CHARLES WILLIAM WASON COLLECTION CHINA AND THE CHINESE THE GIFT OF CHARLES WILLIAM WASON CLASS OF 1876 1918 Cornell University Library DS 413.M74 Modern India and the Indians :beina a se 3 1924 023 218 955 Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tile Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023218955 TRtJBNER'S ORIENTAL SERIES MODERN INDIA AND THE INDIANS BEING A SERIES OF IMPRESSIONS, NOTES, AND ESSAVS BY Sir MONIER MONIER-WILLIAMS, D.C.L. HON. LL.D. OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALCUTTA, HON. MEMBER OF THE BOMBAY ASIATIC SOCIETY. BODEN PHOFESSOE OF SANSKRIT IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD Fiftli Edition LONDON KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO., Lr!? 1891 The rights of tranilation and of reproduction are reserved ADVERTISEMENT TO FIRST EDITION. I HAVE frequently been requested to reprint my various eommunications to the Times Newspaper, Atheneeum, Indian Antiquary, and other periodicals — many of which were written during my recent travels in India. The following pages are put forth in compliance with the request. They are not a mere reproduction of what has already appeared. Much additional matter has been added, and an attempt has been made^ to connect the series in some sort of order corresponding to the course of my travels. They need no preface, nor introduction. They may be left to speak for themselves. A further series of Essays embodying my principal researches into Modern Indian religious life will, I hope, be published hereafter. Oxford, April, 1878. ADVERTISEMENT TO THIRD EDITION. This Edition will be found a great improvement on those that preceded it. I have taken care to avail my- self of all such criticisms on particular passages in the previous editions as appeared to me to be just, and I have enlarged the work by considerably more than a hundred pages of additional matter. The chapter on the ' Villages and Rural Population of India ' and several other sections of the work are quite new. Most of the matter in the two Essays on the ' Progress of our Indian Empire ' appeared originally in the Contemporary Review. M. W. Oxford, September, 1879. CONTENTS. The Five Gates of India — Gibraltar, Malta, Port Said, Perim, and Aden .... . i First Impressions 27 The Villages and Bural Population of India .... 39 Sajnadh, Sacrifice, Self-immolation, and Self-Torture . 64 The Towers of Silence, and the Parsi Religion . . . . 80 Funeral Ceremonies and Offerings to Ancestors at Bombay, Benares, and Gaya . . . . . . 97 Indian Kosaries .......... 10$ Indian Famines ... . . 116 A Relief Camp . 121 General Impressions and Notes after Travels in Northern India 125 General Impressions and Notes after Travels In Southern India 1 80 Indian and European Civilization in their relation to each other and in their effect on the Progress of Christianity .... 225 Indian Muhainmadanism in its relation to Christianity, and the prospects of Missionary Enterprise towards it ... 238 The Three Religions of India compared with each other and with Christianity . . . ... 246 Progress of our Indian Empire. Part I. ... 263 Progress of our Indian Empire. Part II. . . 301 Promotion of Goodwill and Sympathy between England and India 343 MODERN INDIA AND THE INDIANS. THE FIVE GATES OF INDIA — GIBKALTAE, MALTA, POET SAID, PEHIM, AND ADEN, The good ship 'Venetia,' which took me to Tndia on the occasion of my first expedition to the East, entered the Bay of Biscay on the 15th of October, 1875. Equinoc- tial gales had been raging for several days previously, and the Atlantic rollers, coming broadside on, soon dis- criminated between the passengers, instituting a process of natural selection^ which resulted in the survival of those alone who were fittest to do justice to the diurnal bill of fare provided by the Peninsular and Oriental Company with a punctuality and regularity altogether weather- proof. To be sure our decks were crowded with a motley assemblage of men, women, and children of all sorts and conditions ; for example — a Duke and Prince of the Blood Royal, an Italian Countess, a general officer or two, some A. D. C.'s, several captains, one clergyman, numerous Indian civilians of various types, stations, and degrees, from judges of the High Court to the greenest of pro- bationers just escaped out of the clutches of the Civil Service Examiners, sundry male oddities — long-bearded, short-bearded, and beardless, wived and wifeless — divers eccentric husbandless females of uncertain ages and vague antecedents, a few solitary wives on their way to join their husbands, one or two flirting bachelors, a bevy of pretty unmarried girls, a troop of young engineers from Cooper's B 2 MODERN INDIA. Hill, a batch of serious commercial men, an unpleasant pack of obstreperous children, and a residuum of unsortable nondescripts, not to speak of a heterogeneous crew of English sailors, Lascars, Negroes, and Chinamen. None of this miscellaneous collection of human beings made their presence felt so plainly as the children. Sea-sickness is a powerful leveller and merciless humiliator, but was powerless either to repress or depress the children. Their self-assertion was only aggravated by the prostrate condition of their natural guardians. Indian nurses easily succumb, and are generally very attenuated and miserable in appear- ance ; but the opposite extreme is occasionally exemplified. We had one Ayah on board, who was quite a curious specimen of abnormal portliness and unnatural hyper- trophy. Another was a tall graceful woman attired in a long red robe, gold necklace, bracelets and bangles. Notwithstanding her ladylike mien, she was, of course, a woman of very low caste, probably a Mhar (or Dhed). She had some very peculiar blue cross lines tattooed on her forehead between the eyebrows, and a similar mark on one temple. Like all Indian women of her station, she had invested all her savings in ornaments, and carried them on her person. Our fourth night at sea brought us opposite the mouth of the Tagus, and in sight of the Lisbon lights. At day- break next day we were approaching Cape St. Vincent. Life is made up of compensations. Our patient en- durance of four miserable days was rewarded by a grand spectacle. Noble cliffs rose to a great height out of the sea, some glowing with red tints as if covered with heather, others frowning with black crags, and shelving suddenly into perpendicular precipices or scarps of dark granite, riddled with countless holes and caverns by the sheer force of the Atlantic. Here and there isolated needle- like rocks, and others of fantastic shapes, separated from the cliffs by seething channels, stood out from the main- land, or seemed to thrust themselves forward as if to GIBRALTAR. 3 court the first dash of the waves which covered their sides with sheets of foam. In the distance were lofty moun- tains, whose gilded summits appeared loftier through the morning mist which still clung to them. Cape St. Vincent has a lighthouse and telegraph station. We hoisted our signals, and our approach was instantly notified at Gibraltar. At night we were in the Straits (anciently called the Straits of Hercules)^ with the Bay of Tangier on our right. Tangier is a sea-port of Morocco, and is now the property of the Moors under the Emperor of Morocco ; the capital of the province, Fez, being about a hundred miles inland. In four days and a half, or 108 hours from the moment of our passing the Needles, we were close to Gibraltar. The night was dark and squally, and great caution was needed. I was kept awake by the intermittent throes and gasps of our engine, which seemed to struggle for breath like a moribund monster dying hard. Very early in the morning its fitful throbbings suddenly ceased, and the silence of death followed. The first sight of the Bay is grand beyond all expecta- tion. It bends round in a long curve or elongated semi- circle, surrounded in the distance by ranges of high hills, the towering rock of Gibraltar — said to be nearly three miles long, and 1400 feet high — overhanging the whole of one side and forming a promontory running north and south, joined to the continent of Spain by a narrow isthmus of land called the neutral ground. The latter is washed on both sides by the Mediterranean. At the furthest extremity of the promontory is Europa Point, with a lighthouse. The town of Gibraltar, resting on a long line of batteries, climbs about one-third of the western side of the rock. Rising conspicuously above the houses is a fine ruined keep — once a strong castle when the place was possessed by the Moors, and still scarred and scored with the marks of subsequent sieges. Nearly opposite, on the shore of the bay, is the Spanish B 2 4 MODERN INDIA. town of Algeciras. Further inland, on a hill near the bottom of the bay, is San Roque. At both towns bull-fights are popular amusements, and not despised by some of our own people^ who resort to them from Gibraltar to relieve the monotony of their cramped and cage-like existence. The rock of Gibraltar was first known to the Phcenicians under the name of Calpe. After them the Carthaginians, Romans, and Visigoths successfully gained a footing there. It did not rank as a fortress till a.d. 711, when it was fortified by a Saracen army under Tarik (or, according to some, Tarif), a Moorish conqueror, from whom it was called Jibal Tarik, or Tarik's mountain (in Arabic Jahalnt tarik). In 1 309 Ferdinand IV took the fortress after it had belonged to the Moors for 598 years, but it was retaken by them in 1462, and held by them altogether for 726 years. We took it from Spain in 1704, and to us it has belonged, notwithstanding three attempts on the part of the Spaniards to recover it, for about 175 years. On a hill, at the lower end of the bay, is a stone cairn called the ' Queen of Spain's chair,' because a Spanish queen is said to have seated herself there during one ot the sieges, and declared she would not rise from it till she had seen the English flag hauled down. This is such a hackneyed guide-book story that one is almost ashamed to repeat it. Opposite Europa Point, on the coast of Barbary in Africa, is Ceuta — a town close under a rocky hill (Mount Abyla) which forms a pendant to the rock of Gibraltar, and represents the second pillar of Hercules. Near it is a much higher, grander, black-looking, craggy, precipitous hill, known as the Ape's Hill, which also claims, and with more apparent justice, to represent the other pillar. From this mountain at some primeval period came the tailless apes which to this day linger on the rock of Gibraltar like wild aborigines, hopelessly struggling to hold their own against civilized settlers. Eighteen apes are still left, and every one of them is known and held inviolable. To kill or even GIBRALTAR. 5 injure any one of them would be an unpardonable offence. Ceuta belongs to Spain, and is used by the government as a penal settlement. It is a most unpleasant place of resi- dence, convicts being allowed to roam about loose. They cannot escape by land, as, once out of the town, they would certainly be killed by the Moors, between whom and the Spaniards inveterate enmity subsists. I believe some ec- centric person, or persons, once started the idea that it would be well for England to restore Gibraltar to Spain and take Ceuta in exchange. On landing at Gibraltar we lost no time in making our way to Europa Point, passing the Alameda^a name given to a kind of public square, or esplanade, planted with trees, which is an institution in all Spanish towns, and treated as consecrated ground by the inhabitants. The drive led up a hill over the lower slope of the rock, which on the town side is much less steep than towards the Spanish frontier. The vegetation is quite tropical. Prickly pears, cactuses, and pepper trees appeared to be growing luxuriantly, and aloes were as plentiful as blackberry bushes. Europa Point commands an unequalled view of the Straits, the coast of Africa, and Gibraltar Bay. The rock itself from this point reminded us of the Bastei in the district called Saxon Switzerland, near Dresden. Returning to the town under a royal salute which announced the landing of H.R. H. the Duke of Connaught, we found it no easy matter to thread our way through the long principal street— crowded as it was with a motley multitude of Moors from Fez, Arabs, Negroes, Jews, Scorpions (or natives of Gibraltar familiarly so called), Spanish peasants, muleteers, English soldiers and sailors. The neutral ground on the northern side, opposite the Spanish lines, affords a striking view of the celebrated galleries which perforate the rock — here most precipitous. We could see the muzzles of monster guns protruding through innumerable port-holes. This, of course, would be the direction of an attack in case of a war with Spain. The 6 MODERN INDIA. wonderful construction of the galleries themselves, which we afterwards visited, is too well known to need description. As we steamed out of the Bay the eastern side of the rock, which is much wilder and more craggy in appearance than the town side^ showed itself to great advantage. Here a steamer passed us, crowded with Hajjis, or pilgrims from Mecca, bound for Tangier. They were all dressed alike in coarse grey garments, with cowls on their heads, and were packed closely together like sheep in a pen. It is alleged that they never leave the deck, lie down, or change their clothes from the moment they quit ]\Iecca till they reach home. Next, the grand range of the Sierra Nevada, with its sharp serrated outline, came into view on our left. I believe its principal mountain is little short of 12,000 feet high. About noon on the sixth day after leaving England, we jiassed Cape Tenez on the coast of Africa. At sunset the whole western sky was on fire, while the serrated line of the African mountains seemed to be cut out of the glowing heavens, as if with a sharp knife, and painted jet black. When night fell we were opposite the Bay of Algiers, and could distinguish the lights of the town. Thence to Malta little of interest marked the ship's course. We passed Zembra, a fine rocky island (occasionally resorted to for coal) on one side of the Bay of Tunis, and about twelve miles west of Cape Bon. The latter is a noble headland on the African coast, with a lighthouse more than half-way down its precipitous sides. Pantelleria, the ancient Cossyra, came in sight — a grand volcanic island eight or ten miles long and thirty in circumference, said to be remarkable for a lake of unfathomable depth at the top of its highest mountain, and two caverns, one intensely hot and the other intensely cold, and hot springs in other parts. The town consists of a l(jng line of staring white houses, with a large church and detached villas dotted at in- tervals over the slopes. I believe the island now belongs to Italj', and, until recently, was used as a convict settlement. On the eighth day after leaving England we passed Gozo, MALTA. 7 an island twelve miles long (called Gaulos by the Greeks), lying to the north-west of Malta and close to it, being only separated from the main island by a narrow channel, in the centre of which lies a much smaller island, called Comino. Soon afterwards we anchored in the quarantine harbour of Malta. Early in the morning we took one of tlie boats that crowded round our vessel (in form rather like Venetian gondolas) and landed at Valetta, the principal town of Malta, built in 1566 by La ValettCj the grandmaster of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, to which Order the Emperor Charles V of Germany made over the whole island in 1530. The town is regularly built on an elevated pro- montory just behind the fortress of St. Elmo, which, with a lighthouse, occupies its extreme point. On one side of the promontory is the quarantine harbour for merchant ships and steamers. On the other is the great harbour for ships of war, commanded at its entrance by the fortress of Ricasoli, and indented with numerous inlets or creeks, each forming a small separate harbour, and the whole capable of being swept by the fortress of St. Angelo, bristling with guns on a promontory in the middle. In fact, the entire line of coast on the northern side of the island is hollowed out into creeks by the force of the Mediterranean currents. It is a kind of Connemara on a small scale. One considerable inlet, forming quite a harbour, is called St. Paul's Bay, because, according to tradition, the ship which contained St. Paul and his fellow- prisoners was cast on shore here. On landing we found it impossible to shake off a swarm of importunate natives, either vendors of the produce of the island or would-be guides, who followed us about like tiresome flies intent on settling on us. We visited the cathedral of St. John, where the knights are buried under a beautiful Mosaic floor ; the governor's palace, where there is some celebrated tapestry and a fine armoury, interesting from a well-arranged collection of the armour 8 MODERN INDIA. of the Knights of St. John ; and the gardens of San Antonio, five miles in the interior. The houses of Malta are all of white stone, with flat roofs. Their architecture has a half Italian, half Oriental character. The streets are built on each side of the rocky promontory in parallel lines, so as to join at right angles a long central main street, which forms a sort of back- bone along the summit of the ridge. One or two are ascended by picturesque tiers of steps. The whole island appears to be one vast rock and stone quarry. Instead of hedges, lines of white walls intersect the interior in every direction, one rising above the other like terraces, with square look-out towers at intervals. Here and there the dull monotony of the stone terraces is relieved by tufts of dark foliage, dotted about promiscuously in every direction. These represent the tops of well-grown trees, which rear their heads above the walls, as if to bear witness to the fertility of the soil in the gardens underneath. It is difiicult, indeed, to understand how any garden can be productive when nothing but rock is visible around. The explanation, I believe, is that rich soil is transported in small vessels from Sicily, and kept together by the walls. The Maltese are very industrious. Their commercial in- stincts are certainly developed by their brief and fitful intercourse with their Anglo-Indian visitors, and notably exhibited in the sums asked for the products of their small island. Swarms of petty traders, not content with pes- teriug every passenger who lands for a few hours, hover about the decks of the steamers offering lace and coral ornaments at four times their value. The knowing pur- chaser waits till the steamer is just starting, and then bids a fourth of the first price asked. I saw a black lace shawl reduced in this way from £\ los. to .^''i. The population multiplies so rapidly that the island is quite inadequate to support its inhabitants. Numbers emigrate and spread themselves over the Mediterranean. No less than 10,000 Maltese are said to be settled in MALTA. 9 Tunis. Their own peculiar vernacular tongue is a corrupt form of Arabic largely intermixed with Italian words. No one who has seen the position of the noble harbours on the north coast of the island, can have any doubt that so long as we possess India and remain the greatest mari- time power of the world, Malta must be held and its garrisons maintained by us in full efficiency coiite qiCil coute. Protected by the guns of St. Elmo and Ricasoli, Tigne and St. Angelo, almost any number of our men-of-war and mer- chant vessels might find a safe anchorage. Strong north- easterly gales are the only winds that can affect them. After leaving Malta we saw no land till we approached Port Said. The whole stretch of sea is, I believe, 900 miles long. Here would lie the danger to our commerce in case of any great naval power commanding the Black Sea and the coast of Syria. On Sunday the ship's company was mustered on deck before prayer-time. First, on the port side, appeared a line of twenty-two stewards and waiters, extending from the centre of the ship, every one in characteristic uniform. Next, on the same side, came eight or ten black, thick-lipped African negroes, commonly called Srdis or Sidi boys, from the neighbourhood of Zan- zibar. They were dressed in snow-white garments quite out of keeping with their occupation, which consists in shovelling the coal into the furnaces, and contrasting curiously with their glossy coal-black countenances and dark thick woolly hair. They are a happy smiling race, always in exuberant spirits, though exposed to roasting heat, drinking nothing but water and nourished by a vegetable diet. They may be seen sleeping as soundly on the iron gratings of the engine-room as on a bed of down. Then came the Ag-walas — men employed about the engine and fires. These were described to me as Konkani Musalmans. from the neighbourhood of Bombay. They were also dressed in peculiar white costumes — picturesque and immaculately clean. This formed the line on the port side. At the stern were the English officers of the ship, lO MODERN INDIA. and nearest the stern, on the starboard side, a few English quartermasters or superior English sailors. After them came the long line of Laskars (or, as they call themselves, Khalasis, ' free,' vulgarly Klasees), marvellously transfigured in appearance, and quite belying their own identity, in spotless dresses, embroidered turbans, and scarves. The word Laskar is derived from the Persian lasJikar, an army. The name is somewhat sarcastically applied to a crew of Indian sailors who, in their ordinary work-day aspect, have nothing whatever about them suggestive of military smartness or effectiveness. To the uninitiated passenger these Laskars appear a very miserable squad, and no one can look at them without conjuring up fearful pictures of disaster to the ship in the event of cyclones and other possible emergencies. Yet the captain declared that, though comparatively inefficient in a cold climate, they do better than English sailors under a hot sun ; that they are more tractable and docile, and, what is more important, that they never get drunk. They are, of course, Musalmans ; for Hindus even of the lowest caste have an unconquerable rehgious antipathy to voyages on the 'black water i.' In fact, the lower the caste in India the more tenacious are its members of caste-purity, and the more pride does each man take in protecting him- self from what he believes to be contamination. Nothing is more essential to the preservation of caste purity than unpolluted water, and nowhere is it so difiicult to keep water ceremonially pure as on ship-board. As to the Musal- man Laskars, the best of them come from Kathiwar (more correctly written Kathi-awad, the abode of the Kathi tribes) and the neighbourhood of the Portuguese settlement of Daman. Their wages are, of course, less than those of English sailors, but if the Company save in this way, a per contra outlay is incurred, because more men are re- ^ In Hindustani, Kola 'panl. This plirase is now commonly substituted for the moi-e proper expression Ehdra pdni, ' salt water.' THE LASKARS. II quired to counterbalance the want of muscular power in each individual. I asked the captain about their food, and whether they would eat meat. ' Yes,' he said, ' we sometimes, while in harbour, give them a sheep, which they kill in their own way. On the voyage they generally eat dried fish, rice, and dal, and are not very particular about it. Though they are Muhammadans, they will even sometimes eat pork if we have nothing else to give them. They ask no inconvenient questions, but tie the forbidden animal — slaughtered, however, according to the most orthodox rules of Islam — on to the end of a line, and drag it after the ship for an hour or so; after which one of their number hauls it in, calling out with great solemnity as if he were using a formula of consecration, Jiio suar idJiar do machchl, " go away, pig ; come hither, fish." ' The regiment of Laskars was headed in the muster by the Sarang — a title corrupted from Sarhang, the Persian word for a general, and humorously applied to the native boatswain, who, in his turban glittering with gold em- broidery, and attended by his two Tindals, or boatswain's mates, would assuredly have been mistaken for an Indian prince if he could have been transplanted into the middle of a London crowd. Conspicuous among the Asiatics was one Chinaman — the ship's carpenter — ^in a broad straw hat. The whole company would have well illustrated a lecture on the ethnology of the world. At any rate, they formed a singularly picturesque and interesting line of 13a speci- mens of the human species, methodically arranged for in- spection round the quarter-deck of the ship. The mixed crowd of passengers — some lolling lazily and apathetically in the central space, others standing up to gaze with lan- guid curiosity or serene self-complacency on the miscel- laneous assortment of their fellow-creatures, ranged round them like animals in a zoological show — offered quite as curious an exhibition of diversified humanity in their own I a MODERN INDIA. way, while the captain and first oifieer walked round with an air of calm professional assurance, casting critical glances of appreciation or depreciation at each member of the ship's company, and receiving respectful salutes in return. Then at a given signal the Sarang sounded his whistle, the whole circle of unbelievers melted away in an instantj leaving the crowd of believing Christians in the centre to settle down for Divine Service. We reached Port Said at 6 a.m. on the 12th day after leaving England. The first sight of Egypt excites no emotions of any kind. The town of Port Said — called after the late Viceroy — is a collection of mushroom buildings which have sprung into existence since the commencement of the Suez Canal. It is now lighted with gas. Nor is the entrance to the Canal at all imposing. The adjacent coast for miles is apparently below the sea- levelj making the approach to the harbour almost impos- sible except by daylight ; but a lofty lighthouse, which was cleverly constructed by erecting wooden moulds one above the other and filling them with concrete, stands on a pier on the right, and gives out a flashing electric light visible at an immense distance. There are also two long breakwaters, one lower than the other, constructed of huge blocks ef concrete, running far into the sea on either side of the harbour, which efiectually prevent the sand from drifting inside and choking the mouth of the Canal. We entered very cautiousl}' at dawn of day, and moored our ship to two buoys. Two British ironclads — the ' In- vincible' and 'Pallas' — were already in the harbour, and another fine steamer, the ' City of Venice,' was waiting to make the passage after us, while the 'Serapis' had recently passed on ahead. In half an hour we had paid the dues, which I believe amounted in our case to about £1500, and had entered the Canal, the entrance being merely a continuation of the harbour, without lock-gates of any kind. Here, on the right, there is a narrow strip of land covered with sheds, owned by the British nation. PORT SAID AND THE SUEZ CANAL, 13 I was informed that when the works commenced, this land was offered to our Government for .