. Fill- 
 ing his right hand with rice, he pronounced a new series 
 of couplets, then, having stored five pinches of rice on 
 the right side of his own plate, he once more washed his 
 hands to avert the evil eye, sprinkled more water, and 
 pouring a few drops of it into his right palm, slowly 
 drank it. After this he swallowed six pinches of rice, 
 one after the other, murmuring prayers all the while, 
 and wetted both his eyes with the middle finger of his 
 left hand. All this done, he finally hid his left hand 
 behind his back, and began eating with the right hand. 
 All this took only a few minutes, but was performed 
 very solemnly. 
 
 The Hindus ate with their bodies bent over the food, 
 throwing it up and catching it in their mouths so dex- 
 terously that not a grain of rice was lost, not a drop of 
 the various liquids spilt. Zealous to show his considera- 
 tion for his host, the colonel tried to imitate all these 
 movements. He contrived to bend over his food almost 
 horizontally, but, alas! he could not remain long in this 
 position. The natural weight of his powerful limbs 
 overcame him, he lost his balance and nearly tumbled 
 head foremost, dropping his spectacles into a dish of 
 sour milk and garlic. After this unsuccessful experience 
 the brave American gave up all further attempts to 
 become '-Hinduized," and sat ven- quietly. 
 
 The supper was concluded with rice mixed with 
 sugar, powdered peas, olive oil, garlic and grains of 
 pomegranate, as usual. This last dainty is consumed 
 hurriedlv. Everyone nen'OU'^ly glances askance at his 
 
156 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 neighbour, and is mortally afraid of being the last to 
 finish, because this is considered a very bad sign. To 
 conclude, they all take some water into their mouths, 
 murmuring prayers the while, and this time they must 
 swallow it in one gulp. Woe to the one who chokes! 
 'Tis a clear sign that a bhuta has taken possession of his 
 throat. The unfortunate man must run for his life and 
 get purified before the altar. 
 
 The poor Hindus are very much troubled by these 
 wicked bhutas, the souls of the people who have died 
 with ungratified desires and earthly passions. Hindu 
 spirits, if I am to believe the unanimous assertions of 
 one and all, are always swarming round the living, 
 always ready to satisfy their hunger with other people's 
 mouths and gratify their impure desires with the help of 
 organs temporarily stolen from the living. They are 
 feared and cursed all over India. No means to get rid 
 of them are despised. The notions and conclusions of 
 the Hindus on this point categorically contradict the 
 aspirations and hopes of Western spiritualists. 
 
 "A good and pure spirit, they are confident; will not 
 let his soul revisit the earth, if this soul is equally pure. 
 He is glad to die and unite himself to Brahma, to live an 
 eternal life in Svarga (heaven) and enjoy the society of 
 the beautiful Gandharvas or singing angels. He is glad 
 to slumber whole eternities, listening to their songs, 
 whilst his soul is purified by a new incarnation in a body, 
 which is more perfect than the one the soul abandoned 
 previously." 
 
 The Hindus believe that the spirit or Atma, a par- 
 ticle of the Great ALL, which is Parabrahm, cannot be 
 punished for sins in which it never participated. It is 
 Manas, the animal intelligence, and the animal soul or 
 Jiva, both half material illusions, that sin and suffer and 
 
BRAHMAXIC HOSPITALITIES. 157 
 
 transmigrate from one bodj' into the other till they 
 purifj- themselves. The spirit merely overshadows their 
 earthly transmigrations. WTien the Ego has reached 
 the final state of purit3% it ^ill be one with the Atma, 
 and graduallj' will merge and disappear in Parabrahm. 
 But this is not what awaits the wicked souls. The soul 
 that does not succeed in getting rid of earthly cares and 
 desires before the death of the bodj' is weighed down by 
 its sins, and, instead of reincarnating in some new form, 
 according to the laws of metemps3-chosis, it will remain 
 bodiless, doomed to wander on earth. It will become a 
 bhuta, and by its own sufferings will cause unutterable 
 sufferings to its kinsmen. That is why the Hindu fears 
 above all things to remain bodiless after his death. 
 
 "It is better for one to enter the body of a tiger, of a 
 dog, even of a j^ellow-legged falcon, after death, than 
 to become a bhuta ! " an old Hindu said to me on one 
 occasion. "Everj' animal possesses a bodj' of his own 
 and a right to make an honest use of it. Whereas the 
 bhutas are doomed dakoits, brigands and thieves, they 
 are ever watching for an opportunit}- to use what does 
 not belong to them. This is a horrible state — a horror 
 indescribable. This is the true helL What is this 
 spiritualism they talk so much of in the West? Is it 
 possible the intelligent English and Americans are so 
 mad as this?" 
 
 And all our remonstrances not^\-ithstanding, he re- 
 fused to believe that there are actualh- people who are 
 fond of bhutas, who would do much to attract them 
 into their homes. 
 
 After supper the men went again to the family well to 
 wash, and then dressed themselves. 
 
 Usually at this hour of the night the Hindus put on 
 clean malmalas, a kind of tight shirt, white turbans, and 
 
158 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 wooden sandals with knobs pressed between the toes. 
 These curious shoes are left at the door whilst their 
 owners return to the hall and sit down along the walls 
 on carpets and cushions to chew betel, smoke hookahs 
 and cheroots, to listen to sacred reading, and to witness 
 the dances of the nautches. But this evening, probably 
 in our honour, all the Hindus dressed magnificently. 
 Some of them wore darias-oi rich striped satin, no end 
 of gold bangles, necklaces mounted with diamonds and 
 emeralds, gold watches and chains, and transparent 
 Brahmanical scarfs with gold embroidery. The fat 
 fingers and the right ear of our host were simply blaz- 
 ing with diamonds. 
 
 The women, who waited on us during the meal, dis- 
 appeared afterwards for a considerable time. When 
 they came back they also were luxuriously overdressed 
 and were introduced to us formallj' as the ladies of the 
 house. They were five : the wife of the host, a woman 
 of twenty-six or twenty-seven years of age, then two 
 others looking somewhat younger, one of whom carried 
 a baby, and, to our great astonishment, was introduced 
 as the married daughter of the hostess; then the old 
 mother of the host and a little girl of seven, the wife of 
 one of his brothers. So that our hostess turned out to 
 be a grandmother, and her sister-in-law, who was to 
 enter finally into matrimony in from two to three years, 
 might have become a mother before she was twelve. 
 They were all barefooted, with rings on each of their 
 toes, and all, with the exception of the old woman, wore 
 garlands of natural flowers round their necks and in 
 their jet black hair. Their tight bodices, covered with 
 embroidery, were so short that between them and the 
 sari there was a good quarter of a 3'ard of bare skin. 
 The dark, bronze-coloured waists of these well-shaped 
 
BRAHMANIC HOSPITAI^ITIES. 159 
 
 Tfomen were boldly presented to an}- one's examination 
 and reflected the lights of the room. Their beautiful 
 arms and their ankles were covered with bracelets. At 
 the least of their movements they all set up a tinkling 
 silverj' sound, and the little sister-in-law, who might 
 easilj' be mistaken for an automaton doll, could hardly 
 move under her load of ornaments. The young grand- 
 mother, our hostess, had a ring in her left nostril, which 
 reached to the lower part of the chin. Her nose was con- 
 siderably disfigured by the weight of ths gold, and we 
 noticed how unusually handsome she was onh" when 
 she took it off to enable herself to Jiiuk her tea with 
 some comfort. 
 
 The dances of the nautcli girls began. Two of them 
 were very pretty. Their dancing consisted chiefly in 
 more or less expressive movements of their e}-es, their 
 heads, and even their ears, in fact, of the whole upper 
 part of their bodies. As to their legs, they either did 
 not move at all or moved with such a swiftness as to 
 appear in a cloud of mist. 
 
 After this eventful da}- I slept the sleep of the just. 
 
 After manj' nights spent in a tent, it is more than 
 agreeable to sleep in a regular bed, even if it is onlj' a 
 hanging one. The pleasure would, no doubt, have been 
 considerably increased had I but known I was resting 
 on the couch of a god. But this latter circumstance was 
 revealed to me onh- in the morning, when descending 
 the staircase I suddenly discovered the poor gaicml cit 
 chef, Hanuman, deprived of his cradle and unceremo- 
 niously stowed away under the stairs. Decidedly, the 
 Hindus of the nineteenth centurj- are a degenerate and 
 blaspheming race! 
 
l6o FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 In the course of the morning we learned that this- 
 swinging throne of his, and an ancient sofa, were the 
 only pieces of furniture in the whole house that could 
 be transformed into beds. 
 
 Neither of our gentlemen had spent a comfortable 
 night. They slept in an empty tower that was once the 
 altar of a decayed pagoda and was situated behind the 
 main building. In assigning to them this strange resting- 
 place, the host was guided by the praiseworthy intentioa 
 of protecting them from the jackals, which freely pene- 
 trate into all the rooms of the ground floor, as they are 
 pierced by numberless arches and have no door and no 
 window frames. The jackals, however, did not trouble 
 the gentlemen much that night, except by giving their 
 
 nightly concert. But both Mr. Y and the colonel 
 
 had to fight all the night long with a vampire, which, 
 besides being a flying fox of an unusual size, happened 
 to be a spirit, as we learned too late, to our great mis- 
 fortune. 
 
 This is how it happened. Noiselessly hovering about 
 the tower, the vampire from time to time alighted on the 
 sleepers, making them shudder under the disgusting- 
 touch of his cold sticky wings. His intention clearly 
 was to get a nice suck of European blood. They were 
 wakened by his manipulations at least ten times, and 
 each time frightened him away. But, as soon as they 
 were dozing again, the wretched bat was sure to return 
 and perch on their shoulders, heads, or legs. At last 
 Mr. Y , losing patience, had recourse to strong- 
 measures; he caught him and broke his neck. 
 
 Feeling perfectly innocent, the gentlemen mentioned 
 the tragic end of the troublesome flying fox to their host, 
 and instantly drew down on their heads all the thunder- 
 clouds of heaven. 
 
BRAHMAXIC HOSPITAUTIES. l6l 
 
 The yard was crowded with people. All the inhabi- 
 tants of the house stood sorrowfully drooping their heads, 
 at the entrauce of the tcwer. Our host's old mother tore 
 her hair in despair, and shrieked lamentations in all the 
 languages of India. What was the matter with them all ? 
 We were at our wits' end. But when we learned the cause 
 of all this, there was no limit to our confusion. 
 
 B}- certain mj-sterious signs, known only to the family 
 Brahman, it had been decided ten j-ears ago that the soul 
 of our host's elder brother had incarnated in this blood- 
 thirst}- vampire-bat. This fact was stated as being bej'ond 
 any doubt. For nine j-ears the late Patarah Prabhu 
 existed under this new shape, carrying out the laws of 
 metempsychosis. He spent the hours between sunrise 
 and the sunset in an old pipal-tree before the tower, 
 hanging with his head downwards. But at night he 
 visited the old tower and gave fierce chase to the insects 
 that sought rest in this out-of-the-way corner. And so 
 nine 3"ears were spent in this happj' existence, divided 
 between sleep, food, and the gradual redemption of old 
 sins committed in the shape of a Patarah Prabhu. And 
 now? Isow his listless body lay in the dust at the 
 entrance of his favourite tower, and his wings were half 
 devoured by the rats. The poor old woman, his mother, 
 was mad with sorrow, and cast, through her tears, re- 
 proachful, angry looks at Mr. Y , who, in his new 
 
 capacit3' of a heartless murderer, looked disgustingly 
 composed. 
 
 But the affair was growing serious. The comical side 
 of it disappeared before the sinceritj- and the intensity of 
 her lamentations. Her descendants, grouped around her, 
 were too polite to reproach us openly, but the expression 
 of their faces was far from reassuring. The family priest 
 and astrologer stood by the old lady, Shastras in hand. 
 
l62 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 ready to begin the ceremony of purification. He solemnly 
 covered the corpse with a piece of new linen, and so hid 
 from our eyes the sad remains on which ants were literally 
 swarming. 
 
 Mr. Y did his best to look unconcerned, but still, 
 
 when the tactless Miss X came to him, expressing 
 
 her loud indignation at all these superstitions of an in- 
 ferior race, he at least seemed to remember that our host 
 knew English perfectly, and he did not encourage her 
 farther expressions of sympathy. He made no answer, 
 but smiled contemptuously. Our host approached 
 the colonel with respectful salaams and invited us to 
 follow him. 
 
 "No doubt he is going to ask us to leave his house 
 immediately!" was my uncomfortable impression. 
 
 But my apprehension was not justified. At this epoch 
 of my Indian pilgrimage I was far, as 3'et, from having 
 fathomed the metaphysical depth of a Hindu heart. 
 
 Sham Rao began by delivering a very far-fetched, 
 eloquent preface. He reminded us that he, personally, 
 was an enlightened man, a man who possessed all the 
 advantages of a Western education. He said that, owing 
 to this, he was not quite sure that the body of the vam- 
 pire was actually inhabited by his late brother. Darwin, 
 of course, and some other great naturalists of the West, 
 seemed to believe in the transmigration of souls, but, as 
 far as he understood, they believed in it in an inverse 
 sense ; that is to say, if a baby had been born to his 
 mother exactly at the moment of the vampire's death, 
 this baby would indubitably have had a great likeness 
 to a vampire, owing to the decaying atoms of the vam- 
 pire being so close to her. 
 
 "Is not this an exact interpretation of the Darwinian 
 school?" he asked. 
 
BRAHMAXIC HOSPITALITIES. 1 63 
 
 We modestl)^ answered that, having travelled almost 
 incessantly during the last year, we could not help 
 being a bit behindhand in the questions of modem 
 science, and that we were not able to follow its latest 
 conclusions. 
 
 "But I have followed them!" rejoined the good- 
 natured Sham Rao, with a touch of pompositJ^ "And 
 so I hope I maj' be allowed to say that I have under- 
 stood and dulj- appreciated their most recent develop- 
 ments. I have just finished studying the magnificent 
 Anthropogcncsis of Hseckel, and have carefully discussed 
 in my own mind his logical, scientific explanations of 
 the origin of man from inferior animal forms through 
 transformation. And what is this transformation, praj', 
 if not the transmigration of the ancient and modern 
 Hindus, and the metempsj'chosis of the Greeks?" 
 
 We had nothing to say against the identitj-, and even 
 ventured to observe that, according to Hseckel, it does 
 look like it. 
 
 "Exactly!" exclaimed he joyfullj'. "This shows that 
 our conceptions are neither silly nor superstitious, as is 
 mailitained by some opponents of Manu. The great 
 Manu anticipated Darwin and Hasckel. Judge for 5-our- 
 self; the latter derives the genesis of man from a group 
 of plastides, from the jelly-like moneron ; this moneron, 
 through the amoeba, the ascidian, the brainless and 
 heartless amphioxus, and so on, transmigrates in the 
 eighth remove into the lampre}', is transformed, at last, 
 into a vertebrate amniote, into a premammalian, into a 
 marsupial animal. . . . The vampire, in its turn, 
 belongs to the species of vertebrates. You, being well 
 read people all of you, cannot contradict this statement." 
 
 He was right in his supposition; we did not contra- 
 dict it. 
 
164 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGI,ES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 "In this case, do me the honour to follow my argu- 
 ment. . . ." 
 
 We did follow his argument with the greatest atten- 
 tion, but were at a loss to foresee whither it tended to 
 lead us. 
 
 "Darwin," continued Sham Rao, "in his Origin of 
 Species, reestablished almost word for word the palin- 
 genetic teachings of our Manu. Of this I am perfectly 
 convinced, and, if you like, I can prove it to you book 
 in hand. Our ancient law-giver, amongst other sayings, 
 speaks as follows: 'The great Parabrahm commanded 
 man to appear in the universe, after traversing all the 
 grades of the animal kingdom, and springing primarily 
 from the worm of the deep sea mud.' The worm be- 
 came a snake, the snake a fish, the fish a mammal, and 
 so on. Is not this very idea at the bottom of Darwin's 
 theory, when he maintains that the organic forms have 
 their origin in more simple species, and says that the 
 structureless protoplasm born in the mud of the I,auren- 
 tian and Silurian periods — the Manu's 'mud of the seas,' 
 I dare say — gradually transformed itself into the anthro- 
 poid ape, and then finally into the human being?" 
 
 We said it looked very like it. 
 
 "But, in spite of all my respect for Darwin and his 
 eminent follower Hseckel, I cannot agree with their final 
 conclusions, especially with the conclusions of the 
 latter," continued Sham Rao. "This hasty and bilious 
 German is perfectly accurate in copying the embryology 
 of Manu and all the metamorphoses of our ancestors, 
 but he forgets the evolution of the human soul, which, 
 as it is stated by Manu, goes hand in hand with the 
 evolution of matter. The son of Swayambhuva, the Self 
 Becoming, speaks as follows: 'Everything created in a 
 new cycle, in addition to the qualities of its preceding; 
 
BRAHMANIC HOSPITALITIES. 1 65 
 
 transmigrations, acquires new qualities, and the nearer 
 it approaches to man, the highest type of the earth, the 
 brighter becomes its divine spark; but, once it has 
 become a Brahma, it will enter the cycle of conscious 
 transmigrations.' Do you realize what that means? It 
 means that from this moment, its transformations de- 
 pend no longer on the blind laws of gradual evolution, 
 but on the least of a man's actions, which brings either 
 a reward or a punishment. Now you see that it depends 
 on the man's will whether, on the one hand, he will 
 start on the wa}- to Moksha, the eternal bliss, passing 
 from one Loka to another till he reaches Brahmaloka, 
 or, on the other, owing to his sins, will be thrown back. 
 You know that the average soul, once freed from earthly 
 reincarnations, has to ascend from one Loka to another, 
 always in the human shape, though this shape will grow 
 and perfect itself with every Loka. Some of our sects 
 understood these Lokas to mean certain stars. These 
 spirits, freed from earthly matter, are what we mean by 
 Pitris and Devas, whom we worship. And did not your 
 Kabalists of the middle ages designate these Pitris under 
 the expression Pla7ictai-y Spirits? But, in the case of a 
 verj- sinful man, he will have to begin once more with 
 the animal forms which he had already traversed uncon- 
 sciously. Both Dar\\-in and Hseckel lose sight of this, 
 so to speak, second volume of their incomplete theor}', 
 but still neither of them advances any argument to 
 prove it false. Is it not so?" 
 
 "Xeither of them does anything of the sort, most 
 assuredly.'' 
 
 "Why, in this case," exclaimed he, suddenly changing 
 his colloquial tone for an aggressive one, "why am I, 
 I who have studied the most modern ideas of \\'estem 
 science, I who believe in its representatives — why am I 
 
1 66 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 suspected, pray, by Miss X of belonging to the tribe 
 
 of the ignorant and superstitious Hindus? Why does 
 she think that our perfected scientific theories are super- 
 stitions, and we ourselves a fallen inferior race?" 
 
 Sham Rao stood before us with tears in his e5'es. We 
 were at a loss what to answer him, being confused to the 
 last degree by this outburst. 
 
 "Mind j'ou, I do not proclaim our popular beliefs to 
 be infallible dogmas. I consider them as mere theories, 
 and try to the best of my ability to reconcile the ancient 
 and the modern science. I formulate hypotheses just 
 like Darwin and Hseckel. Besides, if I understood 
 
 rightly, Miss X is a spiritualist, so she believes in 
 
 bhutas. And, believing that a bhuta is capable of pene- 
 trating the body of a medium, how can she deny that a 
 bhuta, and more so a less sinful soul, may enter the body 
 of a vampire-bat?" 
 
 I own, this logic was a little too condensed for us, and 
 so, avoiding a direct answer to a metaphysical question 
 of such delicacy, we tried to apologize and excuse Miss 
 X 's rudeness as well as we could. 
 
 "She did not mean to offend you," we said, "she only 
 repeated a calumny, familiar to every European. Be- 
 sides, if she had taken the trouble to think it over, she 
 probably would not have said it. . . ." 
 
 Ivittle by little we succeeded in pacifying our host. He 
 recovered his usual cheerfulness, but could not resist the 
 temptation of adding a few words to his long argumenta- 
 tion. He had just begun to reveal to us certain peculiari- 
 ties of his late brother's character, which induced him 
 to be prepared, judging by the laws of atavism, to see 
 their repetition in the propensities of a vampire bat, 
 
 when Mr. Y suddenly dashed in on our small group 
 
 and spoiled all the results of our conciliatory words by 
 
BRAHSIAXIC HOSPITALITIES. 1 07 
 
 screaming at the top of his voice: "The old woman has 
 gone demented! She keeps on cursing us and says that 
 the murder of this wretched bat is only the forerunner 
 of a whole series of misfortunes brought on her house 
 by you. Sham Rao,"" said he. hastily addressing the be- 
 wildered follower of Hseckel. "She says you have pol- 
 luted your Brahmanical holiness by in\-iting us. . . 
 Colonel, you had better send for the elephants. In 
 another moment all this crowd will be on us. . . 
 
 "For goodness' sake!"' exclaimed poor Sham Rao, 
 "have some consideration for my feelings. She is an old 
 woman, she has some superstitions, but she is my mother. 
 You are educated people, learned people. . . Advise me, 
 show me a way out of all these difficulties. What should 
 you do in my place?"' 
 
 "What should I do, sir?" exclaimed Mr. Y . com- 
 pletely put out of temper bj- the utter ludicrousness of 
 our awkward predicament. "What should I do? Were 
 I a man in }.our position and a believer in all you are 
 brought up to believe, I should take my revolver, and in 
 the first place, shoot all the vampire bats in the neigh- 
 bourhood, if only to rid all your late relations from the 
 abject bodies of these creatures, and, in the second place, 
 I should endeavour to smash the head of the conceited 
 fraud in the shape of a Brahman who invented all this 
 stupid story. That is what I should do, sir!"' 
 
 But this advice did not content the miserable descend- 
 ant of Rama. Xo doubt he would have remained a long 
 time undecided as to what course of action to adopt, torn 
 as he w.is between the sacred feelings of hospitality, the 
 innate fear of the Brahman-priest, and his own supersti- 
 tions, if our ingenious Babu had not come to our rescue. 
 Learning llK:t we a'l felt more or less indignant at all 
 this row, and that we were preparing to leave I'.ie house 
 
168 PROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 as quickly as possible, he persuaded us to stay, if only 
 for an hour, sajdng that our hasty departure would be a 
 terrible outrage upon our host, whom, in any case, we 
 could not find fault with. As to the stupid old woman, 
 the Babu promised us to pacify her speedily enough: he 
 had his own plans and views. In the meantime, he said, 
 we had better go and examine the ruins of an old fortress 
 close by. 
 
 We obeyed very reluctantly, feeling an acute interest 
 in his "plans." We proceeded slowly. Our gentlemen 
 were visibly out of teinper. Miss X tried to calm her- 
 self by talking more than usual, and Narayan, as phleg- 
 matic as usual, indolently and good-naturedly chaffed 
 her about her beloved "spirits." Glancing back we saw 
 the Babu accompanied by the family priest. Judging 
 by their gestures they were engaged in some warm dis- 
 cussion. The shaven head of the Brahman nodded right 
 and left, his j^ellow garment flapped in the wind, and his 
 arms rose towards the sky, as if in an appeal to the 
 .gods to come down and testify to the truth of his words. 
 
 "I'll bet you a thousand dollars, no plans of our Babu's 
 will be of any avail with this fanatic!" confidently 
 remarked the colonel as he lit his pipe. 
 
 But we had hardly walked a hundred steps after this 
 remark when we saw the Babu running after us and 
 signalling us to stop. 
 
 "Everything ended first-rate!" screamed he, as soon 
 as we could hear. "You are to be thanked . . . You 
 happen to be the true saviours and benefactors of the 
 deceased bhuta . . . You . . ." 
 
 Our Babu sank on the ground holding his narrow, 
 panting breast with both his hands, and laughed, laughed 
 till we all burst into laughter too, before learning any- 
 thing at all. 
 
BRAHMAXIC HOSPITALITIES. 1 69 
 
 "Think of it," began the Babu, and stopped short, 
 prevented from going on by his exuberant hilarity. 
 "Just think of it! The whole transaction is to cost me 
 only ten rupees. . . I offered five at first . but 
 he would not. . . He said this was a sacred matter. . . 
 But ten he could not resist ! Ho, ho, ho. . ." 
 
 At last we learned the stor\\ All the metempsychoses 
 depend on the imagination of the family Gitrus, who 
 receive for their kind offices from one hundred to one 
 hundred and fifty rupees a year. Ever\" rite is accom- 
 panied by a more or less considerable addition to the 
 purse of the insatiable family Brahman, but the happy 
 events pay better than the sad ones. Knowing all this, 
 the Babu asked the Brahman point-blank to perform a 
 false saiiiadhi, that is to say, to feign an inspiration and 
 to announce to the sorrowing mother that her late son's 
 will had acted conscioush* in all the circumstances; that 
 •he brought about his end in the body of the flying fox, 
 that he was tired of that grade of transmigration, that 
 he longed for death in order to attain a higher position 
 in the animal kingdom, that he is happy, and that he is 
 deeph- indebted to the sahib who broke his neck and so 
 freed him from his abject embodiment. 
 
 Besides, the obser\-ant eye of our all-knowing Babu 
 had not failed to remark that a she-biifFalo of the Guru's 
 was expecting a calf, and that the Guru was yearning 
 to sell it to Sham Rao. This circumstance was a trump 
 card in the Babu's hand. Let the Guru announce, under 
 the influence, of samadhi, that the freed spirit intends to 
 inhabit the body of the future baby-buffalo and the old 
 ladv will buy the new incarnation of her first-born as 
 sure as the sun is bright. This announcement will be 
 followed by rejoicings and bj- new rites. And who will 
 profit by all this if not the family priest? 
 
lyo FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN". 
 
 At first the Guru had some misgivings, and swore by- 
 everything sacred that the vampire bat was veritabljr 
 inhabited by the brother of Sham Rao. But the Babu 
 knew better than to give in. The Guru ended by under- 
 standing that his skilful opponent saw through his tricks, 
 and that he was well aware that the Shastras exclude the- 
 possibility of such a transmigration. Growing alarmed^ 
 the Guru also grew meek, and asked only ten rupees and 
 a promise of silence for the performance of a samadhi. 
 
 On our way back we were met at the gate by Sham 
 Rao, who was simply radiant. Whether he was afraid of" 
 our laughing at him, or was at loss to find an explanation 
 of this new metamorphosis in the positive sciences in 
 general, and Haeckel in particular, he did not attempt, 
 to explain why the affair had taken such an unexpectedly 
 good turn. He merely mentioned awkwardly enougli 
 that his mother, owing to some new mysterious conjec- 
 tures of hers, had dismissed all sad apprehensions as to 
 the destiny of her elder son, and he then dropped the: 
 subject completeh'. 
 
 In order to wipe away the traces of the morning's- 
 perplexities from our minds. Sham Rao invited us to sit 
 on the verandah, by the wide entrance of his idol room, 
 whilst the family prayers were going on. Nothing could 
 suit us better. It was nine o'clock, the usual time of 
 the morning praj-ers. Sham Rao went to the well to 
 get read}', and dress himself, as he said, though the 
 process v-fas more like undressing. In a few moments 
 he came back wearing only a dhuti, as during dinner- 
 time, and with his head uncovered. He went straight to 
 his idol room. The moment he entered we heard the 
 loud stroke of a bell that hung under the ceiling, and 
 that continued tolling all the time the prayers lasted.. 
 
BRAHMANIC HOSPITALITIES. I7I 
 
 The Babvi explained to us that a little boy was pulling 
 the bell rope from the roof. 
 
 Sham Rao stepped in with his right foot and very 
 slowly. Then he approached the altar and sat on a little 
 stool with his legs crossed. At the opposite side of the 
 room, on the red velvet shelves of an altar that resembled 
 an t'tagcre in the drawing-room of some fashionable 
 lad}', stood manj' idols. They were made of gold, of 
 silver, of brass and of marble, according to their im- 
 portance and merits. Maha-Deva or Shiva was of gold, 
 Gunpati or Ganesha of silver, Vishnu in the form of a 
 round black stone from the river Gandaki in Nepal. In 
 this form Vishnu is called Lakshmi-Xara^'an. There 
 were also many other gods unknown lo us, who were 
 worshipped in the shapes of big sea-shells, called Chakra. 
 Surj-a, the god of the sun, and the kula-devas, the 
 domestic gods, were placed in the second rank. The 
 altar was sheltered by a cupola of car\'ed sandal-wood. 
 During the night the gods and the offerings were covered 
 by a huge bell glass. On the walls there were many 
 sacred images representing the chief episodes in the 
 biographies of the higher gods. 
 
 Sham Rao filled his left hand with ashes, murmuring 
 praj'ers all the while, covered it for a second with the 
 right one, then put some matter to the ashes, and mixing 
 the two by rubbing his hands together, he traced a line 
 on his face with this mixture by moving the thumb of 
 his right hand from his nose upwards, then from the 
 middle of the forehead to the right temple, then back 
 again to the left temple. Having done with his face he 
 proceeded to cover with wet ashes his throat, arms, 
 shoulders, his back, head and ears. In one corner of 
 the room stood a huge bronze font filled with water. 
 Sham Rao made .straight to it and plunged into it three 
 
172 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 times, dhuti, head, and all, after which he came out 
 looking exactly like a well-favoured dripping wet Triton. 
 He twisted the only lock of hair on the top of his shaved 
 head and sprinkled it with water. This operation con- 
 cluded the first act. 
 
 The second act began with religious meditations and 
 with mantrams, which, by really pious people, must be 
 repeated three times a day — at sunrise, at noon and at 
 sunset. Sham Rao loudly pronounced the names of 
 twentj'-four gods, and each name was accompanied by a 
 stroke of the bell. Having finished he first shut his 
 eyes and stuffed his ears with cotton, then pressed his 
 left nostril with two fingers of his left hand, and having 
 filled his lungs with air through the right nostril, pressed 
 the latter also. Then he tightly closed his lips, so that 
 breathing became impossible. In this position every 
 pious Hindu must mentally repeat a certain verse, which 
 is called the Gayatri. These are sacred words which no 
 Hindu will dare to pronounce aloud. Even in repeating 
 them mentally he must take every precaution not to 
 inhale anything impure. 
 
 I am bound by my word of honour never to repeat the 
 whole of this prayer, but I may quote a few unconnected 
 sentences : 
 
 "Om. . . . Earth. . . . Heaven. . . . Let 
 the adored light of ... . [here follows a name 
 which must not be pronounced] shelter me. I,et thy 
 Sun, O thou only One, shelter me, the unworthy. . . . 
 I shut my eyes, I shut my ears, I do not breathe 
 
 in order to see, hear and breathe thee 
 
 alone. Throw light upon our thoughts [again the secret 
 name]. . ." 
 
 It is curious to compare this Hindu prayer with the 
 celebrated prayer of Descartes' "Meditation III" in his 
 
BEAHMAXIC HOSPITALITIES. 1 73 
 
 L' Exisicnce de Dim. It runs as follows, if I remember 
 rightl}- : 
 
 "Xow I shut ray eyes, cover my ears, and dismiss all 
 my five senses, I will dwell on the thought of God alone, 
 I will meditate on His quality and look on the beauty of 
 this wondrous radiancj-." 
 
 After this prayer Sham Rao read many other prayers, 
 holding with two fingers his sacred Brahmanical thread. 
 
 After a while began the ceremony of "the washing of 
 the gods." Taking them down from the altar, one after 
 the other, according to their rank, Sham Rao first 
 plunged them in the big font, in which he had just 
 bathed himself, and then bathed them in milk in a smaller 
 bronze font by the altar. The milk was mixed up with 
 curds, butter, honey, and sugar, and so it cannot be said 
 that this cleansing served its purpose. Xo wonder we 
 were glad to see that the gods underwent a second 
 bathing in the first font and then were dried with a clean 
 towel. 
 
 When the gods were arranged in their respective 
 places, the Hindu traced on them the sectarian signs 
 with a ring from his left hand. He used white sandal 
 paint for the lingam and red for Gunpati and Surya. 
 Then he sprinkled them with aromatic oils and covered 
 them with fresh flowers. The long ceremony was 
 finished by "the awakening of the gods." A small bell 
 was repeatedly rung under the noses of the idols, who, 
 as the Brahman probably supposed, all went to sleep 
 during this tedious ceremony. 
 
 Having noticed, or fancied, which often amounts to 
 the same thing, that they were wide awake, he began 
 offering them his dail}' sacrifices, lighting the incense 
 and the lamps, and, to our great astonishment, snapping 
 his fingers from time to time, as if warning the idols to 
 
174 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOS'fAN. 
 
 "look out." Having filled the room with clouds of 
 incense and fumes of burning camphor, he scattered 
 some more flowers over the altar and sat on the small 
 Stool for a while, murmuring the last prayers. He 
 repeatedly held the palms of his hands over the flame 
 of the tapers and rubbed his face with them. Then he 
 walked round the altar three times, and, having knelt 
 three times, retreated backwards to the door. 
 
 A little while before our host had finished his morn- 
 ing prayers the ladies of the house came into the room. 
 They brought each a small stool and sat in a row mur- 
 muring prayers and telling the beads of their rosaries. 
 
 The part played by the rosaries in India is as impor- 
 tant as in all Buddhist countries. Every god has his 
 favourite flower and his favourite material for a rosary. 
 The fakirs are simply covered with rosaries. The rosary 
 is called mala and consists of one hundred and eight 
 beads. Very pious Hindus are not content to tell the 
 beads when praying; they must hide their hands during 
 this ceremony in a bag called gomukha, which means 
 the cow's mouth. 
 
 We left the women to their prayers and followed our 
 host to the cow house. The cow symbolizes the "foster- 
 ing earth," or Nature, and is worshipped accordingly. 
 Sham Rao sat down by the cow and washed her feet, 
 first with her own milk, then with water. He gave her 
 some sugar and rice, covered her forehead with pow- 
 dered sandal, and adorned her horns and four legs with 
 chains of flowers. He burned some incense under her 
 nostrils and brandished a burning lamp over her head. 
 Then he walked three times round her and sat down to 
 rest. Some Hindus walk round the cow one hundred 
 and eight times, rosary in hand. But our Sham Rao 
 had a slight tendency to freethinking, as we knew, and 
 
BEAHMANIC HOSPITAI,ITIES. 1 75 
 
 Taesides, he was too much of an admirer of Hseckel. 
 Having rested himself, he filled a cup with water, put in 
 it the cow's tail for a moment, and then drank it! 
 
 After this he performed the rite of worshipping the 
 sun and the sacred plant tulsi. Unable to bring the 
 -god Surya from his heavenh' altar and wash him in the 
 -sacred font, Sham Rao contented himself by filling his 
 own mouth with water, standing on one leg, and spirt- 
 ing this water towards the sun. Needless to say it 
 never reached the orb of day, but, very unexpectedly, 
 sprinkled us instead. 
 
 It is still a mj'stery to us wh}' the plant tulsi. Royal 
 Basilicum, is worshipped. However, towards the end of 
 September we j-earlj^ witnessed the strange ceremony of 
 the wedding of this plant with the god Vishnu, notwith- 
 standing that tulsi bears the title of Ktishna's bride, 
 3)robably because of the latter being an incarnation of 
 "Vishnu. On these occasions pots of this plant are 
 painted and adorned with tinsel. A magical circle is 
 traced in the garden and the plant is put in the middle 
 of it. A Brahman brings an idol of Vishnu and begins 
 the marriage ceremony, standing before the plant. A 
 married couple hold a shawl between the plant and the 
 •god, as if screening them from each other, the Brahman 
 Titters praj-ers, and 5'oung women, and especially un- 
 married girls, whq are the most ardent worshippers of 
 tulsi, throw rice and saffron over the idol and the plant. 
 "When the ceremony is concluded, the Brahman is pre- 
 sented with the shawl, the idol is put in the shade of his 
 "wife, the Hindus clap their hands, rend everyone's ears 
 ■with the noise of tom-toms, let off fire-works, offer each 
 other pieces of sugar-cane, and rejoice in every conceiv- 
 able way till the dawn of the next day. 
 
A WITCH'S DEN. 
 
 Our kind host Sham Rao was very gay during the 
 remaining hours of our visit. He did his best to enter- 
 tain us, and would not hear of our leaving the neigh- 
 bourhood without having seen its greatest celebrity, its- 
 most interesting sight. A jadu wala — sorceress— well 
 known in the district, was just at this time under the 
 influence of seven sister-goddesses, who took possession 
 of her by turns, and spoke their oracles through her 
 lips. Sham Rao said we must not fail to see her, be it 
 only in the interests of science. 
 
 The evening closes in, and we once more get ready 
 for an excursion. It is only five miles to the cavern of 
 the Pythia of Hindostan ; the road runs through a jungle, 
 but it is level and smooth. Besides, the jungle and its 
 ferocious inhabitants have ceased to frighten us. The 
 timid elephants we had in the "dead city" are sent 
 home, and we are to mount new behemoths belonging 
 to a neighbouring Raja. The pair, that stand before the 
 verandah like two dark hillocks, are steady and trust- 
 worthy. Many a time these two have hunted the royal 
 tiger, and no wild shrieking or thunderous roaring can 
 frighten them. And so, let us start! The ruddy flames 
 of the torches dazzle our eyes and increase the forest 
 gloom. Our surroundings seem so dark, so mysterious. 
 There is something indescribably fascinating, almost 
 solemn, in these night-journeys in the out-of-the-way 
 corners of India. Everything is silent and deserted 
 around you, everything is dozing on the earth and over- 
 head. Only the heavy, regular tread of the elephants 
 
A witch's den. 177 
 
 breaks the stillness of the night, like the sound of fall- 
 ing hammers in the underground smithy of Vulcan. 
 From time to time uncann}^ voices and murmurs are 
 heard in the black forest. 
 
 "The wind sings its strange song amongst the ruins," 
 saj-s one of us, "what a wonderful acoustic phenomenon ! " 
 
 "Bhiita, bhiata!" whisper the awestruck torch-bearers. 
 They brandish their torches and swiftly spin on one 
 leg, and snap their fingers to chase away the aggres- 
 sive spirits. 
 
 The plaintive murmur is lost in the distance. The 
 forest is once more filled with the cadences of its in- 
 ^dsible nocturnal life — the metallic whirr of the crickets, 
 the feeble, monotonous croak of the tree-frog, the rustle 
 of the leaves. From time to time all this suddenly stops 
 short and then begins again, gradually increasing and 
 increasing. 
 
 Heavens! "What teeming life, what stores of vital 
 energj- are hidden under the smallest leaf, the most 
 imperceptible blades of grass, in this tropical forest! 
 Myriads of stars shine in the dark blue of the sky, 
 and mj-riads of fireflies twinkle at us from every bush, 
 moving sparks, like a pale reflection of the far-away 
 stars. 
 
 We left the thick forest behind us, and reached a deep 
 glen, on three sides bordered with the thick forest, 
 where even by da)^ the shadows are as dark as by night. 
 We were about two thousand feet above the foot of the 
 Vindhya ridge, judging by the ruined wall of Mandu, 
 straight above our heads. 
 
 Suddenh^ a ver}- chilly wind rose that nearly blew our 
 torches out. Caught in the labyrinth of bushes and 
 rocks, the wind angrily shook the branches of the 
 
lyS FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 blossoming syringas, then, shaking itself free, it turned 
 back along the glen and flew down the valley, howling, 
 whistling and shrieking, as if all the fiends of the forest 
 together were joining in a funeral song. 
 
 "Here we are," said Sham Rao, dismounting. "Here 
 is the village; the elephants cannot go any further." 
 
 "The village? Surely you are mistaken. I don't see 
 anything but trees." 
 
 "It is too dark to see the village. Besides, the huts 
 are so small, and so hidden by the bushes, that even by 
 daytime you could hardly find them; And there is no 
 light in the houses, for fear of the spirits." 
 
 "And where is your witch? Do you mean we are to 
 watch her performance in complete darkness?" 
 
 Sham Rao cast a furtive, timid look round him; and 
 his voice, when he answered our questions, was some- 
 what tremulous. 
 
 "I implore you not to call her a witch! She may hear 
 you. . . . It is not far off, it is not more than half a 
 mile. Do not allow this short distance to shake your 
 decision. No elephant, and even no horse, could make 
 its way there. We must walk. . . . But we shall 
 find plenty of light there. . . ." 
 
 This was unexpected, and far from agreeable. To 
 walk in this gloomy Indian night ; to scramble through 
 thickets of cactuses ; to venture in a dark forest, full of 
 
 wild animals — this was too much for Miss X . She 
 
 declared that she would go no further. She would wait 
 for us in the liowdah, on the elephant's back, and 
 perhaps would go to sleep. 
 
 Narayan was against this parti de plaisir from the very 
 beginning, and now, without explaining his reasons, he 
 said she was the only sensible one among us. 
 
 "You won't lose anything," he remarked, "by staying 
 
A WITCH'S DEN. 179 
 
 ■where j^ou are. And I only wish everyone would follow 
 3'our example." 
 
 "What ground have j-ou for saying so, I wonder?" 
 remonstrated Sham Rao, and a slight note of disappoint- 
 ment rang in his voice, when he saw that the excursion, 
 proposed and organized by himself, threatened to come 
 to nothing. "What harm could be done by it? I won't 
 insist any more that the 'incarnation of gods' is a rare 
 sight, and that the Europeans hardh' ever have an op- 
 portunity of ^^■itnessing it; but, besides, the Kangalim 
 in question is no ordinar}' woman. She leads a holj' 
 life; she is a prophetess, and her blessing could not 
 prove harmful to any one. I insisted on this excursion 
 out of pure patriotism." 
 
 " Sahib, if your patriotism consists in displaying 
 before foreigners the worst of our plagues, then why 
 did j'ou not order all the lepers of your district to 
 assemble and parade before the eyes of our guests? You 
 are a paicl, 5-0U have the power to do it." 
 
 How bitterh' Xarayan's voice sounded to our un- 
 accustomed ears. Usually he was so even-tempered, 
 so indifferent to everj-thing belonging to the exterior 
 world. 
 
 Fearing a quarrel between the Hindus, the colonel 
 remarked, in a conciliatory tone, that it was too late for 
 us to reconsider our expedition. Besides, without being 
 a believer in the "incarnation of gods," he was person- 
 ally firmly con\nnced that demoniacs existed even in the 
 West. He was eager to study everj' psychological 
 phenomenon, wherever he met with it, and whatever 
 shape it might assume. 
 
 It would have been a striking sight for our European 
 and American friends if they had beheld our procession 
 on that dark night. Our way lay along a narrow ^\ind- 
 
l8o FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 ing path up the mountain. Not more than two people 
 could walk together — and we were thirty, including the 
 torch-bearers. Surely some reminiscence of night sallies 
 against the confederate Southerners had revived in the 
 colonel's breast, judging by the readiness with which he 
 took upon himself the leadership of our small expedi- 
 tion. He ordered all the rifles and revolvers to be 
 loaded, despatched three torch-bearers to march ahead 
 of us, and arranged us in pairs. Under such a skilled 
 chieftain we had nothing to fear from tigers ; and so our 
 procession started, and slowly crawled up the winding 
 path. 
 
 It cannot be said that the inquisitive travellers, who 
 appeared later on, in the den of the prophetess of Mandu, 
 shone through the freshness and elegance of their cos- 
 tumes. My gown, as well as the travelling suits of the 
 
 colonel and of Mr. Y were nearly tprn to pieces. 
 
 The cactuses gathered from us whatever tribute they 
 could, and the Babu's dishevelled hair swarmed with a 
 whole colony of grasshoppers and fireflies, which, pro- 
 bably, were attracted thither by the smell of cocoa-nut 
 oil. The stout Sham Rao panted like a steam engine. 
 Narayan alone was like his usual self; that is to say, 
 like a bronze Hercules, armed with a club. At the last 
 abrupt turn of the path, after having surmounted the 
 difEculty of climbing over huge, scattered stones, we 
 suddenly found ourselves on a perfectly smooth place; 
 our eyes, in spite of our many torches, were dazzled 
 with light; and our ears were struck by a medley of 
 unusual sounds. 
 
 A new glen opened before us, the entrance of which, 
 from the valley, was well masked by thick trees. We- 
 understood how easily we might have wandered round 
 it, without ever suspecting its existence. At the bottom. 
 
A WITCH S DEN. I»I 
 
 of the glen we discovered the abode of the celebrated 
 Kangalim. 
 
 The den, as it turned out, was situated in the ruin of 
 an old Hindu temple in tolerably good preservation. 
 In all probability it was built long before the "dead 
 city," because during the epoch of the latter, the heathen 
 were not allowed to have their own places of worship ; 
 and the temple stood quite close to the wall of the town, 
 in fact, right under it. The cupolas of the two smaller 
 lateral pagodas had fallen long ago, and huge bushes 
 grew out of their altars.. This evening, their branches 
 were hidden under a mass of bright coloured rags, bits 
 of ribbon, little pots, and various other talismans; 
 because, even in them, popular superstition sees some- 
 thing sacred. 
 
 " And are not these poor people right? Did not these 
 bushes grow on sacred ground? Is not their sap im- 
 pregnated •\\-ith the incense of offerings, and the exhala- 
 tions of holy anchorites, who once lived and breathed 
 here?" 
 
 The learned, but superstitious Sham Rao would onl}- 
 answer our qLiestions b}- new questions. 
 
 But the central temple, built of red granite, stood 
 unharmed by time, and, as we learned afterwards, a 
 deep tunnel opened just behind its closely-shut door. 
 "What was beyond it no one knew. Sham Rao assured 
 us that no man of the last three generations had ever 
 stepped over the threshold of this thick iron door; no 
 one had seen the subterranean passage for many 3-ears. 
 Kangalim lived there in perfect isolation, and, accord- 
 ing to the oldest people in the neighbourhood, she had 
 always lived there. Some people said she was three 
 hundred j-ears old; others alleged that a certain old 
 man on his death-bed had revealed to his son that this 
 
1 82 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 old woman was no one else than his own iincle. This 
 fabulous uncle had settled in the cave in the times when 
 the "dead city" still counted several hundreds of inhabi- 
 tants. The hermit, busy paving his road to Moksha, 
 had no intercourse with the rest of the world, and 
 nobody knew how he lived and what he ate. But a 
 good while ago, in the days when the Bellati (foreigners) 
 had not yet taken possession of this mountain, the old 
 hermit suddenly was transformed into a hermitess. She 
 continues his pursuits and speaks with his voice, and 
 often in his name; but she receives worshippers, which 
 was not the practice of her predecessor. 
 
 We had come too early, and the Pythia did not at 
 first appear. But the square before the temple was full 
 of people, and a wild, though picturesque, scene it was. 
 An enormous bonfire blazed in the centre, and round it 
 crowded the naked savages like so many black gnomes, 
 adding whole branches of trees sacred to the seven 
 sister-goddesses. Slowly and evenly they all jumped 
 from one leg to another to a tune of a single monoto- 
 nous musical phrase, which they repeated in chorus, 
 accompanied by several local drums and tambourines. 
 The hushed trill of the latter mingled with the forest 
 echoes and the hysterical moans of two little girls, who 
 lay under a heap of leaves by the fire. The poor chil- 
 dren were brought here by their mothers, in the hope 
 that the goddesses would take pity upon them and 
 banish the two evil spirits under whose obsession they 
 were. Both mothers were quite j^oung, and sat on their 
 heels blankly and sadly staring at the flames. No one 
 paid us the slightest attention when we appeared, and 
 afterwards during all our stay these people acted as if 
 we were invisible. Had we worn a cap of darkness they 
 could not have behaved more strangely. 
 
A witch's den. 183 
 
 "The}- feel the approach of the gods! The atmosphere 
 is full of their sacred emanations!" mj-steriously ex- 
 plained Sham Rao, contemplating with reverence the 
 natives, whom his beloved Hasckel might have easily 
 mistaken for his "missing link," the brood of his 
 " Bathj-bius Hseckelii." 
 
 "They are sinipl}' under the influence of toddy and 
 opium!" retorted the irreverent Babu. 
 
 The lookers-on moved as in a dream, as if they all 
 were onlj' half-awakened somnambulists ; but the actors 
 were simply victims of St. Vitus's dance. One of them, 
 a tall old man, a mere skeleton with a long white beard, 
 left the ring and begun whirling vertiginously, with his 
 arms spread like wings, and loudlj' grinding his long, 
 wolf-like teeth. He was painful and disgusting to look 
 at. He soon fell down, and was carelessly, almost me- 
 chanicall}-, pushed aside bj' the feet of the others still 
 engaged in their demoniac performance. 
 
 All this was frightful enough, but many more horrors 
 were in store for us. 
 
 Waiting for the appearance of the prima donna of this 
 forest opera company, we sat down on the trunk of a 
 fallen tree, ready to ask innumerable questions of our 
 condescending host. But I was hardly seated, when a 
 feeling of indescribable astonishment and horror made 
 me shrink back. 
 
 I beheld the skull of a monstrous animal, the like of 
 which I could not find in my zoological reminiscences. 
 
 This head was much larger than the head of an elephant 
 skeleton. And still it could not be anything but an 
 elephant, judging by the skilfully restored trunk, which 
 wound down to my feet like a gigantic black leech. But 
 an elephant has no horns, whereas this one had four of 
 them! The front pair stuck from the flat forehead 
 
J 84 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 slightly bending forward and then spreading out; and 
 the others had a wide base, like the root of a deer's horn, 
 that gradually decreased almost up to the middle, and 
 bore long branches enough to decorate a dozen ordinary 
 elks. Pieces of the transparent amber-yellow rhinoceros 
 skin were strained over the empty eye-holes of the skull, 
 and small lamps burning behind them only added to the 
 horror, the devilish appearance of this head. 
 
 "What can this be?" was our unanimous question. 
 None of us had ever met anything like it, and even the 
 colonel looked aghast. 
 
 "It is a Sivatherium," said Narayan. "Is it possibleyou 
 never came across these fossils in European museums? 
 Their remains are common enough in the Himala5'as, 
 though, of course, in fragments. The5' were called after 
 Shiva." 
 
 "If the collector of this district ever hears that this 
 antediluvian relic adorns the den of your — ahem! — 
 witch," remarked the Babu, "it won't adorn it many 
 days longer." 
 
 All round the skull, and on the floor of the portico 
 there were heaps of white flowers, which, though not 
 quite antediluvian, were totally unknown to us. They 
 were as large as a big rose; and their white petals were 
 covered with a red powder, the inevitable concomitant 
 of every Indian religious ceremony. Further on, there 
 ■were groups of cocoa-nuts, and large brass dishes filled 
 with rice ; and each adorned with a red or green taper. 
 In the centre of the portico there stood a queer-shaped 
 censer, surrounded with chandeliers. A little boy, 
 dressed from head to foot in white, threw into it hand- 
 fuls of aromatic powders. 
 
 "These people, who assemble here to worship Kan- 
 galim," said Sham Rao, "do not actuall)^ belong either 
 
A WITCH'S DEX. 185 
 
 to her sect or to any other. They are de^nl-worshippers. 
 They do not believe in Hindu gods, but live in small 
 communities; they belong to one of the many Indian 
 races, which usually are called the hill-tribes. Unlike 
 the Shanars of Southern Travancore, they do not use 
 the blood of sacrificial animals: they do not build 
 separate temples to their bhutas. But they are possessed 
 l)y the strange fancy that the goddess Kali, the wife of 
 Shiva, from time immemorial has had a grudge against 
 them, and sends her favourite evil spirits to torture 
 them. Save this little difference, they have the same 
 beliefs as the Shanars. God does not exist for them; 
 and even Shiva is considered by them as an ordinary- 
 spirit. Their chief worship is offered to the souls of the 
 dead. These souls, however righteous and kind they 
 may be in their lifetime, become after death as wicked 
 as can be : they are happy only when they are torturing 
 li%"ing men and cattle. As the opportunities of doing so 
 are the only reward for the A-irtues they possessed when 
 incarnated, a ver\- ■^\-icked man is punished by becoming 
 after his death a verj- soft-hearted ghost ; he loathes his 
 loss of daring, and is altogether miserable. The results 
 of this strange logic are not bad, nevertlieless. These 
 ■savages and dcA-il-worshippers are the kindest and the 
 most truth-lo^-ing of all the hill-tribes. They do what- 
 ever they can to be worthy of their ultimate reward; 
 because, don't you see. they all long to become the 
 wickedest of de\-ils ! . 
 
 And put in good humour by his owai wittiness. Sham 
 Rao laughed till his hilarity became offensive, consider- 
 ing the sacredness of the place. 
 
 "A year ago some business matters sent me to Tine- 
 velli," continued he. "Staying with a friend of mine, 
 Tvlio is a Shanar, I was allowed to be present at one of 
 
1 86 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 the ceremonies in the honour of devils. No Europeait 
 has as yet witnessed this worship — whatever the mis- 
 sionaries may say ; but there are many converts amongst 
 the Shanars, who willingly describe them to the padres.. 
 My friend is a wealthy man, which is probably the- 
 reason why the devils are especially vicious to him. 
 They poison his cattle, spoil his crops and his coffee 
 plants, and persecute his numerous relations, sending- 
 them sunstrokes, madness and epilepsy, over which, 
 illnesses they especially preside. These wicked demons 
 have settled in every corner of his spacious landed pro- 
 perty — in the woods, the ruins, and even in his stables. 
 To avert all this, my friend covered his land with stucco 
 pyramids, and prayed humbly, asking the demons to 
 draw their portraits on each of them, so that he may 
 recognize them and worship each of them separately, as- 
 the rightful owner of this, or that, particular pyramid. 
 And what do you think? . . . Next morning all the 
 pyramids were found covered with drawings. Each of 
 them bore an incredibly good likeness of the dead of 
 the neighbourhood. My friend had known personally 
 almost all of them. He found also a portrait of his own 
 late father amongst the lot. . . ." 
 
 "Well? And was he satisfied?" 
 
 "Oh, he was very glad, very satisfied. It enabled him 
 to choose the right thing to gratify the personal tastes 
 of each demon, don't you see? He was not vexed at 
 finding his father's portrait. His father was somewhat 
 irascible; once he nearly broke both his son's legs, ad- 
 ministering to him fatherly punishment with an iron 
 bar, so that he could not possibly be very dangerous- 
 after his death. But another portrait, found on the best 
 and the prettiest of the pyramids, amazed my friend a 
 good deal, and put him in a blue funk. The whole dis- 
 
A ^YITCH'S DEN. 187 
 
 trict recognized an English officer, a certain Captain 
 Pole, who in his lifetime was as kind a gentleman as 
 ever lived." 
 
 "Indeed? But do you mean to say that this strange 
 people worshipped Captain Pole also?" 
 
 "Of course they did! Captain Pole was such a worthy 
 man, such an honest officer, that, after his death, he 
 could not help being promoted to the highest rank of 
 Shanar de\-ils. The Pe-Ko\'il, demon's house, sacred to 
 his memory, stands side b^- side with the Pe-Ko\-il 
 Bliadrakali, which was recently conferred on the wife 
 of a certain German missionary, who also was a most 
 charitable lady and so is very dangerous now." 
 
 "But what are their ceremonies? Tell us something 
 about their rites." 
 
 "Their rites consist chiefly of dancing, singing, aud 
 killing sacrificial animals. The Shanars have no castes, 
 and eat all kinds of meat. The crowd assembles about 
 the Pe-Ko\-il, previously designated b\- the priest; there 
 is a general beating of drums, and slaughtering of fowls, 
 sheep and goats. WTien Captain Pole's turn came an 
 ox was killed, as a thoughtful attention to the peculiar 
 tastes of his nation. The priest appeared, covered with 
 bangles, and holding a wand on which tinkled number- 
 less little bells, and wearing garlands of red and white 
 flowers round his neck, and a black mantle, on which 
 were embroidered the ugliest fiends you can imagine. 
 Horns were blown and drums rolled incessantly. And 
 oh, I forgot to tell you there was also a kind of fiddle, 
 the secret of which is known only to the Shanar priest- 
 hood. Its bow is ordinary enough, made of bamboo; 
 but it is whispered that the strings are human veins. 
 . . . . Allien Captain Pole took possession of the 
 priest's body, the priest leapt high in the air, and then 
 
l88 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 rushed on the ox and killed him. He drank oiF the hot 
 blood, and then began his dance. But what a fright he 
 was when dancing! You know, I am not superstitious. 
 . . . . Am I? . . ." 
 
 Sham Rao looked at us inquiringly, and I, for one, 
 
 was glad, at this moment, that Miss X was half a 
 
 mile off, asleep in the howdah. 
 
 "He turned, and turned, as if possessed by all the 
 demons of Naraka. The enraged crowd hooted and 
 howled when the priest begun to inflict deep wounds all 
 over his body with the bloody sacrificial knife. To see 
 him, with his hair waving in the wind and his mouth 
 covered with foam ; to see him bathing in the blood of 
 the sacrificed animal, mixing it with his own, was more 
 than I could bear. I felt as if hallucinated, I fancied I 
 also was spinning round. . . ." 
 
 Sham Rao stopped abruptly, struck dumb. Kangalim 
 stood before us ! 
 
 Her appearance was so unexpected that we all felt 
 embarrassed. Carried away by Sham Rao's description, 
 we had noticed neither how nor whence she came. Had 
 she appeared from beneath the earth we could not have 
 been more astonished. Narayan stared at her, opening 
 wide his big jet-black eyes; the Babu clicked his tongue 
 in utter confusion. 
 
 Imagine a skeleton seven feet high, covered with 
 brown leather, with a dead child's tiny head stuck on 
 its bony shoulders; the eyes set so deep and at the 
 same time flashing such fiendish flames all through your 
 body that you begin to feel your brain stop working, 
 your thoughts become entangled and your blood freeze 
 in your veins. 
 
 I describe my personal impressions, and no words of 
 mine can do them justice. My description is too weak. 
 
A witch's den. 189 
 
 Mr. Y and the colonel both grew pale under her 
 
 stare, and Mr. Y ■ made a movement as if about to 
 
 rise. 
 
 Needless to say that such an impression could not 
 last. As soon as the witch had turned her gleaming 
 ej'es to the kneeling crowd, it vanished as swiftly as it 
 had come. But still all our attention was fixed on this 
 remarkable creature. 
 
 Three hundred years old! WTio can tell? Judging 
 bj' her appearance, we might as well conjecture her to 
 be a thousand. We beheld a genuine living niumm}-, or 
 rather a mummy endowed with motion. She seemed to 
 have been withering since the creation. Neither time, 
 nor the ills of life, nor the elements could ever affect this 
 living statue of death. The all-destroying hand of time 
 had touched her and stopped short. Time could do no 
 more, and so had left her. And with all this, not a 
 single g^ey hair. Her long black locks shone with a 
 greenish sheen, and fell in hea^'y masses down to her 
 knees. 
 
 To my great shame, I must confess that a disgusting 
 reminiscence flashed into my memory. I thought about 
 the hair and the nails of corpses growing in the graves, 
 and tried to examine the nails of the old woman. 
 
 Meanwhile, she stood motionless as if suddenly trans- 
 formed into an ugly idol. In one hand she held a dish 
 with a piece of burning camphor, in the other a handful 
 of rice, and she never removed her burning ej-es from 
 the crowd. The pale yellow flame of the camphor 
 flickered in the wind, and lit up her death-like head, 
 almost touching her chin; but she paid no heed to it. 
 Her neck, as wrinkled as a mushroom, as thin as a stick, 
 was surrounded by three rows of golden medallions. 
 Her head was adorned with a golden snake. Her 
 
I go FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 grotesque, hardly human body was covered by a piece 
 of saffron-yellow muslin. 
 
 The demoniac little girls raised their heads from be- 
 neath the leaves, and set up a prolonged animal-like 
 howl. Their example was followed by the old man, 
 ■who lay exhausted by his frantic dance. 
 
 The witch tossed her head convulsively, and began 
 her invocations, rising on tiptoe, as if moved by some 
 external force. 
 
 "The goddess, one of the seven sisters, begins to take 
 possession of her," whispered Sham Rao, not even 
 thinking of wiping away the big drops of sweat that 
 streamed from his brow. "Look, look at her!" 
 
 This advice was quite superfluous. We were looking 
 at her, and at nothing else. 
 
 At first, the movements of the witch were slow, un- 
 equal, somewhat convulsive ; then, gradually, they became 
 less angular; at last, as if catching the cadence of the 
 ■drums, leaning all her long body forward, and writhing 
 like an eel, she rushed round and round the blazing 
 bonfire. A dry leaf caught in a hurricane could not fly 
 swifter. Her bare bony feet trod noiselessly on the rocky 
 ground. The long locks of her hair flew round her like 
 snakes, lashing the spectators, who knelt, stretching 
 their trembling arms towards her, and writhing as if they 
 were alive. Whoever was touched by one of this Fury's 
 black curls, fell down on the ground, overcome with 
 happiness, shouting thanks to the goddess, and con- 
 sidering himself blessed for ever. It was not human 
 hair that touched the happy elect, it was the goddess 
 herself, one of the seven. 
 
 Swifter and swifter fly her decrepit legs; the young, 
 vigorous hands of the drummer can hardly follow her. 
 JBut she does not think of catching- the measure of his 
 
A witch's DEX. 191 
 
 Tnusic; she rushes, she flies forward. Staring with her 
 expressionless, motionless orbs at something before her, 
 at something that is not visible to our mortal eyes, she 
 hardly glances at her worshippers; then her look be- 
 comes full of fire; and whoever she looks at feels 
 burned through to the marrow of his bones. At even' 
 glance she throws a few grains of rice. The small 
 liandful seems inexhaustible, as if the wrinkled palm 
 contained the bottomless bag of Prince Fortunatus. 
 
 Suddenl}' she stops as if thunderstruck. 
 
 The mad race round the bonfire had lasted twelve 
 minutes, but we looked in vain for a trace of fatigue on 
 the death-like face of the witch. She stopped only for 
 a moment, just the necessarj' time for the goddess to 
 release her. As soon as she felt free, by a single effort 
 she jumped over the fire and plunged into the deep 
 tank b}- the portico. This time, she plunged only 
 once; and whilst she stayed under the water, the second 
 sister-goddess entered her body. The little boy in 
 white produced another dish, with a new piece of burn- 
 ing camphor, just in time for the witch to take it up, 
 and to rush again on her headlong way. 
 
 The colonel sat with his watch in his hand. During 
 the second obsession the witch ran, leaped, and raced 
 for exactly fourteen minutes. After this, she plunged 
 Iwice in the tank, in honour of the second sister; and 
 with everj' new obsession the number of her plunges 
 increased, till it became six. 
 
 It was already an hour and a half since the race 
 began. All this time the witch never rested, stopping 
 only for a few seconds, to disappear under the water. 
 
 "She is a fiend, she cannot be a woman!" exclaimed 
 the colonel, seeing the head of the ^^^tch immersed for 
 the sixth time in the water. 
 
192 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGI,ES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 "Hang me if I know! " grumbled Mr. Y , nen'-ously- 
 
 pulling his beard. "The only thing I know is that a 
 grain of her cursed rice entered my throat, and I can't 
 get it out!" 
 
 "Hush, hush! Please, do be quiet!" implored Sham 
 Rao. "By talking you will spoil the whole bu.siness ! " 
 
 I glanced at Narayan and lost myself in conjectures. 
 
 His features, which usually were so calm and serene, 
 were quite altered at this moment, by a deep shadow of 
 suffering. His lips trembled, and the pupils of his eyes- 
 were dilated, as if by a dose of belladonna. His eyes 
 were lifted over the heads of the crowd, as if in his dis- 
 gust he tried not to see what was before him, and at the 
 same time could not see it, engaged in a deep reverie, 
 which carried him away from us, and from the whole 
 performance. 
 
 "What is the matter with him?" was my thought, but 
 I had no time to ask him, because the witch was again 
 in full swing, chasing her own shadow. 
 
 But with the seventh goddess the programme was 
 slightly changed. The running of the old woman 
 changed to leaping. Sometimes bending down to the 
 ground, like a black panther, she leaped up to some 
 worshipper, and halting before him touched his fore- 
 head with her finger, while her long, thin body shook 
 with inaudible laughter. Then, again, as if shrinking- 
 back playfully from her shadow, and chased by it, in 
 some uncanny game, the witch appeared to us like a 
 horrid caricature of Dinorah, dancing her mad dance. 
 Suddenly she straightened herself to her full height, 
 darted to the portico and crouched before the smoking 
 censer, beating her forehead against the granite steps. 
 Another jump, and she was quite close to us, before the 
 head of the monstrous Sivatherium. She knelt down 
 
A WITCH'S DEN. 193 
 
 again and bowed her head to the ground several times, 
 with the sound of an empty barrel knocked against 
 something hard. 
 
 We had hardh^ the time to spring to our feet and 
 shrink back when she appeared on the top of the Siva- 
 therium's head, standing there amongst the horns." 
 
 Xarayan alone did not stir, and fearlessly looked 
 straight in the eyes of the frightful sorceress. 
 
 But what was this? Who spoke in those deep manly 
 tones? Her lips were moving, from her breast were 
 issuing those quick, abrupt phrases, but the voice 
 sounded hollow as if coming from beneath the ground. 
 
 "Hush, hush!" whispered Sham Rao, his whole body 
 trembling. " She is going to prophesy ! . . . ." 
 
 "She?" incredulously inquired Mr. Y . "This a 
 
 woman's voice? I don't believe it for a moment. Some- 
 one's uncle must be stowed away somewhere about the 
 place. Not the fabulous uncle she inherited from, but 
 a real live one! . . ." 
 
 Sham Rao winced under the irony of this supposition, 
 and cast an imploring look at the speaker. 
 
 "Woe to j"ou! woe to you!" echoed the voice. "Woe 
 to j'ou, children of the impure Jaya and Vija3-a! of the 
 mocking, unbelieving lingerers round great Shiva's door! 
 Ye, who are cursed by eighty thousand sages! Woe to 
 j'ou who believe not in the goddess Kali, and j^ou who 
 deny us, her Seven divine Sisters! Flesh-eating, j-ellow- 
 legged vultures ! friends of the oppressors of our land ! 
 dogs who are not ashamed to eat from the same trough 
 with the Bellati!" (foreigners). 
 
 "It seems to me that your prophetess only foretells 
 
 the past," said Mr. Y , philosophically putting his 
 
 hands in his pockets. "I should say that she is hinting 
 at you, my dear Sham Rao." 
 
194 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 "Yes! and at us also," murmured the colonel, who 
 was evidently beginning to feel uneasy. 
 
 As to the unlucky Sham Rao, he broke out in a cold 
 sweat, and tried to assure us that we were mistaken, that 
 we did not fully understand her language. 
 
 "It is not about you, it is not about you! It is of me 
 she speaks, because I am in Government service. Oh, 
 .she is inexorable! " 
 
 "Rakshasas! Asuras!" thundered the voice. "How 
 dare you appear before us? how dare you to stand on 
 this holy ground in boots made of a cow's sacred skin ? 
 Ee cursed for etern " 
 
 But her curse was not destined to be finished. In an 
 instant the Hercules-like Narayan had fallen on the 
 Sivatherium, and upset the whole pile, the skull, the 
 horns and the demoniac Pythia included. A second 
 more, and we thought we saw the witch flying in the 
 air towards the portico. A confused vision of a stout, 
 shaven Brahman, suddenly emerging from under the 
 Sivatherium and instantly disappearing in the hollow 
 beneath it, flashed before my dilated eyes. 
 
 But, alas! after the third second had passed, we all 
 came to the embarrassing conclusion that, judging from 
 the loud clang of the door of the cave, the representa- 
 tive of the Seven Sisters had ignominiously fled. The 
 moment she had disappeared from our inquisitive eyes 
 to her subterranean domain, we all realized that the 
 •unearthly hollow voice we had heard had nothing super- 
 natural about it and belonged to the Brahman hidden 
 under the Sivatherium — to someone's live uncle, as Mr. 
 Y had rightly supposed. 
 
 Oh, Narayan! how carelessly, how disorderly the 
 worlds rotate around us. ... I begin to seriously 
 
A witch's den. 195 
 
 doubt their reality-. From this moment I shall earnestly 
 believe that all tilings in the universe are nothing but 
 illusion, a mere Maj-a. I am becoming a ^'edantin. 
 . . . I doubt that in the whole universe there may be 
 found an3-thing more objective than a Hindu witch 
 flying up the spout. 
 
 Miss X woke up, and asked what was the meaning 
 
 of all this noise. The noise of man}- voices and the 
 sounds of the many retreating footsteps, the general 
 rush of the crowd, had frightened her. She listened to 
 us with a condescending smile, and a few jawns, and 
 went to sleep again. 
 
 Xext morning, at daybreak, we verv reluctantlj', it 
 must be owned, bade good-bj-e to the kind-hearted, good- 
 natured Sham Rao. The confoundingh- easy ^-ictorj^ of 
 Xarayan hung lieaA-ilj- on his mind. His faith in the 
 holy hermitess and the seven goddesses was a good deal 
 shaken bj- the shameful capitulation of the Sisters, who 
 had surrendered at the first blow from a mere mortal. 
 But during the dark hours of the night he had had time 
 to think it over, and to shake off the uneasy feeling of 
 ha\-ing unT^-illingh" misled and disappointed his European 
 friends. 
 
 Sham Rao still looked confused when he shook hands 
 with us at parting, and expressed to us the best wishes 
 of his family and himself 
 
 As to the heroes of this truthful narrative, they 
 mounted their elephants once more, and directed their 
 hea\-j" steps towards the high road and Jubbulpore. 
 
GOD'S WARRIOR. 
 
 The direction of our pilgrimage of self-improvement 
 lay towards the north-west, as was previously decided. 
 We were very impatient to see these status in statu of 
 Anglo-India, but . . . Dowhat you may, there always 
 will be a but. 
 