€800, and was declined. It is said to have been recently purchased by us for £36,000. This story will not appear incredible to any one old enough to remember the view Lord Palmerston took of the French engineer's great project. Although the course of the Canal for the first thirty miles is as straight as an arrow, every mile of it abounds with interesting objects. The first thing noticed is an immense lagoon stretching for miles beyond the right bank, while on the left lies a trackless desert of sand, with here and there patches of what appears to be water, but is really nothing but the mirage produced by heated vapour. Then there are the natives on the bank in their picturesque costumes, the sturdy, half- naked Arabs at work in the water, the strings of camels with their burdens, the feluccas in the lagoon with their lateen sails, the myriads of water-fowl, and in the horizon long lines of flamingoes extending literaljy for miles, and standing motionless, like regiments of soldiers in white uniforms. But the one absorbing sight of all is the Canal itself. Such expressions as ' One of the wonders of the age,' ' a triumph of engineering skill,' give an inadequate idea of the magnitude of the work. It must be seen to be estimated at its right value. Captain Methven, the commodore of the Peninsular and Oriental fleet, who watched the progress of the Canal from its commencement, and was one of the first of our fellow- countrymen to predict its success, favoured me with many interesting particulars which may be relied upon for accu- racy. The lower platform at the base of the central channel is almost everywhere fully 70 ft. wide, and as the sides shelve off" at an angle, there is generally a width of about 100 ft. at the surface of the water, the extreme depth of which is 37 ft., with a margin of 10 ft. or 13 ft. of shallow water on each side. The rule first made was that no ship drawing more than 16 ft. should be allowed to pass through. The 14 MODERN INDIA. ships ia which I made the passage only drew about 32 ft. of water, and now it is found that any vessel draw ing more than 25 ft. is likely to come to grief. Two large steamers (the ' Hibernia' and ' Seine'), laden with submarine cablcj had just accomplished the passage. One of them, however, drawing 24 ft. 7 in., scraped her keel all through the Canalj and was obliged to steam at full speed to bring her through. The only difference in the level of the sea at the Mediterranean and Red Sea extremities is caused by the difference in the tides, the variation at the Mediter- ranean end being 18 in. in Spring tides, and that at the Red Sea end about 7 ft. or 8 ft. The effect of this dif- ference is to cause a current at both extremities, and of course a tolerably strong flow from the Red Sea towards the great bitter lakes, situated near the centre of the Canal. Every six miles there is a station-house (called by the French gare) and siding with signal-posts, fitted with black balls, by means of which the traffic is worked on the block system. As a rule, no ship is allowed to take less than one hour in steaming from one station to the next. Two ships advancing towards each other in opposite directions are never allowed to meet while in motion. One is compelled to draw off to a siding while the other passes. This happened to us at a station called Kantara, where we were made to shunt, while the ' Diomed,' a Liverpool steamer, passed us. Here a road — once the great high- way between Egypt and Palestine, and still a high road between Cairo and Syria — leads over the Canal by a kind of flying bridge. A large caravan from Jerusalem, with hundreds of camels and a motley crowd of way-worn travellers — men, women, and children — were waiting to pass over close to our siding. It was a strange and in- teresting sight, which made us think of the going down of the Children of Israel into Egypt. Thence we glided on without interruption, but with the disagreeable ac- companiment of an Egyptian plague of flies, passing on THE SUEZ CANAL. 15 the right a statue of Lieutenant Waghorn, the pioneer and first organizer of the overland route in 1835. At considerable intervals steam dredging- machines — four or five of which are now sufficient to keep the bed clear — were seen in active work. One was of monster proportionSj and appeared to be ingeniously constructed for raising the sand from the bottom and delivering it on an inclined plane over the bank. The desert is occa- sionally dotted with patches of a kind of scrubby bush, the only merit of which is that it serves to relieve the intense glare, and to furnish food for camels. Here and there high banks of sand hid everything from our view. At 4 in the afternoon (having left Port Said at 7 in the morning) we emerged into the first bitter lake, called Lake Timsah, and steamed at increased speed close to the new town of Ismailia, named after the present Khedive. Here there is an oasis of green vegetation, and a principal station of the railway between Suez and Alexandria. De Lesseps himself has a house here. There is also a palace built by the Khedive for the sole purpose of receiving the Empress Eugenie, the Emperor of Austria, and other royal personages (but no representative from England) during the festivities at the opening of the Canal in November, 1870 ^. On we steamed through the lake, and thence through a cutting to the second or great bitter lake, where we anchored for the night soon after sunset. These two remarkable lakes had nearly dry beds before the making of the canal. That happened to them which is now going on in the Dead Sea. The water had evaporated, and left a deposit of seven or eight feet of solid salt. The French engineers foresaw that this circumstance might be turned to account for the deepening of the central channel. When • The Canal was first opened for traffic in 1869, and from 1870 to 1876 the net tonnage passing through it rose from 436,609 tons to 2,096,772 tons (the gross tonnage to 3,072,107) ; the receipts from £200,000 in 1870 to about £1,200,000 in 1875. Of the traffic 75 per cent, was British. 1 6 MODERN INDIA. the waters of the Red Sea were allowed to flow in, the layer of salt was dissolved and nearly eight feet of depth gained. The climate in the neighbouring districts is likely to be advantageously affected by the re-creation of these lakes. We had evidence next morning of an accession of humidity which may one day turn barren ground into fruitful fields. When we attempted to move on soon after daybreak, a thick mist enveloped us, and kept us stationary for more than an hour. Meanwhile^ our ship's stern stuck in the sand, but with a little wriggling worked itself off. Then we glided out of the great lake through a deep cutting, which extended for some miles. At one o'clock the same afternoon we had entered the Gulf of Suez, and were steaming rapidly towards one of its spacious open docks and quays (constructed at an immense cost and loss under exaggerated ideas of the future commercial importance of a port, converted by M. de Lesseps' great work into a mere place of call) almost before we became iware that we had emerged from the Canal. We had iccomplished the whole distance of lOO miles in about fifteen hours. I was surprised to learn on good authority that the total cost from first to last of the miracle of en- gineering skill which had transported our huge ship from one sea to the other so easily and pleasantly, was only eighteen millions sterling. Those who are competent to pronounce an opinion on the result achieved by the out- lay consider that it was cheaply done for that sum About two millions of the amount was freely given by the late Khedive in money and labour. The compulsory labour system was first tried, but soon given up. Cholera broke out, and English public opinion was brought to bear on the matter. Then it was that the genius of M. de Lesseps organized a system of paid labour, the extraordinary success of which in a country like Egypt could never have been predicted. All honour to the in- domitable will and scientific ability of one man, who, fight- ing his way through apparently insuperable obstacles, — THE SUEZ CANAL. 17 physical, social, and political, — carried out one of the greatest projects of this wonder-working century. But in appreciating to the full his energy and intellect, let us not withhold an equal tribute to the amazing tact and administrative capacity which enabled one man to train a whole army of ignorant and illiterate labourers, and inspire them with something of his own ardent, energetic, and enthusiastic spirit. Every individual, to the smallest donkey-boy, employed on the Canal seemed to take a pride and pleasure in doing his allotted task well, and contributing something towards the desired end. No great work has ever before been effected in Egypt with so much goodwill, cheerfulness, and activity, and with so small a sacrifice of human life. This will appear more remarkable when it is borne in mind that nearly a hundred steam dredging-maehines were in constant operation, for the eflfective working of which a large number of men and boys with interdependent duties was indispensable. And yet, after all, notwithstanding one's admiration of this great monument of scientific and administrative genius, it is singular that the chief impression it leaves on one's mind is that of incompleteness. The simple truth I believe to be that before the Canal can be pronounced really finished the width of the central channel must be doubled, and the banks from one end to the other lined with stone. If, when the success of the project was assured, and before the costly plant had been sold and the trained labourers dispersed, the principal European Powers had agreed to act in concert, each contributing its quota of a few millions, a really complete result might have been achieved, the capital expended might have been blotted out, and a Canal of the right dimensions presented to the commerce of the world. Now, the whole plant will have to be recon- structed, new workmen and labourers trained, and the entire process reorganized at a vast cost. Nevertheless, English enterprise and capital can do all that is needed, and will have to do it in the end. 1 8 MODERN INDIA. So surely as Russia is setting her face steadfastly towards Constantinople must England concentrate her attention on Port Said, the Suez Canal, and the coast of Syria. The day may be coming — and perhaps must come very soon — when no corner of Europe will be allowed to suffer any longer from the ' impotence ' of Turkish rule. What then is to happen to Egypt? England's duty will be plain. We shall have to take the Khedive in hand ourselves, and peremptorily insist on his governing his own country well, righteously, and economically^- To this end we must help him, not with money, but with men. We have a whole band of Indian civilians — men like Sir George Campbell, Mr. Seton-Karr, and Mr. Cust — who have served their time in India and yet have plenty of energy left, which they are ready to devote to the welfare of their fellow-creatures. Let them consent to aid the Khedive, and simply do in Egypt the work they have done in India as commissioners, collectors, judges, magistrates, members of council, and lieutenant-governors. The Pro- vince adjacent to the Indus, commonly called Sinde, has been significantly styled ' Young Egypt.' Old Egypt and 'Young Egypt' have certainly much community of character and many points of resemblance. Those who have made ' Young Egypt ' prosperous under a strong righteous, and energetic administration, are quite com petent to raise old Egypt out of the depths of misgovern- ment into which she is fast sinking, and convert her from a poverty-stricken into a rich and thriving country. I submit that this would be a satisfactory solution of the Eastern Question, so far, at least, as England is concerned. Soon after our arrival at Suez, a party of us took a Felucca, or native boat, with three men, and sailed up the creek to the town of Suez, three miles distant. The behaviour of our boatmen interested me not a little. It ' Let this be read in the light of present events (July, 1S79). It was written in the winter of 1S76. to J SUEZ. 19 liappened to be the concluding day of the fast of Eamazan (the ninth month of the Muhammadan year), and whether on this account, or because it was the stated hour of prayer, one of the men washed his face in sea-water, and then prostrated himself with his face towards Mecca in the bow of the boat. Soon afterwards we knocked our keel against some rocks and then scraped along a sand-bank, the tide running out very rapidly. Upon this two of the boatmen — very fine-looking fellows, half-naked, with well-developed muscular limbs — started up, seized two long poles, rushed towards the bow of the little vessel, applied the end of the poles to their shoulders, and running with naked feet along the upper edge of the boat's side, while they pushed the poles towards the stern, urged each other to increased ex- ertions in the strongest guttural Arabic, till they had driven us in this manner over rocks and shoals for more than a mile, against a strong contrary wind, to the quay opposite the Suez hotel. Their behaviour afforded a parallel to the practice of a certain good Christian, of whom it is recorded that he prayed always as if all results depended on God, but put forth all his energies as if success depended wholly on him- self. It reminded one also of a story told of Muhammad. Travelling on a certain occasion through the desert, he refused to follow the example of his travelling companion, who, on arriving at the evening resting-place, turned his camel loose and then prayed fervently that God would keep the beast from straying ; but, on the contrary, first took a good deal of trouble to tether his camel, and then prayed to God to prevent the animal from breaking loose. We walked about Suez for an hour. Donkey-boys mobbed us at every corner, puffing the merits of their donkeys with much originality, if not in the most refined EngHsh. ' Dis de Claimant, Sar,' ' Try de Claimant, Sar,' 'Dis Sir Roger, Sar,' 'Dis very superior donkey, Sar,' ' Dis Kenealy, Sar,' ' Dis make loud bray, Sar.-" The town is a collection of flat-roofed ramshackle old c a ao MODERN INDIA. houses, most of them in an advanced stage of decay, with crooked narrow irregular streets in which dirt, dust^ and bad smells wait upon each other in close companionship. Many of the ruined buildings looked as if they might have once sheltered the children of Israel, who are supposed to have crossed the Red Sea somewhere in the neighbourhood. Our interest in everything triumphed over our disgust, though it was difficult to say which was the strongest feel- ing when we entered the Bazaar, where, in addition to dirt, every hole and corner harboured vast accumulations of cobwebs, left undisturbed for years as a standing menace, I suppose, to swarms of irrepressible flies which settled in millions on the eatables exposed for sale on the open counters. The narrow lanes were thronged with a mixed multitude of turbaned men and veiled women ; some respectably dressed and moderately clean, threading their way through the crowd with calm Oriental dignity ; others ragged and filthy, jostling each other, and vociferating in genuine Suez vernacular. On the morning of the fourteenth day we commenced our course down the Gulf of Suez. The line of hills overhanging Suez, called Altaht, looked grand, red and glowing, and stood out in striking contrast to the mar- vellous green and blue of the sea. Soon the rugged and majestic pile of mountains of the Sinaitic Peninsula, of which Mount Sinai forms a part, opened out upon our left. This peninsula divides the Red Sea into two narrow gulfs — one, that of Suez down which we were steaming, and the navigation of which is extremely intricate, the other, that of Akaba which is not quite so long, and is seldom navi- gated at all. Towards evening we came in sight of the lofty range of Mount Aghribj on the coast of Africa, in Egyptian territory. The highest mountain of the range is alleged to be 10,000 feet high. I certainly never before supposed that Egypt possessed anj'thing much higher than a pyramid. The time consumed in steaming down the Red Sea to THE RED SEA. 31 the Straits of Babel Mandeb was five days. The coast is insuflSciently lighted, and the sea unpleasantly full of coral reefsj sunken rocks, and small volcanic islands, but the P. and O. ships thread their way through all obstructions with as much precision as a well-driven hansom passes through Fleet Street. We had a steam punka in our sleeping cabin, besides the usual punkas in the saloon, but had nevertheless, to sleep on deck when the thermometer rose to ninety. One evening we escaped a tremendous sandstorm, which, coming from the deserts of Africa eighty miles off, gathered over our heads in a densely black, ominous cloud. Happily the wind against which we were steaming carried the storm behind us, and we saw it descend in a dark column towards the northern horizon. Had the cloud burst over our heads we should have been half-blinded as well as smothered with sand, and the whole vessel so enveloped that a dense fog would have been less dangerous. The only showers in the Red Sea are showers of sand. On the fourth day we passed the twelve rocky volcanic islands called the Twelve Apostles. In some of them coal- black scoria and ashes, looking as if quite recently ejected from crater-like cavities, were intermixed with bright red and yellow rocl;s and shone brilliantly in the fiery sun- light. At dawn on the fifth day we were opposite Mocha on the Arabian coast, and had to take soundings. Rugged dark lines of mountains, some with sugar-loaf points, some with serrated edges, one behind the other, intensely arid and sterile in appearance, lined the coast. One long line of craggy hills presented the exact appearance of an old worn- out saw lying with its edge turned upwards. The opposite coast of Abyssinia was now drawing towards us. It is fringed with dark barren mountains resembling those on the Arabian coast, and in the distance was a lofty range, with one high peak, said to be somewhere in Abyssinia. The heat was intense, and the draught of air through the 22 MODERN INDIA. narrow channel, as the coast on each side began to close in upon us, made it penetrate more searchingly. The small island of Perim was on our right as we steamed through the Straits of Babel Mandeb (Arabic bdbu'l mandib, ' gate of tears.' The land opposite Perim juts out into a long narrow promontory covered with rugged, rocky hills. Under the principal rock on its barren and burning shore the French have built a large square house. They had once a settle- ment here, and I believe intended converting the promontory into an island by digging a canal across. Had they accom- plished their object, their next engineering operation would have been a fort to balance ours at Perim, but the excitable and bellicose Arab tribes forcibly resisted the attempt to slice off a portion of their territory, and the French have now deserted the place. The staring house still remains, apparently in good repair, glittering in the glaring sun- light. Not a human being was to be seen about, but one or two deserted Arab fishing-boats were anchored near the shore. Every person who passes Perim is sure to be asked whether he has heard the story of the stratagem by which we took possession of the island. I believe the anecdote rests on a basis of fact. But whether it does so or not, here is an epitome of it : — A French captain was sent in a man-of-war about five-and-twenty years ago to take possession of the island, and touched at Aden. Of course the English Com- mandant was too polite not to ask him to dine, and too liospi table not to ply him with good wine till he had drunk enough to exemply the old proverb in vino veri/as- and let out the secret of his expedition. Instantly the English Commandant, without leaving the dinner-table, gave private orders for despatching a gunboat with six sappers and miners, and one engineer officer, who landed on the island, planted the British flag on the heights, and next day were ready to receive the French captain and welcome him to British soil. PERIM AND BABEL MANDEB. 23 Certainly the island is in an important position, at the very gate of the Red Sea, but its utter sterility, without a tree or even a blade of grass or bush to temper the glare of burning suns and cloudless skies, makes it even more entitled to be called an Eden than Aden itself— ^ of course I mean on the lucus a non lucendo principle. It is simply a bare rock, about four or five miles in circumference, rising to an elevation of two or three hundred feet. The channel which separates it from the opposite point of Babel Mandeb, and through which we sailed, is only one mile wide ; but a channel of nearly eleven miles in width on the other side divides it from the African coast, and on that side the island possesses a small but deep harbour. We have built a lighthouse and insignificant fort on the highest point of the rock, and huts near it for a detachment of Sepoys with one or two Europeans. Since the erection of the lighthouse ships generally take the narrow channel. We steamed through the channel against a strong heated blast of wind which blows constantly through the straits' as through a funnel. In five days after quitting Suez dock we were well out of the Red Sea, and not sorry to see Perim receding from our sight, and our vessel making rapid way eastwards through the Indian Ocean in the direction of Aden, ninety miles distant When night fell, the lightship at the entrance of Aden harbour began to be visible. By ten o'clock at night we were safely moored to two buoys near the lights of the town. The dark outline of the great rock of Aden loomed mysteriously in the weird light ; lamps of various colours gleamed on the shore ; native boats with vociferent Arabs crowded round our ship ; half-naked men with dusky skins swarmed over the front of the vessel. It can easily be imagined that a place where rain only falls about once in two or three years must be pleasanter by night than by day. Yet, on the occasion of my second voyage, when we reached Aden by daylight, I greatly enjoyed a visit to the wonderful tanks three or four mUes distant, dug out of the solid rock to catch the precious 34 MODERN INDIA. rain-water whieli occasionally makes up for lost time by pouring down in a deluge. The surrounding scenery is unequalled in ruggedness and sterility by anything I have ever seen. In fact, the whole place may be compared to a congeries of gigantic cinders or heaps of colossal coke. Yet it has many most striking and almost sublime features. It is certainly the Gibraltar of the Red Sea. The principal rock is even higher and grander than that of Gibraltar. It stands on a promontory in the same way, and is joined to the mainland by a narrow isthmus. Among the institutions of the place are the diving boys — small Somali negroes imported from the opposite coast of Africa — who gather round the ship in their toy canoes, each little curly-headed urchin paddling his own tiny coracle with wonderful dexterity. Their knowledge of English is restricted to the one sentence ' I dive, Sare, I dive,' which they all vociferate with great animation, till on the first sight of a silver coin thrown from the ship, the whole troop suddenly disappear feet uppermost in the water, leaving canoes and paddles to take care of themselves, and heedless of the presence of formidable sharks which usually follow in the wake of steamers, seeking whom or what they may devour. The smallest coin never escapes the lynx-sight of these amphibious imp-like little urchins. The fortunate finder scrambles into his own canoe, first holding up his prize in triumph, then stuffing it into the hollow of his cheek for safety, and then baling out the water with which his little cockle-shell is half-swamped, while he joins more energetically than ever in the general chorus of ' I dive, Sare, I dive,' which is kept up with spirit as long as any passenger shows himself on deck. We left Aden on the morning of the twentieth day of our voyage. The endless serrated line of the hills on the Arabian coast continued in sight for some time. Indeed the whole interior of Arabia — so far as I was able to observe it during my voyages — seems to be shut in by a barrier of ranges of dark rugged sterile mountains, one ADEN. 25 behind the other — some rising to considerable elevations — which completely enclose it and serve as an effectual bar to the curiosity and cupidity of intruders. At Aden w^e had an addition of some interesting first-class passengers — -a Khoja, or Bombay merchant of a particular class, who has a house of business in Zanzibar, returning to India with his wife and family. He was a stout stalwart man, with a handsome countenance. I believe some of the ancestors of the Khojas (a name corrupted from Khwaja, ' noble ') cen- turies ago were pirates inhabiting the coast of Kutch. They gradually became rich, turned Muslims, and gave up disreputable practices. But, although now Muhammadans and followers of a certain Agha Khan, they retain much of their Hindu chavaetei' and often their Hindu names. Our fellow-passenger told me that the trade of Zanzibar is rapidly increasing and the place becoming very prosperous. The language spoken there is Swaheli (a kind of lingua franca of Eastern Africa), which the Khoja speaks as well as his native tongue KutchI, and to which he adds GujaratI, Hindustani, and a little English. He was accompanied by a Pathan or Afghan from Peshawar returning home from the Hajj or pilgrimage to Mecca, which every true Musal- man endeavours to perform once in his life, the other four religious duties enjoined by Muhammad being prayer five times a day, fasting for a month every j'ear, almsgiving, and repeating the creed daily. We took in at the same time a number of Baniyahs or Hindu traders, who sta- tioned themselves on the forecastle, and were to be seen there every evening dead-asleep, rolled up like their own bales of goods in white winding-sheets. The run from Aden to Bombay was accomplished on calm seas and under bright skies in six days and a half. The serenity of the Indian Ocean is rarely disturbed by high winds after the termination of the monsoon. The morning of one day was spent in visiting the mail room and post-ofEce. The three mail agents have to work ten hours a day from the time they leave Suez, sorting 26 MODERN INDIA. about 46,000 letters and 35,000 newspapers, and distri- buting them in about 250 bags, ready for dispersion all over India immediately on the arrival of the ship at Bombay. The following is a specimen of the directions which occasionally tax the ingenuity of the sorters (copied literatim) — J. Faden Sapper Engear Bromeday. This letter had been sent to three Bromleys in different parts of England before it was suspected that Engear meant India, and Bromeday, Bombay. At daybreak on the twenty-seventh day after our de- parture from Southampton, the high land of the Ghats, near Bombay, was visible about fifty miles distant. When the sun rose it disappeared in the haze. A few hours later we entered Bombay harbour, passing the ' Serapis ' and several fine men-of-war lying at anchor. The advent of the Prince of Wales had preceded ours by about two days. FIRST IMPRESSIONS. Bombay, November io, 1875. We need not quote a Western poet ^ in support of the trite truism that impressions on the mind, to be deep, must be made by scenes actually witnessed. There is an Eastern saying that the distance between the ear and the eye is very small, but the difference between hearing and seeing is very great. Much information can be gained about India from books and newspapers, and much by asking questions of old Indians who have spent their lives in the country, but, after all, India must be seen to be understood. The instant I set foot on the landing-place at Bombay, I became absorbed in the interest of every object that met my sight — the magnificent harbour with its beautiful islands, secluded creeks, and grand background of hills; the picturesque native boats gliding hither and thither ; the array of ships from every quarter of the globe riding at anchor — every feature in the surrounding landscape, every rock and stone under my feet, every animal and plant around me on the shore, every man, woman, and child iu the motley throng passing and repassing on the quay, from the Bhisti, or water-carrier, who laid the dust by means of a skin slung on his back, to the boy who importuned me for Bakhshish to exhibit a fight between ' 'Segniua irritant animos demissa per aurem Quam quae sunt oculis subjecta fidelibua.' 28 MODERN INDIA. a snake held in his hand and a mongoose concealed in a basket. Though I was born in India, and had lived as a child in India, and had been educated for India, and had read, thought, spoken, and dreamt about India all my life, I had entered a new world. On the esplanade, in front of the chief public buildings of Bombay, an extraordinary spectacle presented itself. An immense concourse of people was collected, waiting for the Prince of Wales, who was expected at the Secre- tariat to hold his first lev^e — no dingy crowd of Londoners hustling each other in a foggy, smoky atmosphere, but at least a hundred thousand turbaned Asiatics, in bright coloured dresses of every hue, moving sedately about in orderly groups under a glittering sky. The whole plain seemed to glow and flash with kaleidoscopic combinations of dazzling variegated colours. Rows of well-appointed carriages belonging to rich Bombay merchants, some con- taining Parsi ladies and children in gorgeous costumes, with coachmen in brilliant liveries, lined the esplanade. Gem-bespangled Rajas, Maharajas, and Nawabs dashed by in four-horsed equipages, with troops of outriders before and behind. One part of the spacious plain was set apart for I a,ooo children, from various schools — Hindu, Parsi, Muham- madan, Roman Catholic, and Protestant — collected from Bombay and the neighbourhood. The fact that it was possible to bring together from a limited area so vast an assemblage of children, male and female, all under educa- tion in an Eastern country, was in itself full of significance and interest. They were seated in rows, one behind the other, grouped according to the communities to which they severally belonged, a passage being left in the centre for the Prince. Every child was provided with a printed hymn, or poetical address to the Prince in Gujarat!, to be sung by the whole assemblage at the moment of his ap- pearance among them. BOMB A V. 29 I was told that the children were mostly from the middle ranks of the inhabitants of Bombay. Certainly it was difficult to believe in the poverty of their parents, dressed as they were, boys and girls, in rich silks, satins, brocades, and velvets of all colours, from bright red and yellow to simple whitCj with gold-embroidered caps and jewels of great value on their feet and arms, necks and ears. It is no uncommon thing for parents to deck their children on festive occasions with ornaments worth hun- dreds of pounds. Their appearance and bearing suggested an idea that Asiatics think more of beauty of dress than beauty of form, Europeans more of beauty of form than of beauty of dress. That same evening I left Bombay and travelled north- wards through Gujarat by the Bombay and Baroda railway. At the very first station out of Bombay, the anthill-like density of India's teeming masses made itself apparent. At least a thousand natives were collected, waiting for the train, some bound for Bombay to see the Prince of Wales, others on their way home after having witnessed the great Tamasha. The vast crowd vociferated and swayed to and fro in an alarming manner. The sound was like the roar- ing of a mighty ocean. We began to think that a second mutiny was imminent, that our carriage would be stormed, and ourselves perhaps shot down on the spot. Our fears were allayed on learning that the lower classes of Hindus are in the habit of talking and shouting to each other at the top of their voices, in perfect good humour, whenever they are congregated in crowds ^. Notwith- standing their apparent excitement, noisy demonstrative- ness, and overpowering numbers, they made no attempt (as English exeui'sionists would have done) to force their way into the first or second-class compartments, but sub- ' Sleeman remarks (' Rambles,' p. 77) that the stentorian voices of the natives are probably due to their meeting and discussing subjects connected with their own interests in the open air under trees. 30 MODERN INDIA. mitted quite patiently and resignedly to be penned like sheep in third-class carriages, some of which had an upper story. It was evident that no caste-prejudices interfered with their making full use of our railways. As the morning dawned on us in our northward course, sensations of real cold made us forget we were in India, till, looking out, we were reminded of our locality by un- mistakeable signs, and notably by certain ominous streaks of cloud in the horizon, which turned out to be flights of millions of locusts. When they are seen approaching, the natives assemble in crowds, fire guns, and make hideous noises to prevent their settling on their crops. After passing Surat, Broach, and Baroda, I alighted at the Mehmoodabad station, and began my Indian experiences in the Collector of Kaira's camp. A brief description of my first day's adventures may give an idea of the kind of life led by Anglo-Indians when camping out in the country during an Indian winter. My only room was of course a tent. It had four doors and no windows, and a fifth door leading into a kind of canvas lean-to or small annex, fitted up with a large bath. Happily no one need trouble himself with a portable bath in India, because this indispensable convenience is found everywhere. The tent had a lining of brown and yellow chintz, and for a carpet a stout blue and white cotton cloth laid on flax straw. All the doors had two coverings or rather flaps, one of the same material as the tent, the other a kind of wire screen, called a chick, to let in air, and keep out as far as possible inquisitive intruders — not men and women, but huge bees, wasps, grasshoppers, squirrels, snakes, and all manner of winged and creeping things in- numerable. For furniture there were two or three chairs, a dressing-table, and a good iron bedstead with hard mat- tresses, woollen pillows, and musquito curtains, well tucked in all round. Let the reader, then, imagine me comfortably ensconced, after my month's voyages and travels, within my four canvas walls, and looking forward with pleasant CAMP-LIFE. 31 anticipations to an undisturbed sleep in a veritable bed — my first since leaving England. I go through every needful purificatory rite in my strange lavatory, and emerge refreshed from my tent door to peep at the scene outside and take my bearings. I find that we are in a large field or common, on one side of the Mehmoodabad station. The camp consists of about a dozen tents all under large spreading trees, with which the whole park-like country round is beautifully wooded. Most of the trees are new to me — the Mango, the Banian, the Pipal, the Tamarind, the Nim, and the Japanese Acacia with its lovely yellow flowers. No tent is ever pitched under a Tamarind. It is supposed, I believe, to exhale too much carbonic acid during the night-time. The Mango and Nim are the tent-pitcher's favourite trees. Under one Mango there is a large pavilion- like erection for the Collector and his wife. Then there is another double tent, which serves as a dining-room and drawing-room, of ample dimensions, fitted up with carpets, tables, book- eases, easy chairs, sewing machine, and harmonium. Two or three others for visitors like myself; another for the baby and its Ayahs ; another for the Portuguese butler, and of course a capacious tent with annexes, which to- gether serve for the collector's Kutchery (properly written Kacherl or KacJiahrl), magisterial court and other offices. On one side under the dense foliage of a Banian is a circular canvas erection without any roof This is the kitchen, where excellent dinners are cooked by means of two bricks and a hole in the ground. A little removed from the tents is the stable, an open space quite un- protected, except by foliage, where four Arab horses and two ponies are tethered by their heels, each attended by its man. Near them stand carriages, carts, and a curious vehicle called a Tonga {Tango), usually drawn by two ponies. It has two seats back to back, suspended on two wheels, and is covered by an awning. Not far off an ail-but nude Bhisti, dark as a negro, is seen plying 32 MODERN INDIA. his occupation. He supplies the camp with water, by means of two water-skins slung over the back of a bullock. Ranging about the field in promiscuous places are other bullocks, buffaloes, goats, sheep, geese, ducks, and fowls. The bullocks are for the carts, the buffaloes and goats for producing milk and butter. The other creatures come in usefully as raw material, out of which the excellent dinners before alluded to are supplied. A sheep in these country places only costs, I am told, about four rupees, or eight shillings. It is, however, a me- lancholy refiection that inflictiori of death is essential to the maintenance of an Englishman's life. For life is every- where exuberant around me, and every living thing seems to enjoy itself, as if it were certain of being unmolested. Natives never willingly destroy life. They cannot enter into an Englishman's desire for venting his high spirits on a fine day by killing game of some kind. ' Live and let live ' is their rule of conduct towards the inferior creation. I walk about admiring every living creature, particularly the birds — the Hoopoo with its lovely crest hopping about near me, the doves very like those at home, the bright parrots, the jays, the woodpeckers. Then little grey and brown streaked squirrels are playing all around me. They jump about with wonderful agility, peer in at the tent doors, and try to secure little bits of cotton for their nests. The sounds are not always melodious. I hear a screech- ing note above my head. It comes from a kind of grey and red Toucan seated trustfully on a branch, and quite undisturbed by my presence. Then another discordant cry, and a rush — a number of natives are driving away a troop of big, grey mischievous monkeys, some with little baby-monkeys clinging to them. They soon repel the invaders, but only by shouting in rather harsh ver- nacular ' the monkey-people, the monkey -people ! ' To shoot a mcmkey would be nothing short of sacrilege. I venture to follow the retreating intruders, but am CAMP LIFE. 33 arrested by hedges of prickly pear. Then I fall into ecstasies over the creepers, many of them of gigantic size, which twine themselves everywhere, covering hedges, bushes, and trees with their brilliant red, orange, and white flowers. I must not omit to mention that dotted about the field are mounted and unmounted sepoys, with here and there a belted government servant (called a Patti-wala, or Patta- wala, because distinguished by a belt) — all within call — all ready to answer instantaneously to the Sahib's sum- mons, and eager to execute his behests. As to the big Collector Sahib himself, in the eyes of the people of his district he is every inch a king. He speaks like one, acts like one, and really has the power of one. He says to one man ' come/ and he cometh, and to another ' go,' and he goeth. His title of Collector gives a very inadequate idea of his real duties and authority ; unless it be taken to mean that in him all the administrative functions of the district are collected and comprehended. He not only collects the revenue, but has high judicial powers, and the whole welfare of a small territory is committed to him. He superintends police, civil engineering, road-making, rural economy, municipal government, sanitation, educa- tion, every conceivable matter. But if every Collector is a small king, every English- man in India is regarded as a petty prince. Obsequious natives watch his movements, and hang upon his words. I try to stroll about, but as I circle leisurely round the compound, attendant satellites hover about my path. I am evidently expected to develope wants of some kind or other in the course of my ramble. I ransack my store of correct Hindiistani just imported from Europe for the most polite way of requesting to be left alone ; but I feel as helpless as a child, and as shy as a new boy at school. Disconcerted and humiliated, I long for a little temporary obscurity, and hastily hide my head within the walls of my tent. But my tenacious followers are not to be shaken D 34 MODERN INDIA. ofF so easily. I am conscious of being vigilantly watched througli my barrier of canvas. By way of experiment 1 utter the magical formula Qwi hai ? (Ko-l liai ?), and a dusky form seems to rise out of the ground as if by magic. There he stands in an attitude of abject reverence and attention, waiting for me to issue my commands either in the best Gujarat! or purest Hindiistani. But I do not rise to the occasion. I am not sure whether to be exhilarated by the opportunity of bringing my know- ledge of Indian languages into play, or depressed by an uncomfortable consciousness of blank inability to deliver myself of any well-turned and highly idiomatic sentence expressive of a simple desire to know the dinner-hour. Just at this juncture I hear a commanding voice call out in the distance ' Khana lao.' This is the Collector's brief and business-like order for dinner. I repair with relief to the drawing-room and dining-room. The Col- lector and his wifCj beaming with hospitality, make me sit down at a well-appointed dinner-table. I have a French tnenu placed before me. I eat a dinner cooked with Parisian skill, I drink wine fit for an emperor, and am waited on by a stately butler and half-a-dozen stately waiters in imposing costumes, who move about with noise- less tread behind my chair, and anticipate every eccen- tricity of my appetite. I am evidently on enchanted ground, and can only think of Aladdin in the Arabian Nights. Dinner over, we sit out in the open air. The moon is shining with a lustre unknown in northern latitudes. We recline on lounging chairs round a blazing wood fire, not sorry to wrap ourselves up in our warm plaids. I retire early to my tent and compose myself for the luxurious slumber I had anticipated. But I am too excited to sleep immediately. With difficulty I gain the border-land be- tween consciousness and unconsciousness. What is that sound, half snort, half snuffle, close to my head ? I start, and sit up. Can it be the Brahman! bull I saw just before CAMP LIFE. 35 dinner roaming about at large in full enjoyment of a kind of sacred independence? Cautiously and guardedly I open my musquito curtains, intending to seize the nearest weapon of defence. Clink, clink ! Clank, clank ! Thank goodness, that must be the guard parading close to my teut ; and sure enough there are sounds of a rush, and a chase, and a genuine bull's bellow, whicb gradually diminish and fade away in the distance. Again I compose myself, but as night advances begin to be painfully aware that a number of other strange sounds are intensifying outside and inside my tent — croaks, squeaks, grunts, chirps, hums, buzzes, whizzes, whistles, rustles, flutters, scuffles, scampers, and nibbles. Harmless sounds proceeding from harmless creatures ! I reason with myself. A toad is attracted by the water in my bath- room, a rat has scented out my travelling biscuits, mus- quitoes and moths are trying to- work their way through my curtains, a vampire bat is hanging from the roof of my tent, crickets and grasshoppers are making themselves at home on my floor. ' Quite usual, of course,' I say to myself, ' in these hot climates, and quite to be expected ! ' Ah, but that hissing sound ! Do not cobras hiss ? The hissing subsides, and is succeeded by a melancholy moan. Is that the hooting of an owl ? No ! the moan has changed to a prolonged yell, increasing in an alarming manner. Yell is taken up by yell, howl by howl. Awful sounds come from all directions. Surely a number of peasants are being murdered in the adjoining fields. I am bound to get up and rush to the rescue. No, no, I re- member. I saw a few jackals slinking about the camp in the evening. Once more I try to compose myself, disgusted with my silly sensitiveness. Shriek, shriek, and a thundering roar ! The midnight luggage-train is passing with a screaming whistle fifty yards from my head. At last I drop off" exhausted into a troubled slumber. I dream of bulls, snakes, tigers, and railway collisions. A sound of many D 3 36 MODERN INDIA. voices mingles with my perturbed visions. Crowds of natives are collecting for the six o^clock train two hours before sunrise. They talk, chatter, jabber, shout, and laugh to beguile the tedium of waiting, At five minutes to six the station bell rings violently, and my servant appears with my cliota hazin, or little breakfast. I start up, dress quickly^ remembering that I am expected to drink a cup of hot tea, and go out like a veteran Anglo- Indian, to ' eat the air ' [hawa khdiid), before the sun is well up. I conform to the spirit of the trite precept Si Eom.ae fiieris, Hommio vivito more ; but the Collector and his wife are out before me, and are seen mounting their horses and starting off to scour the country in every direction for an hour or so. I find the morning breeze bite keenly, and am glad to walk briskly up and down the camp. I amuse myself by watching the gradual gathering of natives around the Kutchery — two or three policemen with a prisoner, a cheerful-looking man in a red turban and white garments carrying a paper or petition of some kind ; several emaciated half-naked villagers bowed down to the dust with the weight of their poverty and griev- ances ; a decrepit old man attended by a decrepit old woman ; underlings who come to deliver reports or receive instructions ; other persons who come to be advised, en- couraged, scolded or praised, and others who appear to have nothing to do, and to do it very successfully. Every one has an air of quiet resignation, and nearly all squat on the ground, awaiting the Collector Sahib's return with imperturbable patience. All these cases are disposed of by the Collector in person after our eight o'clock breakfast. At eleven the post comes in ; that is, a running mes- senger, nearly naked, brings in a pile of letters on his head from the neighbouring town. The Collector is im- mersed in a sea of papers until our next meal. Mean- while a visitor from a neighbouring station makes his appearance riding on a camel, and is received in the CAMP LIFE. 37 drawing-room tent by the Collector's wife. Then a de- putation of Brahmans is seen approaching. They have come to greet me on my arrival ; some of them are Pandits. A mat is spread for them in a vacant tent. They enter without shoes, make respectful salaams, and squat round me in a semicircle. I thoughtlessly shake hands with the chief Pandit, a dignified venerable old gentleman, forgetful that the touch of a Mlecc'ha (English barbarian) will entail upon him laborious purificatory cere- monies on his return to his own house. We then ex- change compliments in Sanskrit, and I ask them many questions, and propound difiiculties for discussion. Their fluency in talking Sanskrit surprises me^ and certainly sur- passes mine. We English scholars treat Sanskrit as a dead language, but here in India I am expected to speak it as if it were my mother-tongue. Once or twice I find myself floundering disastrously, but the polite Pandits help me out of my difiiculties. Two hours pass away like lightning, the only drawback to general harmony being that all the Pandits try to speak at once. I find that no one thinks of terminating the visit. Native visitors never venture to depart till the Sahib says plainly ' you may go.' I begin to think of the most polite Sanskrit formula for breaking up my conclave, when I am saved from all awkwardness by a call to tiffin. In the afternoon the sun acquires canicular power, the thermometer rises to eighty -two, and the temperature is about as trying as that of the hottest day of an English summer. Under the combined influence of tiffin, heat, exhilaration, humiliation, and general excitement, I am compelled to doze away an hour or two, till it is time to walk with the Collector to a neighbouring Baoli, or old underground well (called in Gujarati Wau), now unused and falling into ruins, but well worth a visit. It is more like a small subterranean tank than a well, and the descent to it is by a long flight of stone steps, surrounded by cool stone chambers built of solid masonry, and supported by 38 MODERN INDIA. handsome pillars. In Eastern countries, benevolent men who have become rich and wish to benefit their fellow- creatures before they die, construct wells and tanks, much as we build hospitals in Europe. I return with the Col- lector to his camp as the sun sets. So much for my first day's experiences, which are so vivid that I may be pardoned for having recounted them in the present tense. THE VILLAGES AND RURAL POPULATION OF INDIA. One of my first acts after my day's rest in the Collector of Kaira's camp was to visit a neighbouring village called Khatraj. The organization of Indian villages — meaning by a village not merely a collection of houses, but a rural commune or territorial division of cultivable land — is a highly interesting and instructive study both in its con- nexion with the early history of the Aryan races, and in its bearing on the present condition of rural society not only in India but in Europe. In no part of the world have the collection of communities which together make up the aggregate of a country's population been left so much to self-government as in India. Its village system is based on the purest form of Home-rule, which had its origin in the simple patriarchal constitution of society, when the family of brothers — -joint owners of the family land — lived together and cultivated the soil, as co-partners under a paternal head. Every Indian village is a collection of such families united in intimate corporate relations. And as each family is held together by a close interdependence of interests under a common father, so the members of each village community are united in close association under a presiding head-man, or chief of some kind. It must be borne in mind that the actual tillers of the ground in an Indian village constitute at least three-fourths of the population. 40 MODERN INDIA. In Gujarat these cultivators are called Kumbi (Sanskrit Kutumbi). The remaining inhabitants consist of various useful functionaries, artisans and mechanics, to be presently described — men of distinct castes and employments who are indispensable to the maintenance of every society, and minister to its wants in diverse ways. Of course the detail of rural organization is not uniform in every part of India, nor does the system of self-govern- ment prevail with equal force everywhere. But in every village there is a close intertwining of communal relations, so that the separate existence and independence of any individual of the community is barely recognized. The Sanskrit name for a village commune is Grama. It is clear from Manu's law-book that a regular system of village- administration prevailed in some parts of India many centuries before Christ. There was first a supreme village-lord or governor who was called Gramadhipati and who governed looo villages, subject to the king's suze- rainty. Under him were the lords of lOO villages con- stituting a district now called a Parganali, and under these again were the chiefs of each separate village-community. Some similar gradation of administrative authority proba- bly existed long before the time of Manu's code. But the interconnexion between the village system and the state, the nature of the links which have united the higher with the lower power, and the amount of control which the one has exercised over the other, have varied with each change in the Supreme Authority. What has remained unchanged has been the simple self-contained village corporation. This has survived all changes, all political, religious, and physical convulsions — all wars, massacres, pestilences, and famines — in a word, all the external and internal disturbing forces that have swept over and agitated the country for more than three thousand years. At present, under British rule, the village-overseers, or head-men, have different names in diiferent places, accord- ing to their various functions or powers. For example. VILLAGE-SYSTEM. LAND-TENURE. 