 We left the Jubbulpore line several miles from Nassik ; 
 and, to return to it, we had to go back to Akbarpur, 
 then travel by doubtful Ivocal-Board roads to the station 
 Vanevad and take the train of Holkar's line, which joins 
 the Great Indian Peninsular Railway. 
 
 Meanwhile, the Bagh caves were quite close to us, 
 not more than fifty miles off, to the east from Mandu. 
 We were undecided whether to leave them alone or go 
 back to the Nerbudda. In the country situated on the 
 other side of Kandesh, our Babu had some "chums," as 
 everywhere else in India; the omnipresent Bengali 
 Babus, who are always glad to be of some service to 
 you, are scattered all over Hindostan, like the Jews in 
 Russia. Besides, our party was joined by a new member. 
 
 The day before we had received a letter from Swami 
 Dayanand, carried to us by a travelling Sannyasi. Daya- 
 nand informed us that the cholera was increasing every 
 day in Hardwar, and that we must postpone making his 
 acquaintance personally till the end of May, either in 
 Dehra-Dun, at the foot of Himalaya, or in Saharanpur, 
 which attracts every tourist by its charming situation. 
 
 The Sannyasi brought us also a nosegay from the 
 Swami, a nosegay of the most extraordinary flowers, 
 which are totally unknown in Europe. They grow only 
 
GOD'S WARRIOR. I97 
 
 in certain Himalayan valleys; thej' possess the wonder- 
 ful capacity of changing their colour after middaj', and 
 do not look dead even when faded. The Latin name of 
 this charming plant is //ilu'sais iniitabilis. At night they 
 are nothing but a large knot of pressed green leaves, 
 but from da-mi till ten o'clock the flowers open and look 
 like large snow-white roses ; then, towards twelve o'clock, 
 they begin to redden, and later in the afternoon they 
 look as crimson as a peonj'. These flowers are sacred 
 to the Asuras, a kind of fallen angels in Hindu mj'th- 
 ology-, and to the sun-god Sun,-a. The latter deit}- fell 
 in love with an Asura at the beginning of creation, and 
 since then is constantly caught whispering words of fiery 
 love to the flower that shelters her. But the Asura is a 
 ^•irgin; she gives herself entirely to the ser\'ice of the 
 goddess Chastity, who is the patroness of all the ascetic 
 brotherhoods. The love of Surya is vain, Asura v\-ill not 
 listen to him. But under the flaming arrows of the en- 
 amoured god she blushes and in appearance loses her 
 purity. The natives call this plant lajjalu, the modest 
 one. 
 
 ■\Ve were spending the night by a brook, under a 
 shadowy fig-tree. The Sannyasi, who had made a wide 
 circuit to fulfil Dayanand's request, made friends with 
 us; and we sat up late in the night, listening whilst he 
 talked about his travels, the wonders of his native 
 countr}-, once so great, and about the heroic deeds of 
 old Runjit-Sing, the Lion of the Punjab. 
 
 Strange, mysterious beings are found sometimes 
 amongst these travelling monks. Some of them are 
 verj' learned; read and talk Sanskrit; know all about 
 modern science and politics; and, nevertheless, remain 
 faithful to their ancient philosophical conceptions. 
 General^- they do not wear any clothes, except a piece 
 
igS FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 of muslin round the loins, which is insisted upon by the 
 police of the towns inhabited by Europeans. They wander 
 from the age of fifteen, all their lives, and die generally 
 very aged. They live never giving a thought to the 
 morrow, like the birds of heaven, and the lilies of the 
 field. They never touch money, and are contented with 
 a handful of rice. All their worldly possessions consist 
 of a small dry pumpkin to carry water, a rosary, a brass 
 cup and a walking stick. The Sannyasis and the 
 Swamis are usually Sikhs from the Punjab, and mono- 
 theists. They despise idol-worshippers, and have no- 
 thing to do with them, though the latter very often call 
 themselves' by their names. 
 
 Our new friend was a native of Amritsar, in the 
 Punjab, and had been brought up in the "Golden 
 Temple," on the banks of Amrita-Saras, the "Lake of 
 Immortality." The head Guru, or instructor, of Sikhs 
 resides there. He never crosses the boundaries of the 
 temple. His chief occupation is the study of the book 
 called Adigrantha, which belongs to the sacred litera- 
 ture of this strange bellicose sect. The Sikhs respect 
 him as much as the Tibetans respect their Dalai-Lama. 
 The Lamas in general consider the latter to be the 
 incarnation of Buddha, the Sikhs think that the MahS,- 
 Guru of Amritsar is the incarnation of Nanak, the founder 
 of their sect. Nevertheless, no true Sikh will ever say 
 that Nanak was a deity ; they look on him as a prophet, 
 inspired by the spirit of the only God. 
 
 This shows that our Sannyasi was not one of the 
 naked travelling monks, but a true Akali ; one of the six 
 hundred warrior-priests attached to the Golden Temple, 
 for the purpose of serving God and protecting the temple' 
 from the destructive Mussulmans. His name was Ram- 
 Runjit-Das; and his personal appearance was in perfect 
 
god's warrior. 199 
 
 accordance with his title of "God's warrior." His 
 exterior was verj- remarkable and tj-pical ; and he looked 
 like a muscular centurion of ancient Roman legions, 
 rather than a peaceable serv^ant of the altar. 
 
 Ram-Runjit-Das appeared to us mounted on a magnifi- 
 cent horse, and accompanied bj' another Sikh, who 
 respectfully walked some distance behind him, and was 
 evidently passing through his noviciate. Our Hindu 
 companions had discerned that he was an Akali, when 
 he was still in the distance. He wore a bright blue tunic 
 without sleeves, exactly like that we see on the statues 
 of Roman warriors. Broad steel bracelets protected his 
 strong arms, and a shield protruded from- behind his 
 back. A blue, conical turban covered his head, and 
 round his waist were many steel circlets. The enemies 
 of the Sikhs assert that these sacred sectarian belts 
 become more dangerous in the hand of an experienced 
 "God's warrior," than any other weapon. 
 
 The Sikhs are the bravest and the most warlike sect 
 of the whole Punjab. The word sikh means disciple. 
 Founded in the fifteenth centurj- by the wealthj' and 
 noble Brahman Xanak, the new teaching spread so suc- 
 cessfulh- amongst the northern soldiers, that in 1539 
 A.D., when the founder died, it counted one hundred 
 thousand followers. At the present time, this sect, har- 
 monizing closely with the fiery natural mysticism, and 
 the warlike tendencies of the natives, is the reigning- 
 creed of the whole Punjab. It is based on the prin- 
 ciples of theocratic rule; but its dogmas are almost 
 totally unknown to Europeans; the teachings, the reli- 
 gious conceptions, and the rites of the Sikhs, are kept 
 secret. The following details are known generall}-: the 
 Sikhs are ardent monotheists, thej' refuse to recognize 
 caste; have no restrictions in diet, like Europeans; and 
 
200 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 bury their dead, which, except among Mussulmans, is a 
 Tare exception in India. The second volume of the Adi- 
 ^rantha teaches them "to adore the only true God; to 
 avoid superstitions; to help the dead, that they may lead a 
 ■righteous life; and to earn one's living, sword in hand." 
 Govinda, one of the great Gurus of the Sikhs, ordered 
 them never to shave their beards and moustaches, and 
 not to cut their hair — in order that they may not be 
 mistaken for Mussulmans or any other native of India. 
 
 Many a desperate battle the Sikhs fought and won, 
 against the Mussulmans, and against the Hindus. Their 
 leader, the celebrated Runjit-Sing, after having been 
 acknowledged the autocrat of the Upper Punjab, con- 
 cluded a treaty with L,ord Auckland, at the beginning of 
 this centurj^ in which his country was proclaimed an 
 independent state. But after the death of the ''old 
 lion," his throne became the cause of the most dreadful 
 civil wars and disorders. His son, Maharaja Dhulip- 
 Sing, proved quite unfit for the high post he inherited 
 from his father, and, under him, the Sikhs became an 
 ill-disciplined restless mob. Their attempt to conquer 
 the whole of Hindostan proved disastrous. Persecuted 
 by his own soldiers, Dliulip-Sing sought the help of 
 Englishmen, and was sent away to Scotland. And some 
 time after this, the Sikhs took their place amongst the 
 rest of Britain's Indian subjects. 
 
 But still there remains a strong body of the great Sikh 
 sect of old. The Kuks represent the most dangerous 
 underground current of the popular hatred. This new 
 sect was founded about thirty years ago [written in 
 1879] by Balaka-Rama, and, at first, formed a bulk of 
 people near Attok, in the Punjab, on the east bank of 
 the Indus, exactly on the spot where the latter becomes 
 navigable. Balaka-Rama had a double aim; to restore 
 
GOD S WARRIOR. 20I 
 
 the religion of the Sikhs to its pristine purity, and to 
 organize a secret political body, which must be ready for 
 everything, at a moment's notice. This brotherhood 
 consists of sixty thousand members, who pledged them- 
 selves never to reveal their secrets, and never to disobey 
 any order of their leaders. In Attok they are few, for 
 the town is small. But we were assured that the Kuks 
 live everywhere in India. Their community is so per- 
 fectly organized that it is impossible to find them out, or 
 to learn the names of their leaders. 
 
 In the course of the evening our Akali presented us 
 with a little crystal bottle, filled with water from the 
 "Lake of Immortality." He said that a drop of it would 
 cure all diseases of the eye. There are numbers of fresh 
 springs at the bottom of this lake, and so its water is 
 wonderfully pure and transparent, in spite of hundreds 
 of people daily bathing in it. "\Mien, later on, we visited 
 it, we had the opportunity to verify the fact that the 
 smallest stone at the bottom is seen perfectly distinctly, 
 all over the one hundred and fifty square yards of the 
 lake. Amrita-Saras is the most charming of all the 
 sights of Xorthem India. The reflection of the Golden 
 Temple in its crystal waters makes a picture that is 
 simply fariquc. 
 
 We had still seven weeks at our disposal. We were 
 undecided between exploring the Bombay Presidency, 
 the Xorth-West Pro-s-inces and the Rajistan. Which 
 were we to choose? Wliere were we to go? How best 
 to employ our time? Before such a variety of interest- 
 ing places we became irresolute. Hyderabad, which is 
 said to transport the tourists into the scenery of the 
 Arabian JVig/its. seemed so attractive that we seriously 
 thought of turning our elephants back to the territon- of 
 the Xizam. We grew fond of the idea of \-isiting this 
 
202 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OP HINDOSTAW.. 
 
 "City of the lyion," which was built in 1589 by the 
 magnificent Mohamed-Kuli-Kutb-Shah, who was so 
 used to luxuries of every kind as to grow weary even of 
 Golkonda, with all its fairyland castles and bright 
 gardens. Some buildings of Hyderabad, mere remnants 
 of the past glory, are still known to renown. Mir- 
 Abu-Talib, the keeper of the Royal Treasury, states 
 that Mohamed-Kuli-Shah spent the fabulous sum of 
 ;^2, 800,000 sterling on the embellishment of the town, at 
 the beginning of his reign ; though the labour of the- 
 workmen did not cost him anything at all. Save these 
 few memorials of greatness, the town looks like a heap of 
 rubbish nowadays. But all tourists are unanimous on 
 one point, namely, that the British Residency of Hj-dera- 
 bad still deserves its title of the Versailles of India. 
 
 The title the British Residency bears, and everything- 
 it may contain at the present time, are mere trifles com- 
 pared with the past. I remember reading a chapter of 
 the History of Hyderabad, by an English author, which, 
 contained something to the following effect: Whilst 
 the Resident entertained the gentlemen, his wife was. 
 similarly employed receiving the ladies a few 5-ards off, 
 in a separate palace, which was as sumptuous, and bore 
 the name of Rang-Mahal. Both palaces were built by- 
 Colonel Kirkpatrick, the late minister at the Nizam's 
 court. Having married a native princess, be constructed 
 this charming abode for her personal use. Its garden is 
 surrounded by a high wall, as is customar}^ in the 
 Orient, and the centre of the garden is adorned with a 
 large marble fountain, covered with scenes from the. 
 Ramayana, and mosaics. Pavilions, galleries and ter- 
 races — everything in this garden is loaded with adorn- 
 ments of the most costly Oriental style, that is to say,, 
 with abundance of inlaid designs, paintings, gilding. 
 
GOD S WARRIOR. 203 
 
 ivory and marble. The great attraction of Mrs. Kirk- 
 patrick's receptions were the nautches, magnificently 
 dressed, thanks to the generosity of the Resident. Some 
 of them wore a cargo of jewels worth y"3o,ooo, and liter- 
 ally shone from head to foot with diamonds and other 
 precious stones. 
 
 The glorious tiiues of the East India Company are 
 beyond recall, and no Residents, and even no native 
 princes, could now afford to be so "generous." India, 
 this "most precious diamond of the British crown," is 
 utterly exhausted, like a pile of gold in the hands of an 
 alchemist, who thriftlessly spent it in the hope of finding 
 the philosopher's stone. Besides ruining themselves 
 and the country, the Anglo-Indians commit the greatest 
 blunders, at least in two points of their present Govern- 
 ment system. These two points are: first, the Western 
 education they give to the higher classes; and, secondl}-, 
 the protection and maintenance of the rights of idol- 
 worship. Xeither of these systems is wise. Bj- means 
 of the first they successfully replace the religious feelings 
 of old India, which, however false, had the great advan- 
 tage of being sincere, by a positive atheism amongst the 
 young generation of the Brahmans; and bj* the means 
 of the second they flatter only the ignorant masses, from 
 whom nothing is to be feared under any circumstances. 
 If the patriotic feelings of the bulk of the population 
 could possibly be roused, the English would have been 
 slaughtered long ago. The rural populace is unarmed, 
 it is true, but a crowd seeking revenge could use the 
 brass and stone idols, sent to India by thousands from 
 Birmingham, with as great success as if they were so 
 many swords. But, as it is, the masses of India are in- 
 different and harmless; so that the only existing danger 
 comes from the side of the educated classes. And the 
 
204 FKOM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 English fail to see that the better the education they 
 give them, the more careful they must be to avoid re- 
 opening the old wounds, always alive to new injury, in 
 the heart of every true Hindu. The Hindus are proud 
 of the past of their countrj^, dreams of past glories are 
 their only compensation for the bitter present. The 
 English education they receive only enables them to 
 learn that Europe was plunged in the darkness of the 
 Stone Age, when India was in the full growth of her 
 splendid civilization. And so the comparison of their 
 past with their present is only the more sad. This con- 
 sideration never hinders the Anglo-Indians from hurting 
 the feelings of the Hindus. For instance, in the unani- 
 mous opinion of travellers and antiquarians, the most 
 interesting building of Hyderabad is Chahar-Minar, a 
 college that was built by Mohamed-Kuli-Khan on the 
 ruins of a still more ancient college. It is built at the 
 crossing of four streets, on four arches, which are so 
 high that loaded camels and elephants with their turrets 
 pass through freelJ^ Over these arches rise the several 
 stories of the college. Each story once was destined for 
 a separate branch of learning. Alas! the times when 
 India studied philosophy and astronomy at the feet of 
 her great sages are gone, and the English have trans- 
 formed the college itself into a warehouse. The hall, 
 which served for the study of astronomy, and was filled 
 with quaint, mediaeval apparatus, is now used for a 
 depot of opium; and the hall of philosophy contains 
 huge boxes of liqueurs, rum and champagne, which are 
 prohibited by the Koran, as well as by the Brahmans. 
 
 We were so enchanted by what we heard about 
 Hyderabad, that we resolved to start thither the very 
 next morning, when our ciceroni and companions de- 
 stroyed all our plans by a single word. This word 
 
god's warrior. 205 
 
 was: heat. During the hot season in Hyderabad the 
 thermometer reaches ninet3--eight degrees Fahrenheit 
 in the shade, and the temperature of the water in the 
 Indus is the temperature of the blood. As to Upper 
 Sindh, where the dr^^ness of the air, and the extreme 
 aridity of the sandj- soil reproduce the Sahara in minia- 
 ture, the usual shade temperature is one hundred and 
 thirty- degrees Fahrenheit. Xo wonder the missionaries 
 have no chance there. The most eloquent of Dante's 
 descriptions of hell could hardly produce anything but a 
 cooling eiFect on a populace who live perfectly contented 
 under these circumstances. 
 
 Calculating that there was no obstacle to our going to 
 the Bagh caves, and that going to Siudh was a perfect 
 impossibilit}", we recovered our equanimity. Then the 
 general council decided that we had better abandon all 
 ideas of a predetermined plan, and travel as fancy led us. 
 
 We dismissed our elephants, and next day, a little 
 before sunset, arrived at the spot where the "^'agrey and 
 Girna join. These are two little rivers, quite famous in 
 the annals of the Indian mj'tholog}", and which are 
 generally conspicuous bj- their absence, especially in 
 summer. At the opposite side of the river, there lay the 
 illustrious Bagh caves, with their four openings blinking 
 in the thick evening mist. 
 
 We thought of crossing to them immediately, by the 
 help of a ferry boat, but our Hindu friends and the boat- 
 men interposed. The former said that visiting these 
 caves is dangerous even bj- daytime; because all the 
 neighbourhood is full of beasts of prey and of tigers, 
 who, I concluded, are like the Bengali Babus, to be met 
 with everj-ft-here in India. Before venturing into these 
 caves, you must send a reconnoitring party of torch- 
 bearers and armed shikaris. As to the boatmen, they 
 
2o6 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 protested on different grounds, but protested strongly. 
 They said that no Hindu would dare to approach these 
 caves after the sun set. No one but a Bellati would 
 fancy that Vagrey and Girna are ordinary rivers, for 
 every Hindu knows they are divine spouses, the god 
 Shiva and his wife Parvati. This, in the first instance; 
 and in the second, the Bagh tigers are no ordinary tigers 
 either. The sahibs are totally mistaken. These tigers 
 are the servants of the Sadhus, of the holy miracle- 
 Avorkers, who have haunted the caves now for many 
 centuries, and who deign sometimes to take the shape 
 of a tiger. And neither the gods, nor the Sadhus, nor 
 the glamour, nor the true tigers are fond of being dis- 
 turbed in their nightly rest. 
 
 What could we say against all this? We cast one 
 more sorrowful look at the caves, and returned to our 
 antediluvian carriages. The Babu and Narayan said we 
 must spend the night at the house of a certain "chum" 
 of the Babu, who resided in a small town, three miles 
 further on, and bearing the same name as the caves; 
 and we unwillingly acquiesced. 
 
 Many things in India are wonderful and unintelligible, 
 but one of the most wonderful and the most unintelligible, 
 is the geographical and the topographical disposition of 
 the numberless territories of this countr}'. Political 
 conjunctures in India seem to be everlastingly plajdng 
 the French game casse-tete, changing the pattern, di- 
 minishing one part and adding to another. The land 
 that only yesterdaj' belonged to this Raja or that Takur, 
 is sure to be found to-daj' in the hands of quite a different 
 set of people. For instance, we were in the Raj of Amjir 
 in Malva, and we were going to the little city of Bagh, 
 which also belongs to Malva and is included in the Amjir 
 Haj. In the documents, Malva is included in the in- 
 
god's warrior. 207 
 
 •dependent possessions of Holkar; and nevertheless the 
 Amjir Raj does not belong to Tukuji-Rao-Holkar, but 
 to the son of the independent Raja of Amjir, who was 
 hanged, "bj- inadvertence" as we were assured, in 1S57. 
 The city, and the caves of Bagh, ver>' oddly belong to 
 the Maharaja Sindya of Gwalior, who, besides, does not 
 own them personally, ha^-ing made a kind of present of 
 them, and their nine thousand rupees of revenue, to some 
 poor relation. This poor relation, in his turn, does not 
 enjoy the propert}- in the least, because a certain Rajput 
 Takur stole it from him, and will not consent to give it 
 back. Bagh is situated on the road from Gujarat to 
 Malva, in the defile of Oodej-pur, which is owned accord- 
 ingly by the Maharana of Oodej-pur. Bagh itself is built 
 on the top of a wood}' hillock, and being disputed property 
 does not belong to anj- one in particular, properly speak- 
 ing; but a small fortress, and a bazaar in the centre of it 
 are the private possessions of a certain dhani ; who, 
 besides being the chieftain of the Bhimalah tribe, was 
 the personal "chum" ofourBabu, and a " great thief and 
 liighwa}- robber," according to the assertions of the said 
 Eabu. 
 
 "But whj' do you intend taking us to the place of 
 a man whom ^^ou consider as a thief and a robber?" 
 objected one of us timidh-. 
 
 "He is a thief and a brigand," coolly answered the 
 Bengali, "but only in the political sense. Otherwise he 
 is an excellent man, and the truest of friends. Besides, 
 if he does not help us, we shall star\-e; the bazaar and 
 ever}"thing in the shops belong to him." 
 
 These explanations of the Babu notwithstanding, we 
 -were glad to learn that the "chum" in question was 
 absent, and we were received by a relation of his. The 
 garden was put at our disposal, and before our tents 
 
208 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGI.ES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 were pitched, we saw people coming from every side of 
 the garden, bringing us provisions. Having deposited 
 what he had brought, each of them, on leaving the tent,, 
 threw over his shoulder a pinch of betel and soft sugar, 
 an offering to the "foreign bhutas," which were supposed 
 to accompany us wherever we went. The Hindus of 
 our party asked us, very seriously, not to laugh at this 
 performance, saying it would be dangerous in this out- 
 of-the-way place. 
 
 No doubt they were right. "We were in Central mdia, 
 the very nest of all kinds of superstitions, and were 
 surrounded by Bhils. All along the Vindya ridge, from 
 Yama, on the west of the "dead citj'," the country is- 
 thickly populated by this most daring, restless and 
 superstitious of all the half-savage tribes of India. 
 
 The Orientalists think that the name Bhils comes 
 from the Sanskrit root bhid, which means to separate. 
 Sir J. Malcolm supposes accordingly that the Bhils are 
 sectarians, who separated from the Brahnianical creed, 
 and were excommunicated. All this looks very probable, 
 but their tribal traditions say something different. Of 
 course, in this case, as in every other, their history is 
 strongly entangled with mythology; and one has to go 
 through a thick shrubbery of fancy before reaching the 
 tribe's genealogical tree. 
 
 The relation of the absent dhani, who spent the 
 evening with us, told us the following: The Bhils are 
 the descendants of one of the sons of Mahadeva, or 
 Shiva, and of a fair woman, with blue eyes and a white 
 face, whom he met in some forest on the other side of 
 the Kalapani, "black waters," or ocean. This pair had 
 several sons, one of whom, as handsome as he was 
 vicious, killed the favourite ox of his grandfather Maht- 
 deva, and was banished by his father to the Jodpur 
 
god's warrior. 2og 
 
 desert. Banished to its remotest southern corner, he 
 married; and soon his descendants filled the whole 
 countn-. They scattered along the Vindya ridge, on 
 the western frontier of Malva and Kandesh ; and, later, 
 in the wood^- wilderness, on the shores of the rivers 
 Maha, Narmada and Tapti. And all of them, inheriting 
 the beauty of their forefather, his blue eyes and fair 
 complexion, inherited also his turbulent disposition and 
 his ^-ice. 
 
 "We are thieves and robbers," na'iveh- explained the 
 relative of the Babu's "chum," "but we can't help it,, 
 because this is the decree of our mighty forefather, the 
 great Maha-deva-Shiva. Sending his grandson to repent 
 his sins in the desert, he said to him: 'Go, wretched 
 murderer of my son and 3"our brother, the ox Xardi ; go 
 and live the life of an exile and a brigand, to be an ever- 
 lasting warning to your brethren ! . .' These are the 
 ven.- words of the great god. Xow, do }-ou think we 
 could disobe}- his orders? The least of our actions is 
 always regulated b}- our Bhamyas — chieftains — who are 
 the direct descendants of Xadir-Sing, the first Bhil, 
 the child of our exiled ancestor, and being this, it is 
 only natural that the great god speaks to us through 
 him." 
 
 Is not it strange that Apis, the sacred ox of the 
 Egyptians, is honoured by the followers of Zoroaster, as 
 well as by the Hindus? The ox Xardi, the emblem of 
 life in nature, is the son of the creating father, or rather 
 his life-giving breath. Ammianus Marcellinus men- 
 tions, in one of his works, that there exists a book which 
 gives the exact age of Apis, the clue to the mysterj- of 
 creation and the cjxlic calculations. The Brahmans 
 also explain the allegorj" of the ox X'ardi hy the con- 
 tinuation of life on our globe. 
 
 14 
 
2IO FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 The "mediators" between Shiva and the Bhils possess 
 such unrestricted authority that the most awful crimes 
 are accomplished at their lightest word. The tribe have 
 thought it necessary to decrease their power to a certain 
 extent by instituting a kind of council in every village. 
 This council is called tarvi, and tries to cool down the 
 hot-headed fancies of the dhanis, their brigand lords. 
 However, the word of the Bhils is sacred, and their 
 hospitality is boundless. 
 
 The history ana the annals of the princes of Jodpur 
 and Oodej^pur confirm the legend of the Bhil emigra- 
 tion from their primitive desert, but how they happened 
 to be there nobody knows. Colonel Tod is positive that 
 the Bhils, together with the Merases and the Goands, 
 are the aborigines of India, as well as the tribes who 
 inhabit the Nerbuda forests. But why the Bhils should 
 be almost fair and blue-ej'ed, whereas the rest of the hill- 
 tribes are almost African in type, is a question that is 
 not answered by this statement. The fact that all these 
 aborigines call themselves Bhumaputra and Vanaptitra, 
 sons of the earth and sons of the forest, when the 
 Rajputs, their first conquerors, call themselves Siirya- 
 vansa and the Brahmans Indu-putras, descendants of the 
 sun and the moon, does not prove everything. It seems 
 to me, that in the present case, their appearance,. which 
 confirms their legends, is of much greater value than 
 philology. Dr. Clark, the author of Travels ?Vz Scandi- 
 navia, is very logical in sajdng that, "by directing our 
 attention on the traces of the ancient superstitions of a 
 tribe, we'shall find out who were its primitive forefathers 
 much more easily than by scientific examination of their 
 tongue ; the superstitions are grafted on the very root, 
 whereas the tongue is subjected to all kinds of changes." 
 
GOD'S WARRIOR. 211 
 
 But, unfortunately, even-thing we know about the his- 
 ton- of the Bhils is reduced to the above-mentioned tra- 
 dition, and to a few ancient songs of their bards. These 
 bards or d/ia//as live in Rajistan, but ^•isit the Bhils 
 yearly, in order not to lose the leading thread of the 
 achievements of their countrymen. Their songs are 
 histon", because the bhattas have existed from time im- 
 memorial, composing their lays for future generations, 
 for this is their hereditary duty. And the songs of the 
 remotest antiquity point to the lands over the Kala- 
 pani as the place whence the Bhils came; that is to 
 say, some place in Europe. Some Orientalists, especially 
 Colonel Tod, seek to prove that the Rajputs, who con- 
 quered the Bhils, were newcomers of Scythian origin, 
 and that the Bhils are the true aborigines. To prove 
 this, they put forvs-ard some features common to both 
 peoples, Rajput and Scythian, for instance (i) the wor- 
 ship of the sword, the lance, the shield and the horse; 
 
 (2) the worship of, and the sacrifice to, the sun (which, 
 as far as I know, never was worshipped bj- the Sc}"thians) ; 
 
 (3) the passion of gambling (which again is as strong 
 amongst the Chinese and the Japanese); (4) the custom 
 of drinking blood out of the skull of an euemy (which is 
 also practised by some aborigines of America), etc., etc. 
 
 I do not intend entering here on a scientific ethno- 
 logical discussion ; and, besides. I am sure no one fails 
 to see that the reasoning of scientists sometimes takes 
 a verj- strange turn when they set to prove some favourite 
 theor}- of theirs. It is enough to remember how entan- 
 gled and obscure is the histor\- of the ancient Sc}"thians 
 to abstain from dra'ning any positive conclusions what- 
 soever from it. The tribes that go under one general 
 denomination of Scythians were many, and still it is 
 impossible to denj' that there is a good deal of simili- 
 
212 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGI.ES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 tude between the customs of the old Scandinavians, wor- 
 shippers of Odin, whose land indeed was occupied by 
 the Scythians more than five hundred years B.C. and 
 the customs of the Rajputs. But this similitude gives 
 as much right to the Rajputs to sa3' that we are a colony 
 of Siirya-vansas settled in the West as to us to maintain 
 that the Rajputs are the descendants of Sc3'thians who 
 emigrated to the East. The Scythians of Herodotus 
 and the Scythians of Ptolem.y, and some other classical 
 writers, are two perfectly distinct nationalities. Under 
 Scythia, Herodotus means the extension of land from 
 the mouth of Danube to the Sea of Azoff, according to 
 Niebuhr; and to the mouth of Don, according to Raw- 
 linson; whereas the Scythia of Ptolemy is a country 
 strictly Asiatic, including the whole space between the 
 river Volga and Serika, or China. Besides this, Scythia 
 was divided by the western Himalayas, which the Roman, 
 writers call Imaus, into Scythia intra Imaum, and Scythia 
 extra Imaum. Given this lack of precision, the Rajputs 
 may be called the Scythians of Asia, and the Scythians 
 the Rajputs of Europe, with the same degree of likeli- 
 hood. Pinkerton's opinion is that European contempt for 
 the Tartars would not be half so strong if the European 
 public learned how closely we are related to them ; that 
 our forefathers came from northern Asia, and that our 
 primitive customs, laws and mode of living were the 
 same as theirs; in a word, that we are nothing but a 
 Tartar colony . . . Cimbri, Kelts and Gauls, who 
 conquered the northern part of Europe, are different 
 names of the same tribe, whose origin is Tartary. Who 
 were the Goths, the Swedes, the Vandals, the Pluns and 
 the Franks, if not separate swarms of the same bee- 
 hive? The annals of Sweden point to Kashgar as the 
 fatherland of the Swedes. The likeness between the 
 
GOD S ■n'ARRIOR. 213 
 
 languages of the Saxons and the Kipchak-Tartars is 
 striking; and the Keltic, which still exists in Brittanj' 
 and in Wales, is the best proof that their inhabitants 
 are descendants of the Tartar nation. 
 
 Whatever Pinkerton and others may sa}-, the modern 
 Rajput warriors do not answer in the least the descrip- 
 tion Hippocrates gives us of the Scythians. The "father 
 of medicine" says: "The bodih- structure of these men 
 is thick, coarse and stunted; their joints are weak and 
 flabby; they have almost no hair, and each of them 
 resembles the other." Xo man, who has seen the hand- 
 some, gigantic warriors of Rajistan, with their abundant 
 hair and beards, will ever recognize this portrait drawn 
 by Hippocrates as theirs. Besides, the Scythians, who- 
 ever the}" may be, buried their dead, which the Rajputs 
 never did, judging by the records of their most ancient 
 MSS. The Scythians were a wandering nation, and are 
 described by Hesiod as "living in covered carts and 
 feeding on mare's milk." And the Rajputs have been 
 a sedentary people from time immemorial, inhabiting 
 towns, and having their history- at least several hundred 
 years before Christ — that is to say, earlier than the epoch 
 of Herodotus. They do celebrate the Ashvaraedha, the 
 horse sacrifice : but will not touch mare's milk, and 
 despise all ^Mongolians. Herodotus says that the Scy- 
 thians, who called tliemselves Skoloti, hated foreigners, 
 and never let any stranger in their country ; and the 
 Rajputs are one of the most hospitable peoples of the 
 world. In the epoch of the wars of Darius, 516 B.C., the 
 Scythians were still in their own district, about the 
 mouth of the Danube. And at the same epoch the 
 Rajputs were already known in India and had their 
 cwii kingdom. As to the Ashvamedha, which Colonel 
 Tod thinks to be the chief illustration of his theorj-, the 
 
214 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 custom of killing horses in honour of the sun is men- 
 tioned in the Rig- Veda, as well as in the Aitareya- 
 Brahmana. Martin Haug states that the latter has 
 probably been in existence since 2000-2400 B.C. 
 
 But it strikes me that the digression from the Babu's 
 chum to the Scythians and the Rajputs of the antedilu- 
 vian epoch threatens to become too long, so I beg the 
 reader's pardon and resume the thread of my narrative. 
 
THE BAXXS OF MARRIAGE. 
 
 Xext day, earh' in the morning, the local shikaris 
 went iinder the leadership of the warlike Akali, to hunt 
 glamoured and real tigers in the caves. It took them 
 longer than we expected. The old Bliil, who represented 
 to us the absent d/iaiii, proposed that in the meanwhile 
 we should witness a Brahmanical wedding ceremony. 
 Needless to say, we jumped at this. The ceremonies of 
 betrothal and marriage have not changed in India dur- 
 ing the last two millenniums at least. They are per- 
 formed according to the directions of Manu, and the old 
 theme has no new variations. India's religious rites 
 have crystallized long ago. Wlioever has seen a Hindu 
 wedding in 1S79, saw it as it was celebrated in ancient 
 Arvavarta manv centuries a"o. 
 
 A few days before we left Bombay we read in a small 
 local newspaper two announcements of marriages: the 
 first the marriage of a Brahman heiress, the second of a 
 daughter of the fire-worshippers. The first announce- 
 ment was something to the following effect : "The family 
 of Bimba}- Mavlankar, etc., etc., are preparing for a 
 happy event. This respectable member of our com- 
 munity, unlike the rest of the less fortunate Brahmans of 
 his caste, has found a husband for his granddaughter in 
 a rich Gujerat family of the same caste. The little 
 Rama-bai is already five, her future husband is seven. 
 The wedding is to take place in two months and promises 
 to be brilliant." 
 
2l6 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGtES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 The second announcement referred to an accomplished 
 fact. It appeared in a Parsi paper, which strongly insists 
 •on the necessity of giving up "disgusting superannuated 
 customs," and especially the early marriage. It justly 
 ridiculed a certain Gujerati newspaper, which had just 
 described in very pompous expressions a recent wedding 
 ceremony in Poona. The bridegroom, who had just 
 entered his sixth year "pressed to his heart a blushing 
 bride of two and a half!" The usual answers of this 
 couple entering into matrimony proved so indistinct that 
 the Mobed had to address the questions to their parents: 
 "Are you willing to have him for your lawful husband, 
 O daughter of Zaratushta?" and "Are you willing to be 
 her husband, O son of Zoroaster?" "Everything went 
 as well as it could be expected," continued the news- 
 paper; "the bridegroom was led out of the room by the 
 hand, and the bride, who was carried awaj' in arms, 
 greeted the guests, not with smiles, but with a tremen- 
 dous howl, which made her forget the existence of such 
 a thing as a pocket-handkerchief, and remember only 
 her feeding-bottle; for the latter article she asked re- 
 peatedly, half choked with sobs, and throttled with the 
 weight of the family diamonds. Taking it all in all, it 
 was a Parsi marriage, which shows the progress of our 
 speedily developing nation with the exactitude of a 
 weather glass," added the satirical newspaper. 
 