41 they are variously called Patel, Mandal, Desai ( = Desadhi or Desadhipati), Desmukh ( = Desa-mukha), Maha-jana, Lambardar, and Mukaddam. The two last names are more generally used in the Northern parts of India, Lam- bardar being a mongrel term made up of the English word 'number' corrupted into 'lambar,' and the Persian word * dar,' a holder. In some Northern districts a large village will frequently consist of five or six rural communities, each under a distinct Lambardar, to whom a separate lease {pata) of a portion of land, with a number inscribed on the ■written document, is assigned. Sometimes a village is occupied conjointly by Hindus and Muhammadans, who live very amicably and contentedly side by side. In such cases each religious community has its own Lambardar, who is its own special nominee and representative. But the tenure under which the land is held by Indian cultivators and landowners varies throughout India in a V Ty perplexing manner. In some villages the Ryots or immediate tillers of the soil, who constitute the mass of the population, are held to be the only hereditary proprietors. The land is parcelled out among them, and the tax assessed periodically by our own government-officers, all the cul- tivable ground thus divided being liable to further subdi- vision by the Hindu and Muhammadan law of inheritance, which gives an equal share to each son. Sometimes each cultivator holds his own share as a distinct estate, and is himself responsible for the payment of the government demand. Sometimes all the cultivators hold their lands as a common estate^ dividing the profits as co-partners, and nominating their own head-man, or accepting one nominated by the Government, to whom the duty of collecting and paying the State assessment is committed. In other villages the immediate cultivators are neither singly nor conjointly proprietors, but hold their lands on lease under one or more hereditary proprietors (sometimes called Pati-dars) to whom the whole collective area of the village territory, or some portion of it, is supposed to 42 MODERN INDIA. belong, and who are responsible to Government for the lirst charge on the produce, estimated at a certain value and always paid in silver. Again, in some parts of India the large proprietors of land are called ZamTndars, or land- holders. Such men not unfrequently have an hereditary right of property over areas larger than English counties, and in Bengal, Behar, and Orissa the perpetual settlement of 1793 converted them into actual proprietors who enjoy their estates in absolute ownership, on the sole condition of punctual payment of a fixed sum to the Government exchequer. It is clear from these differences of tenure that the head- men of the village are not always employed as agents for the collection of the State assessment. Nor have they necessarily any connexion with Government at all. Yet every head-man must be a man of weight and influence among his own people. Indeed, he is elected by the com- munity on account of some supposed superior qualifications, and is generally allowed independent jurisdiction in his own sphere. Frequently he has considerable powers com- mitted to him. For example, he may arrange the village police, enforce sanitation, settle questions of ploughing and sowing, decide disputes among cultivators, provide for the entertainment of travellers. His remuneration consists of a certain proportion of the produce, or a fixed assign- ment of cultivable land rent free ^. It must be noted that he is required to act in concert with the village council, or Panchayat, of which he is the president. In India every village and every town has its Panchayat, whose functions resemble in a manner those of European municipal boards. In fact the Panchayat is a most ancient Indian institution, though differently consti- tuted in different places. It must have consisted originally of five [panchd) members, but is nowhere now restricted to that number. Seven or eight members are now not ' In some parts of India he is allowed an acre in every twenty under cultivation. VILLAGE-SYSTEM. PANCHAYATS. 43 tmcommon. In Munu's time (at least 500 years b.c ) two councils are mentioned, one of four members and the other of eleven \ Every caste, every trade, every separate association has its own peculiar and special Panchayat. At one time even native regiments elected their own officers, and small states their own rulers by means of Panchayats. Everything was managed and settled in this manner. A common proverb is current throughout India that ' the voice of God is in the five ' {Panch men Paramehvara). Happily for India, and for our own tenure of the country, our policy has always been to preserve existing native institutions as far as possible intact. We encourage the people to settle their own disputes among themselves in their own way. We make a point of upholding the action of native Panchayats, though we do not, of course, give legal validity to all their decisions. With regard to the other functionaries of the village, there are at least twelve different kinds of village officials under the head-man, each paid by the cultivators in kind according to the value of the services he renders to the community, and each belonging to a separate caste, deter- mined by the nature of his employment. I. First comes the PatwarT, or village accountant and registrar, who is a kind of Government land-steward, keep- ing the Jama-bandl or account of the lands, produce, rents and assessments of his village. He sometimes acts as Majmudar (otherwise Majumdar, corrupted into Mujum- dar) or State Record-keeper, and in some parts of Western India is called Talati. This functionary comes next to the head-man in importance and influence, having often inde- pendent authority, irrespective of his office as a Government agent. He usually receives about half the emoluments of the head-man. ' See ' Manu,' xii. 1 10 : 'Any matter of law settled by a council consist- ing of ten law-abiding men under one bead, or by three such men under one head, should not be violated.' 44 MODERN INDIA. 1. Then secondly there is the village chaplain, or domestic priest (called in Sanskrit Purohita, and in Gu- jarat! Gor for Guru) — who performs all religious ceremonies for the villagers, the impure castes only excepted. He is sup- ported by fixed allotments of grain, and by special presents of food at caste dinners, or by gifts of money on occasions of births, weddings, and other family solemnities. He often combines supplementary functions of a kindred nature. For example, he may be astrologer, almanac-maker, and schoolmaster. Furthermore he and his wife are generally the village match-makers, arranging all the marriages of the community with careful attention to caste-usages. 3. Next comes the NaT, or barber (Sanskrit Napit, Arabic Hajjam, sometimes vulgarly called Warand or Waland, and in Gujarat, Ghaenjo or Ghaeja) — who, with his kit of primitive razors and implements of the rudest description, does all the work expected of him admirably. No man in India thinks of shaving himself. Hence the barber is an important member of the community. His duties are not confined to shaving. He cuts nails, shampoos the limbs, and often acts as village doctor ^. In some parts of India he helps to arrange marriages. 4. Fourth on the list may be placed the Kumbhar, or potter (Sanskrit Kumbha-kara) — -who by means of a wheel (chahra) of the simplest construction, makes all the earth- enware pots and platters of the villagers with a skill truly surprising. He generally uses a donkey to fetch his materials, and from his cleverness in moulding clay into any shape, is facetiously called Prajapati, 'the creator.' 5. Fifth must be mentioned the Sutar, or carpenter (Sanskrit Sutra-dhara) — who also with the roughest tools does the village carpentering admirably. He ought perhaps to have been named earlier, as he ranks high in the social scale, and in proof of his superior pretensions even claims the privilege of wearing the sacred thread like a Brahman. ' His wife is often the village midwife. VILLAGE FUNCTIONARIES. 45 6. Then in close company with the carpenter will always be found the Lohar, or blacksmith (Sanskrit Loha-kara). These two useful workmen together make and mend all the village tools and agricultural implements. 7. Next comes the Dhobi, or washerman — an important personage, for no family ever thinks of saving money by washing at home. This operation can only be performed by a man of the right caste. 8. Eighth in the Hst may be placed the Bhisti (properly Bihishti), or water-carrier — sometimes called Pakhali. He generally carries water in two leather-skins suspended over the back of a bullock, or in one skin suspended over his own back. 9. Next ought to be reckoned the Darzi (often corrupted into Darjl) or tailor — sometimes called SuT from his use of the Suchi or needle, and in the Dekkan Sipi or Simpi. He is not so important a person as in Europe, for the simple reason that an ordinary Indian's clothes need very little stitching. Still such sewing as may be required is always done by the tailor and his wife, never by the women of the family. 10. The tenth personage in the catalogue is the MochI, or shoemaker — who repairs the shoes of the community, and makes the leather-work required in yoking the bul- locks. Many of the villagers are content to remain shoe- less, but the cultivators require good thick soles, frequently made of rhinoceros-hide brought from Zanzibar. 1 1 . Last but one, but not nearly least in importance, comes the Chaukidar, or watchman (in Gujarat called Rakhewad, or Pahari). Of these functionaries there are usually four, and in larger rural communes even fifteen or twenty. Though very poor, their trustworthiness when in charge of treasure or valuables of any kind is remarkable. In some places the watchman is also a Government official, who receives as his pay five acres of rent-free land. In Orissa, according to Dr. Hunter, he is generally allowed by the villagers to select the largest sheaf of corn in every field. 46 MODERN INDIA. 12. Under the twelfth head must be placed the impure castes who do all the dirty work of the village : — for ex- ample the Chamar, or tanner (Sanskrit Charma-kara), who prepares and hands over to the shoemaker all the hides and skins of the sheep, oxen and other animals that die in the commune ; the Dhed or Dher ; and the Bhangi ^. These last two personages are the village menials. Their work is absolutely necessary to the comfort if not to the very health and life of its population. They are not only sweepers and scavengers ; they do other menial work, and are often trusted with the important duty of carrying letters. The Bhangi also shows the road to travellers, carrying a bamboo walking-stick with which he removes thorns and briars from the path. Both Dhers and Bhangis are gross feeders. They devour the flesh of cows, buffaloes, and all animals that die a natural death in the village. They also drink spirituous liquor, but rarely become intoxicated. In some parts of Western India the low caste sweeper population are called Mhars. In other parts of India the name Dom is common. The various oflScials enumerated under the above twelve divisions along with the head-man, form the ordinary com- plement of servants and handicraftsmen needed for the maintenance of even the smallest rural communities. They are all paid by receiving portions of the grain or other produce in different proportions, according to the character and extent of their services. Larger villages add other distinct functionaries, such as the Guru, or schoolmaster ; the Joslil, or astrologer (Sanskrit Ji/oiishi), who names the lucky days for sowing, ploughing, marriages, journeys, &c., draws out horoscopes and alma- nacs, and tells fortunes— a most important personage, for nine-tenths of the people of India are slaves to astrological superstition ; the Taid, or village apothecary and doctor (Sanskrit Ta'idya) ; the Tell, or oilman (Sanskrit TiilU ; in ' The proper occupation of the Bhangi 13 said to be that of breaking (Sanskrit hhanj, to break) reeds to make baskets. VILLAGE FUNCTIONARIES. CHARMERS. 47 some places called GhancM) ; the Kasari, otherwise Kaserd, or brazier ; the Koti, or weaver ; the Rangdrl, or dyer ; the Halwdl, or confectioner. Then in some villages there is the Gdpiirffari, or hailstorm-charmer, who charms away hailstorms from the crops, and other varieties of charmers, such as the tiger-charmer, the snake-charmer, and above all the demon-charmer, who exorcises devils and other evil spirits. In connexion with the subject of charmers, I extract a passage slightly abridged from Adam's educational report on the district of Nattore in Bengal, adding a few ex- planatory words of my own here and there. In Bengal, he says, there is ' a class of pretenders, still lower than the village doctors, who go under the general name of conjurers or charmers. The largest division of this class are the snake-conjurers ; their number in the single police division of Nattore being no less than 732. There are few villages without one, and in some villages there are as many as ten. These take nothing for the performance of their rites, or the cures they pretend to have effected. All is gratuitous, but they have substantial advantages which enable them to be thus liberal. When the inhabitants of a village, hitherto without a conjurer, think that they can afiford to have one, they invite a professor of the art from a neighbouring village, where there happens to be one to spare,- and give him a piece of land, and various privileges and immunities. He pos- sesses great influence over the inhabitants. If a quarrel takes place, his interference will quell it sooner than that of any one else ; and when he requires the aid of his neighbours in cultivating his plot of ground or in reaping its produce, it is always more readily given to him than to others. The art is not hereditary in a family or peculiar to any caste. One charmer I met with was a boatman, another a Chaukidar, a third a weaver. Whoever learns the charm (perhaps consisting of some text from the Atharva-veda 48 MODERN INDIA. or from a Tantra) may practice it, but those are believed to practice it most successfully, who are ' to the manner born '; that is, who have been born under a favorable conjunction of planets. Every conjurer seems to have a separate charm, for I have found no two the same. No charmer objects to repeat his charm. He will even consent to do so for the mere gratification of a stranger's curiosity, and will allow it to be taken down in writing. Neither do such conjurers appear to have any mutual jealousy, each readily allowing the virtue of other incantations than his own. Sometimes the pretended curer of snake-bites by charms professes also to possess the power of expelling demons, and, in other cases the expeller of demons disclaims being a snake-conjurer. Demon-conjurers are not numerous in Nattore ; and tiger-conjurers who profess to charm away tigers or cure their bites, although scarcely heard of in that division, are numerous in those parts of the district where there is much jungle infested by wild beasts. Distinct from these three kinds of conjurers, and called by a difierent name is a class of gifted (Sanskrit guni) persons who are believed to possess the power of preventing the fall of hail on the village crops. For this purpose when there is a prospect of a hailstorm, one of them goes out into the fields belonging to the village with a trident and a buffalo's horn. The trident is fixed in the ground, and the ' gifted ' charmer makes a wide circle around it, running naked, blowing the horn, and pronouncing incan- tations. It is the firm belief of the villagers that their crops are by this means protected from hail-storms. Both men and women practice this business. There are about a dozen in Nattore, and they are provided for in the same way as the conjurers. Some of these details may appear unimportant, but they help to give an insight into the character of the humble classes who constitute the great mass of the people, and whose happiness and improvement are identical with the prosperity of the country. And although they exhibit IMPURE CASTES. 49 proofs of a most imbecile superstition, yet it is a supersti- tion which has its origin in a childish ignorance of the common laws of nature, not in vice or depravity. Such superstitions are neither Hindu nor Muhammadan, being equally repudiated by the educated portions of both classes of religionists. They are probably antecedent to both systems of faith, and have been handed down from time immemorial.' I must not omit to mention that one indispensable person in all the larger villages is the Baniya or shopkeeper and trader, who is also a money-lender and a kind of petty banker. In Gujarat he is often a Marwarl. This per- sonage makes advances to the villagers and binds his helpless debtors by stringent penalties. At least half the village is generally in bondage to him, and not unfre- quently a great part of the land passes into his possession. With regard to the impure castes already alluded to as constituting one element of all village communes, it should be noted that although regarded by the Brahmans as impure, their usefulness is not the less recognised. Their services are, in fact, felt to be indispensable, and the treatment they receive accords with the urgency rather than with the character of their duties. No greater mis- take could be made than to suppose that the condition of the low-caste people of India is one either of serfdom or slavery. Neither the Dher nor the Bhangi are outcastes. Albeit their occupation is of a mean kind they take a pride in doing it well and patiently. They are consequently not only well treated by others but they themselves have the same feelings of self-respect and caste-respect as the other classes of society. Nay, they are often stricter in the observance of their caste rules than men of the higher classes. The Dher is a degree higher in the scale than the Bhangi, and is not a little proud of this superiority. He will on no account eat with the Bhangi, and they never intermarry. The Dhers place great faith in the Kalki — a future incarnation of Vishnu — who is to appear on a E 50 MODERN INDIA. white horse with a flaming sword to take vengeance on unrighteous men, establish justice throughout the world, and restore the low castes to their proper position. Kalki, they say, is to marry a Dher woman, and the Dhers are then to take the place of the Brahmans. And I may here remark that the HindQism of the present day is by no means a system that exists for the Brahmans alone. It is no rigid unbending system of hard and fast lines. On the contrary it possesses great elasticity, and delights in compromises and compensations. If strict in some points it is lax in others ; if it gives power to one caste it gives power of a different kind, or at least some compensating advantage to another. The Bhangi, a man of the lowest caste in Gujarat, may be despised by a few arrogant Brahmans of the type described in Manu's Law-book. His touch, shadow, and very look may be avoided ; yet the Bhangi has his hour of triumph, if not of revenge. The Brahman is omnipotent during the day ; his blessing makes rich, and his curse withers ; but the moment the sun goes down, and darkness sets in, the Brahman becomes power- less for good or evil. The tables are then turned, and the power of the Bhangi of Gujarat begins. This is, curiously enough, displayed in some supposed command over the fords of rivers. No Gujarat Brahman of the strictly orthodox school will cross a ford after sunset, until he has asked permission of a Bhangi. With regard to the general character of the rural popu- lation of Western India, I may state that an experienced military officer, for some time Surveyor-General of the Bombay Presidency, recorded, about fifty years ago, the impressions he formed in the course of a minute suivey of the country 1. At that time the villagers of every caste were found by him and his assistants to be ' simple ' See Lieut, -Colonel Monier William.^' ' Memoir of the Zilla of Broacli,' p. io8. In quoting my father's authority, I may mention that his expe- rience of India extended over twenty-four years of unbroken active service. CHARACTER OF THE VILLAGERS. 51 and temperate ' in their habits, ' quiet and peaceful ' in disposition, ' obedient and faithful' in the fulfilment of duty. It was believed that they ' had the advantage of Europeans of the same class, not only in propriety of manners, but in the practice of moral virtues.' They had ' no conspicuous vices.' The affection and tender- ness of parents was returned by the ' habitual dutifulness of their children.' Hospitality towards strangers ' was carefully observed.' Everywhere throughout the country ' there was charity without ostentation.' No beggars were to be seen ' except those who were religious men- dicants by profession.' Though there was no poor law, ' the indigent and diseased were always provided for by the internal village arrangements.' There was every- where such mutual confidence that ' no written documents in transactions involving money payments were required.' The cultivators paid their rents and took no receipts. Money and valuables were deposited ' without any other security than the accounts of the parties.' On a par- ticular occasion at an immense religious fair on the banks of the Narbada, two hundred thousand people were col- lected, yet there was 'no rioting, no quarrelling, no drunkenness nor disorder of any kind.' All were intent on their religious duties. The oflScers employed on the survey had ' no other guard but the village watchmen,' yet no robbery was committed, nor was the smallest article €ver pilfered from the tents. I cannot think that much change has passed over the people since this favourable impression made by their behaviour and general character fifty years ago. It is true that they now often appear in a very different light to their rulers. In our courts of justice they are con- stantly guilty of gross deception. But it seems doubtful whether Europeans would be very different in their atti- tude towards state oflicials under similar circumstances. Here in England a large number of people see no im- propriety in evading the taxes, breaking the laws, and E 7. 53 MODERN INDIA. deceiving the police. In point of fact we are apt to judge the natives of India by the character they present to their foreign rulers, rather than by that they bear towards each other in their own homes. The same men who in our courts of law have no idea of the duty of truth will in their own Panchayats settle disputes with erfect fairness. As to the little village of Khatraj, which I have al- ready mentioned as visited by me soon after my arrival in India, I found its inhabitants living in a collection of little better than mud huts and sheds, whose dilapidated walls looted as if they would revert to their primitive alluvium under the first heavy downpour of rain. All Indian agricultural labour depends on the ox, and much of the food of the peasantry comes from cows and bufialoes in the shape of milk and butter. Hence in Khatraj yards for cattle are interspersed everywhere with the mud tene- ments of the inhabitants. Men, women, children, cows, oxen, and buffaloes are huddled together in intimate com- munion and fellowship, amid dirt, dust, and strong smells of asafcetida and turmeric. One curious feature in this village, as in most of the others I afterwards visited, was^ that the walls of the dwellings were daubed with nasty-looking circular cakesj which looked like confections of mud and clay mixed with pieces of chopped straw. At first I was tempted to suppose that the children of the peasantry were addicted to the mischievous amusement of pelting the sides of their houses with dirt pies, which no one took the trouble to remove. But I found on inquiry that the whole fuel of the village is annually prepared and stowed away, by first kneading the excretions of the cattle into cakes, and then plastering them on the walls, where they are left to bake in the hot sun. It certainly strikes one as re- markable, and much to be regretted, that what ought to be devoted to the nourishment of the soil should be diverted from its proper use, and made to serve as aa aliment for fire. VILLAGE OF KHATRAJ. 53 Let no one, however, imagine that all was dirt, dilapida- tion, confusion, and disorder in this typical little village of Khatraj. On the contrary, I found an organized society subsisting harmoniously and in comfort on the produce of the village lands. The plan of the village is very simple. It has one main irregular street crossed by two or three side alleys. Near the centre is an open space, on one side of which is a very primitive town-hall, consisting of a square plot of ground not bigger than the area of a small room, slightly elevated and protected above by a rough roof, supported by rude columns. The structure, though unimposingj obeys the usual law of adaptation found to prevail everywhere throughout the habitable globe. The thick roof is com- pletely sun-proof, and the four open sides admit, as they ought to do, all the winds of heaven. Here, on all needful occasions, the village Panchayat sits in dignified and comfortable coolness, if not in state and ceremony, the head-man of course presiding. In some smaller villages a cleared space under a large tree is the only meeting-place, and its foliage the only shelter from sun and rain. On the other side of the open space is another small raised platform of rough masonry, on which grow the Pipal tree and TulsT plant, the latter being held sacred as the favourite shrub of the god Vishnu. There is a space all round for reverent circumambulation, as per- formed every day by the women of the community. Furthermore, no vUlage in India is without its temple or temples, though they are of a very rude kind. At Khatraj there are two shrines — one to Siva (with his son Ganesa, ' lord of demons ') in his character of Father 01 all beings, the other to the local Mata or Mother (otherwise called Amba) of the village, generally identified by the Brahmans with some form of Siva's consort. But it must be observed that the village goddess (devi) has a special character and special name in every district and almost every village. In Khatraj she is called Khodiyar, or ^4 MODERN INDIA. ' Mischief,' because she is supposed, when in an amiable mood, to shield from harm. She will, however, equally cause harm, when her temper is ruffled by the slightest omission of any formula in the daily process of conciliating' her favour. Though euphemistically styled ' Mother,' she has little of a maternal character about her. She not unfrequently sends diseases. If cholera or small-pox break out in the village, the Mother is offended and must be appeased with additional offerings. She is sometimes re- presented by a rudely carved image, sometimes by a simple recumbent unworked stone. I soon discovered that the women of India are, like the women in other parts of the world, more regular in the performance of religious exercises than the men. But they are also far more bigoted, intolerant, and superstitious. In most places they confine their religion to a diligent worship of the Tulsl plant. At Khatraj, on the occasion of my visit, a woman was performing circum ambulation iypradalcsldna ^) round this sacred little shrub io8 times, her simple object being to secure long life for her husband, and a large family of sons for herself. The right shoulder must always be kept towards the object circumambulated, probably with the idea of following the sun's course. The men are, however, by no means deficient in the practice of religious duties. On the contrary, religion of some kind enters largely into their everyday life. Nay, it may even be said that religious ideas and aspirations — religious hopes and fears — are interwoven with the whole texture of their mental constitution. A clergjrman, who has resided nearly all his life in India, once remarked to me that he had seen many a poor Indian villager whose childlike trust in his god, and in the efficacy of his re- ligious observances — whose simplicity of character and practical application of the principles of his creed, put us Christians to shame. ' Pradakshina wa3 in all ILkeliliood originally connected "with Sun- worship. NATIVE TOWNS. MEHMOODABAD. ^$ I asked one of the Khatraj Brahmans to give me a specimen of his handwriting, or to write any sentence he liked best in the Sanskrit language. Thereupon he wrote as follows : Brahmdnandam parama-mTchadam kevalam jndna-murtim ekam nityam vimalam adalam sarva-dhi-sakshi- bhutam namdmi, that is (freely translated) : ' I bow down before the One God, who is the only existing Being — who is all joy and the giver of all joy, — who is all knowledge — who is eternal, stainless, unchangeable, present as a witness in all consciences.' Another Brahman, when asked to write his autograph, instead of his own name immediately wrote ' Bhagavate namah ' — ' Reverence to God.' Another complied with a similar request for his autograph by writing the sacred monosyllable ' Om ' — supposed to contain three letters symbolical of the three persons in the Hindu Triad of gods. So much for rural life in India. My next excursion was to the neighbouring towns of Mehmoodabad and Kaira. The name of the first (properly written Mahmud-abad^ the city of Mahmud) is an indi- cation that it was founded by a Musalman ruler. The latter is a mere corruption of the Sanskrit kheda, or kheta, a town. More thoroughly Eastern towns could scarcely have been selected for a first introduction to Indian civic life. They are both small in area— especially Mehmoodabad — but densely populated. In the one case about fifteen thousand people, and in the other twenty thousand are packed together in spaces, which in England would not contain half that number. Of course self-government prevails in the native towns as well as in the rural communes. The native head of a township, corresponding to the head-man of a village, is called in some parts of India Nagar-sheth or Nagar-seth (from the Sanskrit Nagara-sreshthin). He has always a Panch or council under him, which in some parts of Western India is called, I believe, Majan (for Maha-jana). ^6 MODERN INDIA. Our Government is laudably endeavouring to establish municipal institutions on European principles everywhere throughout India, but even a town like Kaira is as yet not advanced enough to bear any form of self-government different from that which it has possessed from time im- memorial. Unhappily dirt and disease follow inevitably on over- crowding, and reassert themselves after every effort on the part of the proper authorities to keep them down. Hence both Mehmoodabad and Kaira are redolent with those peculiarly Eastern odours that arise from the absence of all drainage, and the abundant use of asal'oetida, and other pungent vegetable products. It is well known that the site of Eastern cities has been constantly shifted by despotic rulers, sometimes out of mere caprice, sometimes for the simple reason that each potentate has been ambitious of founding a city of his own. But a traveller has only to walk through a town like Kaira to understand that the expedient of removing whole popu- lations from one place to another has often been a matter of sheer necessity. It is frequently the only method of escaping the diseases engendered by malaria exhaling from a soil loaded with the noxious accumulations of centuries. Neither Mehmoodabad nor Kaira have a single Euro- pean habitation, with the exception of the Collector's official residence at the latter, occupied by him for three or four months every year. They are simply enlarged and improved editions of the village of Khatraj. Most of the narrow streets of the smaller town are mere lines of thatched-roofed mud cottages, often however orna- mented with wooden projections, the wood of which, under the chemical action of the sun's rays, becomes of a deep brown colour — not unlike that of some Indian complexions — and is often beautifully carved by village artists whose only tools are a hammer, a few rude chisels or rusty nails. Kaira — the larger and the more important town of the two — is encircled by an old wall, and is still more remarkable for NATIVE TOWNS. KAIRA. 57 its beautiful wood carvings. It has also many loftier and better residences built of sun-baked bricks, some of which, notwithstanding, look as if they would tumble into ruins on very slight provocation. Here and there the walls of the houses have staring bright paintings representing animals — generally elephants or monkeys, or the grotesque figures of gods, heroes, and men, and not unfrequently well- known characters in the national epics, drawn with about as much artistic skill as might be expected from a Euro- pean village sign-board painter. The streets are constructed with some regularityj but are broken up at intervals by cattle-sheds. Not a pane of glass is to be seen in any part of the town. In the bazaars or streets of shops, all the houses have open recesses for shops — without the faintest approach to a glass-window — under projecting wooden eaves covered with cocoa-nut leaves or bamboos. In these recesses all kinds of curious indigenous commodities — notably strange sweetmeats and odd compounds of coarse sugar — are exposed for sale by their half-naked owners. Here^ too, artisans of an amusingly archaic type ply their occupations almost in the open air, while just as in villages, beasts and birds mix everywhere sociably, and on the best possible terms, with the inhabitants. Here and there sacred bulls are seen roaming at large about the streets, and insinuating themselves into any open door that takes their fancy. Happening to pass through the streets in the morning, I found nearly all the male population cleaning their teeth outside the doors of their houses. What struck me most forcibly was the number of temples, small shrines, and sacred trees. In every Eng- lish town — not excepting our ancient city of Oxford ^ — there is a public-house at every corner. Now, if for every public-house were substituted a temple or sacred object of some kind, an idea might be formed of the proportion ' I am told that in Oxford we have one public-house to every 98 persons. 58 MODERN INDIA. such objects bear to the other buildings of an ordinary native town. Of course many of these shrines are struc- tures of a rough and ready character — often merely niches in walls containing perhaps nothing but a shapeless stone- symbol or grotesque idol smeared with vermilion. Often there is no idol at all but a mere daub of red paint on a wall or old tree. But they are all consecrated places notwithstanding, and the offerings of worshippers are always to be found near them. At the very entrance to the town of Kaira there is a large temple dedicated to the great hero Rama's monkey- ally Hanuman. It consists of an extensive enclosure surrounded by a Dharma-sala or kind of cloister for the temporary accommodation of travellers. A rude image of the Ape-god smeared with vermilion — the sacred coloar common to this god and Ganesa — and surrounded with offerings of oil ^, occupies a central position under the principal shrine in the centre of the enclosure, while the image of the god Rama, Hanuman's master, is placed quite subordinately on one side. Between the two is a Dipa-mala or stone column for holding lamps arranged in circles, and lighted up on festival-days. Here also in the same enclosure is an image of Ganesa and the Lingam, or symbol of Siva, and a shrine to Sitala, the goddess of small-pox, sometimes identified with Kali or Durga, Siva's wife. If any one inquires into the meaning of this miscellaneous medley of gods collected together in one locality, he is sure to be told that they all represent different manifestations of one and the same Supreme Being. In the centre of the town, as at Khatraj, there is a quadrangular stone platform, on which are planted the Pipal tree and the Tulsl shrub — the former sacred to Brahma the Creator, the latter to Vishnu the Preserver — with a space all round for reverential circumambulation. ' These, I was told, were the remains of 80 manda of offerings of oil presented to the idol of Hanuman at a recent festival in his honour. NATIVE TOWNS. KAIRA. 59 In a neighbouring street is a temple containing an image of Vishnu as Vithoba. This is the form in which he is worshipped at Pandharpur in the Dekhan. The figure of the god is upright. It is quite black, and in a standing attitude with the arms akimbo. I saw that an offering of flowers and food had been recently presented. Incense was burning and two or three lamps were lighted before the image. The priest of the shrine was very obliging and ready to answer all my questions, though he declined at first to accede to my request that the door might be opened, giving as his reason that the god was in the act of taking his midday repast, and ought not to be disturbed. I visited another small shrine erected to the honour of a Sadhu or holy man, whose name I understood to be Parinama and who has no large number of followers. There was no image, but only an empty seat or throne (gadi). I was asked to take my shoes off before entering the sacred enclosure. In all Asiatic countries a man must uncover his feet, instead of his head, if he wishes to show respect. Passing other temples of less importance I emerged on an open piece of ground, where was a small public garden and a building used as a public library well stocked with standard English works. A sacred bull was reposing here close to a picturesque well. Here also was a small shrine erected over the ashes of a Sati, a faithful wife, who had burnt herself on this very spot with the corpse of her husband many years before. It contained nothing but a flat circular stone on which were her supposed footprints. Such shrines are revered as sacred by all sects and parties and are scattered over the whole of India, bearing witness to the former prevalence of a monstrous superstition, now happily abolished ^. ' It must not be supposed, however, that the practice was ever universal. Only an infinitesimally small proportion of the wives of India ever became Satis, and whenever a widow had children, her children saved her. 6o MODERN INDIA. And wliat of the twenty thousand inhabitants? The streets are alive with men, women, and children, and the dark recesses of the ground-floor shops are veritable hives. As I walked along I was followed by crowds of curious but respectful observers. They behaved with the utmost decorum, and, if they occasionally pressed upon me a little too closely, were all kept in check by two sepoys. By far the majority of the natives in Indian towns, even in times of plenty and prosperity, look half-fed and attenuated, and the old people quite emaciated. Here and there one is startled by the opposite extreme of abnormal obesity. A really fat Brahman is a very comical and by no means uncommon spectacle. In fact excessive leanness and its opposite may be studied physiologically to great advantage in India. Very few men are oppressed by a superfluity of clothing, while the children, up to six or seven years of age, run about as they came into the world, without a single encumbrance, except perhaps a necklace and a few bangles. The picturesque costumes of the better clothed — espe- cially as shown in the graceful folds of their long loose robes, and the variegated colours of their turbans — the glossy skins of nearly nude youthful figures, and their movements and attitudes in walking or standing, would have thrown a true artist into ecstacies of delight and admiration. As for the women, those that one sees in public are very seldom good-looking in any part of India; but nothing can equal the grace and charm of their attitudes and bearing when they go down in troops to the wells, carrying earthenware jars, or copper lotas for water on their heads. Their method of carrying their little children astride on their hips is not equally picturesque. Their dress, happily for their husbands, is very simple, for no such thing as fashion exists in India. Indeed it may safely be affirmed that there has been no change in the character of an Indian woman's apparel for 3000 years. ORNAMENTS AND JEWELRY. 6\ Their whole costume consists of two articles — a simple bodice fitting close to the chest, and one long cloth wound gracefully round the person, and often brought over the head. In the case of women of the higher classes, who are rarely seen in public except in the Maratha country, this long robe, which is called a sari, is at least ten yards long and often of very costly material. Nevertheless what the husband gains by the simplicity of his wife's taste in the matter of her two garments, is more than counter- balanced by her penchant for expensive jewelry. And here I may observe that notwithstanding the ap- parent povei-ty of the common people of India, they are rarely poor to the point of discomfort. Thanks to the climate they have few wants, and are very thrifty. How- ever small the weekly earnings, a little money is sure to be saved, and that little is never wasted on strong drinks. Instead, however, of being laid by as it ought to be, in the Post-office Savings Bank, it is generally invested in jewelry for the adornment of the women and children of the family. Certainly, after looking at Indian females, whether old or young — their arms, legs, fingers, and toes covered with bangles and rings, generally made of silver and not seldom of gold — it is difficult to believe in the poverty, much less in the alleged bankruptcy of India. Scarcely a woman of the poorest families is without a nose-ring in one nostril, and many of the better classes have also necklaces and earrings. Sometimes the nasal organ is decorated with a small circlet of five or six pearls set in gold, with an emerald in the centre. I once saw a woman who lived in a mud cottage, and earned ao rupees a month as nurse. She had a double row of chased gold beads round her neck. Her nose-ring had six fine pearls, but she had not yet saved enough money for the central emerald, which is sure to be procured and duly inserted a few years hence. Again when I was at Ahmedabad, I was invited into the house of a man who has a large family, and who has been earning about j^ioo a year as a Government servant for 62 MODERN INDIA. many years. He took me into a private room, opened a deal box in the corner and displayed the jewels worn by his wife and children on festive occasions. I believe I am under the mark when I say that they might have Ijeen sold in England for at least .^'1500. So also one has only to go to a railway station when a local train comes in to see an almost incredible amount of jewelry in the third class carriages. Men and women are packed like sheep, the sexes being kept separate, but scarcely a woman, except the very poorest, is without a nose-ring in one nostril, or an earring in one ear, or gold or silver ornaments of some kind. Again we were one day taken by the Collector of Kaira's wife to a girls' school. My companions were ladies who inspected it closely. They informed me that 35 girls were assembled in the class-room awaiting their arrival with six women superintendants. All the girls, however poor, wore ornaments of some sort or other, and two or three tiny children of three or four years of age, though wholly unencumbered with clothing, were literally bowed down by the weight of thick bracelets, necklaces, and ankle-rings. A few, only of the poorest, had necklaces and ornaments made of straw. The teachers, too, were profusely de- corated, only one poor widow in sombre attire, and undecorated by a single ornament, stood aloof as if apologizing for being present in the room, or indeed for being present in the world at all. The children sang a song in melancholy tones, moving- round and clapping their hands. Some read and answered questions in Gujarat!. Others showed their needlework and coarse embroidery. As to the boys' schools in towns like Mehmoodabad and Kaira, they are often conducted by native schoolmasters in the open air. We passed one consisting of about forty children. The boys were repeating or rather screaming out the multiplication table up to a hundred times a hun- dred with wonderful energy, and kept time together with BOYS' AND GIRLS' SCHOOLS. 6^ such accuracy, that their comhined voices made a piercing roar. I found that most of the bigger boys could read books in the Gujai-ati character with ease and fluency. Of course the teaching of girls, whenever any teaching is given at all either at school or at home^ cannot be carried on beyond the age of eleven. At that age they all begin domestic duties in their husband's homes. Most of the evils, religious, moral, and physical, under which India is still sufiFeringj are due to early marriages and the ignorance of its female population. In 1874-73 British India had only 5700 girls receiving public education. SAMADH, SACRIFICE, SELF-IMMOLATION, AND SELF-TORTURE Kaira Districts, 1876. A EEMAEKABLE attempt at achieving a kind of canon- ization or saintship, by the accomplishment of an apparent Samadh, occurred in the district of Kaira in Gujarat, pre- sided over by Mr. Frederick Sheppard, the energetic Col- lector in whose camp I stayed on my first arrival in India. A brief account of the circumstances attending the dis- covery and interruption of the attempt may be acceptable to an increasing class of readers who take an interest in the various phases and peculiarities of Indian religious life. I propose, therefore, to introduce the narrative by a few remarks about sacrifice, immolation, and self-torture, all ot which were once common in India. In what may be called the Brahmanical period, which succeeded the Vedic period of Hinduism, human sacrifice must have prevailed among the Brahmanical races. This is sufficiently evident from the story of ^uuahsepha in the Aitareya-brahmana. It is even believed by many that the sects called Saktas (or Tantrikas) formerly ate portions of the flesh and drank the blood of the victims sacrificed at their secret orgies. Among the wild Hill tribes and pri- mitive races of India, the chief idea of religion has been the necessity of appeasing the malice of malignant beings by oblations of blood, and on occasions of great emergency by the outpouring of human blood. Their gods thirsted for blood and preferred that of men, while that of children KANDHS OR KONDHS. 65 was an irresistible delicacy certain to put them in the best of humours. Very little more than thirty years has elapsed since the suppression of human sacrifices among the Kandhs (often written Kondhs or Khonds), an aboriginal tribe of Orissa. Their terrible Earth-god was supposed to send famines and pestilences unless propitiated by blood. Ac- cording to Dr. Hunter (Statistics of Bengal, xix. 235) ' the victims were of either sex, and generally of tender age. The detestable office of providing them formed a hereditary privilege of the Pans, one of the alien low castes attached to the Kandh villages. Procurers of this class yearly sallied forth into the plains, and bought up a herd of promising boys and girls from the poorer Hindus. Some- times they kidnapped their prey ; and each Kandh district kept a stock of victims in reserve, " to meet sudden de- mands for atonement." Brahmans and Kandhs were the only races whose purity exempted them from sacrifice, and a rule came down from remote antiquity that the victim must he lougJit with a price. ' After a village had purchased a victim, it treated him with much kindness, regarding him as a consecrated being, eagerly welcomed at every threshold. If a child, he en- joyed perfect liberty ; but if an adult, the chief of the village kept him in his own house, and fed him well, but fettered him so that he could not escaped When the time of atonement had come, the Kandhs spent two days in feasting and riot ; on the third they offered up the victim, shouting as the first blood fell to the ground. " We bought you with a price ; no sin rests with us." ' Our Government, by Act XXI of 1845, entirely sup- pressed these horrible sacrifices, and established a special agency for enforcing obedience to the order for their abolition. Human sacrifices were offered in the city of Saugor during the whole of the Maratha Government ' A similar practice of feeding, fattening, and petting consecrated human victims prevailed, I believe, in Mexico. V 66 MODERN INDIA. up to the year 1800, when they were put a stop to by the local native Governorj a very humane man. ' I once heard,' writes Colonel Sleeman, ' a very learned Brahman priest say that he thought the decline of the Governor's family arose from this innovation. " There is," said he, " no sin in not offering human sacrifices to the gods where none have ever been offered ; but where the gods have been accustomed to them, they are very naturally annoyed when the rite is abolished, and visit the place and people with all kinds of calamities." ' Human sacrifices, however, were probably rare among the purely Aryan races, while the sacrifice of animals be- came universal. The first idea of sacrifice of any kind— whether of grain, fruits, or animals — seems to have been that of supplying the deities with nourishment. Gods and men all feasted together. Then succeeded the notion of the need of vicarious suffering, or life for life, blood for blood. Some deities were believed to thirst for human blood, and the blood of animals was substituted for that of men. One of the effects of Buddhism was to cause a rapid diminution of animal sacrifice. It is now rarely seen, except at the altars of the fierce goddess of de- struction (Kali), or of forms and near relations of Kali (such as the Grdma-devatds, ' village deities,' and Mdtds, ' village mothers,') and at the altars of the tutelary deity Ayenar, and at devil-shrines in the South. I myself saw very few animals sacrificed even to the bloody god- desses, though I took pains to visit them on the proper days. Other forms of immolation were once common in India. The Thugs (properly written Thags) maintained that they sacrificed their victims to the goddess Kali. Now that Thuggism has been suppressed by us, a good deal of datura-poisoning is practised by the same class of people. Not long ago, an old man and his son were poisoned by a gang of these poisoners for the sake of a new blanket which the old man had purchased and im- THUGGISM. JAGAN-NATH. 67 prudently hung on a tree near his hut. The gang ap- peared to be travellers, and effected their object by making friends with him, cooking their dinner near him, and giving him a portion previously poisoned for his own use. The killing of female infants once prevailed extensively in the Panjab and Rajputana, owing to the difficulty of providing daughters with suitable husbands and the im- mense expenses entailed by nuptial festivities. Through our instrumentality the practice has now been discon- tinued, or if rare cases of female infanticide occur, they are perpetrated with great secrecy. Again, in former days, self-immolation was common. Many fanatical pilgrims, while labouring under violent excitement amounting to religious frenzy, immolated them- selves at the festivals of the God Siva (the proper god of destruction), and even at the great car-festivals {ratha- ydtra) of the god Vishnu, voluntarily throwing them- selves under the enormous wheels not only of the car of Jagan-nath (Krishna or Vishnu, as ' lord and preserver of the world'), at Puri in Orissa, but of other similar idol-cars also. I found such cars attached to every large Vishnu pagoda in the South of India. They are supposed to typify the moving active world over which the god presides, and the friezes of grotesque sculptures, one under the other, with which they are covered, exhibit the world's good and bad, pure and impure characters in disgustingly in- congruous juxtaposition. Some of them are so large and heavy that they require to be supported on sixteen wheels, and on a particular day, once a year, they are drawn through the streets by thousands of people. Every now and then persons are crushed under the wheels ; for a rather unexpected consequence of our civilisation has been to increase religious gatherings among the natives by creating facilities of communication, and the best govern- ment cannot always prevent accidents. 68 MODERN INDIA. Indeed, if the Orissa devotees are true to their own creed, ' accidental death ' ought to be the formal verdict in every case of seeming suicide at Purl. For nothing, in fact, is more abhorrent to the principles of all Vishnu- worship than the infliction of any kind of death on the most insignificant animal, and to die by one's ovpn hand is a form of destruction to be shrunk from by a true Vaishnava with the most intense religious horror. The Jagan-nath festival, writes Dr. W. W. Hunter, in the 19th volume of his Statistical Account of Bengal (p. 59) \ ' takes place according as the Hindu months fall, in June or July, and for weeks beforehand pilgrims come trooping into Puri by thousands every day. The whole district is in a ferment. The great car is forty-five feet in height. This vast structure is supported on sixteen wheels of seven feet diameter, and is thirty-five feet square. The brother and sister of Jagan-nath have separate cars a few feet smaller. When the sacred images are at lengtli brought forth and placed upon their chariots, thousands fall on their knees and bow their foreheads in the dust. The vast multitude shouts with one throat, and, surging backwards and forwards, drags the wheeled edifices down the broad street towards the country-house of the world's lord (Jagan-nath). Music strikes up before and behind, drums beat, cymbals clash, the priests harangue from the cars, or shout a sort of fescennine medley, enlivened with broad allusions and coarse gestures, which are received with roars of laughter from the crowd. And so the dense mass struggles forward by convulsive jerks, tugging and sweating, shouting and jumping, singing and praying. The distance from the temple to the country-house is less than a mile ; but the wheels sink deep into the sand, and the journey takes several days. After hours of severe toil and wild excitement in the July tropical sun, a re- action necessarily follows. The zeal of the pilgrims flags before the garden-house is reached ; and the cars, deserted ' In twenty volumes, just published by Messrs. Triibner and Co. JAGAN-NATH. 69 by the devotees^ are dragged along by tbe professional pullers with deep-drawn grunts and 'groans. These men, 4200 in number, are peasants from the neighbouring Fiscal Divisions, who generally manage to live at free quarters in Puri during the festival. ' Once arrived at the country-house, the enthusiasm subsides. The pilgrims drop exhausted upon the burning sand of the sacred street, or block up the lanes with their prostrate bodies. When they have slept off their excite- ment, they rise refreshed and ready for another of the strong religious stimulants of the season. The world's lord is left to get back to his temple as best he can ; and in the quaint words of a writer half a century ago, but for the professional car-pullers, the god " would infallibly stick" at his country-house, ' In a closely-packed eager throng of a hundred thousand men and women, many of them unaccustomed to exposure or hard labour, and all of them tugging and straining to the utmost under the blazing tropical sun, deaths must occasionally occur. There have, doubtless, been instances of pilgrims throwing themselves under the wheels in a frenzy of religious excitement ; but such instances have always been rare, and are now unknown. At one time several unhappy people were killed or injured every year, but they were almost invariably cases of accidental tramp- ling. The few suicides that did occur were, for the most part, cases of diseased and miserable objects, who took this means to put themselves out of pain. The official returns now place this beyond doubt. Nothing, indeed, could be more opposed to the spirit of Vishnu -worship than self- immolation. Accidental death within the temple renders the whole place unclean. The ritual suddenly stops, and the polluted offerings are hurried away from the sight of the offended god. According to Caitanya, the apostle of Jagan-nath, the destruction of the least of God's creatures is a sin against the Creator. Self-immolation he would have regarded with horror.' 