 Having read this we laughed heartilj', though we did 
 not give full credit to this description, and thought it a 
 good deal exaggerated. We knew Parsi and Brahman 
 families in which were husbands of ten years of age; but 
 had never heard as 5'et of a bride who was a baby in arms. 
 
 It is not without reason that the Brahmans are fervent 
 upholders of the ancient law which pi'ohibits to every- 
 
THE BANNS OF MARRIAGE. 217 
 
 «one, except the officiating Brahmans, the study of 
 
 -Sanskrit and the reading of the Vedas. The Shudras 
 and even the high-bom Vaishyas were in olden times to 
 
 "be executed for such an offence. The secret of this 
 rigour lies in the fact that the Vedas do not permit 
 matrimony for women under fifteen to twenty years of 
 age, and for men under twenty-five, or even thirtj-. 
 Eager above all that everj- religious ceremonj- should fill 
 their pockets, the Brahmans never stopped at disfiguring 
 their ancient sacred literature; and not to be caught, 
 they pronounced its study, accursed. Amongst other 
 "criminal inventions," to use the expression of Swami 
 Dayanand, there is a text in the Brahmanical books, 
 which contradicts ever3"thing that is to be found in the 
 Vedas on this particular matter: I speak of the Kudva 
 Kunbis, the wedding season of all the agricultural classes 
 
 •of Central. Asia. This season is to be celebrated once 
 in every twelve 5"ears. but it appears to be a field from 
 which Messieurs les Brahmans gathered the most abundant 
 harvest. At this epoch, all the mothers have to seek 
 audiences from the goddess Mata, the great mother — of 
 course through her rightful oracles the Brahmans. MatS 
 is the special patroness of all the four kinds of marriages 
 practised in India: the marriages of adults, of children, 
 
 -of babies, andof specimens of humanit)' that are as yet 
 to be bom. 
 
 The latter is the queerest of all, because the feelings 
 it excites are so very like gambling. In this case, the 
 marriage ceremonj- is celebrated between the mothers 
 of the future children. Many a curious incident is the 
 result of these matrimonial parodies. But a true Brahman 
 
 vsnll never allow the derision of fate to shake his dignity, 
 and the docile population never will doubt the infallibility 
 
 of these "elect of the gods." An open antagonism to 
 
2l8 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 the Brahmanical institutions is more than rare ; the feel- 
 ings of reverence and dread the masses show to the: 
 Brahmans are so blind and so sincere, that an outsider 
 cannot help smiling at them and respecting them at the 
 same time. 
 
 If both the mothers have children of the same sex, it 
 will not upset the Brahman in the least; he will say this 
 was the will of the goddess Mata, it shows that she desires 
 the new-born babies to be two loving brothers, or two 
 loving sisters, as the case may be, in future. And if the 
 children grow up, they will be acknowledged heirs to the 
 properties of both mothers. In this case, the Brahman 
 breaks the bonds of the marriage by the order of the 
 goddess, is paid for doing so, and the whole affair is 
 dropped altogether. But if the children are of different, 
 sexes these bonds cannot be broken, even if they are- 
 born cripples or idiots. 
 
 While I am dealing with the family life of India, I had. 
 better mention some other features, not to return to them 
 any more. No Hindu has the right to remain single. 
 The only exceptions are, in case the child is destined tO' 
 monastic life from the first days of his existence, and in 
 case the child is consecrated to the service of one of the- 
 gods of the Trimurti even before he is born. Religion 
 insists on matrimony for the sake of having a son, whose 
 duty it will be to perform every prescribed rite, in ordef 
 that his departed father may enter Swarga, or paradise. 
 Even the caste of Brahmacharyas, who take vows oF 
 chastity, but take a part and interest in worldly life — 
 and so are the unique lay-celibates of India — are 
 bound to adopt sons. The rest of the Hindus must- 
 remain in matrimony till the age of forty; after which 
 they earn the right to leave the world, and to seek salva- 
 
THE BAXNS OF MARRIAGE. 219 
 
 tion, leading an ascetic life in some jungle. If a member 
 of some Hindu family happens to be afflicted from birth 
 with some organic defect, this will not be an impediment 
 to his marn.'ing, on the condition that his wife shotdd 
 be also a cripple, if she belongs to the same caste. The 
 defects of husband and wife must be different : if he is 
 blind, she must be hump-backed or lame, and vice versa. 
 But if the young man in question is prejudiced, and 
 wants a healthy ^-ife, he must condescend to make a 
 }/n'sa//ia?ia\- he must stoop to choose a vdfe in a caste 
 that is exactlj- one degree lower than his own. But in 
 this case his kinsmen and associates will not acknowledge 
 her; the parzr/nu- \\ill not be received on anj- conditions 
 whatever. Besides, all these exceptional instances de- 
 pend entirelj- on the family Guru — on the priest who 
 is inspired by the gods. 
 
 All the above holds good as far as the men are con- 
 cerned; but -n-ith the women it is quite different. 
 
 Onh" the nautches — dancing girls consecrated to gods, 
 and li^•ing in temples — can be said to be free and happy. 
 Their occupation is hereditarj-, but the}- are vestals and 
 daughters of vestals, however strange this maj- sound to 
 a European ear. But the notions of the Hindus, espe- 
 cialh' on questions of morality-, are quite independent, 
 and even anti- Western, if I maj- use this expression. 
 No one is more severe and exacting in the questions of 
 feminine honour and chastit}- ; but the Brahmans proved 
 to be more cunning than even the Roman augurs. Rhea 
 Sj'hna, for instance, the mother of Romulus and Remus, 
 was buried alive by the ancient Romans, in spite of the 
 god !Mars taking an active part in her/aux pas. Numa 
 and Tiberius took exceedingh' good care that the good 
 morals of their priestesses should not become merely 
 nominal. But the vestals on the banks of the Ganges 
 
220 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 and the Indus understand the question differently from 
 those on the banks of the Tiber. The intimacy of the 
 nautch-girls with the gods, which is generally accepted, 
 cleanses them from every sin and makes them in every 
 one's eyes irreproachable and infallible. A nautcha 
 cannot sin, in spite of the crowd of the " celestial musi- 
 cians" who swarm in every pagoda, in the form of baby- 
 vestals and their little brothers. No virtuous Roman 
 matron was ever so respected as the pretty little nautcha. 
 This great reverence for the happy "brides of the gods" 
 is especially striking in the purely native towns of Cen- 
 tral India, where the population has preserved intact 
 their blind faith in the Brahmans. 
 
 Every nautcha can read, and receives the highest 
 Hindu education. They all read and write in Sanskrit, 
 and study the best literature of ancient India, and her 
 six chief philosophies, but especially music, singing 
 and dancing. Besides these "godborn" priestesses of 
 the pagodas, there are also public nautches, who, like 
 the Egyptian almeas, are within the reach of ordinar)' 
 mortals, not only of gods; they also are in most cases 
 women of a certain culture. 
 
 But the fate of an honest woman of Hindostan is quite 
 different; and a bitter and incredibly unjust fate it is. 
 The life of a thoroughly good woman, especially if she 
 happens to possess warm faith and unshaken piety, is 
 simply a long chain of fatal misfortunes. And the 
 higher her family and social position, the more wretched 
 is her life. Married women are so afraid of resembling 
 the professional dancing girls, that they cannot be per- 
 suaded to learn anything the latter are taught. If a 
 Brahman woman is rich her life is spent in demoralizing 
 idleness; if she is poor, so much the worse, her earthly 
 existence is concentrated in monotonous performances 
 
THE EANNS OP MARRIAGE. 221 
 
 of mechanical rites. There is uo past, and no future 
 for her; only a tedious present, from which there is 
 no possible escape. And this only if everj-thing be well, 
 if her family be not visited by sad losses. Needless 
 to say that, amongst Brahman women, marriage is not 
 a question of free choice, and still less of aflection. 
 Her choice of a husband is restricted by the caste to 
 which her father and mother happen to belong; and 
 so, to find a suitable match for a girl is a matter of great 
 difficulty, as well as of great expense. In India, the 
 high-caste woman is not bought, but she has to buy the 
 right to get married, Accordingh', the birth of a girl is 
 not a joy, but a sorrow, especially if her parents are not 
 rich. She musi be married not later than when she is 
 seven or eight; a little girl of ten is an old maid in 
 India, she is a discredit to her parents and is the miser- 
 able butt of all her more fortunate contemporaries. 
 
 One of the few noble achievements of Englishmen in 
 India which have succeeded is the decrease of infanti- 
 cide, which some time ago was a daily practice, and still 
 is not quite got rid of. Little girls were killed by their 
 parents ever^-where in India ; but this dreadful custom 
 was especially common amongst the tribes of Jadej, once 
 so powerful in Sindh, and now reduced to petty brigand- 
 age. Probably these tribes were the first to spread this 
 heartless practice. Obligatory marriage for little girls 
 is a comparatively recent invention, and it alone is 
 responsible for the parents' decision rather to see them 
 dead than unmarried. The ancient Aryans knew nothing 
 of it. Even the ancient Brahmanical literature shows 
 that, amongst the pure Aryans, woman enjoyed the 
 same privileges as man. Her voice was listened to by 
 the statesmen; she was free either to choose a husband, 
 or to remain single. Many a woman's name plays an 
 
222 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 important part in the chronicles of the ancient Aryan 
 land; many women have come down to posterity as 
 eminent poets, astronomers, philosophers, and even 
 sages and lawyers. 
 
 But with the invasion of the Persians, in the seventh 
 century, and later on of the fanatical, all-destrojdng 
 Mussulmans, all this changed. Woman became en- 
 slaved, and the Brahmans did everything to humiliate 
 her. In towns, the position of the Hindu woman is still 
 worse than amongst agricultural classes. 
 
 The wedding ceremonies are very complicated and 
 numerous. They are divided into three groups: the 
 rites before the wedding; the rites during the ceremony; 
 and the rites after the celebration has taken place. The 
 first group consists of eleven ceremonies : the asking in 
 marriage; the comparison of the two horoscopes; the 
 sacrifice of a goat; the fixing of a propitious day; the 
 building of the altar ; the purchase of the sacred pots for 
 household use ; the invitation of guests ; the sacrifices to 
 the household gods; mutual presents and so on. All 
 this must be accomplished as a religious duty, and is 
 full of entangled rites. As soon as a little girl in some 
 Hindu family is four j'ears old, her father and mother 
 send for the family Guru, give him her horoscope, drawn 
 up previously by the astrologer of their caste (a very 
 important post), and send the Guru to this or that 
 inhabitant of the place who is known to have a son of, 
 appropriate age. The father of the little boy has to put 
 the horoscope on the altar before the family gods and to 
 answer: "I am well disposed towards the Panigrhana; 
 let Rudra help us." The Guru must ask when the 
 union is to take place, after which he is bowed out. A 
 few days later the father of the little boy takes the 
 
THE BAXXS OF MARRIAGE. 22^ 
 
 horoscope of his son as well as of the little girl to the 
 ■chief astrologer. If the latter finds them propitious to 
 the intended marriage, it vrill take place; if not, his 
 decision is immediately sent to the father of the little 
 girl, and the whole afiiair is dropped. If the astrologer's 
 opinion is favourable, however, the bargain is concluded 
 on the spot. The astrologer offers a cocoa-nut and 
 a handful of sugar to the father, after which nothing 
 can be altered ; otherwise a Hindu vaidctla \\i\\ be 
 handed down from generation to generation. After 
 the obligatory goat-sacrifice, the couple are irrevocably 
 betrothed, and the astrologer fixes the day of the 
 wedding. 
 
 The sacrifice of the goat is verj- interesting, so I am 
 going to describe it in detail. 
 
 A child of the male sex is • sent to invite several 
 married ladies, old women of tweutj- or twenty-five, to 
 witness the worship of the Lares and Penates. Each 
 family has a household goddess of its own — which is not 
 impossible, since the Hindu gods number thirty-three 
 crores. On the eve of the sacrificial day, a kid is 
 brought into the house, and all the family sleep round 
 him. Xext morning, the reception hall in the lower 
 ston,- is made ready for the ceremony. The floor is 
 thickl>- covered ^\-ith cow-dung, and, right in the middle 
 of the room a square is traced -n-ith white chalk, in 
 which is placed a high pedestal, ^rith the statue of the 
 goddess. The patriarch of the family brings the goat, 
 and, holding him by the horns, lowers his head to salute 
 the goddess. After this, the "old" and young women 
 sing marriage hymns, tie the legs of the goat, cover his 
 head with red powder, and make a lamp smoke under 
 his nose, to banish the e\-il spirits from round him. 
 T\Tieu all this is done, the female element puts itself out 
 
224 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAJST. 
 
 of the way, and the patriarch comes again upon the 
 stage. He treacherously puts a ration of rice before the 
 goat, and as soon as the victim becomes innocently 
 absorbed in gratifying his appetite, the old man chops 
 his head off with a single stroke of his sword, and bathes 
 the goddess in the smoking blood coming from the head 
 of the animal, which he holds in his right arm, over the 
 idol. The women sing in chorus, and the ceremony of 
 betrothal is over. 
 
 The ceremonies with the astrologers, and the exchange 
 of presents, are too long to be described. I shall men- 
 tion only, that in all these ceremonies the astrologer 
 plaJ^s the double part of an augur and a family lawj^er. 
 After a general invocation to the elephant-headed god 
 Ganesha, the marriage contract is written on the reverse 
 of the horoscopes and sealed, and a general blessing is 
 pronounced ,over the assembly. 
 
 Needless to say that all these ceremonies had been 
 accomplished long ago in the family to whose marriage 
 party we were invited in Bagh. All these rites are 
 sacred, and most probably we, being mere strangers, 
 would not have been allowed to witness them. We saw 
 them all later on in Benares — thanks to the intercession 
 of our Babu. 
 
 When we arrived on the spot, where the Bagh cere- 
 mony was celebrated, the festivity was at its height. 
 
 The bridegroom was not more than fourteen 3'ears old, 
 while the bride was only ten. Her small nose was 
 adorned with a huge golden ring with some verj' bril- 
 liant stone, which dragged her nostril down. Her face 
 looked comically piteous, and sometimes she cast fur- 
 tive glances at us. The bridegroom, a stout, healthy- 
 looking boy, attired in cloth of gold and wearing the 
 
THE BANNS OP MARRIAGE. 225 
 
 many storied Indra hat, was on horseback, surrounded 
 b3' a whole crowd of male relations. 
 
 The altar, especiall_v erected for this occasion, pre- 
 sented a queer sight. Its regulation height is three 
 times the length of the bride's arm from the shoulder 
 down to the middle finger. Its materials are bricks and 
 whitewashed clay. Fortj--six earthen pots painted with 
 red, yellow and green stripes — the colours of the Tri- 
 murti — rose in two pyramids on both sides of the "god 
 of marriages" on the altar; and all round it a crowd of 
 little married girls were bus}' grinding ginger. When 
 it was reduced to powder the whole crowd rushed on 
 the bridegroom, dragged him from his horse, and, 
 having undressed him, began rubbing him with wet 
 ginger. As soon as the sun dried him he was dressed 
 again b}- some of the little ladies, whilst one part of 
 them sang and the other sprinkled his head with water 
 from lotus leaves twisted into tubes. We understood 
 that this was a delicate attention to the water gods. 
 
 We were also told that the whole of the previous 
 night had been given up to the worship of various 
 spirits. The last rites, begun weeks ago, were hurriedly 
 brought to an end during this last night. Invocations 
 to Ganesha, to the god of marriages; to the gods of the 
 elements, water, fire, air and earth; to the goddess of 
 the small-pox and other illnesses; to the spirits of 
 ancestors and planetary- spirits, to the evil spirits, good 
 spirits, famil}- spirits, and so on, and so on. Suddenly 
 our ears were struck by strains of music. . . . Good 
 heavens! what a dreadful symphony it was! The ear- 
 splitting sounds of Indian tom-toms, Tibetan drums, 
 Singalese pipes, Chinese trumpets, and Burmese gongs 
 deafened us on all sides, awakening in our souls hatred 
 for humanity and humanity s inventions. 
 
 15 
 
225 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 "De tous les bruits du monde celui de la musique est 
 le plus desagreable ! " was my ever- recurring thought. 
 
 Happily, this agony did not lest long, and was re- 
 placed by the choral singing of Erahmans and nautches, 
 which was very original, but perfectly bearable. The 
 wedding was a rich one, and so the "vestals" appeared 
 in state. A moment of silence, of restrained whisper- 
 ing, and one of them, a tall, handsome girl with eyes 
 literally filling half her forehead, began approaching 
 one guest after the other in perfect silence, and rubbing 
 their faces with her hand, leaving traces of sandal and 
 saffron powders. She glided towards us also, noiselessly 
 moving over the dusty road with her bare feet; and 
 before we realized what she was doing she had daubed. 
 
 me as well as the colonel and Miss X , which made 
 
 the latter sneeze and wipe her face for at least ten 
 minutes, with loud but vain utterances of indignation. 
 
 The Babu and Mulji offered their faces to the little 
 hand, full of saffron, with smiles of condescending 
 generosity. But the indomitable Narayan shrank from 
 the ve.stal so unexpectedly at the precise moment when, 
 with fiery glances at him, she stood on tiptoe to reach 
 his face, that she quite lost countenance and sent a full 
 dose of powder over his shoulder, whilst he turned away 
 from her with knitted brow. Her forehead also showed 
 several threatening lines, but in a moment she over- 
 came her anger and glided towards Ram-Runjit-Das, 
 sparkling with engaging smiles. But here she met with 
 still less luck ; offended at once in his monotheism and 
 his chastity, the "God's warrior" pushed the vestal so 
 unceremoniously that she nearly upset the elaborate 
 pot-decoration of the altar. A dissatisfied murmur ran 
 through the crowd, and we were preparing to be con- 
 demned to shameful banishment for the sins of the 
 
THE BANNS OF MARRIAGE. 227 
 
 warlike Sikh, when the drums sounded again and the 
 procession moved on. In front of everyone drove the 
 trumpeters and the drummers in a car gilded from toj^ 
 to bottom, and dragged by bullocks loaded with gar- 
 lands of flowers; next after them walked a whole de- 
 tachment of pipers, and then a third bod^- of musicians 
 on horseback, who frantically hammered huge gongs. 
 After them proceeded the ivr.'(j^i- of the bridegroom's 
 and the bride's relations on horses adorned with rich 
 harness, feathers and flowers ; the}' went in pairs. Thej' 
 were followed by a regiment of Bhils in full . . . 
 disarmour — because no weapons but bows and arrows 
 had been left to them by the English Government. All 
 these Bhils looked as if they had tooth-ache, because of 
 the odd way the}" have of arranging the ends of their 
 white pag)is. After them walked clerical Brahmans, 
 ■R'ith aromatic tapers in their hands and surrounded by 
 the flitting battalion of nautches, who amused them- 
 selves all the way by graceful glissades and pas. They 
 were followed b}- the laj- Brahmans — the "twice born." 
 The bridegroom rode on a handsome horse; on both 
 sides walked two couples of warriors, armed with 3"aks' 
 tails to wave the flies away. They were accompanied 
 by two more men on each side with silver fans. The 
 bridegroom's group was wound up by a naked Brahman, 
 perched on a donkey and holding over the head of the 
 boy a huge red silk umbrella. After him a car loaded 
 with a thousand cocoa-nuts and a hundred bamboo- 
 baskets, tied together bj- a red rope. The god who 
 looks after marriages drove in melancholy isolation on 
 the vast back of an elephant, whose mahout led him 
 hy a chain of flowers. Our humble party modc>'i.ly 
 advanced just behind the elephant's tail. 
 
 The perfonnance of rites on the wa\- seemed endless. 
 
228 PROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 We had to stop before every tree, every pagoda, every 
 sacred tank and bush, and at last before a sacred cow. 
 When we came back to the house of the bride it was four 
 in the afternoon, and we had started a little after six in 
 the morning. We all were utterly exhausted, and Miss 
 
 X literally threatened to fall asleep on her feet. 
 
 The indignant Sikh had left us long ago, and had per- 
 suaded Mr. Y and Mulji — whom the colonel had 
 
 nicknamed the "mute general" — to keep him company. 
 Our respected president was bathed in his own perspira- 
 tion, and even Narayan the unchangeable yawned and 
 sought consolation in a fan. But the Babu was simply 
 astonishing. After a nine hours' walk under the sun, 
 with his head unprotected, he looked fresher than ever, 
 without a drop of sweat on his dark satin-like forehead. 
 He showed his white teeth in an eternal smile, and 
 chaffed us all, reciting the "Diamond Wedding" of 
 Steadman. 
 
 We struggled against our fatigue in our desire to wit- 
 ness the last ceremony, after which the woman is for 
 ever cut off from the external world. It was just going 
 to begin; and we kept our eyes and ears wide open. 
 
 The bridegroom and the bride were placed before the 
 altar. The officiating Brahman tied their hands with 
 some kus-kus grass, and led them three times round 
 the altar. Then their hands were untied, and the Brah- 
 man mumbled a mantram. When he had finished, the 
 boy husband lifted his diminutive bride and carried her 
 three times round the altar in his arms, then again 
 three turns round the altar, but the boy preceding the 
 girl, and she following him like an obedient slave- 
 When this was over, the bridegroom was placed on a 
 high chair by the entrance door, and the bride brought 
 a basin of water, took off his shoes, and, having washed 
 
THE BANNS OF JIARRIAGE. 229 
 
 Ms feet, wiped them with her long hair. "We learned 
 that this was a very ancient custom. On the right side 
 of the bridegroom sat his mother. The bride knelt 
 before her also, and, having performed the same opera- 
 tion over her feet, she retired to the house. Then her 
 mother came out of the crowd and repeated the same 
 ceremonj-, but without using her hair as a towel. The 
 young couple were married. The drums and the tom- 
 toms rolled once more; and half-deaf we started for 
 home. 
 
 In the tent we found the Akali in the middle of a 
 sermon, delivered for the edification of the "mute 
 
 general" and Mr. Y . He was explaining to them 
 
 the advantages of the Sikh religion, and comparing it 
 with the faith of the "devil-worshippers," as he called 
 the Brahmans. 
 
 It was too late to go to the caves, and, besides, we 
 had had enough sights for one day. So we sat down to 
 rest, and to listen to the words of wisdom falling from 
 the lips of the " God's warrior." In m^- humble opinion, 
 he was right in more than one thing; in his most 
 imagfinative moments Satan himself could not have 
 invented anything more unjust and more refinedly cruel 
 than what was invented by these "twice-born" egotists 
 in their relation to the weaker sex. An unconditioned 
 civil death awaits her in case of widowhood — even if this 
 sad fate befalls her when she is two or three years old. 
 It is of no importance for the Brahmans if the marriage 
 never actually took place; the goat sacrifice, at which 
 the personal presence of the little girl is not even re- 
 quired — she being represented by the wretched victim — 
 is considered binding for her. As for the man, not only 
 is he permitted to have several lawful ^\•ives at a time, 
 
230 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 but he is even required bj' the law to marry again if his 
 wife dies. Not to be unjust, I must mention that, with 
 the exception of some vicious and depraved Rajas, we 
 never heard of a Hindu availing himself of this privilege, 
 and having more than one wife. 
 
 At the present time, the whole of orthodox India is 
 shaken by the struggle in favour of the re-marriage of 
 widows. This agitation was begun in Bombay, by a few 
 reformers, and opponents of Brahmans. It is already 
 ten years since Mulji-Taker-Sing and others raised this 
 question ; but we know only of three or four men who 
 have dared as yet to marry widows. This struggle is 
 carried on in silence and secrecj^ but nevertheless it is 
 fierce and obstinate. 
 
 In the meanwhile, the fate of the widow is what the 
 Brahmans wish it to be. As soon as the corpse of her 
 husband is burned the widow must shave her head, and 
 never let it grow again as long as she lives. Her 
 bangles, necklaces and rings are broken to pieces and 
 burned, together with her hair and her husband's re- 
 mains. During the rest of her life she must wear 
 nothing but white if she was less than twenty-five at her 
 husband's death, and red if she was older. Temples, 
 religious ceremonies, society, are closed to her for ever. 
 She has no right to speak to any of her relations, and no 
 right to eat with them. She sleeps, eats and works 
 separately; her touch is considered impure for seven 
 years. If a man, going out on business, meets a widow, 
 he goes home again, abandoning every pursuit, because 
 to see a widow is accounted an evil omen. 
 
 In the past all this was seldom practised, and con- 
 cerned only the rich widows, who refused to be burned ; 
 but now, since the Brahmans have been caught in the 
 false interpretation of the Vcdas, with the criminal in- 
 
THE BANNS OF MARRIAGE. 23I • 
 
 tention of appropriating the widows' wealth, they insist 
 on the fulfilment of this cruel precept, and make what 
 once was the exception the rule. Thej- are powerless 
 against British law, and so thej^ revenge themselves on 
 the innocent and helpless women, whom fate has deprived 
 of their natural protectors. Professor Wilson's demon- 
 stration of the means by which the Brahmans distorted 
 the sense of the Vcdas, in order to justif}^ the practice of 
 widow-burning, is well worth mentioning. During the 
 many centuries that this terrible practice prevailed, the 
 Brahmans had appealed to a certain Vedic text for their 
 justification, and had claimed to be rigidly fulfilling the 
 institutes of Manu, which contain for them the interpre- 
 tation of Vedic law. When the East India Compan^-'s 
 Government first turned its attention to the suppression 
 of sulttc, the whole country, from Cape Comorin to the 
 Himalayas, rose in protest, under the influence of the 
 Brahmans. "The English promised not to interfere in 
 our religious affairs, and they must keep their word!" 
 was the gensral outcry. Xever was India so near revo- 
 lution as in those da3-s. The English saw the danger 
 and gave up the task. But Professor Wilsoji, the best 
 Sanskritist of the time, did not consider the battle lost. 
 He applied himself to the studj- of the most ancient 
 MSS., and gradually became convinced that the alleged 
 precept did not exist in the Vaias; though in the Laws 
 of Ma)iu it was quite distinct, and had been translated 
 accordingly by T. Colebrooke and other Orientalists. 
 An attempt to prove to the fanatic population that 
 Manu's interpretation was wrong would have been 
 equivalent to an attempt to reduce water to powder. 
 So Wilson set himself to study j\Ianu, and to compare 
 the text of the \'cdas with the text of this law-giver. 
 This was the result of his labours: the Rig- Veda orders 
 
232 PROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 the Brahman to place the widow side by side with the 
 corpse, and then, after the performance of certain rites, 
 to lead her down from the funeral pyre and to sing the 
 following verse from Grhya Sutra: 
 
 Arise, O woman! return to the world of the living! 
 
 Having gone to sleep by the dead, awake again! 
 
 Long enough thou hast been a faithful wife 
 
 To the one who made thee mother of his children. 
 
 Then those present at the burning were to rub their 
 eyes with coUyrium, and the Brahman to address to 
 them the following verse: 
 
 Approach, you married women, not widows. 
 
 With your husbands bring ghi and butter. 
 
 Let the mothers go tip to the womb first, 
 
 Dressed in festive garments and costly adornments. 
 
 The line before the last was misinterpreted by the 
 Brahmans in the most skilful way. In Sanskrit it reads 
 as follows: 
 
 Arohantu janayo yonim agre . . . 
 
 Yonim agre literally means to the womb first. Having 
 changed only one letter of the last word agre, "first," 
 in Sanskritjjrj, the Brahmans wrote instead agneh, 
 "fire's," in Sanskrit 3pi[ , and so acquired the right to 
 send the wretched widows yonim agnch~io the womb 
 of fire. It is difficult to find on the face of the world 
 another such fiendish deception. 
 
 The Vedas never permitted the burning of the widows, 
 and there is a place in Taittiriya-Aranyaka, of the Yajur 
 Veda, where the brother of the deceased, or his disciple, 
 or even a trusted friend, is recommended to say to the 
 widow, whilst the pyre is set on fire: "Arise, O woman! 
 do not lie down any more beside the lifeless corpse; 
 return to the world of the living, and become the wife 
 of the one who holds you by the hand, and is willing to 
 
THE BAXXS OF MARRIAGE. 233 
 
 "be your husband." This verse shows that during the 
 ~\'edic period the re-marriage of ^^^dows was allowed. 
 Besides, in several places in the ancient books, pointed 
 out to us by Swami Dayanand, we found orders to the 
 T\-idows "to keep the ashes of the husband for several 
 months after his death and to perform over them certain 
 final rituals." 
 
 However, in spite of the scandal created by Professor 
 T\"ilson"s discovery, and of the fact that the Brahmans 
 were put to shame before the double authority of the 
 J 'c\:\2s and of !Manu, the custom of centuries proved so 
 strong that some pious Hindu women still bum them- 
 selves whenever they can. Xot more than two years 
 ago the four widows of Yung-Bahadur, the chief minister 
 of Xepal, insisted upon being burned. Xepal is not 
 Tinder the British rule, and so the Anglo-Indian Govern- 
 ment had no ris:ht to interfere. 
 
THE CAVES OF BAGH. 
 
 At four o'clock in the morning we crossed the Yagrey 
 and Girna, or rather, coinme coloris local, Shiva and 
 Parvati. Probably, following the bad example of the 
 average mortal husband and wife, this divine couple 
 were engaged in a quarrel, even at this early hour of the 
 day. They were frightfully rough, and our ferry, strik- 
 ing on something at the bottom, nearly upset us into the- 
 cold embrace of the god and his irate better half. 
 
 Like all the cave temples of India, the Bagh caverns- 
 are dug out in the middle of a vertical rock — with the 
 intention, as it seems to me, of testing the limits of 
 human patience. Taking into consideration that such a 
 height does not prevent either glamour or tigers reach- 
 ing the caves, I cannot help thinking that the sole aim 
 of the ascetic builders was to tempt weak mortals intO' 
 the sin of irritation by the inaccessibility of their airy 
 abodes. Seventy-two steps, cut out in the rock, and 
 covered with thorny weeds and moss, are the beginning 
 of the ascent to the Bagh caves. Foot-marks worn in 
 the stone through centuries spoke of the numberless- 
 pilgrims who had come here before us. The roughness 
 of the steps, with deep holes here and there, and thorns, 
 added attractions to this ascent; join to this a number 
 of mountain springs exuding through the pores of the 
 stone, and no one will be astonished if I say that we 
 simply felt faint under the weight of life and our archae- 
 ological difficulties. The Babu, who, taking off his 
 slippers, scampered over the thorns as unconcernedly 
 as if he had hoofs instead of vulnerable human heels. 
 
THE CAVES OF BAGH. 235 
 
 laughed at the "helplessness of Europeans," and onlj' 
 made us feel worse. 
 
 But on reaching the top of the mountain we stopped 
 grumbling, realizing at the first glance that we should 
 receive our reward. We saw a whole enfilade of dark 
 caves, through regular square openings, six feet wide. 
 We felt awestruck with the gloomy majesty of this 
 deserted temple. There was a curious ceiling over the 
 square platform that once ser\-ed as a verandah : there 
 was also a portico with broken pillars hanging over our 
 heads; and two rooms on each side, one with a broken 
 image of some flat-nosed goddess, the other containing 
 aGauesha; but we did not stop to examine all this in 
 detail. Ordering the torches to be lit, we stepped into 
 the first hall. 
 
 A damp breath as of the tomb met us. At our first 
 word we all shivered: a holiow, prolonged echoing 
 howl, dying away in the distance, shook the ancient 
 vaults and made us all lower our voices to a whisper. 
 The torch-bearers shrieked "Devi! . . Devi! 
 and, kneeling in the dust, performed a fer\-ent puja 
 in honoiu" of the voice of the invisible goddess of the 
 caves, in spite of the angry protestations of Xarayan 
 and of the "God's warrior." 
 
 The only light of the temple came from the entrance, 
 and so two-thirds of it looked still gloomier by contrast. 
 This hall, or the central temple, is ven." spacious, eight\-- 
 four feet square, and sixteen feet high. Twenty-four 
 massive pillars form a square, six pillars at each side, 
 including the comer ones, and four in the middle to prop 
 up the centre of the ceiling: otherwise it could not be 
 kept from falling, as the mass of the mountain which 
 presses on it from the top is much greater than in Karli 
 or Elephauta. 
 
236- FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OP HINDOSTAN. 
 
 There are at least three different styles in the architec- 
 ture of these pillars. Some of them are grooved in spirals, 
 gradually and imperceptibly changing from round to 
 sixteen sided, then octagonal and square. Others, plain 
 for the first third of their height, gradually finished under 
 the ceiling by a most elaborate display of ornamentation, 
 which reminds one of the Corinthian style. The third 
 with a square plinth and semi-circular friezes. Taking 
 it all in all, they made a most original and graceful 
 
 picttire. Mr. Y , an architect by profession, assured 
 
 us that he never saw anj^thing more striking. He said 
 he could not imagine by the aid of what instruments 
 the ancient builders could accomplish such wonders. 
 
 The construction of the Bagh caves, as well as of all 
 the cave temples of India, whose history is lost in the 
 darkness of time, is ascribed by the European archae- 
 ologists to the Buddhists, and by the native tradition to 
 the Pandu brothers. Indian paleography protests in 
 every one of its new discoveries against the hasty con- 
 clusions of the Orientalists. And much may be said 
 against the intervention of Buddhists in this particular 
 ca:se. But I shall indicate only one particular. The 
 theory which declares that all the cave temples of India 
 are of Buddhist origin is wrong. The Orientalists may 
 insist as much as they choose on the hypothesis that the 
 Buddhists became again idol-worshippers; it will ex- 
 plain nothing, and contradicts the history of both 
 Buddhists and Brahmans. The Brahmans began per- 
 secuting and banishing the Buddhists precisely because 
 they had begun a crusade against idol-worship. The 
 few Buddhist communities who remained in India and 
 deserted the pure, though, maybe — for a shallow ob- 
 server — somewhat atheistic teachings of Gautama Sidd- 
 hartha, never joined Brahmanism, but coalesced with 
 
THE CAVES OF BAGH., 237 
 
 the Jainas, and gradually became absorbed in them. 
 Then wh}- not suppose that if, amongst hundreds of 
 Brahmanical gods, we find one statue of Buddha, it only 
 shows that the masses of half-converts to Buddhism 
 added this new god to the ancient Brahmanical temple. 
 This would be much more sensible than to think that 
 the Buddhists of the two centuries before and after the 
 beginning of the Christian era dared to fill their temples 
 \^~ith idols, in defiance of the spirit of the reformer Gau- 
 tama. The figures of Buddha are easily discerned in 
 the swarm of heathen gods; their position is always the 
 same, and the palm of its right hand is always turned 
 upwards, blessing the worshippers with two fingers. 
 We examined almost ever}' remarkable vihara of the 
 so-called Buddhist temples, and never met with one 
 statue of Buddha which could not have been added in a 
 later epoch than the construction of the temple ; it does 
 not matter whether it was a ^ear or a thousand years 
 later. Xot being perfectly self-confident in this matter, 
 
 we always took the opinion of Mr. Y . who, as I said 
 
 before, was an experienced architect; and he iuvariabh' 
 came to the conclusion that the Brahmanical idols 
 formed a harmonic and genuine part of the whole, 
 pillars, decorations, and the general style of the temple; 
 whereas the statue of Buddha was an additional and dis- 
 cordant patch. Out of thirty or forty caves of EHora, all 
 filled with idols, there is only one, the one called the 
 Temple of the Tri-Lokas, which contains nothing but 
 statues of Buddha, and of Ananda, his favourite disciple. 
 Of course, in this case it would be perfectly right to 
 think it is a Buddhist vihara. 
 
 Most probably, some of the Russian archaeologists will 
 protest against the opinions I maintain, that is to saj-, 
 the opinions of the Hindu archseologists, and vdll treat 
 
238 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 me as an ignoramus, outraging science. In self-defence, 
 and in order to show how unstable a ground to base 
 one's opinions upon are the conclusions even of such 
 a great authority as Mr. Fergusson, I must mention the 
 following instance. This great architect, but very 
 mediocre arch^ologist, proclaimed at the very beginning 
 of his scientific career that "all the cave temples of 
 Kanara, without exception, were built between the fifth 
 and the tenth centuries." This theory became generallj' 
 accepted, when suddenly Dr. Bird found a brass plate 
 in a certain Kanara monument, called a iope. The plate 
 announced in pure and distinct Sanskrit that this tope 
 was erected as a homage to the old temple, at the be- 
 ginning of 245 of the Hindu astronomical (Samvat) 
 era. According to Prinsep and Dr. Stevenson, this date 
 coincides with 189 A.D., and so it clearly settles the 
 question of when the tope was built. But the question 
 of the antiquity of the temple itself still remains open, 
 though the inscription states that it was an old temple 
 in 189 A.D., and contradicts the above-quoted opinion of 
 Fergusson. However, this important discovery failed to 
 shake Fergusson's equanimity. For him, ancient in- 
 scriptions are of no importance, because, as he' says, 
 "the antiquity of ruins must not be fixed on the basis ot 
 inscriptions, but on the basis of certain architectural 
 canons and rules," discovered by Mr. Fergusson in 
 person. Fiat hypothesis, ruat calum ! 
 
 And now I shall return to my narrative. 
 
 Straight before the entrance a door leads to another 
 hall, which is oblong, with hexagonal pillars and niches, 
 containing statues in a tolerable state of preservation; 
 goddesses ten feet and gods nine feet high. After this 
 hall there is a room with an altar, which is a regular 
 hexagon, having sides each three feet long, and pro- 
 
THE CAVES OF BAGH. 239 
 
 tected bj- a cupola cut in the rock. Nobody- was ad- 
 mitted here, except the initiates of the mysteries of the 
 adj-tum. All round this room there are about twenty- 
 priests' cells. Absorbed in the examination of the altar, 
 we did not notice the absence of the colonel, till we 
 heard his loud voice in the distance calling to us: 
 
 "I have found a secret passage. . . . Come along, 
 let us find where it leads to!" 
 
 Torch in hand, the colonel was far ahead of us, and 
 very eager to proceed ; but each of us had a little plan of 
 his own, and so we were reluctant to obey his summons. 
 The Babu took upon himself to answer for the whole 
 party : 
 
 "Take care, colonel. This passage leads to the den 
 of the glamour. . . . Mind the tigers!" 
 
 But once fairly started on the way to discoveries, our 
 president was not to be stopped. A't'Av/^ zv/ois we 
 followed him. 
 
 He was right; he had made a discovery; and on enter- 
 ing the cell we saw a most unexpected tableau. B}" the 
 opposite wall stood two torch-bearers with their flaming 
 torches, as motionless as if they were transformed into 
 stone car\"atides; and from the wall, about five feet 
 above the ground, protruded two legs clad in white 
 trousers. There was no body to them ; the body had 
 disappeared, and but that the legs were shaken by a 
 convulsive effort to mo^■e on, we miglit have thought 
 that the -^^-icked goddess of this place had cut the colonel 
 into two halves, and having caused the upper half 
 instantly to evaporate, had sUick the lower half to the 
 wall, as a kind of trophy. 
 
 "Wliat is become of you, Mr. President? "Where are 
 j-ou?" were our alarmed questions. 
 
 Instead of an answer, the legs were convulsed still 
 
240 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 more violently, and soon disappeared completely, after 
 which we heard the voice of the colonel, as if coming 
 through a long tube: 
 
 "A room ... a secret cell. ... Be quick! 
 I see a Vi^hole row of rooms. . . . Confound it! my 
 torch is out! Bring some matches and another torch!" 
 
 But this was easier said than done. The torch-bearers 
 refused to go on ; as it was, they were already frightened 
 out of their wits. Miss X glanced with apprehen- 
 sion at the wall thickly covered with soot and then at: 
 
 her pretty gown. Mr. Y sat down on a broken 
 
 pillar and said he would go no farther, preferring to 
 have a quiet smoke in the company of the timid torch- 
 bearers. 
 
 There were several vertical steps cut in the wall ; and 
 on the floor we saw a large stone of such a curiously 
 irregular shape that it struck me that it could not be 
 natural. The quick-eyed Babu was not long in dis- 
 covering its peculiarities, and said he was sure "it was 
 the stopper of the secret passage." We all hurried to 
 examine the stone most minutely, and discovered that, 
 though it imitated as closely as possible the irregularity 
 of the rock, its under surface bore evident traces of work- 
 manship and had a kind of hinge to be easily moved. 
 The hole was about three feet high, but not more than 
 two feet wide. 
 
 The muscular "God's warrior" was the first to follow 
 the colonel. He was so tall that when he stood on a 
 broken pillar the opening came down to the middle of 
 his breast, and so he had no difficulty in transporting 
 himself to the upper story. The slender Babu joined 
 him with a single monkey-like jump. Then, with the 
 Akali pulling from above and Narayan pushing from 
 below, I safely made the passage, though the narrow- 
 
THE CAVES OF BAGH. 24I 
 
 ness of the hole proved most disagreeable, and the 
 roughness of the rock left considerable traces on my 
 hands. However trying archseological explorations may 
 be for a person afflicted bj- an unusualh' fine presence, I 
 felt perfectly confident that with two such Hercules-like 
 helpers as Nara^-an and Ram-Runjit-Das the ascent of 
 the Himala^-as would be perfectly possible for me. Miss 
 
 X came next, under the escort of Mulji, but Mr. 
 
 Y staj-ed behind. 
 
 The secret cell was a room of twelve feet square. 
 Straight above the black hole in the floor there was 
 another in the ceiling, but this time we did not discover 
 anj' "stopper." The cell was perfectly' emptj' with the 
 exception of black spiders as big as crabs. Our appari- 
 tion, and especially the bright light of the torches, mad- 
 dened them ; panic-stricken they ran in hundreds over 
 the walls, rushed down, and tumbled on our heads, 
 tearing their thin ropes in their inconsiderate haste. 
 
 The first movement of Miss X was to kill as many 
 
 as she could. But the four Hindus protested strongly 
 and unanimously. The old lad}- remonstrated in an 
 ofiFended voice : 
 
 "I thought that at least j-ou, Mulji, were a reformer, 
 but j-ou are as superstitious as any idol-worshipper." 
 
 "Above everything I am a Hindu," answered the 
 "mute general." "And the Hindus, as you know, con- 
 sider it sinful before nature and before their own con- 
 sciences to kill an animal put to flight by the strength 
 of man, be it even poisonous. As to the spiders, in 
 spite of their ugliness, they are perfectly harmless." 
 
 "I am sure all this is because 5-ou think 3'ou will 
 
 transmigrate into a black spider!" she replied, her 
 
 nostrils trembling with anger. 
 
 "I cannot say I do," retorted Mulji; "but if all the 
 
 16 
 
242 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 English ladies are as unkind as you I should rather be a 
 spider than an Englishman." 
 
 This lively answer coming from the usually taciturn 
 Mulji was so unexpected that we could not help laugh- 
 ing. But to our great discomfiture Miss X was 
 
 seriously angry, and, under pretext of giddiness, said 
 she would rejoin Mr. Y below. 
 
 Her constant bad spirits were becoming trying for our 
 cosmopolitan little party, and so we did not press her to 
 stay. 
 
 As to us we climbed through the second opening, but 
 this time under the leadership of Narayan. He dis- 
 closed to us that this place was not new to him ; he had 
 been here before, and confided to us that similar rooms, 
 one on the top of the other, go up to the summit of the 
 mountain. Then, he said, they take a sudden turn, and 
 descend gradually to a whole underground palace, which 
 is sometimes temporarily inhabited. Wishing to leave 
 the world for a while and to spend a few days in 
 isolation, the Raj -Yogis find perfect solitude in this 
 underground abode. Our president looked askance at 
 Narayan through his spectacles, but did not find any- 
 thing to say. The Hindus also received this information 
 in perfect silence. 
 
 The second cell was exactly like the first one; we 
 easily discovered the hole in its ceiling, and reached 
 the third cell. There we sat down for a while. I felt 
 that breathing was becoming difiicult to me, but I 
 thought I was simply out of breath and tired, and so did 
 not mention to my companions that anythingwas wrong. 
 The passage to the fourth cell was almost stopped by 
 earth mixed with little stones, and the gentlemen of the 
 party were busy clearing it out for about twenty minutes. 
 Then we reached the fourth cell. 
 
THE CAVES OF BAGH. 243 
 
 Naraj-an was right, the cells were one straight over the 
 other, and the floor of the one formed the ceiling of the 
 other. The fourth cell was in ruins. T«-o broken pillars 
 lying one on the other presented a verj' convenient 
 stepping-stone to the fifth stor}\ But the colonel 
 stopped our zeal by saying that now was the time to 
 smoke "the pipe of deliberation" after the fashion of 
 red Indians. 
 
 "If Xarayan is not mistaken," he said, "this going up 
 and up maj- continue till to-morrow morning." 
 
 "I am not mistaken," said Xarayan almost solemnlj*. 
 "But since my Ansit here I have heard that some of 
 these passages were filled with earth, so that everj' com- 
 munication is stopped; and, if I remember rightlj", we 
 ■cannot go further than the next storj-." 
 
 "In that case there is no use trjing to go anj- further. 
 If the ruins are so shaky as to stop the passages, it would 
 be dangerous for us." 
 
 "I never said the passages were stopped bj- the hand 
 of time. . . 77/n' did it on purpose. . ." 
 
 "Who //lej'^ Do you mean glamour? . . ." 
 
 "Colonel!" said the Hindu with an effort. "Don't 
 laugh at what I sa\\ ... I speak seriousl}-." 
 
 "M}- dear fellow, I assure j^ou my intention is neither 
 to offend 3-ou nor to ridicule a serious matter. I simply 
 do not realize whom you mean when you saj' f/uj." 
 
 "1 mean the brotherhood. . . . The Raj-Yogis. 
 Some of them live quite close to here." 
 
 By the dim light of the half-extinguished torches we 
 saw that Xaraj-an's lips trembled and that his face grew 
 pale as he spoke. The colonel coughed, rearranged his 
 spectacles and remained silent for a while. 
 
 "My dearNarayan," at last said the colonel, "I do not 
 want to believe that 3-our intention is to make fun of our 
 
244 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 credulity. But I can't believe either, that you seriously 
 mean to assure us that any living creature, be it an 
 animal or an ascetic, could exist in a place -where there 
 is no air. I paid special attention to the fact, and so I 
 am perfectly sure I am not mistaken: there is not a 
 single bat in these cells, which shows that there is a lack 
 of air. And just look at our torches! you see how dim 
 they are growing. I am sure, that on climbing two or 
 three more rooms like this, we should be suffocated!" 
 
 "And in spite of all these facts, I speak the truth," 
 repeated Narayan. "The caves further on are inhabited 
 by /Aem. And I have seen them with my own eyes." 
 
 The colonel grew thoughtful, and stood glancing at the 
 ceiling in a perplexed and undecided way. We all kept 
 silent, breathing heavily. 
 
 " I^et us go back ! " suddenly shouted the Akali. "My 
 nose is bleeding." 
 
 At this very moment I felt a strange and unexpected 
 sensation, and I sank heavily on the ground. In a 
 second I felt an indescribably delicious, heavenly sense 
 of rest, in spite of a dull pain beating in my temples. I 
 vaguely realized that I had really fainted, and that I 
 should die if not taken out into the open air. I could 
 not lift my finger; I could not utter a sound; and, in 
 spite of it, there was no fear in my soul — nothing but an 
 apathetic, but indescribably sweet feeling of rest, and a 
 complete inactivity of all the senses except hearing. A 
 moment came when even this sense forsook me, because 
 I remember that I listened with imbecile intentness to 
 the dead silence around nie. Is .this death? was my 
 indistinct wondering thought. Then I felt as if mighty 
 wings were fanning me. "Kind wings, caressing, kind 
 wings!" were the recurring words in my brain, like the 
 regular movements of a pendulum, and interiorily under 
 
THE CAVES OF BAGH. 245 
 
 an unreasoning impulse, I laughed at these words. Then 
 I experienced a new sensation : I rather knru.' than felt 
 that I was lifted from the floor, and fell down and down 
 some unknown precipice, amongst the hollow rollings 
 of a distant thunder-storm. Suddenly a loud voice 
 resounded near me. And this time I think I did not 
 hear, but felt it. There was something palpable in this 
 voice, something that instantly stopped my helpless 
 descent, and kept me from falling any further. This 
 was a voice I knew well, but whose voice it was I could 
 not in my weakness remember 
 
 In what way I was dragged through all these narrow 
 holes will remain an eternal mystery for me. I came to 
 myself on the verandah below, fanned by fresh breezes, 
 and as suddenly as I had fainted above in the impure air 
 of the cell. When I recovered couipleteh' the first thing 
 I saw was a powerful figure clad in white, with a raven 
 black Rajput beard, anxiously leaning over me. As soon 
 as I recognized the owner of this beard, I could not 
 abstain from expressing my feelings by a joyful exclama- 
 tion: ""UTiere do yoii come from?" It was our friend 
 Takur Gulab-Lal-Sing, who, having promised to join us 
 in the Xorth-West Provinces, now appeared to us in 
 Bagh, as if falling from the sky or coming out of the 
 ground. 
 
 But my unfortunate accident, and the pitiable state of 
 the rest of the daring explorers, were enough to stop any 
 further questions and expressions of astonishment. On 
 
 one side of me the frightened Miss X , using my 
 
 nose as a cork for her sal-volatile bottle: on the other 
 the "God's warrior" covered with blood as if returning 
 from a battle with the Afghans; further on, poor Mulji 
 ■with a dreadful headache. Xarayan and the colonel, 
 happily for our party, did not experience anything worse 
 
246 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 than a slight vertigo. As to the Babu, no carbonic acid 
 gas could inconvenience his wonderful Bengali nature. 
 He said he was safe and comfortable enough, but awfully 
 hungry. 
 
 At last the outpour of entangled exclamations and 
 unintelligible explanations stopped, and I collected my 
 thoughts and tried to understand what had happened to 
 me in the cave. Narayan was the first to notice that 
 I had fainted, and hastened to drag me back to the 
 passage. And this very moment they all heard the 
 voice of Gulab-Sing coming from the upper cell: " Tum- 
 hare iha aneka kya kam tha ?" "What on earth brought 
 you here?" Even before they recovered from their 
 astonishment he ran quickly past them, and descending 
 to the cell beneath called to them to "pass him down 
 thebai" (sister). This "passing down" of such a solid 
 object as my body, and the picture of the proceeding, 
 vividly imagined, made me laugh heartily, and I felt 
 sorry I had not been able to witness it. Handing him 
 over their half-dead load, they hastened to join the 
 Takur; but he contrived to do without their help, 
 though how he did it they were at a loss to under- 
 stand. By the time they succeeded in getting through 
 one passage Gulab-Sing was already at the next one, in 
 spite of the heavy burden he carried; and they never 
 were in time to be of any assistance to him. The 
 colonel, whose main feature is the tendency to go into 
 the details of everything, could not conceive by what 
 proceedings the Takur had managed to pass my almost 
 lifeless body so rapidly through all these narrow holes. 
 
 "He could not have thrown her down the passage 
 before going in himself, for every single bone of her 
 body would have been broken," mused the colonel. 
 "And it is still less possible to suppose that, descending 
 
THE CAVES OF BAGH. 247 
 
 first himself, he dragged her down afterwards. It is 
 simply incomprehensible!" 
 
 These questions harassed him for a long time after- 
 wards, until they became something like the puzzle: 
 Which was created first, the egg or the bird? 
 
 As to the Takur, when closely questioned, he shrugged 
 his shoulders, and answered that he reallj' did not re- 
 member. He said that he simply did whatever he could 
 to get me out into the open air; that all our travelling 
 companions were there to watch his proceedings; he 
 was under their eyes all the time, and that in circum- 
 stances when ever}' second is precious people do not 
 think, but act. 
 
 But all these questions arose only in the course of the 
 day. As to the time directly after I was laid down on 
 the verandah, there were other things to puzzle all 
 our party; no one could understand how the Takur 
 happened to be on the spot exactly when his help was 
 most needed, nor where he came from — and everyone 
 was anxious to know. On the verandah they found me 
 lying on a carpet, with the Takur busy restoring me to 
 
 my senses, and IMiss X with her ej'es wide open at 
 
 the Takur, whom she decidedly believed to be a mate- 
 rialized ghost. 
 
 However, the explanations our friend gave us seemed 
 perfectly satisfactory", and at first did not strike us as un- 
 natural. He was in Hardwar when Swami Dayanand 
 sent us the letter which postponed our going to him. On 
 arriving at Kandua by the Indore railwaj', he had visited 
 Holkar; and, learning that we were so near, he decided 
 to join us sooner than he had expected. He had come 
 to Bagh yesterday evening, but knowing that we were to 
 start for the caves early in the morning he went there 
 before us, and simply was waiting for us in the caves. 
 
248 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 "There is the whole mj'stery for you," said he. 
 
 "The whole mystery?" exclaimed the colonel. "Did 
 you know, then, beforehand that we would discover the 
 cells, or what?" 
 
 "No, I did not. I simply went there myself because 
 it is a long time since I saw them last. Examining 
 them took me longer than I expected, and so I was too 
 late to meet you at the entrance." 
 
 "Probably the Takur-Sahib was enjoying the fresh- 
 ness of the air in the cells," suggested the mischievous 
 Babu, showing all his white teeth in a broad grin. 
 
 Our president uttered an energetic exclamation. 
 
 "Exactly! How on earth did I not think of that 
 before? . . . You could not possibly have any breath- 
 ing air in the cells above the one you found us in. . . . 
 And, besides, . . . how did you reach the fifth cell, 
 when the entrance of the fourth was nearly stopped and 
 we had to dig it out?" 
 
 "There are other passages leading to them. I know 
 all the turns and corridors of these caves, and every- 
 one is free to choose his way," answered Gulab-Sing; 
 and I thought I saw a look of intelligence pass be- 
 tween him and Narayan, who sinipl)!- cowered under his 
 fiery eyes. "However, let us go to the cave where 
 breakfast is ready for us. Fresh air will do all of you 
 good." 
 
 On our way we met with t^nother cave, twenty or 
 thirty steps south from the verandah, but the Takur did 
 not let us go in, fearing new accidents for us. So we 
 descended the stone steps I have already mentioned, 
 and after descending about two hundred steps towards 
 the foot of the mountain, made a short reascent again 
 and entered the "dining-room," as the Babu denominated 
 it. In my role of "interesting invalid," I was carried to 
 
THE CAVES OF BAGH. 249 
 
 it, sitting in my folding chair, which never left me in 
 all my travels. 
 
 This temple is much the less gloomy of the two, in 
 spite of considerable signs of decay. The frescoes of the 
 ceiling are better preserved than in the first temple. 
 The walls, the tumbled doTVTi pillars, the ceiling, and 
 even the interior rooms, which were lighted b\' ventila- 
 tors cut through the rock, were once covered by a var- 
 nished stucco, the secret of which is now known only to 
 the Madrasis, and which gives the rock the appearance 
 •of pure marble. 
 
 We were met by the Takur's four servants, whom we 
 remembered since our .stay in Karli, and who bowed 
 down in the dust to greet us. The carpets were spread, 
 and the breakfast ready. Every trace of carbonic acid 
 had left our brains, and we sat down to our meal in the 
 laest of spirits. Our conversation soon turned to the 
 Hardw'ar Mela, which our unexpectedly-recovered friend 
 liad left exactly five days ago. All the information we 
 got from Gulab-Lal-Sing was so interesting that I wrote 
 it down at the first opportunitj'. 
 
 After a few weeks we ^■isited Hardwar ourselves, and 
 since I saw it, mj' memorj^ has never grown tired of 
 recalling the charming picture of its lovely situation. 
 It is as near a primitive picture of earthly Paradise as 
 anything that can be imagined. 
 
 Everj' twelfth year, which the Hindus call Kumbha, 
 the planet Jupiter enters the constellation of Aquarius, 
 and this event is considered ven." propitious for the be- 
 ginning of the religious fair; for which this day is 
 accordingly fixed by the astrologers of the pagodas. 
 "This gathering attracts the representatives of all sects, 
 as I said before, from princes and maharajas down to 
 the last fakir. The former come for the sake of religious 
 
250 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 discussions, the latter, simply to plunge into the waters; 
 of Ganges at its very source, which must be done at a 
 certain propitious hour, fixed also by the position of the- 
 stars. 
 
 Ganges is a name invented in Europe. The natives 
 always say Gangd, and consider this river to belong 
 strictly to the feminine sex. Ganga is sacred in the 
 eyes of the Hindus, because she is the most important of 
 all the fostering goddesses of the country, and a daughter 
 of the old Himavat (Himalaya), from whose heart she 
 springs for the salvation of the people. That is why she 
 is worshipped, and why the city of Hardwar, built at her 
 very source, is so sacred. 
 
 Hardwar is written Hari-dvara, the doorway of the- 
 sun-god, or Krishna, and is also often called Gangadvara, 
 the doorway of Ganga; there is still a third name of the; 
 same town, which is the name of a certain ascetic Kapela, 
 or rather Kapila, who once sought salvation on this 
 spot, and left many miraculous traditions. 
 
 The town is situated in a charming flowery valley, at 
 the foot of the southern slope of the Sivalik ridge, be- 
 tween two mountain chains. In this valley, raised 1,024, 
 feet above the sea-level, the northern nature of the 
 Himalayas struggles with the tropical growth of the 
 plains; and, in their efforts to excel each other, they 
 have created the most delightful of all the delightful 
 corners of India. The town itself is a quaint collection 
 of castle-like turrets of the most fantastical architecture; 
 of ancient viharas ; of wooden fortresses, so gaily painted 
 that they look like toj-s ; of pagodas, with loopholes and 
 overhanging curved little balconies; and all this over- 
 grown by such abundance of roses, dahlias, aloes and 
 blossoming cactuses, that it is hardly possible to tell a_ 
 door from a window. The granite foundations of many 
 
THE CAVES OF BAGH. 25! 
 
 houses are laid almost in the bed of the river, and so, 
 during four months of the j'ear, they are half covered 
 ■with water. And behind this handful of scattered 
 hoiises, higher up the mountain slope, crowd snow-white, 
 stately temples. Some of them are low, with thick walls, 
 wide wing's and gilded cupolas; others rise in majestical 
 man3--storied towers; others again with shapelj^ pointed 
 roofs, which look like the spires of a bell tower. Strange 
 and capricious is the architecture of these temples, the 
 like of which is not to be seen anywhere else. They 
 look as if thej- had suddenly dropped from the snowy 
 abodes of the mountain spirits above, standing there in 
 the shelter of the mother mountain, and timidly peeping 
 over the head of the small town below at tlieir own 
 images reflected in the pure, untroubled waters of the 
 sacred river. 
 
 Here the Ganges is not j-et polluted bj- the dirt and 
 the sins of her many million adorers. Releasing her 
 worshippers, cleansed from her ic}- embrace, the pure 
 maiden of the mountains carries her transparent waves 
 through the burning plains of Hindostan; and only 
 three hundred and forty-eight miles lower down, on 
 passing through Cawnpore, do her waters begin to grow 
 thicker and darker, while, on reaching Benares, they 
 transform themselves into a kind of pepperj- pea soup. 
 
 Once, while talking to an old Hindu, who tried to 
 con\-ince us that his compatriots are the cleanest uation 
 in the world, we asked him : 
 
 "Wliy is it then that, in the less populous places, the 
 Ganges is pure and transparent, whilst in Benares, 
 especially towards evening, it looks like a mass of liquid 
 mud?" 
 
 "O sahibs!" answered he mournfully, "it is not the 
 dirt of our bodies, as you think, it is not even the 
 
252 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 blackness of our sins, that the devi (goddess) washes 
 away. . . . Her waves are black with the sorrow 
 and shame of her children. Her feelings are sad and 
 sorrowful; hidden suffering, burning pain and humilia- 
 tion, despair and shame at her own helplessness, have 
 been her lot for many past centuries. She has suffered 
 all this till her waters have become waves of black bile. 
 Her waters are poisoned and black, but not from physi- 
 cal causes. She is our mother, and how could she help 
 resenting the degradation we have brought ourselves to 
 in this dark age." 
 
 This sorrowful, poetical allegory made us feel very 
 keenly for the poor old man; but, however great our 
 sympathy, we could not but suppose that probably the 
 woes of the maiden Ganga do not affect her sources. In 
 Hardwar the colour of Ganges is crystal aqua marina, 
 and the waters run gaily murmuring to the shore-reeds 
 about the wonders they saw on their way from the 
 Himala^'as. 
 
 The beautiful river is the greatest and the purest of 
 goddesses, in the eyes of the Hindus ; and many are the 
 honours given to her in Hardwar. Besides the Mela 
 celebrated once every twelve j-ears, there is a month in 
 every year when the pilgrims flock together to the 
 Harika-Paira, stairs of Vishnu. Whosoever succeeds in 
 throwing himself first into the river, at the appointed 
 day, hour and moment, will not only expiate all his 
 sins, but also have all bodily sufferings removed. This 
 zeal to be first is so great that, owing to a badh'-con- 
 structed and narrow stair leading to the water, it used to 
 cost many lives yearly, until, in 1819, the East India Com- 
 pany, taking pity upon the pilgrims, ordered this ancient 
 relic to be removed, and a new stairway, one hundred 
 feet wide, and consisting of sixty steps, to be constructed. 
 
THE CAVES OF BAGH. 253 
 
 The month when the waters of the Ganges are most 
 salutary, falls, according to the Brahmanical computa- 
 tion, between ]\Iarch 12th and April loth, and is called 
 Chaitra. The worst of it is that the waters are at their 
 best only at the first moment of a certain propitious 
 hour, indicated by the Brahmans, and which sometimes 
 happens to be midnight. You can fancy what it must 
 be when this moment comes, in the midst of a crowd 
 which exceeds two millions. In 1S19 more than four 
 hundred people were crashed to death. But even after 
 the new stairs were constructed, the goddess Ganga has 
 carried away on her virgin bosom many a disfigured 
 corpse of her worshippers. Xobody pitied the drowned, 
 on the contrary.', thej' were en\"ied. Whoever happens 
 to be killed during this purification by bathing, is sure 
 to go straight to Swarga (heaven). In 1760, the two 
 rival brotherhoods of Sannjasis and Bairagis had a 
 regular battle amongst them on the sacred daj- of Purbi, 
 the last day of the religious fair. The Bairagis were 
 conquered, and there were eighteen thousand people 
 slaughtered. 
 
 "And in 1796," proudly narrated our warlike friend 
 tlie Akali, "the pilgrims from Punjab, all of them Sikhs, 
 desiring to punish the insolence of the Hossains, killed 
 here about five hundred of these heathens. My own 
 grandfather took part in the fight!" 
 
 Later on we verified this in the Ga:citcxr of India, 
 and the "God's warrior" was cleared of ever}- suspicion 
 of exaggeration and boasting. 
 
 In 1S79. however, no one was drowned, or crushed to 
 death, but a dreadful epidemic of cholera broke out. 
 "U'e were disgusted at this impediment; but had to keep 
 at a distance in spite of our impatience to see Hardwar. 
 And unable to behold distant summits of old Himavat 
 
254 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 ourselves, we had in the meanwhile to be contented with 
 what we could hear about him from other people. 
 
 So we talked long after our breakfast under the cave 
 vault was finished. But our talk was not so gay as it 
 might have been, because we had to part with Ram- 
 Hunjit-Das, who was going to Bombay. The worthy 
 Sikh shook hands .with us in the European way, and 
 then raising his right hand gave us his blessing, after 
 the fashion of all the followers of Nanaka. But when 
 he approached the Takur to take leave of him, his 
 countenance suddenly changed. This change was so 
 evident that we all noted it. The Takur was sitting 
 ■on the ground leaning on a saddle, which served him 
 as a cushion. The Akali did not attempt either to give 
 him his blessing or to shake hands with him. The 
 proud expression of his face also changed, and showed 
 ■confusion and anxious humility instead of the usual 
 .self-respect and self-sufficiency. The brave Sikh knelt 
 ■down before the Takur, and instead of the ordinary 
 " Namaste !" — "Salutation to you," whispered rever- 
 •ently, as if addressing the Guru of the Golden Lake: "I 
 am your servant, Sadhu-Sahib! give me your blessing!" 
 
 Without any apparent reason or cause, we all felt self- 
 conscious and ill at ease, as if guilty of some indiscretion. 
 But the face of the mysterious Rajput remained as calm 
 and as dispassionate as ever. He was looking at the 
 river before this scene took place, and slowly moved his 
 eyes to the Akali, who lay prostrated before him. Then 
 he touched the head of the Sikh with his index finger, 
 and rose with the remark that we also had better start at 
 •once, because it was getting late. 
 
 We drove in our carriage, moving very slowly because 
 of the deep sand which covers all this locality, and the 
 
THE CAVES OF BAGH. 255 
 
 "Takitr followed us on horseback all the way. He told 
 us the epic legends of Hardwar and Rajistan, of the great 
 deeds of the Hari-Kulas, the heroic princes of the solar 
 race. Hari means sun, and Kula family. Some of the 
 Rajput princes belong to this familj', and the Maharanas 
 of Oode}-pur are especiall}' proud of their astronomical 
 ■origin. 
 
 The name of Hari-Kula gives to some Orientalists 
 ground to suppose that a member of this family emi- 
 grated to EgA-pt in the remote epoch of the first Pharaonic 
 dj-nasties, and that the ancient Greeks, borro'wing the 
 name as well as the traditions, thus formed their legends 
 about the mythological Hercules. It is believed that the 
 ancient Eg>'ptians adored the sphinx under the name 
 of Hari'Miikh, or the "sun on the horizon." On the 
 mountain chain which fringes Kashmir on the north, 
 thirteen thousand feet above the sea, there is a huge 
 summit, which is exactly like a head, and which bears 
 the name of Harimukh. This name is also met with in 
 the most ancient of the Piiranas. Besides, popular 
 tradition considers this Himalaj-an stone head to be the 
 image of the setting sun. 
 
 Is it possible, then, that all these coincidences are 
 only accidental? And why is it that the Orientalists will 
 not give it more serious attention ? It seems to me that 
 this is a rich soil for future research, and that it is no 
 more to be explained by mere chance than the fact that 
 both Egypt and India held the cow sacred, and that the 
 ancient Egyptians had the same religious horror of 
 killing certain animals, as the modem Hindus. 
 
AN ISLE OF MYSTERY. 
 
 When evening began to draw on, we were driving" 
 beneath the trees of a wild jungle; arriving soon after 
 at a large lake, we left the carriages. The shores were 
 overgrown with reeds — not the reeds that answer our 
 European notions, but rather such as Gulliver was likely 
 to meet with in his travels to Brobdingnag. The place 
 was perfectly deserted, but we saw a boat fastened close 
 to the land. We had still about an hour and a half of 
 daylight before us, and so we quietly sat down on some 
 ruins and enjoyed the splendid view, whilst the servants- 
 of the Takur transported our bags, boxes and bundles 
 
 of rugs from the carriages to the ferry boat. Mr. Y 
 
 was preparing to paint the picture before us, which 
 indeed was charming. 
 
 "Don't be in a hurry to take down this view," said 
 Gulab-Sing. "In half an hour we shall be on the islet, 
 where the view is still lovelier. We may spend there 
 the night and to-morrow morning as well." 
 
 "I am afraid it will be too dark in an hour," said Mr. 
 
 Y , opening his colour box. "And as for to-morrow^ 
 
 we .shall probably have to start very early." 
 
 "Oh, no ! there is not the slightest need to start early. 
 We may even stay here part of the afternoon. From 
 here to the railway station it is only three hours, and 
 the train only leaves for Jubbulpore at eight in the 
 evening. And do you know," added the Takur, smiling 
 in his usual mysterious way, "I am going to treat you 
 to a concert. To-night 3'ou shall be witness of a very 
 interesting natural phenomenon connected with this 
 island." 
 
AN ISLE OF MYSTERY. 257 
 
 We all pricked up our ears with curiosity. 
 
 "Do you mean that island there? and do you really 
 think we must go?" asked the colonel. "Why should 
 not we spend the night here, where we are so deliciously 
 cool, and where . . ." 
 
 "WTiere the forest swarms ■ndth pla^-ful leopards, and 
 the reeds shelter snug family parties of the serpent race, 
 were you going to sa}', colonel?" interrupted the Babu, 
 with a broad grin. "Don't you admire this merry 
 gathering, for instance? Look at them! There is the 
 father and the mother, uncles, aunts, and children. . . . 
 I am sure I could point out even a mother-in-law." 
 
 Miss X looked in the direction he indicated and 
 
 shrieked, till all the echoes of the forest groaned in 
 answer. Not farther than three steps from her there 
 were at least forty grown up serpents and baby snakes. 
 They amused themselves by practising somersaults, 
 coiled up, then straightened again and interlaced their 
 tails, presenting to our dilated eyes a picture of perfect 
 
 innocence and primitive contentment. Miss X 
 
 could not stand it any longer and fled to the carriage, 
 whence she showed us a pale, horrified face. The 
 Takur, who had arranged himself comfortably beside 
 Mr. Y in order to watch the progress of his paint- 
 ing, left his seat and looked attentively at the dangerous 
 group, quietly smoking his g;argari — Rajput narghile — 
 the while. 
 
 "If j-ou do not stop screaming you will attract all the 
 wild animals of the forest in another ten minutes," said 
 he. "None of }"ou have anything to fear. If j-ou do 
 not excite an animal he is almost sure to leave j'ou 
 alone, and most probabl}^ will run awaj' from j'ou." 
 
 With these words he lightl}^ waved his pipe in the 
 direction of the serpentine family-party. A thunder- 
 
258 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN, 
 
 bolt falling in their midst could not have been more 
 efifectual. The whole living mass looked stunned for a 
 moment, and then rapidly disappeared among the reeds 
 with loud hissing and rustling. 
 
 "Now this is pure mesmerism, I declare," said the 
 colonel, on whom not a gesture of the Takur was lost. 
 "How did you do it, Gulab-Sing? Where did you learn 
 this science?" 
 