70 MODERN INDIA. Self-immolation, in other ways, was once extensively prevalent. Arrian, it is well known, describes how, in the time of Alexander the Great, a man named Kalanos — one of a sect of Indian wise men who went naked — burned himself upon a pile. This description is like that of the self-cremation of the ascetic Sarabhanga in Rainayana, iii. 9. Cicero alludes to it in a celebrated passage : ' Est profecto quiddam etiam in barbaris gen- tibus praesentiens atque divinans : siquidem ad mortem profieiseens Calanus Indus, cum adscenderet in rogum ardentem; O praeclarum discessum, inquit, e vit&.' (De Divin. i. 33.) There are some sand-hills in the Satpura range dedi- cated to Mahadeva — supposed, as Mahakala, to preside over destruction. From a rock on these hills many youths have precipitated themselves, because their mothers, being child- less, have dedicated their first-born sons to the god. According to Col. Sleeman, ' when a woman is without children, she makes votive offerings to all the gods who can, she thinks, assist her ; and promises of still greater offerings in case they should grant what she wants. Smaller promises being found of no avail, she at last promises her first-born, if a male, to the god of de- struction, Mahadeva (Siva). If she gets a son, she con- ceals from him her vow till he has attained the age of puberty ; she then communicates it to him, and enjoins him to fulfil it. He believes it to be his paramount duty to obey his mother's call; and from that moment considers himself as devoted to the god. Without breath- ing to any living soul a syllable of what she has told him, he puts on the habit of a pilgrim or religious men- dicant, visits all the celebrated temples dedicated to this god in different parts of India ; and at the annual fair on the Mahadeva hills, throws himself from a perpen- dicular height of four or five hundred feet, and is dashed to pieces on the rocks below. If the youth does not feel himself quite prepared for the sacrifice on the first BHRIGU-PATA. SATl. 71 visit, he spends another year in pilgrimages, and returns to fulfil his mother's vow at the next fair. Some have, I believe, been known to postpone the sacrifice to a third fair; but the interval is always spent in painful pilgrim- ages to the celebrated temples of the god ^.' This mode of suicide is called Bhrigu-pata, ' throwing one's-self from a precipice.' It was once equally common at the rock of Girnar, in Kathiawar, and has only recently been prohibited. We have made great efforts to put a stop to these horrors by doing away with the fair. On one occasion our efforts were assisted by the cholera, which broke out among the multitude. This visitation was considered by the people as an intimation on the part of the god that they ought to have been more attentive to the wishes of the white men. It is noteworthy that Mahadeva is the only Hindu god represented of a fair colour — probably from his connection with the Snowy Mountains. With regard to the immolation of the faithful wife, commonly called Sutee ( = Sanskrit Satt) who followed her husband in death, and burned herself on his funeral pile, everywhere in India I saw, scattered about in various places, monuments erected over the ashes of Satis, and everywhere such monuments (often enshrining the sup- posed footprints of the faithful wife) are still regarded with the greatest veneration by the people. Sometimes the poor women in their horror of burning have submitted to the alternative of being buried alive with their husbands. The practice of SatI was for a long period thought to be so intimately connected with the religious belief of the Hindus, that our Government did not venture to put a stop to it. It was known to be enjoined in certain comparatively modern Indian codes, and for some time it was not discovered that the fanatical Brahmans, to obtain the requisite authority for insisting on the continual observance of the rite, had permitted the ' Sleeman's 'Eambles and Recollections,' p. 133. 72 MODERN INDIA. fraudulent substitution of the words agneh, ' of fire,' for agre, ' first/ at the end of the Rig-veda text (X. 18. 7), thus translatable : ' without tears, without sorrow, be- decked with jewelsj let the wives go up to the altar first: Our Government prohibited the burning of any widow except under strict regulations, and except with her own full consent ; but, in consequence of our half-sanction, the number of widows actually returned as burnt in Bengal rose in one year to 839, while in other years the average was 500. In Lord Amherst's time the seven European functionaries in charge of the seven newly- acquired dis- tricts, one and all declared against the abolition of widow- burning, and such great authorities as Colebrooke and H. H. Wilson were against interference. Yet under Lord William Bentinck's administration a law was passed in 1839 (Reg. XVII) which suppressed the practice with entire success, and without difficulty or disturbance of any kind, notwithstanding all the bigotry, fanaticism, and pre- judice brought to bear in opposition to the measure. We have also prevented the burying alive of lepers, and others afflicted with incurable diseases, which was once universally prevalent in the Panjab, and common in some other parts of India. Of course leprosy in India, as in other Eastern countries, is a kind of living death. Lepers are excluded from society, and can find no employment. They often gave tliemselves up of their own accord to be buried alive, the motive simply being a desire to be released from physical suffering. This burying one's self alive is called performing Sa- madh ( = Sanskrit SamfuUii). The word properly means intense concentration of the thoughts on some holy object, or a temporary suspension of all connexion between soul and body by religious abstraction. The tomb of a Sannyasi, or holy Brahman, who has given up all worldly connexions and abandoned caste- BURYING ALIVE AND DROWNING. 73 obligations^ is also called a Samadh ( = SamddM). A holy man of this kind is never burnt, but buried ; and his entombed body is supposed to lie for centuries in the Samadh trance. Such tombs are often great places of pilgrimage, resorted to by thousands from all parts of India. Colonel Sleeman (in his ' Rambles and Recollections,' p. 345) describes how he once knew a very respectable Hindu gentleman who came to the river Narbada, at- tended by a large retinue, to perform a kind of water Samadh, in consequence of an incurable disease under which he laboured. After taking leave of his family, he entered a boat, which conveyed him to the deepest part of the river. He then loaded himself with sand, and, stepping into the water, disappeared. Self-immolation by drowning was once very common at Benares. Bishop Heber describes how many scores ot pilgrims from all parts of India came to Benares every year expressly to end their days and secure their salva- tion. They purchased two large pots, between which they tied themselves. Thus equipped they paddled into the stream, the empty pots supporting their weight. Then they proceeded to fill the pots with the water which surrounded them, and in this manner sank into eternity. The British Government in the Bishop's time had not succeeded in suppressing the practice. Indeed, when a man has travelled several hundred miles to drown himself, it is never very likely that a police-officer will be able to prevent him. I now come to the remarkable fact that two attempts at Samadh have occurred in the Collector of Kaira's dis- trict quite recently. A certain devotee announced his intention of adopting this extraordinary method of se- curing perfect abstraction and beatitude, and was actually buried alive in the neighbourhood of a village. His friends were detected by the villagers in pouring milk down a hollow bamboo, which had been arranged to supply the 74 MODERN INDIA. buried man with air and food. The bamboo was removed, and the interred man was found dead when his friends opened the grave shortly afterwards. The other attempt is still more recent, and I here g^ve Mr. Sheppard's own account of it almost in his own words : ' As I was shooting near my camp one evening, a mounted orderly came up with the news that a Bhat had performed Samadh that afternoon in a neighbouring village, and that there was much consequent excitement there. Not having a horse with me, I directed the or- derly to ride off to the village (picking up my police escort as he passed through my camp), to dig up the buried man, and to take into custody any persons who might endeavour to oppose the execution of my orders. ' On returning to my camp, I ordered the apprehension of all those who had assisted in the Samadh ; and soon afterwards received a report that the man had been actually buried in a vault in his own house, but had been taken out alive. He was, however, very weak, and died the following morning. It was then reported to me that the limbs, though cold, had not stiffened ; and the people, ready as of old to be deceived, and always inclined to attribute the smallest departure from the ordinary course of events to supernatural agency, declared that the Bhat was not dead, but lying in the Samadh trance. There was, however, no pulse ; and as it was clear that, even if the supposition of the villagers was correct, medical treatment would be desirable, I sent the body in a cart to the nearest dispensary, distant some six or seven miles, and in due time received a certificate of death from the hospital assistant in charge of that institution, together with a report of a po^st-mortem examination of the body, which showed that death had resulted from heart-disease. ' ]\Ieanwhile I visited the village and ascertained the following facts : — ' The deceased was a man in fairly comfortable circum- stances, and with some religious pretensions. It was well SAMADH. 75 known that he aspired to a still higher reputation for sanctity, and that with this view he had for several months been contemplating Samadh. The proper date for this rite had been finally settled after many solemn ceremonies, and the due observance of fasting, prayer, and charity. ' On the afternoon fixed for the Samadh he assembled the villagers, and told them that it had been imparted to him in a vision that the Deity required him to pass six weeks in religious abstraction, and that he felt compelled to obey the Divine command, and to remain in the vault prepared for him during that period. He then produced and worshipped a small earthen vessel containing the sacred TulsT plant, and afterwards carefully planted therein twenty grains of barley, telling the villagers to watch for their growth, as it had been revealed to him that the grains represented his life. If, at the end of the six weeks, the grains had sprouted, the villagers were to understand that the Bhat was still alive. He was then to be removed from the vault, and worshipped as a saint. If, on the other hand, germination had not taken place, they were to understand that the Bhat was dead also, and the vault was in that case to be permanently bricked up, and the Tulsi planted over the grave. ' After giving these directions, the devotee recited some Mantras and entered the vault, bidding farewell to the world, and declaring his belief that his life would be miraculously preserved. The vault was then roofed over with boards, and plastered thickly with mud. About two hours after this event, he was removed from the vault by the police under my orders, and placed in the verandah, the house itself being locked up. ' After ascertaining the above particulars, I caused the house to be opened, and then discovered that a gross attempt at imposture had been practised. The grave was about three feet deep, being a hole dug in the floor of the inner room of the house. The wall of the room formed 76 MODERN INDIA. one side of the vault. The roof over the latter was a clumsy structure, and had been partly demolished to allow of the removal of the devotee. As usual in India, the only light admitted to the room was through the door, and the unsubstantial nature of the roof was not likely to attract the attention of the villagers. But I satisfied myself that the occupant of the vault might, with great ease, have demolished the covering which was supposed to shut him off from the world. ' The vault itself was of course dark. I entered it in order to ascertain how much space had been allotted to the occupant. I found therein the rosary of the deceased, and the chaplet of flowers which he had worn before his self-immolation. There was sufficient room for me to sit in tolerable comfort. On one side of the vault I felt a small wooden plank apparently let into the wall, and on obtaining a light I found that a trap-door about a foot square had been ingeniously contrived to communicate with the other room of the house. The trap-door was so hung as to open inwards towards the vault, at the pleasure of the inmate. On going into the outer room, into which communication had thus been opened, I found that a row of the large earthen jars, which Horace would have called ampJiorm, and which are used in India to store grain, had been arranged against the wall. The trap-door into the vault was effectually concealed by them, and the supply of air, food, and water to the impostor within thus cleverly provided for. The arrangement was neatly contrived, and was not likely to have attracted suspicion. Had the Bhat been a strong man, and in good health, he might, without any danger to life, and with only a minimum of discomfort, have emerged triumphantly after his six weeks' Samadh, and have earned a wide reputation. But the excitement and fasting were too much for him.' As to the practice of self-torture this cannot be entirely prevented by our Government, but is rapidly dying out. Formerly it was possible for devotees, — with the object samAdh. self-torture. 77 of exciting admiration or extorting- alms, or under the delusion that their self-torture was an act of religious merit, — to swing- in the air attached to a lofty pole by means of a rope and hook passed through the muscles of the back. Such self-inflicted mutilation is now pro- hibited. Yet, even in the present day, to acquire a reputation for sanctity, or to receive homage and offerings from the multitude, or under the idea of accumulating a store of merit, all sorts of bodily sufferings, penances, and austeri- ties, even to virtual suicide, are undergone — ^the latter being sometimes actually perpetrated out of mere revenge, as its consequences are supposed to fall on the enemy whose action has driven the deceased to self-immolation. Three Brahmans in a native State, who had their daughters forced from them by Muhammadans beyond the reach of justice, complained to the governor of the province ; but finding no redress, they all swallowed poison and died at the door of his tent. The practice of sitting in Dharna was once common, but was made punishable by Reg. VII. 1820. It was thus performed: — A person who wished to compel pay- ment of a debt due to him, sat at the door of a debtor's house and observed a strict fast. If he died from want of food, the consequences of his death were supposed to fall on the debtor, and if the person sitting was a Brah- man, the terrible guilt of Brahmanicide was believed to be incurred. I saw a man not long since at Allahabad, who has sat in one position for fifty years on a stone pedestal exposed to sun, wind, and rain. He never moves except once a day, when his attendants lead him to the Ganges. He is an object of worship to thousands, and even high-caste Brahmans pay him homage. I saw two Urdhva-bahus — one at Gaya and the other at Benares — that is, devotees who hold their arms with clenched fists above their heads for years, until they be- 78 MODERN INDIA. come shrivelled and the finger-nails penetrate through the back of the hands. Another man was prostrating himself and measuring every inch of the ground with his body round the hill of Govardhan when I passed. He probably intended con- tinuing the painful process till he had completed a circuit of twenty miles one hundred and eight times. In most of the cases I have described, the laudable humanity of our Government in endeavouring to preserve human life has given rise to fresh evils and difiiculties. In the first place, population is increasing upon us in a degree which threatens to become wholly unmanageable. Then widows never marry again ; not even if their boy- husbands die, leaving them widows at the age of six. A woman is supposed to be sacramentally united to one husband, and belongs to him for ever. Every town, every village, almost every house, is full of widows who are debarred from all amusements, and, if childless, converted into household drudges. They often lead bad lives. Their life, like that of the lepers, is a kind of living death, and they would often cheerfully give themselves up to be burned alive if the law would let them. The spirit of Sati still survives. Only the other day in Nepal, where our supremacy is barely recognized, the widows of Sir Jung Bahadur became SatiSj and burned themselves with their husband. Then, again, the increase in the number of girls who cannot find suitable husbands is now causing much em- barrassment in some districts. Even the lepers, whose lives we preserve, involve us in peculiar difiBculties. These unfortunate creatures often roam about the country, ex- acting food from the people by threatening to touch their children. Here and there we have built leper-villages — rows of cottages under trees devoted to their use ; and we make the towns contribute from local funds to support them, while charity ekes out the miserable pittance they receive. FRESH EVILS FROM OUR PHILANTHROPY. 79 Yet notwitlistanding all the fresh evils which our phil- anthropic efforts have introduced into the country, no one will, I think, dispute my assertion when I maintain that the suppression of Samadhs, human sacrifices, self- immolations, and self-tortures are among the greatest blessings which India has hitherto received from her English rulers. THE TOWERS OF SILENCE, AND THE PARSI RELIGION. The Parsis are descendants of the ancient Persians who were expelled from Persia by the Muhammadan conquerors, and who first settled at Surat between eleven and twelve hundred years ago. According to the last census they do not number more than 70,000 souls, of whom about 50,000 are found in the city of Bombay, the remaining 20,000 in different parts of India, but chiefly in Gujarat and the Bombay Presidency. Though a mere drop in the ocean of 241 million inhabitants, they form a most important and influential body of men, emulating Europeans in energy and enterprize, rivalling them in opulence, and imitating them in many of their habits. Their vernacular language is GujaratI, but nearly every adult speaks English with fluency, and English is now taught in all their schools. Their Benevolent Institution for the education of at least 1,000 boys and girls is in a noble building, and is a model of good management. Their religion, as delivered in its original purity by their prophet Zoroaster, and as pro- pounded in the Zand-Avasta, is monotheistic, or, perhaps, rather pantheistic, in spite of its philosophical dualism, and in spite of the apparent worship of fire and the ele- ments, regarded as visible representations of the Deity. Its morality is summed up in tliree precepts of two words each — 'good thoughts,'' 'good words,' 'good deeds;' of which the Pars! is constantly reminded by the triple coil of his white cotton girdle. In its origin the Parsi system is closely allied to that of the Hindu Aryans — as repre- THE TOWERS OF SILENCE. 8 1 sented in the Veda — and has much in common with the more recent Brahmanism. Neither religion can make proselytes. A man must be born a Brahman or Parsi ; no power can convert him into either one or the other. One notable pe- culiarity, however, distinguishes Parslism. Nothing similar to its funeral rites prevails among other nations ; though the practice of exposing bodies on the tops of rocks is said to prevail among the Buddhists of Bhotan. And truly among the interesting contrasts which every- where meet the eye of an observant European traveller, when he first arrives at Bombay, may especially be noted the different methods adopted by the adherents of different creeds for the disposal of their dead. There in Bombay one may see, within a short distance of each other, the Christian cemetery, the Muhammadan graveyard, the Hindu burning-ground, and the Parsi Dakhmas, or Towers of Silence. These latter are erected in a garden, on the highest point of Malabar Hill — a beautiful rising ground on the north side of Back Bay, noted for the bungalows and compounds of the European and wealthier inhabitants of Bombay scattered in every direction over its surface. The garden is approached by a well-constructed private road, all access to which, except to Parsis, is barred by strong iron gates. I obtained leave to visit the Towers on two different occasions, and thanks to the omnipotent Sir Jamsetjee, no obstacles impeded my advance. Each time I made my appearance before the massive gates they flew open before me as if by magic. I drove rapidly through a park-like enclosure, and found the courteous Secretary of the Parsi Panchayat, Mr. Nasarwanjee By- ramjee, awaiting my arrival at the entrance to the garden. On the occasion of my first visit he took me at once to the highest point in the consecrated ground, and we stood together on the terrace of the largest of the three Sdgris, or Houses of Prayer, which overlook the five Towers of 82 MODERN INDIA. Silence. These Sagrls are indispensable adjuncts to all ParsI burial-towers in large towns such as Bombay, Surat, and Poona, but are not found attached to them in less important localities. They are not only places of prayer, they are sanctuaries for the sacred fire, which, when once kindled and consecrated by solemn ceremonial, is fed day and night with incense and fragrant sandal by a priest appointed for the purpose, and never extinguished. It is noteworthy that the wall of the Bombay Sagri has an aperture or apertures, so arranged that the light streaming from the sacred fire, or from a consecrated oil- lamp, kept burning throughout the night, may pass through similar apertures in the parapets of the towers, and fall on the bodies lying in the interior. The view we enjoyed when standing near the principal Sagri can scarcely be surpassed by any in the world. Beneath us lay the city of Bombay, partially hidden by cocoanut groves, with its beautiful bay and harbour glittering in the briUiant December light. Beyond stretched the mag- nificent ranges of the ghauts, while immediately around us extended a garden, such as can only be seen in tropical countries. No Englith nobleman's garden could be better kept, and no pen could do justice to the glories of its Uowering shrubs, cypresses, and palms. It seemed the very ideal, not only of a place of sacred silence, but of peaceful rest. But what are those five circular structures which appear at intervals rising mysteriously out of the foliage ? They are masses of solid masonry, massive enough to last for centuries, built of the hardest black granite, and covered with white chunam, the purity and smoothness of which are disfigured by patches of black fungus-like incrusta- tions. Towers they scarcely deserve to be called ; for the height of each is quite out of proportion to its diameter. The largest of the five may be described as an upright cylindrical stone structure, in shape and so- lidity not unlike a gigantic millstone, about fourteen THE TOWERS OF SILENCE. 83 feet high and ninety feet in diameter, resting on the ground in the midst of the garden. It is built of solid granite, except in the centre, where a well, ten feet deep and about fifteen across, leads down to an excavation under the masonry, containing four drains at right angles to each other, terminated by holes filled with sand, or in some cases, with charcoal. Round the upper and outer edge of this circular structure, and completely hiding its upper surface from view, is a high stone parapet. This is constructed so as to seem to form one piece with the solid stone-work, and being, like it, covered with chunam, gives the whole erection, when viewed from the outside, the appearance of a low Tower. Clearly, one great object aimed at by the Parsis in the construc- tion of these strange depositories of their dead is solidity. We saw two or three enormous massive stones lying on the ground, which had been rejected by the builders simply because they contained almost invisible veins of quartz, through which it was possible that impure par- ticles might find their way, and be carried, in the course of centuries, by percolating moisture, into the soil. Earth, water, and fire are, according to Zoroaster, sacred symbols of the wisdom, goodness, and omnipotence of the Deity, and ought never, undei* any circumstances, to be defilud. Especially ought every efibrt to be made to protect Mother Earth from the pollution which would result if putrifying corpses were allowed to accumulate in the ground (J^an- diddd iii. 37). Hence the disciples of Zoroaster spare neither trouble nor expense in erecting solid and im- penetrable stone platforms fourteen feet thick for the re- ception of their dead. The cost of erection is greatly increased by the circumstance that the Towers ought always to be placed on high hills, or in the highest situations available [Fand. vi. 93). I was informed by the Secretary that the largest of the five Towers was constructed at an outlay of three lakhs (300,000) of rupees. G 1 84 MODERN INDIA. The oldest and smallest of the five was built 200 years ago, when the ParsTs first settled in Bombay, and is now only used by the Modi famil}', whose forefathers built it ; and here the bones of many kindred generations are com- mingled. The next oldest was erected in 1756, and the other three during the succeeding century. A sixth Tower stands quite apart from the others. It is square in shape, and only used for persons who have suffered death for heinous crimes. The bones of convicted criminals are never allowed to mingle with those of the rest of the community. But the strangest feature in these strange, unsightly structures, so incongruously intermixed with graceful cy- presses and palms, exquisite shrubs, and gorgeous flowers, remains to be described. Though wholly destitute of orna- ment, and even of the simplest moulding, the parapet of each Tower possesses an extraordinary coping, which in- stantly attracts and fascinates the gaze. It is a coping formed, not of dead stone, but of living vultures. These birds, on the occasion of my visit, had settled themselves side by side in perfect order, and in a complete circle around the parapets of the Towers, with their heads pointed inwards, and so lazily did they sit there and so motionless was their whole mien that, except for their colour, they might have been carved out of the stone-work. And now as to the interior of the Towers, the upper surface of the massive granite column is divided into com- partments by narrow grooved ridges of stone, radiating like the spokes of a wheel from the central well. These stone ridges form the sides of seventy-two shallow open receptacles or coffins, arranged in three concentric rings, the last of the three encircling the central well\ The ' I hear from Mr. Cursetjee Kustamjee Cama (who is a great authority on all points connected with his own religion) that all the Dakhmas have not seventy-two receptacles. Smaller towers have fewer receptacles. The number is not a fixed one, but depends on the needs of the place where a Dakhma is erected. THE TOWERS OF SILENCE. 85 ridges are grooved — that is, they have narrow channels running down their whole length, which channels are connected by side ducts with the open cofBns, so as to convey all moisture to the central well, and into the lower drains. The number three is emblematical of Zo- roaster's three moral precepts, ' Good thoughts, good words, and good deeds' (Tand. v. 67), and the seventy-two open stone receptacles represent the seventy-two chapters of his Yasna, a portion of the Zand-Avasta. Each concentric circle of open stone coffins has a path- way surrounding it, the object of which is to make each receptacle accessible to the corpse-bearers. Hence there are three concentric circular pathways, the outermost of which is immediately below the parapet, and these three pathways are crossed by another conducting from the solitary door which admits the corpse-bearers from the exterior, and which must face the east, to catch the rays of the rising sun. In the outermost circle of stone coffins, which stands for 'good deeds,' are placed the bodies of males ; in the middle, symbolizing ' good words/ those of females ; in the inner and smallest circle, nearest the well, representing ' good thoughts,' those of children. Each tower is consecrated with solemn religious cere- monies, and after its consecration no one, except the corpse -bearers — not even a high -priest — is allowed to enter, or to approach within thirty feet of the immediate precincts. The first funeral I witnessed was that of a child. While I was engaged in conversation with the Secretary outside the Fire-templcj a sudden stir among the vultures made us raise our heads. At least a hundred birds, collected round one of the Towers, began to shew symptoms of excitement, while others swooped down from neighbouring trees. The cause of this sudden abandonment of their previous apathy soon revealed itself. A funeral procession was seen to be approaching. However distant the house of a deceased person, and whether he be young or old, rich or poor, high 86 MODERN INDIA. or low in rank, his body is always carried to the Towers by the official corjjse-bearers, the mourners walking behind. The corpse-bearers are properly divided into two classes, named Nasn-salars and Khandhias. The former alone ai*e privileged to enter the Towers, but they are assisted in carrying the bier by the Khandhias, and they carry the dead bodies of little children without the aid of the Khandhias. As these Nasa-salars are supposed to contract impurity in the discharge of their duty, they are obliged to submit to certain social disadvantages. For instance, they are generally expected to eat apart from the rest of the com- munity at social gatherings ^. They enjo}', however, a compensating advantage in being highly paid for the work they have to do. Before they removed the body of the child from the house where its relatives were assembled, funeral prayeis were recited, and the eorp-e was exposed to the gaze of tlie sacred dog, to be afterwards described. Then the body, swathed in a white sheet, was placed on a curved metal trough ", open at both ends, and the corpse- bearers, dressed in pure white garments, proceeded with it towards the Towers. They were followed by the mourners at a distance of at least 30 feet, in pairs, also dressed in white, and each couple joined by holding a white handker- chief between them. AVhcn the two corpse-bearers reached the path leading by a steep incline to the door of the Tower, the mourners, about eight in number, turned back and entered one of the prayer houses. ' There,' said the Secre- tary, ' they repeat certain Gathas, and pray that the spirit of the deceased may lie safely transported on the fourth day after death to its final resting-place.' The Tower selected for the child's burial was one in ' My authority here is Mr. N. J. Eatnrigar, who contributed some v.aluable remarks on this subject to the January number of the 'Indian Antiquary ' for this year. ^ This form of bier is only used in the ease of young children. See the description of the second funeral witnessed by me. THE TOWERS OF SILENCE. 87 which other members of the same family had before been laid. The two bearers speedily unlocked the door, reve- rently conveyed the body of the child into the interior, and, unseen by any one, laid it uncovered in one of the open stone receptacles nearest the central well. In two minutes they re-appeared with the empty bier and white cloth. Eut scarcely had they closed the door when a dozen vul- tures swooped down upon the body, and were rapidly fol- lowed by flights of others. In five minutes more we saw the satiated birds fly back and lazily settle down again upon the parapet. They had left nothing behind but a skeleton. Meanwhile the bearers were seen to enter a building shaped like a huge barrel. There, as the Secre- tary informed me, they changed their clothes and washed themselves. Shortly afterwards we saw them come out and deposit their cast-off funeral garments on a stone receptacle near at hand. Not a thread leaves the garden, lest it should carry defilement into the city. Fresh gar- ments were supplied at each funeral. In a fortnight, or at most four weeks, the same bearers return, and with gloved hands and implements resembling tongs, place the dry skeleton in the central well. There the bones find their last resting-place, and there the dust of whole gene- rations of ParsTs commingling is left undisturbed for centuries. The revolting sight of the gorged vultures made me turn my back on the Towers with ill-concealed abhorrence. I asked the Secretary how it was possible to become recon- ciled to such a usage. His reply was nearly in the fol- lowing words : — ' Our Prophet Zoroaster, who lived 6,000 years ago, taught us to regard the elements as symbols of the Deity. Earth, fire, water, he said, ought never, under any circumstances, to be defiled by contact with putrefying flesh. Naked, he said, we came into the world, and naked we ought to leave it. But the decaying particles of our bodies should be dissipated as rapidly as possible, and in such a way that neither Mother Earth nor the beings she 88 MODERN INDIA. supports should be contaminated in the slightest degree. In fact, our Prophet was the greatest of health officers, and following his sanitary laws, we build our Towers on the tops of the hills, above all human habitations. We spare no expense in constructing them of the hardest materials, and we expose our putrescent bodies in open stone receptacles, resting on 14 feet of solid granite, not necessarily to be consumed by vultures, but to be dissipated in the speediest manner, and without the smallest possi- bility of polluting the earth, or contaminating a single living being dwelling thereon. God, indeed, sends the vultures, and, as a matter of fact, these birds do their appointed work much more expeditiously than millions of insects would do, if we committed our bodies to the ground. In a sanitary point of view nothing can be more perfect than our plan. Even the rain water which washes our skeletons is conducted by channels into puri- fying charcoal. Here in these five Towers rest the bones of all the Parsis that have lived in Bombay for the last 200 years. We form a united body in life, and we are united in death. Even our leader, Sir Jamsetjee, likes to feel that when he dies he will be reduced to perfect equality with the poorest and humblest of the Parsi community.' When the Secretary had finished his defence of the Towers of Silence, I could not help thinking that how- ever much such a system may shock our European feel- ings and ideas, }et our own method of interment, if regarded from a Pars! point of view, may possibly be equally revolting to ParsI sensibilities. The exposure of the decaying body to the assaults of in- numerable worms may have no terrors for us, because our survivors do not see the assailants ; but let it be borne in mind that neither are the ParsT survivors permitted to look at the swoop of the heaven-sent birds. Why, then, should we be surprised if they prefer the more rapid to the more lingering operation ? and which of the two THE TOWERS OF SILENCE. 89 s\'stemsj they may reasonably ask, is more defensible on sanitary grounds ? On the occasion of my second visit to the Towers I was permitted to witness the funeral of a Mobed, or one of the second order of priests, whose flowing white costumes (supposed to be emblematical of purity) are everywhere conspicuous in the Bombay streets. I may here mention parenthetically that I believe the word Mobed is merely a corruption of a Zand word equivalent to Sanskrit Maga- pati, ' chief of the Magians.' Dastiir, the name of the high-priest, is a modern Persian word, the best equivalent for which would perhaps be ' chief ruler.' According to some the name Herbad (or Erwad)^, is applied as a generic term to the whole sacerdotal order. In the Zand-Avasta the entire priestly class are called Athravan (in Pazand Athovnah). In the present day the rest of the community — all laymen in fact, who are not Herbads — are generally styled Behadin, or Behdin, that is, ' followers of the best religion.' They have also the name Osta. I reached the garden surrounding the Towers about half an hour before sunset. At that time the funeral procession was already winding up the hill. The deceased man had died early in the morning, and a rule of the Parsi religion requires that no corpse shall be exposed on the platform of the Towers, to be consumed by birds of prey, unless the rays of the sun can first fall on it. Foremost in the procession walked a man carrying a loaf or two of bread wrapped up in a cloth. Then came the bier, which was flat and made of iron bars ^, having the body of the de- ' Mr. Cama informs me that Hertad means simply a religious teacher. Another name for a Herbad is Navar, meaning one who has performed the Navar ceremony. Originally it may have meant a new member of the ecclesiastical fraternity. Every son of a priest is a Herbad. But some Her- bads instead of becoming Dastiirs or Mobeds adopt a secular profession, discarding the white turban for a dark one. In that case they generally abandon the name Herbad. In fact, priestly denominations have fallen into disrepute. The title Dastur is applied ironically to every one with .1 white turban, ' In the case of a child it is a curved metal trough. yo MODERN INDIA. ceased stretched out upon it, covered only witli a white sheet, and borne by four Khaudhia bearers, accompanied by two Na^a-salars. After the bearers, at an interval of a few yards, followed a man leading a white dog-, and be- hind him a long procession of at least a hundred priests in their robes of spotless white, besides relations of the deceased, also in white garments, walking in pairs, each couple following closely on the other, and each man con- nected with his fellow by a handkerchief held between them in token of sympathy and fellow-feeling. The pro- cession advanced to a point about thirty yards distant from the portal of the largest Tower. There it stood still for a minute while the dog was brought towards the corpse, made to look at the features of the dead man, and then fed with bread. Meanwhile ;ill who followed the bier turned round, and talked back to the Sdgfi, or house of prayer erected near the entrance to the garden. There they chanted prayers while the corpse-bearers entered the Tower with the dead body, and exposed it naked in one of the receptacles on the stone platform. Their appointed task being then completed, they instantly quitted the Tower, and were seen to repair to a reservoir of water near at hand, where they went through the usual process of ablution, chang- ing all their clothes, and depositing the cast-off garments in an open stone pit, almost hidden from view, on one side of the garden. And what happened in the Tower? Searcely had the bearers closed the portal ere forty or fifty vultures, before seated motionless on the stone parapet, swooped down on their prey. In ten minutes they had finished their work. The body was reduced to a skeleton before the mourners in the Sinjr'i had finished their prayers. There, in the open stone coffin, exposed to the dews of heaven, the bones rested for three or four weeks, till the Nasa-salars returned and reverently placed them in the central well, where the skeletons of the dead, whether of high or low degree, are left to turn into dust together. THE TOWERS OF SILENCE. 91 When I enquired about the meaning of the dog, I was told that, according to the teaching of Zoroaster, dogS as well as birds are regarded as sacred animals ^, and werp formerly allowed to consume the dead bodies of Parsis. According to Mr. Khambata (' Indian Antiquary/ July, 1878), the dog is of all animals the most dear to Parsis, on account of its undeviating faithfulness. Hence they keep up the practice of feeding a dog as a sacred obli- gation. In the present day a representative dog kept for the purpose accompanies the corpse, and is fed with bread as a substitute for the flesh of the dead body. Moreover, dogs are supposed to possess some mysterious power in preserving the spirits of men from the attacks of demons ^. It is on this account that the corpse must be shewn to a dog, and if a proper dog cannot be found, any common dog taken out of the streets is brought, and the ceremony of exposing the dead body to its gaze, called Sag-did (from the Persian sag, and dulan, to see), is per- formed some time after death. If this is not done, the soul of the deceased is liable to be assailed by evil spirits during the three days which intervene between death and judgment. I should .state here that in the belief of the Parsis the spirits of wicked persons are supposed to hover about in a restless state for the three days immediately succeeding death, in the neighbourhood of the Dakhmas, where also swarms of evil spirits congregate ^. On the morning of the fourth day the soul is taken to judgment, which is passed on it by Mithra and the angels. It has then to pass a narrow bridge called Chinvat-peretum, ' the bridge where decision is pronounced.' The souls of the sinful, ' See Vandiddd vii. 75, viii. 28 ; Bleeck's Avesta, Vol. I. pp. 104-109 ; Wilson's Pdrsl Religion, pp. 325-328, 330. ^ Tandidad (Bleeck) xiii. 35 ; Wilson's Parsi Religion, pp. 49, 252. ' So at least says the Avasta, but according to Mr. Cama the Parsis of the present day do not believe in the presence of evil spirits near the Dakhmas. He informs me that the Dakhmas of the Avasta were sub- terranean vaults and tombs, not towers. 92 MODERN INDIA. being unable to pass this bridge, imagined to be sbarp as a razor, fall into hell on endeavouring to cross over. The Zand-Avasta even gives the names of certain dogs be- lieved to protect the souls of men from the assaults of evil demons before crossing the bridge. The Vandiddd (viii. 41, 42), moreover, states that a particular devil called Nasus is frightened away by a yellow dog with four eyes, and that such a dog ought to be led along the road of a funeral procession three times. On this account^ as was explained to me by a learned ParsT, the funeral dog is supposed to be four-eyed — that is to say, it is supposed to have two real eyes and two round spots like eyes, just above the actual eyes. I was told, too, that many yellowish-white dogs in India have this peculiarity, and that the Parsis try to procure such dogs, and keep them for their funeral processions. I observed nothing of the kind in the funeral dog on the occasion of the particular funeral I have here recorded. It seemed to me that the dog was a mere cur of a very ordinary type ; but it struck me (before I knew that the same idea had occurred to German scholars) that the singular practice of leading a white dog at the head of the procession points to the common origin of the Parsi and Hindu religions. For in the latter system the god of death, Yama, has two four-eyed brindled watchdogs, children of Sarama ^, who guard the road to his abode, and whose favour and protection against evil spirits are invoked every day by pious Hindus when they perform the hdka-hali, or offering of rice to crows, dogs, and animals at the end of the Talsvadeva ceremony before the midday meal. The mantra recited is as follows : — Bran svdnaii iyama-kahalau Vaivasvata-kulodbhavau tehhydm piiido ' Sarama is the dog of Indra, and is represented in TtUi-ieda X. 14, 10 as the mother of Yama's dogs, called in the Mahabhdraia, Adi-pari'/in 671, Deva-suni. In the jRigveda this dog is said to have tracked and recovered the cows stolen by the Panis. Sarama is even said to be the authoress of part of the Rig-veda, X. 108. THE TOWERS OF SILENCE. 93 maya datto rakshetam pathi mam sacla, ' May the two dogs, dark and brindled, born in the family of Yama, protect me ever on the road ! To them I present an oflPering of food.' Having thus attempted to give some idea of the nature of a Parsi funeral, and of the unique arrangements by which the Parsis endeavour to carry out the precepts of their prophet Zoroaster in the disposal of their dead, it will not be inappropriate if I add a brief account of Pars! doctrines, and of the initiatory ceremonies performed on admission of young Parsis to the Zoroastrian religion, and on their incorporation as members of the Pars! society. I may first mention that according to the pure form of the Zoroastrian faith — as propounded by learned ParsTs of the present day — Ormazd (sometimes written Hormazd, contracted from the full expression Ahura Mazda) is the name of the Supreme Being, to whom there is no equal, and who has no opponent. It is a mistake to suppose that Ormazd is opposed to a being called Ahriman, com- monly regarded as the spirit of evil. The true doctrine is that Ormazd has created two forces in nature, not ne- cessarily antagonistic, but simply alternating with each other — the one a force of creation, construction, and pre- servation ; the other a force of decay, dissolution, and destruction. The first of these forces is named Spenta- mainyus, while the second or destructive power, is com- monly called Ahriman, or Hariman, for Anhra-mainyus (or ^«^ro-/««my««= Sanskrit Anho-manyii). It is inter- esting to observe the analogy between the Hindii and Zoroastrian systems, Vishnu and Rudra (Siva) in the former being equivalent to Spenta-mainyus and Anhra- mainyus in the latter, while Brahma (neuter) corresponds to Ormazd. In later times the purity of the original doctrine became corrupted, and Ahriman was personified as a spirit of evil. In fact, all the evils in the world, whether moral or physical, are now attributed to Ahriman, while Ormazd is erroneously held to be the antagonistic principle of good. 94 MODERN INDIA. In short, it is contended that the ParsI religion, in spite of its apparent dualism, is properly pure Monotheism, and that the elements and all the phenomena of Nature are merely revered as creations of the one God, and as symbolical of His power. There can be little doubtj however, that with the ma- jority of Parsis the elements are regarded as simple mani- festations, or rather as developments of the Deity, and that which is called Monotheism is really a kind of Pan- theism very similar to that of Brahmanism. The absence of all image-worship, however, is very refreshing after the hideous idolatry of the Hindii syste'm. So much for the ParsI creed ; and now for a few words as to the form of admission into the charmed circle of the Parsi community. It is a controverted point whether if any outsider wished to become a Parsi it would be possible, even in theory, to entertain the question of his being admitted to membership by his making public confession of his faith in the Zoroastrian system. As a matter of fact no one is at present allowed to become a ParsI unless he is born a ParsI. No provision seems to exist for the recep- tion of converts, and the only form of admission is for the children of Parsis, though occasionally the children of non-Parsi mothers by Parsi fathers are permitted to become members of that community. Nevertheless it is certain, from a particular form of prayer still used by Parsi priests, that Zoroaster himself enjoined on his dis- ciples the duty of making proselytes, and had in view a constant accession of fresh adherents, who were all to be received as converts, provided they were willing to go through certain prescribed ceremonies. With regard to the children of PiirsI parents, every boy is admitted to membership as a disciple of the Zoroas- trian religion some time between the age of seven and nine, but more usually at seven years of age, in the fol- lowing manner. He is first taken to one of the fire- THE TOWERS OF SILENCE. 95 temples, and in a room outside the sanctuary made to undergo a kind of baptism, — that is to say, he is placed nearly naked on a stone seat, and water is poured over his head from a lota by a Mobed appointed to perform the rite. Next, the child is taken out into an open area, made to sit on another stone seat, and required to eat one or two leaves of the pomegranate tree — a tree held very sacred by the Parsis, and always planted in the precincts of their fire-temples for use in purificatory cere- monies lYasiia viii. 4). After eating the leaves he is made to drink a small quantity of the water of a white bull ' — also kept at fire-temples, and held in high estimation for its purifying properties. This completes the first portion of the ceremony. The concluding act is performed in an apartment of the fire-temple, and consists in investing the child with the sacred shirt or under-garment (called sadara), and sacred girdle (Jcustl). In the case of rich Parsis, several Mobeds, presided over by a Dastur, are emploj^ed in celebrating this part of the rite, which is very like the Hindu upanayana, or induction into the condition of a twice-born man by means of the i/ajiiopavita. When parents are poor, two Mobeds may perform the ceremony, or even one may be sufiioient, and a private room answers all the purposes of a fire -temple. The Mobeds sit on the ground, and the child is placed before them nearly naked. The sacred shirt is then put on, and the white woollen girdle fastened on around it, while the boy is made to repeat word by word the form of prayer which he is required to say ever afterwards, whenever the girdle is taken off or put on again (Klmrdah-Avasta iv) The sacred shirt and girdle are the two most important outward signs and symbols of Parsiism, and an impostor laying claim to the privileges of the Zoroastrian religion would be instantly detected by the absence of those signs, ' The Bull, whose urine is used, is called in Gujarat! Yaraslo, and according to jMr. Khambata must be entirely white. If a single hair of its body is not white, the bull is considered unfit for use at fire-temples. 