 "They were simply frightened away by the sudden 
 movement of my chibook, and there was no science and 
 no mesmerism about it. Probably by this fashionable 
 modern word you mean what we Hindus call vashi- 
 Adraiia vidya — that is to say, the science of charming 
 people and animals by the force of will. However, as I 
 have already said, this has nothing to do with what 
 I did." 
 
 "But you do not deny, do you, that you have studied 
 this science and possess this gift?" 
 
 " Of course I don't. Every Hindu of my sect is bound 
 to study the mysteries of physiology and psychology 
 amongst other secrets left to us by our ancestors. But 
 what of that? I am very much afraid, my dear colonel," 
 said the Takur with a quiet smile, "that you are rather 
 inclined to view the simplest of my acts through a 
 mystical prism. Narayan has been telling you all kinds 
 of things about me behind my back. . . . Now, is it 
 not so?" 
 
 And he looked at Narayan, who sat at his feet, with 
 an indescribable mixture of fondness and reproof The 
 Dekkan colossus dropped his eyes and remained silent. 
 
 "You have guessed rightly," absently answered Mr. 
 
 Y , busy over his drawing apparatus. "Narayan 
 
 sees in j^ou something like his late deity Shiva; some- 
 thing just a little less than Parabrahm. Would you 
 
AX ISLE OF MYSTERY. 259 
 
 believe it? He seriously assured us — in Nassik it was — 
 that the Raj -Yogis, and amongst them yourself — though 
 I must owTi I still fail to understand what a Raj-Yogi is, 
 precisely — can force anj' one to see, not what is before 
 bis eyes at the given moment, but what is only in the 
 imagination of the Raj-Yogi. If I remember rightly he 
 called it MayS. . . . Now, this seemed to me going 
 a little too far!" 
 
 "Well! You did not believe, of course, and laughed 
 at Xarayan?" asked the Takur, fathoming ^ith his ej-es 
 the dark green deeps of the lake. 
 
 "Xot precisely. . . . Though, I dare say, I did 
 
 just a little bit," went on Mr. Y , absentlj-, being 
 
 full\" engrossed by the ^-iew, and trj-ing to fix his eyes on 
 the most effective part of it. "I dare say I am too scep- 
 tical on this kind of question." 
 
 "And knoT\-ing ]\Ir. Y as I do," said the colonel, "I 
 
 can add, for my part, that even were any of these pheno- 
 mena to happen to himself personally, he, like Dr. Car- 
 penter, would doubt his own eyes rather than believe.'' 
 
 "WTiat you say is a little bit exaggerated, but there 
 is some truth in it. Maybe I would not trust mj-self in 
 such an occurrence ; and I tell you why. If I saw some- 
 thing that does not exist, or rather exists only for me, 
 logic would interfere. However objective my -vision 
 may be, before believing in the materiality of a halluci- 
 nation, I feel I am bound to doubt my own senses and 
 sanit\-. . . . Besides, what bosh all this is! As if I 
 ever -^x-ill allow myself to believe in the realit}- of a thing 
 that I alone saw; which belief implies also the admission 
 of somebody else governing and dominating, for the 
 time being, my optical nerves, as well as my brains." 
 
 "However, there are anj- number of people, who do not 
 doubt, because thej- have had proof that this phenomenon 
 
260 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 really occurs," remarked the Takur, in a careless tone, 
 which showed he had not the slightest desire to insist 
 upon this topic. 
 
 However, this remark only increased Mr. Y 's 
 
 excitement. 
 
 "No doubt there are!" he exclaimed. "But what does 
 that prove? Besides them, there are equal numbers of 
 people who believe in the materialization of spirits. 
 But do me the kindness of not including me among 
 them ! " 
 
 "Don't you believe in animal magnetism?" 
 
 "To a certain extent, I do. If a person suffering from 
 some contagious illness can influence a person in good 
 health, and make him ill, in his turn, I suppose some- 
 body else's overflow of health can also aiTect the sick 
 person, and, perhaps cure him. But between physio- 
 logical contagion and mesmeric influence there is a 
 great gulf, and I don't feel inclined to cross this gulf on 
 the grounds of blind faith. It is perfectly possible that 
 there are instances of thought-transference in cases of 
 somnambulism, epilepsy, trance. I do not positively 
 deny it, though I am very doubtful. Mediums and 
 clairvoyants are a sickly lot, as a rule. But I bet you 
 anj4hing, a healthy man in perfectly normal conditions 
 is not to be influenced by the tricks of mesmerists. I 
 should like to see a magnetizer, or even a Raj-Yogi, 
 inducing 7ne to obey his will." 
 
 " Now, my dear fellow, you really ought not to speak 
 so rashly," said the colonel, who, till then, had not taken 
 any part in the discussion. 
 
 "Ought I not? Don't take it into your head that it 
 is mere boastfulness on my part. I guarantee failure in 
 my case, simply because every renowned European 
 mesmerist has tried his luck with me, without any 
 
AX ISLB OF MYSTERY. =6 1 
 
 result; and that is whj' I defy the whole lot of them to 
 try again, and feel perfectly safe about it. And wh}' a 
 Hindu Raj -Yogi should succeed where the strongest of 
 European mesmerists failed, I do not quite see. . ." 
 
 Mr. Y v.'as gro^'ing altogether too excited, and 
 
 the Takur dropped the subject, and talked of something 
 else. 
 
 For my part, I also feel inclined to de^•iate once more 
 from my subject, and give some necessary explanations. 
 
 Miss X excepted, none of our party had ever been 
 
 numbered amongst the spiritualists, least of all Mr. 
 Y . We Theosophists did not believe in the playful- 
 ness of departed souls, though we admitted the possi- 
 bility of some mediumistic phenomena, while totally 
 disagreeing with the spiritualists as to the cause and 
 point of ^-iew. Refusing to believe in the interference, 
 and even presence of the spirits, in the so-called 
 spiritualistic phenomena, we nevertheless believe in the 
 /iz-i'/ig spirit of man ; we believe in the omnipotence of 
 this spirit, and in its natural, though benumbed capaci- 
 ties. We also believe that, when incarnated, this spirit, 
 this di\-ine spark, may be apparently quenched, if it is 
 not guarded, and if the life the man leads is unfavour- 
 able to its expansion, as it generally is; but, on the 
 other hand, our conviction is that human beings can 
 develop their potential spiritual powers ; that, if they 
 do, no phenomenon will be impossible for their liberated 
 wills, and that thej- will perform what, in the eyes of the 
 uninitiated, will be much more wondrous than the 
 materialized forms of the spiritualists. If proper train- 
 ing can render the muscular strength ten times greater, 
 as in the cases of renowned athletes, I do not see why 
 proper training should fail in the case of moral capaci- 
 ties. We have also good grounds to believe that the 
 
262 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGI^ES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 secret of this proper training — though unknown to, and 
 denied by, European physiologists and even psycholo- 
 gists — is known in some places in India, where its 
 knowledge is hereditary, and entrusted to few. 
 
 Mr. Y was a novice in our Society and looked 
 
 with distrust even on such phenomena as can be pro- 
 duced by mesmerism. He had been trained in the 
 Royal Institute of British Architects, which he left with 
 a gold medal, and with a fund of scepticism that caused 
 him to distrust everything, ai dehors des inathemaliques 
 pures. So that no wonder he lost his temper when 
 people tried to convince him that there existed things 
 which he was inclined to treat as " mere bosh and 
 fables." 
 
 Now I return to my narrative. 
 
 The Babu and Mulji left us to help the servants to 
 transport our luggage to the ferry boat. The remainder 
 of the party had grown very quiet and silent. Miss 
 
 X dozed peaceftilly in the carriage, forgetting her 
 
 recent fright. The colonel, stretched on the sand, 
 amused himself by throwing stones into the water. 
 Narayan sat motionless, with his hands round his knees, 
 plunged as usual in the mute contemplation of Gulab- 
 
 Lal-Sing. Mr. Y sketched hurriedly and diligently, 
 
 only raising his head from time to time to glance at the 
 opposite shore, and knitting his brow in a preoccupied 
 wa.y. The Takur went on smoking, and as for me, I sat 
 on my folding chair, looking lazily at everything round 
 me, till my eyes rested on Gulab-Sing, and were fixed, 
 as if by a spell. 
 
 "Who and what is this mysterious Hindu?" I won- 
 dered in my uncertain thoughts. "Who is this man, who 
 unites in himself two such distinct personalities : the one 
 exterior, kept up for strangers, for the world in general, 
 
AX ISLE OF MYSTERY. 263 
 
 the Other interior, moral and spiritual, shown only to a 
 few intimate friends ? But even these intimate friends — 
 do thej- know much beyond what is generally known? 
 And what do they know? Thej- see in him a Hindu who 
 differs very little from the rest of educated natives, 
 perhaps only in his perfect contempt for the social con- 
 ventions of India and the demands of Western civiliza- 
 tion. . . . And that is all — unless I add that he is 
 known in Central India as a sufSciently wealthy man, 
 and a Takur, a feudal chieftain of a Raj, one of the 
 hundreds of similar Rajes. Besides, he is a true friend 
 of ours, who offered us his protection in our travels and 
 volunteered to play the mediator between us and the 
 suspicious, uncommunicative Hindus. Bej'ond all this, 
 we know absoluteh' nothing about him. It is true, 
 though, that I know a little more than the others ; but 
 I have promised silence, and silent I shall be. But the 
 little I know is so strange, so unusual, that it is more 
 like a dream than a reality." 
 
 A good while ago, more than twenty-seven years, I 
 met him in the house of a stranger in England, whither 
 he came in the company of a certain dethroned Indian 
 prince. Then our acquaintance was limited to two con- 
 versations ; their unexpectedness, their gravity, and even 
 severity, produced a strong impression on me then; but, 
 in the course of time, like many other things, the}- sank 
 into oblivion and Lethe. About seven years ago he -mrote 
 to me to America, reminding me of our conversation and 
 of a certain promise I had made. Xow we saw each other 
 once more in India, his own country, and I failed to see 
 any change wrought in his appearance by all these long 
 years. I was, and looked, quite young, when I first saw 
 him ; but the passage of years had not failed to change 
 me into an old woman. As to him, he appeared to me 
 
264 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 twenty-seven years ago a man of about thirty, and still 
 looked no older, as if time were powerless against him. 
 In England, his striking beauty, especially his extra- 
 ordinary height and stature, together with his eccentric 
 refusal to be presented to the Queen — an honour many a 
 high-born Hindu has sought, coming over on purpose 
 — excited the public notice and the attention of the 
 newspapers. The newspaper-men of those days, when 
 the influence of Byron was still great, discussed the 
 "wild Rajput" with untiring pens, calling him "Raja- 
 Misanthrope" and "Prince Jalma-Samson," and in- 
 venting fables about him all the time he stayed in 
 England. 
 
 All this taken together was well calculated to fill me 
 with consuming curiosity, and to absorb my thoughts till 
 I forgot every exterior circumstance, sitting and staring 
 at him in no wise less intensely than Narayan. 
 
 I gazed at the remarkable face of Gulab-Lal-Sing with 
 a mixed feeling of indescribable fear and enthusiastic 
 admii-ation; recalling the mysterious death of the Karli 
 tiger, my own miraculous escape a few hours ago in 
 Bagh, and many other incidents too man}^ to relate. It 
 was only a few hours since he appeared to us in the 
 morning, and yet what a number of strange ideas, of 
 puzzling occurrences, how many enigmas his presence 
 stirred in our minds! The magic circle of my revolving 
 thought grew too much for me. "What does all this 
 mean!" I exclaimed to myself, trying to shake off my 
 torpor, and struggling to find words for my meditation. 
 'Who is this being whom I saw so many years ago, 
 jubilant with manhood and life, and now see again, as 
 young and as full of life, only still more austere, still 
 more incomprehensible. After all, maybe it is his 
 brother, or even his son?" thought!, trying to calm my- 
 
AN ISLE OF MYSTERY. 265 
 
 self, but with no result. "No! there is no use doubting; 
 it is he himself, it is the same face, the same little scar 
 on the left temple. But, as a quarter of a century ago, 
 50 now: no wrinkles on those beautiful classic features; 
 not a white hair in this thick jet-black mane; and, in 
 ■moments of silence, the same expression of perfect rest 
 on that face, calm as a statue of living bronze. 'What a 
 strange expression, and what a wonderful Sphinx-like 
 face!" 
 
 "Xot a verj- brilliant comparison, my old friend!" 
 suddenly spoke the Takur, and a good-natured laughing 
 note rung" in his voice, whilst I shuddered and grew red 
 like a naughty schoolgirl. "This comparison is so in- 
 -accurate that it decidedly sins against histor}- in two 
 important points. Prime, the Sphinx is a lion; so am 
 I, as indicates the word Sing in my name; but the Sphinx 
 is winged, and I am not. Savndo. the Sphinx is a woman 
 as well as a mnged lion, but the Rajput Siuhas never 
 had anything effeminate in their characters. Besides, 
 the Sphinx is the daughter of Chimera, or Echidna, 
 who were neither beautiful nor good ; and so you might 
 have chosen a more flattering and a less inaccurate 
 comparison I" 
 
 I simply gasped in mj- utter confusion, and he gave 
 vent to his merriment, which bj" no means relieved me. 
 
 "Shall I give you some good advice?" continued 
 Gulab-Sing, changing his tone for a more serious one. 
 "Don't trouble your head with such vain speculations. 
 The day when this riddle yields its solution, the Rajput 
 Sphinx will not seek destruction in the waves of the sea; 
 but, believe me, it won't bring anj- profit to the Russian 
 ■CEdipus either. You already know ever\" detail j-ou ever 
 Tvill learn. So leave the rest to our respective fates." 
 
 And he rose because tlie Babu and Mulji had informed 
 
266 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 US that the ferry boat was ready to start, and were shout- 
 ing and making signs to us to hasten. 
 
 "Just let me finish,'' said Mr. Y , "I have nearljr 
 
 done. Just an additional touch or two." 
 
 "Let us see your work. Hand it round!" insisted the 
 
 colonel and Miss X , who had just left her haven of 
 
 refuge in the carriage, and joined us still half asleep. 
 
 Mr. Y hurriedly added a few more touches to his. 
 
 drawing and rose to collect his brushes and pencils. 
 
 We glanced at his fresh wet picture and opened our 
 eyes in astonishment. There was no lake on it, no 
 woody shores, and no velvety evening mists that covered 
 the distant island at this moment. Instead of all this- 
 we saw a charming sea view; thick clusters of shapely 
 palm-trees scattered over the chalky cliffs of the littoral; 
 a fortress-like bungalow with balconies and a flat roof, 
 an elephant standing at its entrance, and a native boat: 
 on the crest of a foaming billow. 
 
 "Now what is this view, sir?" wondered the colonel. 
 "As if it was worth your while to sit in the sun, and. 
 detain us all, to draw fancy pictures out of your own. 
 head!" 
 
 "What on earth are you talking about?" exclaimed 
 
 Mr. Y . "Do j'ou mean to say you do not recognize 
 
 the lake?" 
 
 "Listen to him — the lake! Where is the lake, if you 
 please? Were you asleep, or what?" 
 
 By this time all our party gathered round the colonel, 
 who held the drawing. Narayan uttered an exclama- 
 tion, and stood still, the very image of bewilderment 
 past description. 
 
 "I know the place!" said he, at last. "This 13 Dayri- 
 Bol, the country house of the Takur-Sahib. I know it- 
 Last year during the famine I lived there for two months."' 
 
AN ISLE OF MYSTERY. 267 
 
 I was the first to grasp the meaning of it all, but 
 something prevented me from speaking at once. 
 
 At last Mr. Y finished arranging and packing his 
 
 things, and approached us in his usual laz)-, careless 
 waj-, but his face showed traces of vexation. He was 
 e\'identh' bored bj- our persistency in seeing a sea, 
 where there was nothing but the corner of a lake. But, 
 at the first sight of his unluckj- sketch, his countenance 
 suddenly changed. He grew so pale, and the expres- 
 sion of his face became so piteously distraught that it 
 was painful to see. He turned and re-turned the piece 
 of Bristol board, then rushed like a madman to his 
 drawing portfolio and turned the whole contents out, 
 ransacking and scattering over the sand hundreds of 
 sketches and of loose papers. Evidentlj- failing to find 
 what he was looking for, he glanced again at his sea- 
 view, and suddenly covering his face with his hands 
 totally collapsed. 
 
 We all remained silent, exchanging glances of wonder 
 and pit}-, and heedless of the Takur, who stood on the 
 feny boat, vainly calling to us to join him. 
 
 " 1,00k here, Y '!" timidly spoke the kind-hearted 
 
 colonel, as if addressing a sick child. "Are you sure 
 3-ou remember drawing this view?" 
 
 Mr. Y • did not give any answer, as if gathering 
 
 strength and thinking it over. After a few moments he 
 answered in hoarse and tremulous tones: 
 
 "Yes, I do remember. Of course I made this sketch, 
 but I made it from nature. I painted only what I saw. 
 And it is that ver}- certainty that upsets me so." 
 
 "But wh}' should you be upset, my dear fellow? 
 Collect j'ourself! What happened to you is neither 
 shameful nor dreadful. It is only the result of the tem- 
 porary influence of one dominant will over another, less 
 
268 FROM THK CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 powerful. You simply acted under 'biological influence,' 
 to use the expression of Dr. Carpenter." 
 
 "That is exactly what I am most afraid of. ... I 
 remember everything now. I have been busy over this 
 view more than an hour. I saw it directly I chose the 
 spot, and seeing it all the while on the opposite shore I 
 could not suspect anything uncanny. I was perfectly 
 conscious, ... or, shall I sa}^ I fancied I was con- 
 scious of putting down on paper what everyone of you 
 had before your e3'es. I had lost every notion of the 
 place as I saw it before I began my sketch, and as I see 
 it now. . . . But how do you account for it? Good 
 gracious! am I to believe that these confounded Hindus 
 really possess the mystery of this trick? I tell you, 
 colonel, I shall go mad if I don't understand it all!" 
 
 "No fear of that, Mr. Y ," said Narayan, with a 
 
 triumphant twinkle in his eyes. "You will simply lose 
 the right to deny Yoga-Vidya, the great ancient science 
 of my country." 
 
 Mr. Y did not answer him. He made an effort to 
 
 calm his feelings, and bravely stepped on the ferry boat 
 with firm foot. Then he sat down, apart from us all, 
 obstinately looking at the large surface of water round 
 us, and struggling to seem his usual self. 
 
 Miss X was the first to interrupt the silence. 
 
 "Ma chere!" said she to me in a subdued, but trium- 
 phant voice. " Ma chere, Monsieur Y devient 
 
 vraiment un medium de premiere force!" 
 
 In moments of great excitement she alwaj's addressed 
 me in French. But I also was too excited to control mj^ 
 feelings, and so I answered rather unkindly : 
 
 "Please stop this nonsense. Miss X . You know 
 
 I don't believe in spiritualism. Poor Mr. Y , was 
 
 not he upset?" 
 
AN ISLE OF IIVSTERY. 269 
 
 Recei\nng this rebuke and no sympathy from me, she 
 could not think of anything better than drawing out the 
 Babu, who, for a wonder, had managed to keep quiet till 
 then. 
 
 "WTiat do you say to all this? I for one am perfectly 
 confident that no one but the disembodied soul of a 
 great artist could have painted that lovely view, ^\^lo 
 else is capable of such a wonderful achievement?" 
 
 "Wliy? The old gentleman in person. Confess that 
 at the bottom of j^our soul j'ou firmly believe that the 
 Hindus worship de\-ils. To be sure it is some deitj' of 
 ours of this kind that had his august paw in the matter." 
 
 " II est positivement malhonnete, ce Negre-la ! " 
 
 angrilj- muttered Miss X , hurriedly withdrawing 
 
 from him. 
 
 The island was a tiny one, and so overgrown with tall 
 reeds that, from a distance, it looked like a pyramidal 
 basket of verdure. With the exception of a colony of 
 monkevs, who bustled away to a few mango trees at our 
 approach, the place seemed uninhabited. In this virgin 
 forest of thick grass there was no trace of human life. 
 Seeing the word grass the reader must not forget that it 
 is not the grass of Europe I mean; the grass under 
 which we stood, like insects under a rhubarb leaf, waved 
 its feather}' many-coloured plumes much above the 
 head of Gulab-Sing (who stood six feet and a half in 
 his stockings), and of Xarayan, who measured hardly an 
 inch less. From a distance it looked like a waving sea 
 of black, yellow, blue, and especially of rose and green. 
 On landing, we discovered that it consisted of separate 
 thickets of bamboos, mixed up \^-ith the gigantic sirka 
 reeds, which rose as high as the tops of the mangos. 
 
 It is impossible to imagine anything prettier and more 
 oraceful than the bamboos and sirka. The isolated tvtfts 
 
270 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 of bamboos show, in spite of their size, that they are 
 nothing but grass, because the least gush of wind shakes 
 them, and their green crests begin to nod like heads 
 adorned with long ostrich plumes. There were some 
 bamboos there fifty or sixty feet high. From time to 
 time we heard a light metallic rustle in the reeds, but 
 none of us paid much attention to it. 
 
 Whilst our coolies and servants were busy clearing a 
 place for our tents, pitching them and preparing the 
 supper, we went to pay our respects to the monkeys, the 
 true hosts of the place. Without exaggeration there 
 were at least two hundred. While preparing for their 
 nightly rest the monkeys behaved like decorous and 
 well-behaved people ; every family chose a separate 
 branch and defended it from the intrusion of strangers 
 lodging on the same tree, but this defence never passed 
 the limits of good manners, and generally took the shape 
 of threatening grimaces. There were many mothers 
 with babies in arms amongst them ; some of them treated 
 the children tenderly, and lifted them cautiouslj^, with a 
 perfectly human care ; others, less thoughtful, ran up 
 and down, heedless of the child hanging at their breasts, 
 preoccupied with something, discussing something, and 
 stopping every moment to quarrel with other monkey 
 ladies — a true picture of chatty old gossips on a market 
 day, repeated in the animal kingdom. The bachelors 
 kept apart, absorbed in their athletic exercises, per- 
 formed for the most part with the ends of their tails. 
 One of them, especially, attracted our attention by 
 dividing his amusement between sauts perilleux and 
 teasing a respectable looking grandfather, who sat 
 under a tree hugging two little monkeys. Swinging 
 backward and forward from the branch, the bachelor 
 jumped at him, bit his ear playfully and made faces at 
 
AN ISLE OF MYSTERY. 27 1 
 
 "him, chattering all the time. We cautioush* passed from 
 one tree to another, afraid of frightening them away; 
 but e\-idently the years spent bj- them -n-ith the fakirs, 
 ■vvho left the island only a year ago, had accustomed 
 them to human societj*. They were sacred monkeys, as 
 we learned, and so they had nothing to fear from men. 
 They showed no signs of alarm at our approach, and, 
 ha-\-ing received our greeting, and some of them a piece 
 of sugar-cane, they calmly stayed on their branch- 
 thrones, crossing their arms, and looking at us with a 
 good deal of dignified contempt in their intelligent 
 hazel eyes. 
 
 The sun had set, and we were told that the supper was 
 ready. "We all turned "homewards," except the Babu. 
 The main feature of his character, in the eyes of ortho- 
 dox Hindus, being a tendency to blasphemy, he could 
 never resist the temptation to justify their opinion of 
 him. Climbing up a high branch he crouched there, 
 imitating ever\- gesture of the monkeys and answering 
 their threatening grimaces by still uglier ones, to the 
 unconcealed disgT.ist of our pious coolies. 
 
 As the last golden ray disappeared on the horizon, a 
 gauze-like veil of pale lilac fell over the world. But as 
 every moment decreased the transparency of this tropical 
 twilight, the tint gradually lost its softness and became 
 darker and darker. It looked as if an in\'isible painter, 
 unceasingly mo\'ing his gigantic brush, swiftl\- laid one 
 coat of paint over the other, ever changing the exquisite 
 background of our islet. The phosphoric candles of the 
 fireflies began to twinkle here and there, shining brightly 
 against the black tnniks of the trees, and lost again on 
 the silver\- background of opalescent evening sky. But 
 in a few minutes more thousands of these li\-ing sparks, 
 precursors of Queen Xiglit, played round u^, pouring 
 
272 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGtES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 like a golden cascade over the trees, and dancing in the 
 air above the grass and the dark lake. 
 
 And behold! here is the queen in person. Noise- 
 lessly descending upon earth, she reassumes her rights. 
 With her approach, rest and peace spread over us; her 
 cool breath calms the activities of day. L,ike a fond 
 mother, she sings a lullaby to nature, lovingly wrapping- 
 her in her soft black mantle; and, when everything is 
 asleep, she watches over nature's dozing powers till the 
 first streaks of dawn. 
 
 Nature sleeps ; but man is awake, to be witness to the 
 beauties of this solemn evening hour. Sitting round 
 the fire we talked, lowering our voices as if afraid of 
 awaking night. We were only six; the colonel, the four 
 
 Hindus and myself, because Mr. Y and Miss X 
 
 could not resist the fatigue of the day and had gone to 
 sleep directly after supper. 
 
 Snugly sheltered by the high "grass," we had not the 
 heart to spend this magnificent night in prosaic sleep- 
 ing. Besides, we were waiting for the "concert" which 
 the Takur had promised us. 
 
 "Be patient," said he, "the musicians will not appear 
 before the moon rises." 
 
 The fickle goddess was late ; she kept us waiting till 
 after ten o'clock. Just before her arrival, when the 
 horizon began to grow perceptibly brighter, and the 
 opposite shore to assume a milky, silvery tint, a sudden, 
 wind rose. The waves, that had gone quietly to sleep 
 at the feet of gigantic reeds, awoke and tossed uneasily, 
 till the reeds swayed their feathery heads and murmured 
 to each other as if taking counsel together about some- 
 thing that was going to happen. . . . Suddenly, in 
 the general stillness and silence, we heard again the 
 same musical notes, which we had passed unheeded. 
 
AX ISLE OF MYSTERY. 273 
 
 ■«'hen we first reached the island, as if a whole orchestra 
 were trj-ing their musical instruments before plaj'ing 
 some great composition. All round us, and over our 
 heads, vibrated strings of violins, and thrilled the separate 
 notes of a flute. In a few moments came another gust 
 of wind tearing through the reeds, and the whole island 
 resounded with the strains of hundreds of ^olian harps. 
 And suddenly there began a wild unceasing symphony. 
 It swelled in the surrounding woods, filling the air 
 with an indescribable melody. Sad and solemn were its 
 prolonged strains; they resounded like the arpegg-ws of 
 some funeral march, then, changing into a trembling 
 thrill, they shook the air like the song of a nightingale, 
 and died away iu a long sigh. Thej- did not quite cease, 
 but grew louder again, ringing like hundreds of silver 
 bells, changing from the heartrending howl of a wolf, 
 deprived of her 3-oung, to the precipitate rhythm of a gay 
 tarantella, forgetful of everj" earthly sorrow; from the 
 articulate song of a human voice, to the vague majestic 
 accords of a ^•ioloncello, from merrj- child's laughter to 
 angrj- sobbing. And all this was repeated in every 
 direction by mocking echo, as if hundreds of fabulous 
 forest maidens, disturbed in their green abodes, answered 
 the appeal of the \\-ild musical Saturnalia. 
 
 The colonel and I glanced at each other iu our great 
 astonishment. 
 
 "How delightful! \\laat witchcraft is this?" we ex- 
 claimed at the same time. 
 
 The Hindus smiled, but did not answer us. The 
 Takur smoked his gargari as peacefully as if he was 
 deaf. 
 
 There was a short inter\-al, after which the iu\4sible 
 orchestra started again with renewed energy. The 
 sounds poured and rolled in unrestrainable, overwhelm- 
 
274 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 ing waves. We had never heard anything like this in- 
 conceivable wonder. lyisten ! A storm in the open sea, 
 the wind tearing through the rigging, the swish of the 
 maddened waves rushing over each other, or the whirl- 
 ing snow wreaths on the silent steppes. Suddenly the 
 vision is changed; now it is a stately cathedral and the 
 thundering strains of an organ rising under its vaults. 
 The powerful notes now rush together, now spread out 
 through space, break off, intermingle, and become en- 
 tangled, like the fantastic melody of a delirious fever, 
 some musical phantasy born of the howling and whist- 
 ling of the "wind. 
 
 Alas! the charm of these sounds is soon exhausted, 
 and you begin to feel that they cut like knives through 
 your brain. A horrid fancy haunts our bewildered 
 heads; we imagine that the invisible artists strain our 
 own veins, and not the strings of imaginary violins; their 
 cold breath freezes us, blowing their imaginary trum- 
 pets, shaking our nerves and impeding our breathing. 
 
 "For God's sake stop this, Takur! Tliis is really too 
 much," shouted the colonel, at the end of his patience, 
 and covering his ears with his hands. "Gulab-Sing, I 
 tell you you must stop this." 
 
 The three Hindus burst out laughing; and even the 
 grave face of the Takur lit up with a merry smile. 
 
 "Upon my word," said he, "do you really take me 
 for the great Parabrahm? Do 3^ou think it is in my 
 power to stop the wind, as if I were Marut, the lord of 
 the storms, in person. Ask for something easier than 
 the instantaneous uprooting of all these bamboos." 
 
 "I beg your pardon; I thought these strange sounds 
 also were some kind of psj'chologic influence." 
 
 "So sorry to disappoint you, rny dear colonel; but 
 you really must think less of psychology and electro- 
 
AX ISLE OF MYSTERY. 275 
 
 l)iolog3-. This develops into a mania -nith j-ou. Don't 
 you see that this wild music is a natural acoustic phe- 
 nomenon ? Each of the reeds around us — and there are 
 thousands on this island — contains a natural musical in- 
 strument; and the musician. Wind, comes here daily 
 to try his art after nightfall — especiallj- during the last 
 quarter of the moon." 
 
 "The wind!" murmured the colonel. "Oh, yes! But 
 this music begins to change into a dreadful roar. Is 
 there no way out of it?" 
 
 "I at least cannot help it. But keep up your patience, 
 ^■ou will soon get accustomed to it. Besides, there \\411 
 he intervals when the wind falls." 
 
 AVe were told that there are many such natural orches- 
 tras in India. The Brahmans know well their wonderful 
 properties, and calling this kind of reed :;/ici-iA-z-i, the 
 lute of the gods, keep up the popular superstition and 
 say the sounds are divine oracles. The sirka grass and 
 the bamboos always shelter a number of tiny beetles, 
 ■«-hich make considerable holes in the hollow reeds. 
 The fakirs of the idol-worshipping sects add art to this 
 natural beginning and work the plants into musical in- 
 struments. The islet we ^-isited bore one of the most 
 celebrated z-i/id-Jtiis, and so, of course, v'^s proclaimed 
 sacred. 
 
 "To-morrow morning," said the Takur, "you will see 
 what deep knowledge of all the laws of acoustics was in 
 the possession of the fakirs. They enlarged the holes 
 made by the beetle according to the size of the reed, 
 sometimes shaping it into a circle, sometimes into an 
 oval. These reeds in their present state can be justh- con- 
 sidered as the finest illustration of mechanism applied 
 to acoustics. However, this is not to be wondered at. 
 because some of the most ancient Sanskrit books about 
 
276 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 music mintitely describe these laws, and mention many 
 musical instruments which are not only forgotten, but 
 totally incomprehensible in our .days." 
 
 All this was very interesting, but still, disturbed by 
 the din, we could not listen attentively. 
 
 "Don't worry yourselves," said the Takur, who soon 
 understood our uneasiness, in spite of our attempts at 
 composure. "After midnight the wind will fall, and 
 you will sleep undisturbed. However, if the too close 
 neighbourhood of this musical grass is too much for 
 you, we may as well go nearer to the shore. There is 
 a spot from which you can see the sacred bonfires on 
 the opposite shore." 
 
 We followed him, but while walking through the 
 thickets of reeds we did not leave off our conversation. 
 
 "How is it that the Brahmans manage to keep up 
 such an evident cheat?" asked the colonel. "The 
 stupidest man cannot fail to see in the long run who 
 made the holes in the reeds, and how they come to give 
 forth music." 
 
 "In America stupid men may be as clever as that; I 
 don't know," answered the Takur, with a smile; "but 
 not in India. If you took the trouble to show, to de- 
 scribe, and to explain how all this is done to any Hindu, 
 be he even comparatively educated, he will still see 
 nothing. He will tell you that he knows as well as 
 yourself that the holes are made by the beetles and 
 enlarged by the fakirs. But what of that? The beetle 
 in his eyes is no ordinary beetle, but one of the gods 
 incarnated in the insect for this special purpose; and 
 the fakir is a holy ascetic, who has acted in this case 
 by the order of the same god. That will be all you will 
 ever get out of him. Fanaticism and superstition took 
 centuries to develop in the masses, and now they are as 
 
AX ISLE OP MYSTERY. 277 
 
 Strong as a necessary physiological function. Kill these 
 two and the crowd will have its eyes opened, and will 
 see truth, but not before. As to the Brahmans, India 
 would ha^•e been very fortunate if everj-thing they have 
 done were as harmless. Let the crowds adore the muse 
 and the spirit of hannony. This adoration is not so 
 very wicked, after all." 
 
 The Babu told us that in Eehra-Dun this kind of reed 
 is planted on both sides of the central street, which 
 is more than a mile long. The buildings prevent the 
 free action of the wind, and so the sounds are heard 
 only in time of east wind, which is verj- rare. A j-ear 
 ago Swami Dayanand happened to camp off Dehra-Dun. 
 Crowds of people gathered round him ever\- evening. 
 One day he delivered a very powerful sermon against 
 superstition. Tired out by this long, energetic speech, 
 and, besides, being a little unwell, the Swami sat do^^'u 
 on his carpet and shut his eyes to rest as soon as the 
 sermon was finished. But the crowd, seeing him so 
 unusually quiet and silent, all at once imagined that his 
 soul, abandoning" him in this prostration, entered the 
 reeds — that had just begun to sing their fantastical rhap- 
 sody — and was now conversing with the gods through 
 the bamboos. iMany a pious man in this gathering, 
 anxious to show the teacher in what fulness thej- grasped 
 his teaching and how deep was their respect for him 
 personalh". knelt down before the singing reeds and 
 performed a most ardent puja. 
 
 "What did the Swami say to that?" 
 
 "He did not say anything. . . . Your question 
 shows that you don't know our Swami >et," laughed the 
 Babu. "He simply jumped to his feet, and, uprooting 
 the first sacred reed on his way, gave such a livel}- Euro- 
 pean bakshish (thrashing) to the pious puja-makers, 
 
278 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 that they instantly took to their heels. The Swami ran 
 after them for a whole mile, giving it hot to everyone in 
 his way. He is wonderfully strong is our Swami, and 
 no friend to useless talk, I can tell you." 
 
 "But it seems to me," said the colonel, "that that is 
 not the right way to convert crowds. Dispersing and 
 frightening is not converting." 
 
 "Not a bit of it. The masses of our nation require 
 peculiar treatment. . . Let me tell you the end of this 
 story. Disappointed with the effect of his teachings on 
 the inhabitants of Dehra-Dun, Dayanand Saraswati went 
 to Patna, some thirty-five or forty miles from there. 
 And before he had even rested from the fatigues of his 
 journey, he had to receive a deputation from Dehra-Dun, 
 who on their knees entreated him to come back. The 
 leaders of this deputation had their backs covered with 
 bruises, made by the bamboo of the Swami! They 
 brought him back with no end of pomp, mounting him 
 on an elephant and spreading flowers all along the road. 
 Once in Dehra-Dun, he immediatel}' proceeded to found 
 a Samaj, a society as you would say, and the Dehra-Dun 
 
 A 
 
 Arya-Samaj now counts at least two hundred members, 
 who have renounced idol-worship and superstition for 
 ever." 
 
 "I was present," said Mulji, "two years ago in Benares, 
 when Dayanand broke to pieces about a hundred idols in 
 the bazaar, and the same stick served him to beat a 
 Brahman with. He caught the latter in the hollow idol 
 of a huge Shiva. The Brahman was quietly sitting there 
 talking to the devotees in the name, and so to speak, 
 with the voice of Shiva, and asking money for a new suit 
 of clothes the idol wanted." 
 
 "Is it possible the Swami had not to pay for this new 
 achievement of his?" 
 
AN ISLE OF MYSTERY. 279 
 
 "Oh, j-es. The Brahman dragged him into a law 
 court, but the judge had to pronounce the Swami in the 
 right, because of the crowd of sympathizers and defenders 
 who followed the Swami. But still he had to pay for all 
 the idols he had broken. So far so good ; but the Brah- 
 man died of cholera that very night, and of course, the 
 opposers of the reform said his death was brought on 
 by the sorcerj- of Dayanand Saraswati. This vexed us 
 all a good deal." 
 
 "Xow, Xarayan, it is 3"0ur turn," said I. "Have you 
 no stor\- to tell us about the Swami? And do j'ou not 
 look up to him as to 3"our Guru?" 
 
 '• I have only one Guru and only one God on earth, as 
 in heaven,"' answered Xarayan ; and I saw that he was 
 very unwilling to speak. "And while I live, I shall not 
 desert them." 
 
 "I know who is his Guru and his God!" thoughtlessly 
 exclaimed the quick-tongued Babu. "It is the Takur- 
 Sahib. In his person both coincide in the eyes of 
 Narayan." 
 
 "You ought to be ashamed to talk such nonsense, 
 Babu," coldly remarked Gulab-Sing. "I do not think 
 myself worthy of being an^bodj^'s Guru. As to my being 
 a god, the mere words are a blasphemj-, and I must ask 
 3-ou not to repeat them. . . . Here we are!" added 
 he more cheerfulh', pointing to the carpets spread by 
 the ser^-ants on the shore, and e\-idently desirous of 
 changing the topic. "Let us sit down!" 
 
 We arrived at a small glade some distance from the 
 bamboo forest. The sounds of the magic orchestra 
 reached us still, but considerably weakened, and only 
 from time to time. We sat to the windward of the reeds, 
 and so the harmonic rustle we heard was exactlj- like the 
 low tones of an jEolian harp, and had nothing disagree- 
 
280 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 able in it. On the contrary, the distant murmur only- 
 added to the beauty of the whole scene around us. 
 
 We sat down, and only then I realized how tired and 
 sleepy I was — and no wonder, after being on foot since 
 four in the morning, and after all that had happened to 
 me on this memorable day. The gentlemen went on 
 talking, and I soon became so absorbed in my thoughts 
 that their conversation reached me only in fragments. 
 
 "Wake up, wake up!" repeated the colonel, shaking 
 me by the hand. "The Takur says that sleeping in the 
 moonlight will do you harm." 
 
 I was not asleep; I was simply thinking, though ex- 
 hausted and sleepy. But wholly under the charm of 
 this enchanting night, I could not shake off my drowsi- 
 ness, and did not answer the colonel. 
 
 "Wake up, for God's sake! Think of what you are 
 risking!" continued the colonel. "Wake up and look 
 at the landscape before us, at this wonderful moon. 
 Have you ever seen anything to equal this magnificent 
 panorama?" 
 
 I looked up, and the familiar lines of Pushkin about 
 the golden moon of Spain flashed into my mind. And 
 indeed this was a golden moon. At this moment she 
 radiated rivers of golden light, poured forth liquid gold 
 into the tossing lake at our feet, and sprinkled with 
 golden dust every blade of grass, every pebble, as far as 
 the eye could reach, all round us. Her disk of silvery 
 yellow swiftly glided upward amongst the big stars, on 
 their dark blue ground. 
 
 Many a moonlit night have I seen in India, but every 
 time the impression was new and unexpected. It is no 
 use trying to describe these /I'mj'Ziff pictures, they cannot 
 be represented either in words or in colours on canvas, 
 they can only be felt — so fugitive is their grandeur and 
 
AX ISLE OF MYSTERY. 281 
 
 beauty! In Europe, even in the south, the full moon 
 eclipses the largest and most brilliant of the stars, so 
 that hardly any cm be seen for a considerable distance 
 round her. In India it is quite the contrary; she looks 
 like a huge pearl surrounded by diamonds, rolling on 
 a blue velvet ground. Her light is so intense that one 
 can read a letter written in small handwriting; one 
 even can perceive the different greens of the trees and 
 bushes — a thing iinlieard of in Europe. The effect of 
 the moon is especially charming on tall palm trees. 
 From the first moment of her appearance her rays glide 
 over the tree downwards, beginning with the feather\- 
 crests, then lighting up the scales of the trunk, and de- 
 scending lower and lower till the whole palm is literally 
 bathing in a sea of light. Without any metaphor the 
 surface of the leaves seems to tremble in liquid silver all 
 the night long, whereas their under surfaces seem blacker 
 and softer than bl.ick velvet. But woe to the thought- 
 less novice, woe to the mortal who gazes at the Indian 
 moon with his head uncovered. It is very dangerous 
 not o-aly to sleep under, but even to gaze at the chaste 
 Indian Diana. Fits of epilepsy, madness and death are 
 the punishments wrought by her treacherous arrows on 
 the modem Acteon who dares to contemplate the cruel 
 daughter of Latona in her full beauty. The Hindus 
 never go out in the moonlight without their turbans or 
 pagris. Even our in^-ulncrable Babu always wore a 
 kind of white cap during the night. 
 
 As soon as the reeds concert reaches its height and 
 the inhabitants of the neighbourhood hear the distant 
 "voices of the gods." whole villages flock together to 
 the bank of the lake, light bonfires, and perfonu their 
 pujas. The fires lit up one after the other, and the 
 black silhouettes of the worshippers moved about on 
 
282 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGI.ES OP HINDOSTAN. 
 
 the Opposite shore. Their sacred songs and loud excla- 
 mations, "Hari, Hari, Maha-deva!" resounded with a, 
 strange loudness and a wild emphasis in the pure air of 
 the night. And the reeds, shaken in the wind, answered 
 them with tender musical phrases. The whole stirred a. 
 vague feeling of uneasiness in my soul, a strange intoxi- 
 cation crept gradually over me, and in this enchantingf- 
 place the idol- worship of these passionate, poetical souls, 
 sunk in dark ignorance, seemed more intelligible and 
 less repulsive. A Hindu is a born mystic, and the: 
 luxuriant nature of his country has made of him a. 
 zealous pantheist. 
 
 Sounds of alguja, a kind of Pandean pipe with seven, 
 openings, struck our attention; their music was wafted 
 by the wind quite distinctly from somewhere in the- 
 wood. They also startled a whole family of monkeys 
 in the branches of a tree over our heads. Two or three- 
 monkeys carefully slipped down, and looked round as- 
 if waiting for something. 
 
 "What is this new Orpheus, to whose voice these-. 
 monkeys answer?" asked I laughingly. 
 
 "Some fakir probably. The alguja is generally used, 
 to invite the sacred monkeys to their meals. The com- 
 munity of fakirs, who once inhabited this island, have- 
 removed to an old pagoda in the forest. Their new- 
 resting-place brings them more profit, because there are: 
 many passers by, whereas the island is perfectly isolated."' 
 
 "Probably they were compelled to desert this dreadful, 
 place because they were threatened by chronic deafness," 
 Miss X expressed her opinion. She could not help- 
 being out of temper at being prevented from enjoying" 
 her quiet slumber, our tents being right in the middle, 
 of the orchestra. 
 
 "A propos of Orpheus," asked the Takur, "do yoix. 
 
AN ISLE OF MYSTERY. 283 
 
 know that the lyre of this Greek demigod was not 
 the first to cast spells over people, animals and even 
 rivers? Kui, a certain Chinese musical artist, as they 
 are called, expresses something to this effect: 'When I 
 pla}^ my ^i'«_^the wild animals hasten to me, and range 
 themselves into rows, spell-bound by my melodj\' This 
 Kui lived one thousand years before the supposed era of 
 Orpheus." 
 
 "What a funny coincidence!" exclaimed I. "Kui is 
 the name of one of our best artists in St. Petersburg. 
 "Where did you read this?" 
 
 "Oh, this is not a very rare piece of information. 
 Some of your "Western Orientalists have it in their 
 books. But I personally found it in an ancient Sans- 
 krit book, translated from the Chinese in the second 
 century before your era. But the original is to be found 
 in a ver\- ancient work, named T/ic Pnsoicr of the Five 
 Chief J'ir'/ics. It is a kind of chronicle or treatise on 
 the development of music in China. It was written by 
 the order of Emperor Hoang-Tee many hundred j-ears 
 before your era." 
 
 "Do you think, then, that the Chinese ever understood 
 anything about music?" said the colonel, with an in- 
 credulous smile. ■■ In California and other places I 
 heard some travelling artists of the celestial empire. . . 
 "Well, I think, that kind of musical entertainment would 
 drive any one mad." 
 
 "That is exactly the opinion of many of your Western 
 musicians on the subject of our ancient Ar^an, as well 
 as of modem Hindu, music. But, in the first instance, 
 the idea of melody is perfectly arbitrary-; and, in the 
 second, there is a good deal of difi"erence between the 
 technical knowledge of music, and the creation of 
 melodies fit to please the educated, as well as the un- 
 
284 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGI.ES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 educated, ear. According to technical theory, a musical 
 piece may be perfect, but the melody, nevertheless, may 
 be above the understanding of an untrained taste, or 
 simply unpleasant. Your most renowned operas sound 
 for us like a wild chaos, like a rush of strident, entangled 
 sounds, in which we do not see any meaning at all, and 
 which give us headaches. I have visited the lyondon 
 and the Paris opera; I have heard Rossini and Meyer- 
 beer; I was resolved to render myself an account of my 
 impressions, and listened with the greatest attention. 
 But I own I prefer the simplest of our native melodies 
 to the productions of the best European composers. Our 
 popular songs speak to me, whereas they fail to produce 
 any emotion in you. But leaving the tunes and songs out 
 of question, I can assure you that our ancestors, as well 
 as the ancestors of the Chinese, were far from inferior to 
 the modern Europeans, if not in technical instrurnen- 
 tation, at least in their abstract notions of music.'' 
 
 " The Aryan nations of antiquity, perhaps; but I hardly 
 believe this in the case of the Turanian Chinese!" said 
 our president doubtfullj'. 
 
 "But the music of nature has been everywhere the 
 first step to the music of art. This is a universal rule. 
 But there are different ways of following it. Our musical 
 system is the greatest art, if — pardon me this seeming 
 paradox — avoiding all artificiality is art. We do not 
 allow in our melodies any sounds that cannot be classi- 
 fied amongst the living voices of nature; whereas the 
 modern Chinese tendencies are quite different. The 
 Chinese S3'stem comprises eight chief tones, which serve 
 as a tuning-fork to all derivatives; which are accordingly 
 classified under the names of their generators. These 
 eight sounds are: the notes metal, stone, silk, bamboo, 
 pumpkin, earthenware, leather and wood. So that they 
 
AN ISLE OF MYSTEEV. 285 
 
 have metallic sounds, wooden sounds, silk sounds, and 
 so on. Of course, under these conditions they cannot pro- 
 duce an3' melody; their music consists of an entangled 
 series of separate notes. Their imperial hymn, for in- 
 stance, is a series of endless unisons. But we Hindus 
 owe our music onh' to living nature, and in nowise to 
 inanimate objects. In a higher sense of the word, we 
 are pantheists, and so our music is, so to speak, pan- 
 theistic; but, at the same time, it is highlj- scientific. 
 Coming from the cradle of humanitj', the Arj-an races, 
 who were the first to attain manhood, listened to the 
 voice of nature, and concluded that melody as well as 
 harmon}' are both contained in our great common 
 mother. Nature has no false and no artificial notes; 
 and man, the crown of creation, felt desirous of imitating 
 her sounds. In their multiplicit}-, all these sounds — 
 according to the opinion of some of your Western 
 physicists — make only one tone, which we all can hear, 
 if we know how to listen, in the eternal rustle of the 
 foliage of big forests, in the murmur of water, in the roar 
 of the storming ocean, and even in the distant roll of 
 a great city. This tone is the middle F, the funda- 
 mental tone of nature. In our melodies it serves as the 
 starting point, which we embody in the key-note, and 
 around which are grouped all the other sounds. Having- 
 noticed that every musical note has its tj-pical repre- 
 sentative in the animal kingdom, our ancestors found 
 out that the seven chief tones correspond to the cries of 
 the goat, the peacock, the ox, the parrot, the frog, the 
 tiger, and the elephant. So the octave was discovered 
 and founded. As to its subdivisions and measure, they 
 also found their basis in the complicated sounds of the 
 same animals." 
 
 "I am no judge ofyour ancient music," said the colonel. 
 
286 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN.' 
 
 "nor do I know whether your ancestors did, or did not, 
 work out any musical theories, so I cannot contradict 
 you; but I must own that, listening to the songs of the 
 modern Hindus, I could not give them any credit for 
 musical .knowledge." 
 
 "No doubt it is so, because you have never heard a 
 professional singer. When you have visited Poona, and 
 have listened to the Gayan Samaj, we shall resume our 
 present conversation. The Gayan Samaj is a society 
 whose aim is to restore the ancient national music." 
 
 Gulab-Ival-Sing spoke in his usual calm voice, but the 
 Babu was evidently burning to break forth for his coun- 
 try's honour, and at the same time, he was afraid of 
 offending his seniors by interrupting their conversation. 
 At last he lost patience. 
 
 "You are unjust, colonel!" heexclaimed. "Themusic 
 of the ancient Aryans is an antediluvian plant, no doubt, 
 but nevertheless it is well worth studying, and deserves 
 every consideration. This is perfectly proved now by a 
 compatriot of mine, the Raja Surendronath Tagor. . . 
 He is a M21S. D., he has lots of decorations from all 
 kinds of kings and emperors of Europe for his book 
 about the music of Aryans. . . And, well, this man 
 has proved, as clear as daylight, that ancient India has 
 every right to be called the mother of music. Even the 
 best musical critics of England say so! . . . Every 
 school, whether Italian, German or Aryan, saw the light 
 at a certain period, developed in a certain climate and 
 in perfectly different circumstances. Every school has 
 its characteristics, and its peculiar charm, at least for its 
 followers; and our school is no exception. You Europeans 
 are trained in the melodies of the West, and acquainted 
 "with Western schools of music ; but our musical system, 
 like many other things in India, is totally unknown to 
 
AN ISLE OF MYSTERY. 287 
 
 3'ou. So you must forgive m}- boldness, colonel, when I 
 say that you have no right to judge! " 
 
 "Don't get so excited, Babu," said the Takur. "Everj- 
 •one has the right, if not to discuss, then to ask questions 
 about a new subject. Otherwise no one would ever get 
 an}- information. If Hindu music belonged to an epoch 
 as little distant from us as the European — which \ou 
 seem to suggest, Babu, in your hot haste; and if, be- 
 sides, it included all the ^-irtues of all the pre\4ous 
 musical sj'stems, which the European music assimilates; 
 then no doubt it would have been better understood, 
 and better appreciated than it is. But our music be- 
 longs to pre-historic times. In one of the sarcophagi at 
 "Thebes, Bruce found a harp with twenty strings, and, 
 judging by this instrument, we ma}- safely say that the 
 ancient inhabitants of Egypt were well acquainted with 
 the mj-steries of harmony. But, except the Egyptians, 
 "we were the only people possessing this art, in the 
 remote epochs, when the rest of mankind were still 
 struggling with the elements for bare existence. We 
 possess hundreds of Sanskrit MSS. about music, which 
 have never been tran.;lated, even into modern Indian 
 •dialects. Some of them are four thousand and eight 
 thousand years old. WTiatever your Orientalists maj' 
 sa}- to the contrarj-, we will persist in believing in their 
 antiquity, because we have read and studied them, while 
 the European scientists have never yet set their eyes on 
 them. There are many of these musical treatises, and 
 they have been written at different epochs ; but thej- all, 
 ■without exception, show that in India music was known 
 and S3-stematized in times when the modem ci\-ilized 
 nations of Europe still lived like savages. However 
 true, all this does not give us the right to grow indig- 
 nant when Europeans say they do not like our music, as 
 
288 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 long as their ears are not accustomed to it, and their 
 minds cannot understand its spirit. . . To a certain 
 extent we can explain to you its technical character, and 
 give you a right idea of it as a science. But nobody can 
 create in you, in a moment, what the Aryans used to call 
 Rakti; the capacity of the human soul to receive and be 
 moved by the combinations of the various sounds of 
 nature. This capacity is the alpha and omega of our 
 musical system, but you do not possess it, as we do not 
 possess the possibility to fall into raptures over Bellini." 
 
 "But why should it be so? What are these mysterious 
 virtues of your music, that can be understood only by 
 yourselves ? Our skins are of different colours, but our 
 organic mechanism is the same. In other words, the 
 physiological combination of bones, blood, nerves, veins 
 and muscles, which forms a Hindu, has as many parts, 
 combined exactly after the same model as the living- 
 mechanism known under the name of an American, 
 Englishman, or any other European. They come into 
 the world from the same workshop of nature; they have 
 the same beginning and the same end. From a physi- 
 ological point of view we are duplicates of each other." 
 
 "Physiologically yes. And it would be as true psy- 
 chologically, if education did not interfere, which, after 
 all is said and done, could not but influence the mental 
 and the moral direction taken by a human being. Some- 
 times it extinguishes the divine spark ; at other times it 
 only increases it, transforming it into a lighthouse which 
 becomes man's lode-star for life." 
 
 "No doubt this is so. But the influence it has over 
 the physiology of the ear cannot be so overpowering 
 after all." 
 
 "Quite the contrary. Only remember what a strong' 
 influence climatic conditions, food and everyday sur- 
 
AN ISLE OF MYSTERY. 289 
 
 roundings have on the complexiou, ^^talit3', capacity for 
 reproduction, and so on, and you will see that you are 
 mistaken. Apply this same law of gradual modification 
 to the purely psychic element in man, and the results 
 will be the same. Change the education and j'ou will 
 change tlie capacities of a human being. . . . For 
 instance, you believe in the powers of g\-mnastics, j-ou 
 believe that special exercise can almost transform the 
 human body. We go one step higher. The experience 
 of centuries shows that gymnastics exist for the soul as 
 well as for the bod\-. But what the soul's gj-mnastics 
 are is our secret. "What is it that gives to the sailor the 
 sight of an eagle, that endows the acrobat with the skill 
 of a monkey, and the wrestler with muscles of iron? 
 Practice and habit. Then why should not we suppose 
 the same possibilities in the soul of the man as well as 
 in his body? Perhaps on the grounds of modem science 
 — ^which either dispenses with the soul altogether, or 
 does not acknowledge in it a life distinct from the life 
 of the bod}-. . 
 
 "Please do not speak in this way, Takur. You, at 
 least, ought to know that I believe in the soul and in its 
 immortality!" 
 
 "We believe in the immortality of spirit, not of soul, 
 following the triple di\-ision of body, soul and spirit. 
 However, this has nothing to do with the present dis- 
 cussion. . . And so you agree to the proposition that 
 everj- dormant possibilitj- of the soul ma^' be led to 
 perfected strength and activity by practice, and al^o 
 that if not properly used it may grow numb and even 
 disappear altogether. Nature is so zealous that all her 
 gpils should be used properlj-, that it is in our power 
 to develop or to kill in our descendants any physical 
 or mental gift. A systematic training or a total dis- 
 
290 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 regard will accomplisli both in the lifetime of a few 
 generations." 
 
 " Perfectly true ; but that does not explain to me the 
 secret charm of your melodies. . . ." 
 
 "These are details and particulars. Why should I 
 dwell on them when you must see for yourself that my 
 reasoning gives you the clue, which will solve many 
 similar problems? Centuries have accustomed the ear 
 of a Hindu to be receptive only of certain combinations 
 of atmospheric vibrations; whereas the ear of a Euro- 
 pean is used to perfectly different combinations. Hence 
 the soul of the former will be enraptured where the soul 
 of the latter will be perfectly indifferent. I hope my 
 explanation has been simple and clear, and I might have 
 ended it here were it not that I am anxious to give you 
 something better than the feeling of satisfied curiosity. 
 As yet I have solved only the physiological aspect of the 
 secret, which is as easily admitted as the fact that we 
 Hindus eat by the handful spices which would give you 
 inflammation of the intestines if you happened to swallow 
 a single grain. Our aural nerves, which, at the begin- 
 ning, were identical with yours, have been changed 
 through different training, and became as distinct from 
 yours as our complexion and our stomachs. Add to 
 this that the eyes of the Kashmir weavers, men and 
 women, are able to distinguish three hundred shades more 
 than the eye of a European. . . . The force of habit, 
 the law of atavism, if you like. But things of this kind 
 practically solve the apparent difficulty. You have come 
 all the way from America to study the Hindus and their 
 religion ; but you will never understand the latter if you 
 do not realize how closely all our sciences are related, 
 not to the modern ignorant Brahmanism, of course, but 
 ±0 the philosophy of our primitive Vedic religion." 
 
AX ISLE OF MYSTERY. 29I 
 
 "I see. You mean tliat your music has something to 
 do with the J'ldasi'" 
 
 "Exactly. It has a good deal — almost ever\-thmg — to 
 do -n-ith the I'ldas. All the sounds of nature, and, in 
 consequence, of music, are directly allied to astronomj' 
 and mathematics ; that is to say, to the planets, the signs 
 of the zodiac, the sun and moon, and to rotation and 
 numbers. Above all, they depend on the A kasha, the 
 ether of space, of the existence of which your scientists 
 have not made perfectly sure as yet. This was the 
 teaching of the ancient Chinese and Eg^'ptians, as well 
 as of ancient Aryans. The doctrine of the ' music of 
 the spheres' first saw the light here in India, and not in 
 Greece or Itah-, whither it was brought hj Pjthagoras 
 after he had studied under the Indian Gymnosophists. 
 And most certainly this great philosopher — who revealed 
 to the world the heliocentric system before Copernicus 
 and Galileo — knew better than anyone else how de- 
 pendent are the least sounds in nature on Akasha and 
 its inter-relations. One of the four I'cdas, namel3% the 
 Sdma-l'cda, entirely consists of hymns. This is a col- 
 lection of mantrams sung during the sacrifices to the 
 gods, that is to say, to the elements. Our ancient 
 priests were hardly acquainted ^^"ith the modem methods 
 of chemistr}- and physics; but, to make up for it, they 
 knew a good deal which has not as yet been thought of 
 by modern scientists. So it is not to be wondered at 
 that, sometimes, our priests, so perfectly acquainted ^^•ith 
 natural sciences as they were, forced the elementary- 
 gods, or rather the blind forces of nature, to answer their 
 pra^-ers by various portents. Even,- sound of these 
 mantrams has its meaning, its importance, and stands 
 exactly where it ought to stand; and, ha\-ing a raison 
 d'etre, it does not fail to produce its effect. Remember 
 
292 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 Professor I/eslie, who says that the science of sound is 
 the most subtle, the most unseizable and the most com- 
 plicated of all the series of physical sciences. And if 
 ever this teaching was worked out to perfection it was 
 in the times of the Rishis, our philosophers and saints, 
 who left to us the Vedas." 
 
 "Now, I think I begin to understand the origin of 
 all the mythological fables of the Greek antiquity," 
 thoughtfully said the colonel; "the syrinx of Pan, 
 his pipe of seven reeds, the fauns, the satyrs, and the 
 lyre of Orpheus himself The ancient Greeks knew 
 little about harmony; and the rhythmical declamations. 
 of their dramas, which probably never reached the 
 pathos of the simplest of modern recitals, could hardly 
 suggest to them the idea of the magic lyre of Orpheus. 
 I feel strongly inclined to believe what was written by 
 some of our great philologists: Orpheus must be an 
 emigrant from India; his very name op<^o5, or bpipvb?, 
 shows that, even amongst the tawny Greeks, he was. 
 remarkably dark. This was the opinion of lyempriere 
 and others." 
 
 "Some day this opinion may become a certainty.. 
 There is not the slightest doubt that the purest and 
 the highest of all the musical forms of antiquity belongs, 
 to India. All our legends ascribe magic powers to 
 music; it is a gift and a science coming straight from 
 the gods. As a rule, we ascribe all our arts to divine 
 revelation, but music stands at the head of everything- 
 else. The invention of the vind, a kind of lute, belongs 
 to Narada, the son of Brahma. You will probably laugh 
 at me if I tell you that our ancient priests, whose duty 
 it was to sing during the sacrifices, were able to produce 
 phenomena that could not but be considered by the 
 ignorant as signs from supernatural powers; and this,. 
 
AN ISLE OF MYSTERY. 293 
 
 remember, without a shadow of trickerj-, but simply 
 ■with the help of their perfect knowledge of nature and 
 certain combinations well known to them. The phe- 
 nonuna produced by the priests and the Raj-Yogis are 
 perfectly natural for the initiate — however miraculous 
 they may seem to the masses." 
 
 "But do you really mean that you have no faith what- 
 ever in the spirits of the dead?" timidly asked Miss 
 
 X- , who was alwa^-s ill at ease in the presence of the 
 
 Takur. 
 
 "With your permission, I have none." 
 
 "And . . . and have you no regard for mediums?" 
 
 "Still less than for the spirits, my dear lady. I do 
 believe in the existence of many psychic diseases, and, 
 amongst their number, in mediumism, for which we 
 have got a queer sounding name from time immemorial. 
 W'e call it Bln'i.'a-Dak, literally a bhuta-hosteln.". I 
 sincerely pity the real mediums, and do whatever is in 
 my power to help them. As to the charlatans, I despise 
 them, and never lose an opportunitj- of unmasking 
 them." 
 
 The ^-itch's den near the "dead citj-" suddenlj' 
 flashed into my mind; the fat Brahman, who played 
 the oracle in the head of the Sivatherium, caught and 
 rolling downi the hole ; the witch herself suddenly taking 
 to her heels. And with this recollection also occurred 
 to me what I had never thought of before: Xaraj-an 
 had acted under the orders of the Takur — doing his 
 best to expose the ■n-itch and her ally. 
 
 "The unknowm power which possesses the mediums 
 (which the spiritualists believe to be spirits of the dead, 
 while the superstitious see in it the de\-il, and the scep- 
 tics deceit and infamous tricks'^, true men of science 
 suspect to be a natural force, which has not as yet been 
 
294 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 discovered. It is, in reality, a terrible power. Those 
 possessed by it are generally weak people, often women 
 
 and children. Your beloved spiritualists, Miss X , 
 
 only help the growth of dreadful psychic diseases, but 
 people who know better seek to save them from this 
 force you know nothing whatever about, and it is 
 no use discussing this matter now. I shall only add 
 one word: the real living spirit of a human being is as 
 free as Brahma; and even more than this for us, for, 
 according to our religion and our philosophy, our spirit 
 is Brahma himself, higher than whom there is only the 
 unknowable, the all-pervading, the omnipotent essence 
 of Parabrahm. The living spirit of man cannot be 
 ordered about like the spirits of the spiritualists, it 
 cannot be made a slave of. . . . However, it is 
 getting so late that we had better go to bed. Let us 
 say good-bye for to-night." 
 
 Gulab-I,al-Sing would not talk any more that night, 
 but I have gathered from our previous conversations 
 many a point without which the above conversation 
 would remain obscure. 
 
 The Vedantins and the followers of Shankaracharya's 
 philosophy, in talking of themselves, often avoid using 
 the pronoun /, and say, "this body went," "this hand 
 took," and so on, in everything concerning the auto- 
 matic actions of man. The personal pronouns are only 
 used concerning mental and moral processes, such as, 
 "I thought," "he desired." The body in their eyes is 
 not the man, but only a covering to the real man. 
 
 The real interior man possesses many bodies; each of 
 them more subtle and more pure than the preceding; 
 and each of them bears a different name and is inde- 
 pendent of the material body. After death, when the 
 
AX ISLE OF MYSTERY. 295 
 
 earthlj- A-ital principle disintegrates, together with the 
 material body, all these interior bodies join together, and 
 either advance on the -nay to Moksha, and are called 
 Da.a (divine), though it still has to pass many stadia 
 before the final liberation, or is left on earth, to wander 
 and to suffer in the in\-isible world, and, in this case, is 
 called bhuta. But a Deva has no tangible intercourse 
 witli the li-\-ing. Its only link ^\"ith the earth is its 
 posthumous affection for those it loved in its lifetime, 
 and the power of protecting and influencing them. I^ove 
 outlives every earthly feeling, and a Deva can appear to 
 the beloved ones onlj- in their dreams — unless it be as 
 an illusion, which cannot last, because the bodj- of a 
 Deva undergoes a series of gradual changes from the 
 moment it is freed from its earthly bonds; and, with 
 everj- change, it grows more intangible, losing every 
 time something of its objective nature. It is reborn; it 
 lives and dies in new Lckas or spheres, which g^aduallj- 
 become purer and more subjective. At last, ha\-ing got 
 rid of ever\- shadow of earthlj- thoughts and desires, it 
 becomes noffiing from a material point of \"iew. It is 
 extinguished like a flame, and, ha\-ing become one with 
 Parabrahm, it lives the life of spirit, of which neither 
 our material conception nor our language can give any 
 idea. But the eternity of Parabrahm is not the eternity 
 of the soul. The latter, according to a Vedanta expres- 
 sion, is an etemitj- in eternity. However holy, the life 
 of a soul had its beginning and its end, and, conse- 
 quently, no sins and no good actions can be punished or 
 rewarded in the etemitj- of Parabrahm. This would be 
 contrary- to justice, disprcportioiiah; to use an expression 
 of ^'edanta philosophy. Spirit alone lives in eternity, 
 and has neither beginning nor end, neither limits nor 
 central point. The Deva lives in Parabrahm, as a drop 
 
296 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OP HINDOSTAN. 
 
 lives in the ocean, till the next regeneration of the uni- 
 verse from Pralajra; a periodical chaos, a disappearance 
 of the worlds from the region of objectivity. With every 
 new Maha-yuga (great cycle) the Deva separates from 
 that which is eternal, attracted by existence in objective 
 ■worlds, like a drop of water first drawn up by the sun, 
 then starting again downwards, passing from one region 
 to another, and returning at last to the dirt of our planet. 
 Then, having dwelt there whilst a small cycle lasted, it 
 proceeds again upwards on the other side of the circle. 
 So it gravitates in the eternity of Parabrahm, passing 
 from one minor eternity to another. Each of these 
 "human," that is to say conceivable, eternities consists 
 of 4,320,000,000 years of objective life and of as many 
 years of subjective life in Parabrahm, altogether 
 8,640,000,000 years, which are enough, in the eyes of 
 the Vedantins, to redeem any mortal sin, and also to 
 reap the fruit of any good actions performed in such a 
 short period as human life. The individuality of the 
 soul, teaches the Vedanta, is not lost when plunged in 
 Parabrahm, as is supposed by some of the European 
 Orientalists. 
 
 Only the souls of bhutas — when the last spark of 
 repentance and of tendency to improvement are extin- 
 guished in them — will evaporate for ever. Then their 
 divine spirit, the undying part of them, separates from 
 the soul and returns to its primitive source ; the soul is 
 reduced to its primordial atoms, and the monad plunges 
 into the darkness of eternal unconsciousness. This is 
 the only case of total destruction of personality. 
 
 Such is the Vedanta teaching concerning the spiritual 
 man. And this is why no true Hindu believes in the 
 disembodied souls voluntarily returning to earth, except 
 in the case of bhutas. 
 
JUBBLEPORE. 
 
 Leavixg Malva and Indore, the quasi-independent 
 countn- of Holkar, we found ourselves once more on 
 strictly British territory. We were going to Jubblepore 
 by railway. 
 
 This town is situated in the district of Saugor and 
 JNerbudda ; once it belonged to the Mahrattis, but, in 
 1S17, the English amiy took possession of it. "We 
 -Stopped in the town onh- for a short time, being anxious 
 to see the celebrated Marble Rocks. As it would have 
 been a pity to lose a whole day, we hired a boat and 
 started at 2 A.31., which gave us the double advantage of 
 avoiding the heat, and enjoying a splendid bit of the 
 river ten miles from the town. 
 
 The neighbourhood of Jubblepore is charming; and 
 besides, botli a geologist and a mineralogist would find 
 here the nchest field for scientific researches. The 
 geological formation of the rocks ofi'ers an infinite 
 variety of granites; and the long chains of mountains 
 might keep a hundred of Cuviers busy for life. The 
 limestone caves of Jubblepore are a true ossuar>- of 
 antedilm-ian India; they are full of skeletons of mon- 
 strous animals, now disappeared for ever. 
 
 At a considerable distance from the rest of the moun- 
 tain ridges, and perfectly separate, stand the Marble 
 Rocks, a most wonderful natural phenomenon, not verj- 
 rare, though, in India. On the flattish banks of the 
 Xerbudda, overgrown with thick bushes, you suddenly 
 perceive a long row of strangely-shaped white cliffs. 
 
298 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 They are there without any apparent reason, as if they 
 were a wart on the smooth cheek of mother nature. 
 White and pure, they are heaped up on each other as if 
 after some plan, and look exactly like a huge paper- 
 weight from the writing-table of a Titan. We saw them 
 when we were half-way from the town. They appeared 
 and disappeared with the sudden capricious turnings of 
 the river; trembling in the early morning mist like a 
 distant, deceitful mirage of the desert. Then we lost, 
 sight of them altogether. But just before sunrise they 
 stood out once more before our charmed eyes, floating 
 above their reflected image in the water. As if called 
 forth by the wand of a sorcerer, they stood there on the 
 green bank of the Nerbudda, mirroring their virgin 
 beauty on the calm surface of the lazy stream, and. 
 promising us a cool and welcome shelter. . . And 
 as to the preciousness of every moment of the cool hours 
 before sunrise, it can be appreciated only by those who- 
 have lived and travelled in this fiery land. 
 
 Alas! in spite of all our precautions, and our unusually 
 early start, our enjoyment of this cool retreat was very 
 short-lived. Our project was to have prosaic tea amid, 
 these poetic surroundings ; but as soon as we landed, 
 the sun leaped above the horizon, and began shooting 
 his flery arrows at the boat, and at our unfortunate heads. 
 Persecuting us from one place to another, he banished 
 us, at last, even from under a huge rock hanging over 
 the water. There was literally no place where we could 
 seek salvation. The snow-white marble beauties became 
 golden red, pouring fire-sparks into the river, heating" 
 the sand and blinding our eyes. 
 
 No wonder that legend supposes in them something 
 between the abode and the incarnation of Kali, the 
 fiercest of all the goddesses of the Hindu pantheon > 
 
jrBBLEPORE. 299 
 
 For many Yugas this goddess lias been engaged in a 
 desperate contest witli lier lawful husband Shiva, who, 
 in his shape of Trihii/is/ifam, a three-headed lingaui, 
 has dishonestly claimed the rocks and the river for his 
 owni — the ver\- rocks and the verv- river o^•er which 
 Kali presides in person. And this is why people hear 
 dreadful moaning, coming from under the ground, every 
 time that the hand of an irresponsible coolie, working 
 by Government orders in Government quarries, breaks 
 a stone from the white bosom of the goddess. The 
 unhappj" stone-breaker hears tlie en." and trembles, and 
 his heart is torn between the expectations of a dreadful 
 punishment from the bloodthirsty goddess and the fear 
 of his implacably exacting inspector in case he disobe3."S 
 his orders. 
 
 Kali is the owner of the Marble Rocks, but she is the 
 patroness of the (■.i-7";./^-i^ as well. iMany a lonelj* 
 traveller has shuddered on hearing this name; manj- 
 a bloodless sacrifice has been cfiered on the marble 
 altar of Kali. The countrj- is full of horrible tales 
 about the achievements of the Thugs, accomplished in 
 the honour of this goddess. These tales are too recent 
 and too fresh in the popular memon." to become as yet 
 mere highly-coloured legends. They are mostly true, 
 and many of them are proved by official documents of 
 the law courts and inquest commissions. 
 
 If England ever leaves India, tlie perfect suppression 
 of Thugism will be one of tlie good memories that 
 will linger in the country- long after her departure. 
 Under this name was practised in India during two 
 long centuries the craftiest and the worst kind of homi- 
 cide. Only alter 1S40 was it discovered that its aim 
 was simply robbery- and brigandage. The falsel\- inter- 
 preted s}Tnbolical meaning of Kali was nothing but a 
 
300 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 pretext, otherwise there would not have been so many 
 Mussulmans amongst her devotees. When they were 
 caught at last, and had to answer before justice, most 
 of these knights of the rumal — the handkerchief with 
 which the operation of strangling was performed — 
 proved to be Mussulmans. The most illustrious of their 
 leaders were not Hindus, but followers of the Prophet, 
 the celebrated Ahmed, for instance. Out of thirty- 
 seven Thugs caught by the police there were twenty- 
 two Mahometans. This proves perfectly clearly that 
 their religion, having nothing in common with the 
 Hindu gods, had nothing to do with their cruel pro- 
 fession ; the reason and cause was robbery. 
 
 It is true though that the final initiation rite was 
 performed in some deserted forest before an idol of 
 Bhavani, or Kali, wearing a necklace of human skulls. 
 Before this final initiation the candidates had to undergo 
 a course of schooling, the most difficult part of which 
 was a certain trick of throwing the rumal on the neck 
 of the unsuspecting victim and strangling him, so that 
 death might be instantaneous. In the initiation the part 
 of the goddess was made manifest in the use of certain 
 symbols, which are in common use amongst the Free- 
 masons — for instance, an unsheathed dagger, a human 
 skull, and the corpse of Hiram-Abiff, "son of the 
 widow," brought back to life b}' the Grand Master of 
 the lodge. Kali was nothing but the pretext for an 
 imposing scenarium. Freemasonry and Thugism had 
 many points of resemblance. The members of both 
 recognized each other by certain signs, both had a pass- 
 word and a jargon that no outsider could understand. 
 The Freemason lodges receive among their members 
 both Christians and Athei.sts; the Thugs used to receive 
 the thieves and robbers of every nation without any 
 
JUBBLEPORE. 301 
 
 distinction ; and it is reported that amongst them there 
 were some Portuguese and even Englishmen. The 
 difference between the two is that the Thugs certainly 
 were a criminal organization, whereas the Freemasons 
 of our days do no harm, except to their own pockets. 
 
 Poor Shiva, T^-retched Bhavani! What a mean inter- 
 pretation popular ignorance has invented for these two 
 poetical t^-pes, so deeply philosophical and so full of 
 knowledge of the laws of nature. Shiva, in his primi- 
 tive meaning is "Happy God"; then the all-destro3"ing, 
 as well as the all-regenerating force of nature. The 
 Hindu trinity is, amongst other things, an allegorical 
 representation of the three chief elements: fire, earth 
 and water. Brahma, Mshnu and Shiva all represent 
 these elements by turns, in their different phases; but 
 Shiva is much more the god of the fire than either 
 Brahma or Vishnu : he burns and purifies ; at the same 
 time creating out of the ashes new forms, full of fresh 
 life. Shiva-Sankarin is the destroyer or rather the 
 scatterer; Shiva- Rakshaka is the preser\'er, the regene- 
 rator. He is represented with flames on his left palm, 
 and with the wand of death and resurrection in his right 
 hand. His worshippers wear on their foreheads his sign 
 traced with wet ashes, the ashes being called vtbhi'cti, or 
 purified substance, and the sign consisting of three 
 horizontal parallel lines between the eyebrows. The 
 colour of Shiva's skin is rosy-yellow, gradually changing 
 into a flaming red. His neck, head and arms are covered 
 with snakes, emblems of eternit}- and eternal regenera- 
 tion. "As a serpent, abandoning his old slough, re- 
 appears in new skin, so man after death reappears in 
 a younger and a purer bodj^" say the Pitrdnas. 
 
 In her turn, Shiva's wife Kali is the allegor}- of earth, 
 fructified by the flames of the sun. Her educated wor- 
 
302 FROM THK CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 shippers say they allow themselves to believe their 
 goddess is fond of human sacrifices, only on the strength 
 of the fact that earth is fond of organical decomposition, 
 ■which fertilizes her, and helps her to call forth new 
 forces from the ashes of the dead. The Shivaites, when 
 burning their dead, put an idol of Shiva at the head of 
 the corpse; but when beginning to scatter the ashes in 
 the elements, they invoke Bhavani, in order that the 
 goddess may receive the purified remains, and develop 
 in them germs of new life. But what truth could bear 
 the coarse touch of superstitious ignorance without 
 being disfigured ! 
 
 The murdering Thugs laid their hands on this great 
 philosophic emblem, and, having understood that the 
 goddess loves human sacrifice, but hates useless blood- 
 shed, they resolved to please her doubly: to kill, but 
 never to soil their hands by the blood of their victims. 
 The result of it was the knighthood of the rumal. 
 
 One day we visited a very aged ex-Thug. In his 
 young days he was transported to the Andaman Islands, 
 but, owing to his sincere repentance, and to some services 
 he had rendered to the Government, he was afterwards 
 pardoned. Having returned to his native village, he 
 settled down to earn his living by weaving ropes, a pro- 
 fession probably suggested to him by some sweet remini- 
 scences of the achievements of his youth. He initiated 
 us first into the mysteries of theoretic Thugism, and 
 then extended his hospitality by a ready offer to show 
 us the practical side of it, if we agreed to pay for a sheep. 
 He said he would gladly show us how easy it was to send 
 a living being ad pah^es in less than three seconds; the 
 "whole secret consisting in some skilful and swift move- 
 ments of the right-hand finger joints. 
 
 We refused to buy the sheep for this -old brigand, but 
 
JUBBtEPORE. 303 
 
 -we gave him some money. To show his gratitude he 
 offered to demonstrate all the preliminary sensation of 
 the rumdl on any English or American neck that was 
 -willing. Of course, he said he would omit the final 
 twist. But still none of us -were \\-illing; and the grati- 
 tude of the repentant criminal found issue in great 
 Tolubility. 
 
 The owl is sacred to Bhavani Kali, and as soon as a 
 "band of Thugs, awaiting their victims, had been signalled 
 Tdj- the conventional hooting, each of the travellers, let 
 them be twenty and more, had a Thug behind his 
 shoulders. One second more, and the rumal was on 
 the neck of the victim, the well-trained iron fingers of 
 the Thug tightly holding the ends of the sacred hand- 
 kerchief; another second, the joints of the fingers per- 
 formed their artistic t■'.^■ist, pressing the larynx, and the 
 victim fell down lifeless. Xot a sound, not a shriek! 
 The Thugs worked as swiftly as lightning. The 
 strangled man was immediately carried to a grave pre- 
 pared in some thick forest, usually under the bed of some 
 brook or rivulet in their periodical state of drought. 
 Ever\- vestige of the victim disappeared. AMio cared to 
 know about him, except his own family and his verj- 
 intimate friends ? The inquests were especially difficult, 
 if not impossible, thirty years ago [1S79], when there 
 ■were no regular railway communications, and no regfular 
 Government system. Besides, the country is full of 
 tigers, whose sad fate it is to be responsible for every- 
 one else's sins as well as for their own. 'WTioever it 
 was who happened to disappear, be it Hindu or Mussul- 
 man, the answer was invariably the same: tigers! 
 
 The Thugs possessed a wonderfully good organization. 
 Trained accomplices used to tramp all over India, 
 stopping at the bazaars, those true clubs of Eastern 
 
304 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 nations, gathering information, scaring their listeners 
 to death with tales of the Thugs, and then advising- 
 them to join this or that travelling party, who of course 
 were Thugs playing the part of rich merchants or pil- 
 grims. Having ensnared these wretches, they sent 
 word to the Thugs, and got paid for the commission 
 in proportion to the total profit. 
 
 During many long years these invisible bands, scat- 
 tered all over the country, and working in parties of 
 from ten to sixty men, enjoyed perfect freedom, but 
 at last they were caught. The inquiries unveiled 
 horrid and repulsive secrets: rich bankers, officiating" 
 Brahmans, Rajas on the brink of poverty, and a few 
 English officials, all had to be brought before justice. 
 
 This deed of the East India Company truly deserves 
 the popular gratitude which it receives. 
 
 On our way back from the Marble Rocks we saw 
 Muddun-Mahal, another mysterious curio; it is a house 
 built — no one knows by whom, or with what purpose 
 — on a huge boulder. This stone is probably some kind 
 of relative to the cromlechs of the Celtic Druids. It 
 shakes at the least touch, together with the house and 
 the people who feel curious to see inside it. Of course 
 we had this curiosity, and our noses remained safe only 
 thanks to the Babu, Narayan and the Takur, who took 
 as great care of us as if they had been nurses, and we 
 their babies. 
 
 Natives of India are truly a wonderful people. How- 
 ever unsteady the thing may be, they are sure to walk 
 on it, and sit on it, with the greatest comfort. They 
 think nothing of sitting whole hours on the top of a post 
 — maybe a little thicker than an ordinary telegraph post. 
 They also feel perfectly safe with their toes twisted 
 
JUBBLEPORE. 305 
 
 round a thin branch and their bodies resting on nothing, 
 as if they were crows perched on a telegraph wire. 
 
 "Salam, sahib!" said I once to an ancient, naked 
 Hindu of a low caste, seated in the above described 
 fashion. "Are j'ou comfortable, uncle? And are j-ou 
 not afraid of falling down?" 
 
 "Why should I fall?" serioush- answered the "uncle," 
 expectorating a red fountain — an unavoidable result of 
 betel-chewing. "I do not breathe, mam-sahib!" 
 
 "What do 3"0U mean? A man cannot do without 
 breathing!" exclaimed I, a good deal astonished by this 
 wonderful bit of information. 
 
 "Oh yes, he can. I do not breathe just now, and so I 
 am perfectly safe. But soon I shall have to fill up my 
 breast again ^\'ith fresh air, and then I will hold on to 
 the post, other(\-ise I should fall." 
 
 After this astounding phj-siological information, we 
 parted. He would not talk any more, e\-idently fearing 
 to endanger his comfort. At that time, we did not receive 
 an J' more explanations on the subject, but this incident 
 was enough to disturb the scientific equanimit}- of our 
 minds. 
 
 Till then, we were so naive as to fanc3'- that only 
 sturgeons and similar aquatic acrobats were clever 
 enough to learn how to fill up their insides with air in 
 order to become lighter, and to rise to the surface of the 
 water. WTiat is possible to a sturgeon is impossible to 
 man, speculated we in our ignorance. So we agreed to 
 look upon the revelation of the above described "uncle" 
 in the lio-ht of a brag, having no other aim but to chaff 
 the "white sahibs." In those days, we were still inex- 
 perienced, and inclined to resent this kind of informa- 
 tion, as coming very near to mockery. But, later on, 
 we learned that his description of the process necessary 
 
305 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGtES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 to keep up this birdlike posture was perfectly accurate. 
 In Jubblepore we saw much greater wonders. Strol- 
 ling along the river bank, we reached the so-called 
 Fakirs' Avenue; and the Takur invited us to visit the 
 courtyard of the pagoda. This is a sacred place, and 
 neither Europeans nor Mussulmans are admitted inside. 
 But Gulab-Sing said something to the chief Brahman, 
 and we entered without hindrance. 
 
 The yard was full of devotees, and of ascetics. But 
 our attention was especially attracted by three ancient, 
 perfectly naked fakirs. As wrinkled as baked mush- 
 rooms, as thin as skeletons, crowned with twisted 
 masses of white hair, they sat or rather stood in the 
 most impossible postures, as we thought. One of them, 
 literally leaning only on the palm of his right hand, was 
 poised with his head downwards and his legs upwards ; 
 his body was as motionless as if he were the dry branch 
 of a tree. Just a little above the ground his head rose 
 in the most unnatural position, and his ej^es were fixed 
 on the glaring sun. I cannot guarantee the truthfulness 
 of some talkative inhabitants of the town, who had 
 joined our part}', and who assured us that this fakir 
 daily spends in this posture all the hours between noon 
 and the sunset. But I can guarantee that not a muscle 
 of his body moved during the hour and twenty minutes 
 we spent amongst the fakirs. 
 
 Another fakir stood on a "sacred stone of Shiva," a 
 small stone about five inches in diameter. One of his 
 legs was curled up under him, and the whole of his 
 body was bent backwards into an arc; his eyes also 
 were fixed on the sun. The palms of his hands were 
 pressed together as if in prayer. He seemed glued to 
 his stone. We were at a loss to imagine by what means 
 this man came to be master of such equilibration. 
 
jubbi;epore. 307 
 
 The third of these -wonderful people sat crossing his 
 legs under him ; but how he could sit was more than we 
 could understand, because the thing on which he sat 
 was a stone lingam, not higher than an ordinary' street 
 post and little wider than the "stone of Shiva," that is 
 to say, hardly more than five or seven inches in diameter. 
 His arms were crossed behind his back, and his nails 
 had grown into the flesh of his shoulders. 
 
 "This one never changes his position," said one of 
 our companions. "At least, he has not changed for the 
 last seven years." 
 
 His usual food, or rather drink, is milk, which is 
 brought to him once in ever\- forty-eight hours and 
 poured into his throat with the aid of a bamboo. Every 
 ascetic has willing servants, who are also future fakirs, 
 whose duty it is to attend on them ; and so the disciples 
 of this living mummy take him off his pedestal, wash 
 him in the tank, and put him back like an inanimate 
 object, because he can no longer stretch his limbs. 
 
 "And what if I were to push one of these fakirs?" 
 asked I. "I daresay the least touch would upset them." 
 
 "Tr\! " laughingly ad\-ised the Takur. "In this state 
 of religious trance it is easier to break a man to pieces 
 than to remove him from his place." 
 
 To touch an ascetic in the state of trance is a sacri- 
 lege in the eyes of the Hindus; but e\-identh- the Takur 
 was well aware that, under certain circumstances, there 
 maj" be exceptions to everj- Brahmanical rule. He had 
 another aside with the chief Brahman, who followed us, 
 darker than a thunder-cloud; the consultation did not 
 last long, and after it was over Gulab-Sing declared to 
 us that none of us was allowed to touch the fakirs, but 
 that he personally had obtained this permission, and so 
 was going to ^how us something still more astonishing- 
 
3o8 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 He approached the fakir on the little stone, and, care- 
 fully holding him by his protruding ribs, he lifted him 
 and put him on the ground. The ascetic remained as 
 statuesque as before. Then Gulab-Sing took the stone 
 in his hands and showed it to us, asking us, however, 
 not to touch it for fear of offending the crowd. The 
 stone was round, flattish, with rather an uneven surface. 
 When laid on the ground it shook at the least touch. 
 
 "Now, you see that this pedestal is far from being 
 steady. And also you have seen that, under the weight 
 ■of the fakir, it is as immovable as if it were planted in 
 the ground." 
 
 When the fakir was put back on the stone, he and it 
 at once resumed their appearance, as of one single body, 
 solidly joined to the ground, and not a line of the fakir's 
 body had changed. By all appearance, his bending body 
 and his head thrown backward sought to bring him down ; 
 but for this fakir there was evidently no such thing as 
 the law of gravit}'. 
 
 What I have described is a fact, but I do not take 
 upon myself to explain it. At the gates of the pagoda 
 we found our shoes, which we had been told to take off 
 before going in. We put them on again, and left this 
 "holy of holies" of the secular mysteries, with our 
 minds still more perplexed than before. In the Fakirs' 
 Avenue we found Narayan, Mulji and the Babu, who 
 were waiting for us. The chief Brahman would not 
 hear of their entering the pagoda. All the three had 
 long before released themselves from the iron claws of 
 caste; they openly ate and drank with us, and for this 
 offence they were regarded as excommunicated, and 
 despised by their compatriots much more than the 
 Europeans themselves. Their presence in the pagoda 
 -would have polluted it for ever, whereas the pollution 
 
JUBBLEPORE. 309 
 
 brought by us was only temporarj^; it would evaporate 
 in the smoke of cow-dung — the usual Brahmanical in- 
 cense of purification — liiie a drop of muddy water in 
 the rays of the sun. 
 
 India is the country- for originalities and everj-thing 
 unexpected and unconventional. From the point of 
 view of an ordinary European obser\-er ever\- feature 
 of Indian life is contrary to what could be expected. 
 Shaking the head from one shoulder to another means 
 no in every other countrv", but in India it means an 
 emphatic jt"5. If you ask a Hindu how his wife is, 
 even if you are well acquainted with her, or how many 
 children he has, or whether he has any sisters, he will 
 feel offended in nine cases out of ten. So long as the 
 host does not point to the door, having pre^•ioush' 
 sprinkled the guest with rose-water, the latter would 
 not think of lea\-ing. He would stay the whole day 
 ■R-ithout tasting any food, and lose his time, rather than 
 offend his host b3" an unauthorized departure. Ever^-- 
 thing contradicts our 'Western ideas. The Hindus are 
 strange and original, but their religion is still more 
 original. It has its dark points, of course. The rites 
 of some sects are truly repulsive; the officiating Brah- 
 mans are far from being -u-ithout reproach. But these 
 are only superficialities. In spite of them tlie Hindu 
 religion possesses something so deeply and mysterionslj' 
 irresistible that it attracts and subdues even unimagina- 
 tive Englishmen. 
 
 The following incident is a curious instance of this 
 fascination : 
 
 X. C. Paul, G.B.M.C.. wrote a small, but ven.- in- 
 teresting and verj- scientific pamphlet. He was onh- a 
 regimental surgeon in Benares, but his name was well 
 known amongst his compatriots as a ver\- learned. 
 
3IO FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 Specialist in physiology. The pamphlet was called A 
 Treatise on the Yoga Philosophy, and produced a sensa- 
 tion amongst the representatives of medicine in India, 
 and a lively polemic between the Anglo-Indian and 
 native journalists. Dr; Paul spent thirty-five years in 
 studying the extraordinary facts of Yogism, the exist- 
 ence of which was, for him, beyond all doubt. He not 
 only described them, but explained some of the most 
 extraordinary phenomena, for instance, levitation, the 
 seeming evidence to the contrary of some laws of nature, 
 notwithstanding. With perfect sincerity, and evident 
 regret, Dr. Paul says he could never learn anything 
 from the Raj-Yogis. His experience was almost wholly 
 limited to the facts that fakirs and Hatha- Yogis would 
 consent to give him. It was his great friendship with 
 Captain Seymour chiefly which helped him to penetrate 
 some mysteries, which, till then, were supposed to be 
 impenetrable. 
 
 The history of this English gentleman is truly in- 
 credible, and produced, about twenty-five years ago, an 
 unprecedented scandal in the records of the British 
 army in India. Captain Seymour, a wealthy and well- 
 educated officer, accepted the Brahmanical creed and 
 became a Yogi. Of course he was proclaimed mad, and, 
 having been caught, was sent back to England. Sey- 
 mour escaped, and returned to India in the dress of a 
 Sannyasi. He was caught again, and shut up in some 
 lunatic asylum in I^ondon. Three days after, in spite of 
 the bolts and the watchmen, he disappeared from the 
 establishment. I^ater on his acquaintances saw him in 
 Benares, and the governor-general received a letter from 
 him from the Himalayas. In this letter he declared that 
 he never was mad, in spite of his being put into a 
 hospital ; he advised the governor-general not to inter- 
 
JUBBI.EPORE. 311 
 
 fere with what was strictly his o^-n private concern, and 
 announced his firm resolve never to return to civilized 
 societ}^ "I am a Yogi," wrote he, "and I hope to ob- 
 tain before I die what is the aim of my life — to become 
 a Raj-Yogi." After this letter he was left alone, and no 
 European ever saw him except Dr. Paul, who, as it is 
 reported, was in constant correspondence with him, and 
 even went twice to see him in the Himalaj-as under the 
 pretext of botanic excursions. 
 
 I was told that the pamphlet of Dr. Paul was ordered 
 to be burned "as being offensive to the science of physi- 
 ology and pathology." At the time I'visited India copies 
 of it were very great rarities. Out of a few copies still 
 extant, one is to be found in the librar}- of the ]Maharaja 
 of Benares, and another was given to me by the Takur. 
 
 This evening we dined at the refreshment rooms of the 
 railway station. Our arrival caused an evident sensa- 
 tion. Our partA- occupied the whole end of a table, at 
 which were dining manj- first-class passengers, who all 
 stared at us with undisguised astonishment. Europeans 
 on an equal footing ■with Hindus! Hindus who con- 
 descended to dine with Europeans! These two were 
 rare and wonderful sights indeed. The subdued whis- 
 pers grew into loud exclamations. Two ofiicers who 
 happened to know the Takur took him aside, and, 
 ha\-ing shaken hands with him, began a A-erj^ animated 
 conversation, as if discussing some matter of business; 
 but, as we learned afterwards, the3' simph- wanted to 
 gratif\- their curiosity- about us. 
 
 Here we learned, for the first time, that we were 
 ■under police super\-ision, the police being represented 
 by an individual clad in a suit of white clothes, and 
 possessing a ven,- fresh complexion, and a pair of long 
 moustaches. He was an agent of the secret police, and 
 
312 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 had followed us from Bombay. On learning this flatter- 
 ing piece of news, the colonel burst into a loud laugh; 
 which only made us still more suspicious in the eyes of 
 all these Anglo-Indians, enjoying a quiet and dignified 
 meal. As to me, I was very disagreeably impressed by 
 this bit of news, I must confess, and wished this un- 
 pleasant dinner was over. 
 
 The train for Allahabad was to leave at eight p.m., 
 and we were to spend the night in the railway carriage. 
 We had ten reserved seats in a first-class carriage, and 
 had made sure that no strange passengers would enter 
 it, but, nevertheless, there were many reasons which 
 made me think I could not sleep this night. So I ob- 
 tained a provision of candles for my reading lamp, and 
 making myself comfortable on my couch, began reading 
 the pamphlet of Dr. Paul, which interested me greatly. 
 
 Amongst many other interesting things, Dr. Paul 
 explains very fully and learnedly the mystery of the 
 periodical suspension of breathing, and some other 
 seemingly impossible phenomena, practised by the 
 Yogis. 
 
 Here is his theory in brief The Yogis have discovered 
 the reason of the woiidrous capacity of the chameleon to 
 assume the appearance of plumpness or of leanness. This 
 animal looks enormous when his lungs are filled with 
 air, but in his normal condition he is quite insignificant. 
 Many other reptiles as well acquire the possibility of 
 swimming across large rivers quite easily by the same 
 process. And the air that remains in their lungs, after 
 the blood has been fully oxygenated, makes them ex- 
 traordinarily lively on dry land and in the water. The 
 capacity of storing up an extraordinary provision of 
 air is a characteristic feature of all the animals that are 
 subjected to hibernation. 
 
JUBBLEPORE. 313 
 
 The Hindu Yogis studied this capacity, and perfected 
 and developed it in themselves. 
 
 The means by which they acquire it — known under 
 the name oi Bhasirika Kumbhaka — consist of the follow- 
 ing: The Yogi isolates himself in an underground cave, 
 where the atmosphere is more uniform and more damp 
 than on the surface of the earth : this causes the appe- 
 tite to grow less. Man's appetite is proportionate to the 
 quantity of carbonic acid he exhales in a certain period 
 of time. The Yogis never use salt, and live entirely on 
 milk, which they take only during the night. They 
 move veri.' slowly in order not to breathe too often. 
 Movement increases the exhaled carbonic acid, and so 
 the Yoga practice prescribes avoidance of movement. 
 The quantity of exhaled carbonic acid is also increased 
 by loud and lively talking: so the Yogis are taught to 
 talk slowly and in subdued tones, and are even ad\-ised 
 to take the vows of silence. Physical labour is pro- 
 pitious to the increase of carbonic acid, and mental to 
 its decrease; accordingh' the Yog^ spends his life in 
 contemplation and deep meditation. Padmdsana and 
 Siddhdsana are the two methods b}- which a person is 
 taught to breathe as little as possible. 
 
 Suka-Devi, a well-known miracle-monger of the second 
 centur\- B.C. says : 
 
 "Place the left foot upon the right thigh, and the 
 right foot upon the left thigh; straighten the neck and 
 back; make the palms of the hands rest upon the 
 knees ; shut the mouth ; and expire forciblj' through both 
 nostrils. Xext, inspire and expire quickl}- until you 
 are fatigued. Then inspire through the right nostril, 
 fill the abdomen with the inspired air, suspend the 
 breath, and fix the sight on the tip of the nose. Then 
 expire through the left nostril, and next, inspiring 
 
314 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 through the left nostril, suspend the breath . . . ." 
 and so on. 
 
 "When a Yogi, by practice, is enabled to maintain 
 himself in one of the above-mentioned postures for the 
 period of three hours, and to live upon a quantity of 
 food proportional to the reduced condition of circulation 
 and respiration, without inconvenience, he proceeds to 
 the practice of Pranayama," writes Dr. Paul. "It is the 
 fourth stage or division of Yoga." 
 
 The Pranayama consists of three parts. The iirst 
 excites the secretion of sweat, the second is attended by 
 convulsive movements of the features, the third gives 
 to the Yogi a feeling of extraordinary lightness in his 
 body. 
 
 After this, the .Yogi practises Pratyahara, a kind of 
 voluntary trance, which is recognizable by the full 
 suspension of all the senses. After this stage the Yogis 
 study the process of Dharana; this not only stops the 
 activity of physical senses, but also causes the mental 
 capacities to be plunged into a deep torpor. This stage 
 brings abundant suffering; it i-equires a good deal of 
 firmness and resolution on the part of a Yogi, but it 
 leads him to Dhydna, a state of perfect, indescribable 
 bliss. According to their own description, in this state 
 they swim in the ocean of eternal light, in Akasha, or 
 Atlanta Jyoti, which they call the "Soul of the Universe." 
 Reaching the stage of Dhyana, the Yogi becomes a seer. 
 The Dhyana of the Yogis is the same thing as Turiya 
 Avastha of the Vedantins, in the number of whom are 
 the Raj -Yogis. 
 
 "Samadhi is the last stage of self-trance," says Dr. 
 Paul. "In this state the Yogis, like the bat, the hedge- 
 hog, the marmot, the hamster and the dormouse, acquire 
 the power of supporting the abstraction of atmospheric 
 
JUBBLEPORE. 3 15 
 
 ■air, and the privation of food and drink. Of Samadhi or 
 human hibernation there have been three cases within 
 the last twenty-five years. The first case occurred in 
 Calcutta, the second in Jesselmere, and the third in the 
 Punjab. I was an eye-witness of the first case. The 
 Jesselmere, the Punjab, and the Calcutta Yogis assumed 
 a death-like condition by swallowing the tongue. . . 
 How the Punjabi fakir (witnessed by Dr. McGregor), by 
 suspending his breath, lived forty days without food and 
 -drink, is a question which has puzzled a great many 
 learned men of Europe. . . It is on the principle of 
 jLi7o-/////ij and Garimj (a. diminution of one's specific 
 gravity by swallov.ing large draughts of air) that the 
 Erahman of Madras maintained himself in an aerial 
 posture. ..." 
 
 However, all these are physical phenomena produced 
 hy Hatha- Yogis. Each of them ought to be investi- 
 gated b3" physical science, but they are much less 
 interesting than the phenomena of the region of psycho- 
 log^-. But Dr. Paul has next to nothing to saj- on this 
 subject. During the thiriy-five years of his Indian 
 career, he met only three Raj-Yogis; but in spite of the 
 friendliness they showed to the English doctor, none 
 of them consented to initiate him into the ni}-steries of 
 nature, a knowledge of which is ascribed to them. One 
 •of them simply denied that he had any power at all; the 
 ■other did not deny, and even showed Dr. Paul some ver\- 
 "wonderful things, but refused to give any explanations 
 -whatever; the third said he would explain a few things 
 on the condition that Dr. Paul must pledge himself never 
 to repeat anything he learned from him. In acquiring 
 this kind of information. Dr. Paul had onlj- one aim — to 
 give tliese secrets publicity, and to enlighten the public 
 isTiorance, and so he declined the honour. 
 
3l6 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 However, the gifts of the true Raj -Yogis are muck 
 more interesting, and a great deal more important for 
 the world, than the phenomena of the lay Hatha- Yogis. 
 These gifts are purely psychic : to the knowledge of the 
 Hatha-Yogis the Raj -Yogis add the whole scale of mental 
 phenomena. Sacred books ascribe to them the following- 
 gifts: foreseeing future events ; understanding of all lan- 
 guages; the healing of all diseases; the art of reading 
 other people's thoughts; witnessing at will everything' 
 that happens thousands of miles from them; understand- 
 ing the language of animals and birds; Prakamya, or 
 the power of keeping up j-outhful appearance during in- 
 credible periods of time; the power of abandoning their 
 own bodies and entering other people's frames; Vashitva, 
 or the gift to kill, and to tame wild animals with their 
 eyes; and, lastly, the mesmeric power to subjugate any 
 one, and to force any one to obey the unexpressed orders- 
 of the Raj -Yogi. 
 
 Dr. Paul has witnessed the few phenomena of Hatha- 
 Yoga already described ; there are many others about 
 which he has heard, and which he neither believes nor 
 disbelieves. But he guarantees that a Yogi can suspend 
 his breath for forty-three minutes and twelve seconds. 
 
 Nevertheless, European scientific authorities maintain 
 that no one can suspend the breath for more than two- 
 minutes. O science! Is it possible then that thy name 
 is also vanitas vanitatum, like the other things of this- 
 world? 
 
 We are forced to suppose that, in Europe, nothing is- 
 known about the means which enabled the philosophers 
 of India, from times immemorial, gradually to transform 
 their human frames. 
 
 Here are a few deep words of Professor Boutleroff, a 
 Russian scientist whom I, in common with all Russians, 
 
JUBBLEPOEE. 317 
 
 greatlj- respect: "... All this belongs to knowledge ; 
 the increase of the mass of knowledge will only enrich 
 and not abolish science. This must be accomplished on 
 the strength of serious obsen^ation, of stud}-, of experi- 
 ence, and iinder the guidance of positive scientific 
 methods, bj- which people are taught to acknowledge 
 ever*- other phenomenon of nature. We do not call j-ou 
 blindh" to accept hj-potheses, after the example of bj'gone 
 years, but to seek after knowledge; we do not in\'ite you 
 to give up science, but to enlarge her regions. . ." 
 
 This was said about spiritualist phenomena. As to 
 the rest of our learned phj-siologists, this is, approxi- 
 mately, what they have the right to sa}-: "We know well 
 certain phenomena of nature which we have personally 
 studied and investigated, under certain conditions, which 
 we call normal or abnormal, and we guarantee the 
 accuracy of our conclusions." 
 
 However, it would be very well if they added : 
 
 "But ha\-ing no pretensions to assure the world that we 
 are acquainted with all the forces of nature, known and 
 unknown, we do not claim the right to hold back other 
 people from bold investigations in regions which we 
 have not reached as yet, owing to our great cautiousness 
 and also to our moral timidity. Xot being able to main- 
 tain that the human organism is utterly incapable of de- 
 veloping certain transcendental powers, which are rare, 
 and obsen-able only under certain conditions, unknown 
 to science, we by no means wish to keep other explorers 
 within the limits of our own scientific discoveries." 
 
 By pronouncing this noble, and, at the same time, 
 modest speech, our physiologists would doubtless gain 
 the undying gratitude of posterity. 
 
 After this speech there would be no fear of mockerj', 
 no danger of losing one's reputation for veracity and 
 
3l8 FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN. 
 
 sound reason ; and the learned colleagues of these broad- 
 minded physiologists would investigate every pheno- 
 menon of nature seriously and openly. The phenomena, 
 of spiritualism would then transmigrate from the region 
 of materialized "mothers-in-law" and half-witted for- 
 tune-telling to the regions of the psycho-physiological, 
 sciences. The celebrated "spirits" would probably 
 evaporate, but in their stead the living spirit, which 
 "belongeth not to this world," would become better 
 known and better realized by humanity, because hu- 
 manity will comprehend the harmony of the whole only 
 after learning how closely the visible world is bound to- 
 the world invisible. 
 
 After this speech, Hseckel at the head of the evolu- 
 tionists, and Alfred Russel Wallace at the head of the 
 spiritualists, would be relieved from many anxieties, and 
 would shake hands in brotherhood. 
 
 Seriously speaking, what is there to prevent humanity 
 from acknowledging two active forces within itself; one 
 purely animal, the other purely divine? 
 
 It does not behove even the greatest amongst scientists 
 to try to "bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades," even 
 if they have chosen " Arcturus with his sons" for their 
 guides. Did it never occur to them to apply to their 
 own intellectual pride the questions the "voice out of 
 the whirlwind" once asked of long-suffering Job: "where 
 were they when were laid the foundations of the earth? 
 and have the gates of death been opened unto them?" 
 If so, only then have they the right to maintain that 
 here and not there is the abode of eternal light. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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