96 MODERN INDIA. or by his wrong use of Ihem. But tbey are far more than outward signs, — they are supposed to serve as a kind of spiritual panoply. Unprotected by this armour^ a man would be perpetually exposed to the assaults of evil spirits and demons, and even be liable to become a demon himself. The shirt is made of the finest white linen or cambric. It has a peculiar form at the neck, and has a little empty bag in front to show that the wearer holds the faith of Zoroaster, which is supposed to be entirely spiritual, and to have nothing material about it. The sacred shirt has also two stripes at the bottom, one on each side, and each of these stripes is separated into three, to represent the six divisions of each half-year. It has also a heart, symbolical of true faith^ embroidered in front. The Icustl, or girdle, is made of seventy-two interwoven woollen threads, to denote the seventy-two chapters of the Yasna, but has the appearance of a lony flat cord of pure white wool, which is wound round the body in three coils. Each end of the girdle is divided into three, and these three ends again into two parts. Every Parsi ought to take off this girdle and restore it to its proper position round the body at least five times a day. He has to hold it in a particular manner witli Ijoth hands ; and touching his forehead « ith it to repeat a prayer in Zand invoking the aid of Ormazd [Aliara- Mazda) for the destruction of all evil beings, evil doers — especially tyrannical rulers — and imploring pardon for evil thoughts, evil words, and evil deeds. The girdle must then be coiled round the body three times, and fastened with two particular knots (said to represent the sun and moon), which none but a ParsI can tie in a proper manner. Every ParsI boy is taught the whole process with great solemnit}' at his first initiation. When the ceremony is concluded the high-priest pronounces a bene- diction, and the young Parsi is from that moment ad- mitted to all the rights and privileges of perhaps one of the most flourishing and united communities in the world. FUNERAL CEREMONIES AND OFFERINGS TO ANCESTORS AT BOMBAY, BENARES, AND GAYA. When I commenced my researches in India I was pre- pared to expect much perplexing variety in religious and social usages, but the actual reality far outdid my anticipa- tions. On one occasion, soon after my visit to the Parsi Towers of Silence, I gained admission to the Hindu burning- ground on the shore of Back Bay at Bombay, and witnessed a curious funeral ceremony there. The body of a man about forty years of age had been burnt the day before. On the morning of my visit about twenty-four men, his relations, gathered round the ashes to perform his funeral rites and soothe his departed spirit supposed to be hovering near in a state of feverish excitement after the fiery process to which the body had just been subjected. They offered no objection to my standing close to them, nor even to my asking them questions. The ceremony commenced by one of their number examining the ashes, and carefully separat- ing any portions of the bones that had not been calcined by the flames on the previous day. These he collected in his hands and carried outside the burning-ground, with the intention, I was told, of throwing them into the sea near at hand. This being done, the whole party gathered round the ashes of the pyre in a semicircle, and one of the tweuty- fbur men sprinkled them with water. Then some cow-dung was carefully spread in the centre of the ashes so as to form H 98 MODERN INDIA. a flat circular cake of rather more than a foot in diameter, around which, a stream of cow's urine was poured from a metal vessel. Next, one of the men brought a plantain- leaf, and laid it on the circle of cow-dung so as to form a kind of dish or plate. Around the edge of the leaf were placed five round balls (jyhidux) probably of rice-flour, rather smaller than cricket-balls, mixed with some brown sub- stance. Sprigs of the Tulsi plant and fresh leaves of the betel, with a few flowers, were inserted in each ball, and a coloured cotton cord loosely suspended between them. Next, one of the relations covered the five pindas with the red powder called gulal. Then five flat wheaten cakes were placed on the plantain-leaf inside the circle of the five pindas, and boiled rice was piled up on the cakes, sur- mounted by a small piece of ghl mixed with brown sugar. The funeral ceremony being so far completed the deceased man's nephew, or sister's son, took an empty earthenware vase, filled it with water, and held it on his right shoulder. Starting from the north side he commenced circumam- bulating the five pindas and the five wheaten cakes, with his left shoulder towards them, while one of the relatives with a sharp stone made a hole in the jar, whence the water spouted out in a stream as he walked round. On com- pleting the first circuit and coming back to the north, a spcond incision was made with the same stone, whence a second stream poured out simultaneously with the first. At the end of the fifth round, when five streams of water had been made to spout out from five holes round the five pindas, the earthenware vase was dashed to the ground on the north side, and the remaining water spilt over the ashes. Next, one of the relatives took a small metal vessel containing milk, and, with a betel-leaf for a ladle, sprinkled some drops over the rice piled oa the wheaten cakes. After which, taking some water from a small lota — or ratlier making another relative pour it into his hand — he first sprinkled it in a circle round the pindas, and then over the cakes. Finally, bending down and raising his hands to his head. FUNERAL CEREMONIES AT BOMBAY. 99 he performed a sort of puja to the pindas, which were supposed to represent the deceased man and four other relations. This was repeated by all twenty-four men in turn. After the completion of the ceremony, the balls and cakes were left to be eaten by crows. At Benares, honorific ceremonies and offerings in honour of departed ancestors, called Sraddhas, are constantly per- formed near the Mani-karnika-kund. This is a well, or small pool, of fetid water, not more than three feet deep, and perhaps not more than twenty feet long by ten broad, lying at a considerable depth below the surface of the ground, and declared in the Kasi-Khanda of the Skanda- Puraaa to have been originally created by Vishnu from the perspiration which exuded from his body. Its highly sacred character in the eyes of the orthodox Hindu may therefore be easily understood. It is said to have been named Mani-karnika, because Maliadeva on beholding Vishnu^s well was so enraptured that his body thrilled with emotion, causing an earring to fall from his ear into the water. It is also called Mukti-kshetra, ' holy place of emancipation,' and Purna-subhakara, ' cause of complete felicity.' This wonderful well is on a ghat, by the side of the Ganges, and is resorted to by thousands of pilgrims, who may be seen all day long descending the flight of steps by which the shallow pool is surrounded on all four sides. Eagerly and with earnest faces they crowd into the water, immersing their whole bodies repeatedly, while Brahmans superintend their ablutions, repeat and make them repeat Mantras, and receive handsome fees in return. In a niche upon the steps on the north side are the figures of Vishnu and Siva, to which the pilgrims, after bathing, do honour by bowing down and touching the stones underneath with their foreheads. The bathers, though manifestly much dirtier from contact with the foul water, go away under the full conviction that they are inwardly purified^ and that all their sins, however heinous, have been washed awav for ^ime and for eternity. * H 3 lOO MODERN INDIA. There is another well of almost equal sanetityj nnmed the Jnana-vapi, or ' pool of knowledge,' situated under a handsome colonnade in the interior of the city, between the mosque built by Aurangzlb on the site of the original Visves'vara-nath temple and the present Golden Temple. It is a real well of some depth and not a pool, but the water is so abominably oflensive, from the offerings of flowers and rice continually thrown into it and left to putrefy, that I found it impossible to do more than take a hasty glance into the interior of the well^ or even to remain in the neighbourhood long enough to note all the particulars of its surroundings. All the day long a Brahman stands near this well and ladles out putrid water J rem a receptacle before him into the hands of pilgrims, who either lave their faces with the fetid liquid, or drink it \Aith the greatest reverence. The supposed sanctity of this «'ell is owing to the circumstance that the idol of Siva was thrown into it when the original temple of Vis'vesvara-nath was destroyed by the Musalmans. Hence the pool is thought to be the haljitation of Mahadeva himself, and the water to be per- meated by his essence. On the ghat near the pool of ilani-karnika, on the day I visited it, a man was performing a Sriiddha for his mother, under the guidance of a nearly naked and decidedly stout Brahman. The ceremony was the Das'ama-sraddha, per- formed on the tenth day after death. The officiating Brahman began by forming a slightly elevated piece of ground with some sand lying near at hand. This was supposed to constitute a small vedi or altar. It was of an oblong form, but only about eight or ten inches long by four or five broad. Across this raised sand he laid three stalks of kus'a grass. Then taking a number of little earthenware platters or saucers, he arranged them round the vedi, putting tila or sesamum seed in one, rice in another, honey in a third, areea or betel-nut in a fourth, chandana or sandal in a fifth. Next, he took flour of barley 'yava) and kneaded it into one large pinda, rather smaller SRADDHA ceremonies at BENARES. lOX than a crielvet-ball, which he carefully deposited in the centre of the sand vedi, scattering over it jasmine flowers, khaskhas grass and wool, and placing on one side of it a betel-leaf with areca-nut and a single copper coin. Then having poured water from a lota into his hand, he sprinkled it over all the offerings, arranged in the manner I have described. Other similar operations followed : — Thus, for instance, an earthenware platter, containing a lighted wick, was placed near the offerings ; ten other platters were filled with water, which was all poured over the pinda ; another small platter with a lighted wick was added to the first, then some milk was placed in another platter and poured over the pinda, and then once more the pinda was sprinkled with water. Finally the Brahman joined his bands together and did piija to the pinda. The whole rite did not last more than ten or fifteen minutes, and while it was proceeding, the man for whose mother it was performed continued to repeat Mantras and prayers under the direction of the officiating Brahman, quite regardless of much loud talking and vociferation going on around him. The ceremony was concluded by another ceremony called the ' feeding of a Brahman ' — that is to say, another Brah- man was brought and made to sit down near the oblations, while the man for whose mother the Sraddha was celebrated fed him with flat cakes, ghi, sweetmeats, vegetables, and curds placed in a plate of palasa leaves. I observed that these eatables were devoured with the greatest avidity by the man for whom they were prepared, as if he had been nursing his appetite with the intention of doing full justice to the feast. I come now to the celebrated Sraddha ceremonies per- formed in the neighbourhood of the well-known Vishnu- pada temple at Gaya. The city of Gaya is most picturesquely situated on the river Phalgu about sixty miles south-west of Patna, near some isolated hills, or rather short ranges of hills rising abruptly out of the plain. The town itself crowns two low ridges, whose sides, covered with the houses 102 MODERN INDIA. of its narrow tortuous streets, slope down to an intervening- hollow occupied by the temple and sacred tank dedicated to the Sun. But the most sacred temple and the great centre of attrac- tion for all Hindus who wish to perform once in their lives a Gaya-sraddha for their fore-fathers, is the Vishnu-pada temple, situated on one of the ridges, and built of black stone, with a lofty dome and golden pinnacle. It con- tains the alleged footprint of Vishnu in a large silver basin, under a silver canopy, inside an octagonal shrine. Pindas and various kinds of offerings are placed by the pilgrims inside the basin round the footprint, and near it are open colonnades for the performance of the Sraddhas. About six miles from the city is the well-known place of pilgrimage railed Bodh-Gaya, celebrated for a monastery and numerous temples, but chiefly for the ancient tower-like structure said by the natives to be more than 2,200 years old, and originally a Buddhist monument. It has near it other alleged footprints of Vishnu (probably once assigned to Buddha), under an open shrine. Behind the tower, on an elevated stone terrace reached by a long flight of steps, is the tacred Pipal tree, under which, according to popular belief, the Buddha attained supreme knowledge. The tree must be many centuries old, but a succession of trees is secured by planting a new one inside the decaying stem of the old. In a chamber at the bottom of the tower-like Buddhist monument — now used as a temple — a substitute for the original figure of Buddha (carried ofFby the Burmese about a hundred years ago) has been placed, for the sake of the Buddhist pilgrims who come to repeat prayers and meditate under the tree ; and in the same place a linga has been set up, to «'hich the Hindus do puja. When I visited the spot many persons were in the act of worshipping, and several members of the Burmese embassy, who had come to meet the Prince of Wales at Calcutta, were to' be seen reverentially kneeling, praying, and meditating under the sacred tree. iRADDHA CEREMONIES AT GAYl. 103 Before describing the Sraddhas at Gaya, I may state that I asked several Pandits in different parts of India, to give me the reasons for attaching special efficacy to the celebration of religious rites for ancestors in that locality. The only reply I received was that in the Gaya-mahatmya and Gaya-sraddha-paddhati it is declared that a powerful demon (asura), named Gaya, formerly resided there and tyrannized over the inhabitants. Vishnu took compassion on them, fought and killed the demon, and left a print of his foot (Vishnu-pada, vulgarly called Bishanpad) on the spot where the fight occurred, ordaining that it should be ever after called Gaya and should be consecrated to him, and that any Sraddha performed there for fathers, fore- fathers, and relatives should be peculiarly efficacious in securing the immediate conveyance of their souls to his own heaven, Vaikuntha. It is also stated in the Gaya-mahatmya that the great Rama, hero of the Ramayana (himself an incarnation of Vishnu), and other heroes set the example of performing Siaddhas to their fathers at Gaya. Brahma is also said to have performed an Asvamedha there, and to have conse- crated the whole locality by this act. The plain truth probably is that as the Indo-Aryans proceeded southwards, the Brahmans found it necessary to invent reasons for attaching sanctity and attracting pilgrims to other spots besides those already held sacred in the North- West. It was on this account that the Mahatmyas of various places were gradually written and inserted in the Puranas Some of these additions, intended to exalt the importance of places like Gaya, are comparatively modern, and the Mahatmyas of one or two tirthas, such as Pandharpur in the Dekhan, are said to have been added during the last fifty or a hundred years. I was even told that Pandharpur has become of late years a kind of rival to Gaya. Alleged footprints of Vishnu like those of Gaya are shown, and the Vithoba sects perform Sraddhas there. Models of the Gaya Vishnu-pada are made in brass and I04 MODERN INDIA. in black stone, and sold for worship. Several were presented to me. They are often placed, like the Salagram stone, in the houses of the natives, for domestic puja. With regard to the Sraddha ceremonies generally, there seems to be much confusion of thought and obscurity, be- sides great inconsistency, in the accounts given by Pandits of the exact object and effect of their celebration. It may be well to explain that a distinction is made between Sraddhas and funeral ceremonies [anti/esMi). The latter are amangala, 'inauspicious,' while the former are manijahi,, ' auspicious.' To understand the reason for this, it should be borne in mind that when a man dies his sfhala-iarlra or ' gross body' is burned, but his soul quits it with the Vu/ga- kirlra or ' subtile body,' sometimes described as angiisktha- i/iilfra, ' of the size of a thumb,' and remains hovering near. The deceased man, thus reduced to the condition of a simple individual soul invested with a subtile body, is called a preta, i.e. a departed spirit or ghost. He has no real body capable of enjoying or suffering anything, and is conse- quently in a restless, unsatisfactory and uncomfortable plight. Moreover, while in this condition he is held to be an impure being. Furthermore, if he dies away from his kindred, who alone can perform the funeral ceremonies, and who perhaps are unaware of his death, and unable therefore to perform them, he becomes a pisacha, or foul vrandering gliost, disposed to take revenge for its misery upon all living creatures by a variety of malignant acts. I heard it remarked not long ago by a Pandit that ghosts are much less common in India now than formerly, and, on my enquiring the reason, was told that communication was now so rapid that few die without their deaths becoming known and without having funeral rites performed very soon afterwards. Besides, he added, it is now easy to reach Gaya by rail and by good carriage roads. The object, then, of the funeral rites, which are celebrated for ten days after death, is not only to soothe or give santi by libations of consecrated water to the troubled spirit, but iRADDHA CEREMONIES AT GAY A. 105 to furnish the preta with an intermediate body, between the linga or 'subtile' and the sthula or 'gross' body — with a body, that is to say, which is capable of enjoying or suffering, and which is composed of gross particles though not of the same kind as those of the earthly gross body. In this manner only can the preta obtain gati, or ' pro- gi-ess' onward through the temporary heaven or hell (re- garded in the Hindu system as a kind of purgatory) to other births and ultimate emancipation. On the first day after death a pinda or ' round ball' (generally of some kind of flour) is offered, on which the preta is supposed to feed, and which endows it with the rudiment or basis of the requisite body, whatever that basis may be. Next day another pinda is offered, which gives it, perhaps, limbs, such as arms and legs. Then it receives hands, feet, &c. This goes on for ten days, and the offering of the pinda on the tenth day gives the head. No sooner does the preta obtain a complete body than it becomes a pitri, when, instead of being regarded as impure, it is held to be a deva, or ' deity, ^ and practically worshipped as such in the Srad- dha ceremonies. Hence a Sraddha is not a funeral cere- mony, but a worship of departed ancestors ; which worship, however, is something different from puja to a god. It is continued at stated periods with a view to accelerate the gati, or ' progress,' of the pitris either towards heaven — and so through the various stages of bliss, called Salokya, Samipya, and Sariipya — or through future births to final union with the Supreme (sayujya). The efficacy of Sraddhas performed at Graya is this, that wherever in this progress onwards departed relatives may have arrived, the Sraddhas take them at once to Vaikuntha or Vishnu's heaven. The departed relatives especially entitled to benefit by the Sraddha rites are as follow: — I. Father, grandfather, great-grandfather ; 1. Mother, mother's father and grandfather ; 3. Stepmother, if any ; 4. Father's mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother; 5. Father's brothers; Io6 MODERN INDIA. 6. Mother's brothers; 7. Father's sisters; 8. Mother's sisters; 9. Sisters and brothers; 10. Fathers-in-law. An eleventh person is sometimes added, viz. the family spiritual teacher (^guru). Let no one suppose that the process of performing Srad- dhas at Gaya is either simple or rapid. To secure the complete efficacy of such rites, a whole round of them must be performed at about fifty distinct places in and around Gaya, besides at the most holy spot of all — the Vishnu- pada temple — -the time occupied in the process being at least eight days, and sometimes protracted to fifteen, while the money spent in fees to the officiating priests (who at Gaya are called Ga}' wals = Gaya-palas, regarded by sume as an inferior order of Brahmans) is never less than Rs. 40. But only the poorest are let ofi" thus easily. The Maharaja of Kasmir, who is a very strict Hindu, and performed ^raddhas at Gaya the other day on his way to Calcutta, is reported to have distributed Rs. 15^000 to the Gaywal Brahmans. With regard to the Sraddhas I myself witnessed at Gaya, they were all performed in colonnades and open courts round the Vishnu-pada temple. One example will suffice. The party celebrating the rite consisted of six men, who were of course relations, and one Gaywal. The men sat on their heels in a Hue, with the officiating Gaywal (some- times called Panda) priest at their head. Twelve pindas were formed of rice and milk, not much larger than the large marbles used by boys (called ' alleys '). They were placed with sprigs of the sacred Tulsl plant in small earthenware platters. Then on the top of the pindas were scattered kusa grass and flowers. I was told that the pind;T^ in the present ease were typical of the bodies of the twelve ancestors for whom the Sraddha was celebrated. The men had kusa grass twisted round their fingers, in token of their hands being perfectly pure for the due per- formani.'C of the rite. Next, water was poured into the palms of their hands, part of which they sprinkled on the SRADDHA CEREMONIES AT GAYA. 107 ground, and part on the pindas. One or two of the men then took threads off their clothes and laid them on the pindas, which act is alleged to be emblematical of present- ing the bodies of their departed ancestors with garments. Meanwhile Mantras, or texts, were repeated, under the direction of the Gaywal, and the hands were sometimes extended over the pindas as if to invoke blessings. When all the Mantras were finished, and one or two added to pray for pardon if any minute point in the ritual had been omitted, the whole rite was concluded by the men putting their heads to the ground before the officiating Brahman and touching his feet. Of course the number of pindas varies with the number of ancestors for whom the Sraddhas are celebrated, and the size of the balls and the materials of which they are composed differ according to the caste and the country of those who perform the rite. I saw one party in the act of forming fourteen or fifteen pindas with oatmeal, which were of a much larger size than large marbles This party was said to have come from the Dekhan. Sometimes the pindas were placed on betel- leaves with pieces of money (afterwards appropriated by the priests), and sometimes the water used was gradually taken out of little pots by dipping stalks of kusa grass into the fluid, and sprinkling it over the balls. At the end of all the ceremonies the earthen platters employed were carried to a particular stone in the precincts of the temple and dashed to pieces there. No platter is allowed to be used a second time. Amid this crash of broken crockery, the tedious round of rites, ceremonies, and vain repetitions, which, if they efiect nothing else, certainly serve to enrich a goodly company of Brahmans, is perhaps not inappropriately concluded. INDIAN ROSARIES 1, EosAHiES seem to be common in nearly all religinus svslems which attach more importance to the repetition, than to the spirituality, of prayers. It might be supposed, a priori, that to no one would a rosary be more useless and meaningless than to a Christian, who is taught when he prays to enter into his closet^ to avoid vain repetitions, to pour out his heart before his Father in secret, and to cultivate spiritual intercessions ' which cannot be uttered.' Yet we know that in some Christian countries rosaries are regarded as indispensable aids to devotion. Palladius, who lived in the fourth century, tells of a certain alsbot who used to repeat the Lord's prayer 300 times every day. and who secured a correct enumeration of the repetitions by dropping small pebbles into his lap. The Kuran enjoins prayers five times a day, and good Muslims are very particular in going through prescribed forms morning, noon, and evening. It cannot, therefore, be ma1 ter of wonder that the use of rosaries (called tashili, ' praise,' and furnished with tassels called s//ii?iisa) is common among Indian Muhammadans. Iii all probability they were common among liindiis and Buddhists long before the Christian era. Indeed, the Indian name for a rosary well expresses its meaning and use even in Roman Catholic countries. It is called in SaTaskiitJtijja-i/nUd, ' muttering- chaplet' (and sometimes maantnl, 'remembrancer'), because ' This article and that on Samadh appeared first in the Athenaeum. INDIAN ROSARIES. 109 by means of its beads the muttering of a definite number of prayers may be counted. But the pious Hindu not only computes his daily prayers as if they were so many rupees to be added to his capital stock in the bank of heaven^ he sets himself to repeat the mere names of his favourite god, and will continue doing so for hours together. When I was at Benares, I went early one morning to inspect the temple of the goddess Anna-purna. A devotee was seated at the door, with a rosary in his hand, mutter- ing ' Ram, Ram, Ram ' incessantly. When I had occasion to pass by a long time afterwards, I found him seated in precisely the same position, and engaged in precisely the same occupation, except that instead of repeating tlie god's name he prefixed to it that of his wife Sita. I have no doubt that the whole day was divided between Ram and Slta-ram, and an accurate account kept of the total number of repetitions. In this respect Hinduism is behind the most corrupt forms of Christianity. It has been calculated that about ninety names and attributes are applied to Christ in the Bible. But no Romanist, however ignorant and super- stitious, so far as I know, attaches any merit or efficacy CO the repetition of the mere names of God. Muhammadans reckon ninety -nine sacred names, or rather attributes, of the Deity. Some consider that the principal name, Allah, must be counted separately. The tale is thus brought up to one hundred. I saw only ninety-nine names carved on Akbar's marble tomb near Agra, Akbar, 'the Great One,' being one of the ninety- nine. (See note at the end of this chapter.) The voracious appetite of a Hindii in any matter con- nected with religious superstition far outdoes that of any other nation on earth. If one hundred titles of the Deity will satisfy the piety of an earnest-minded Muslim, nothing short of that number multiplied by ten will slake the devotional cravings of an ardent Hindu. The worshippers of Vishnu adore him by 1,000 sacred 1 1 o MODERN INDIA . names, and the votaries of Siva by i,oo8 names. The whole catalogue is given in the Maha-bharata and the Puranas. Curiously enough among the names of Siva occur Haya, ' a horse,' and Gardablia, ' an ass ' (Maha-bharata XIII. 1149), which the Vedantist has no difficulty in accepting as suitable titles of the One universal Being with whom the god Siva and every existing thing in the universe is identified. It is not unreasonable to conjecture that the original invention of rosaries is due to India. They were as much the ollspring of necessity as was the invention of the Sutras, or brief memorial rules for the correct performance of the complicated ritual. No other country in the world stands in such need of aids to religious exercises. Vaish- navas, Saivas, Buddhists, Jains, and Muhammadans dej end upon these contrivances for securing the accurate discharge of their daily round of interminable repetitions. The rosary of a Vaishnava is made of the wood of the Tulasi (vulgarly Tiilsl), or holy basil, a shrub sacred to Vishnu, and regarded as a metamorphosis of Rama's pat- tern-wife Sita. This rosary should consist of 108 smooth beads. That worn by Sai\as consists of thirty- two and sometimes sixty-four berries of the Rudraksha tree (Elaeo- carpus). These seeds are as rough as the Tulsi beads are smooth, and are generally marked with five lines, the roughness symbolizing, I suspect, the austerities connected with the worship of Siva, and the five lines standing for the five faces or five distinct aspects of the god. The Musalman tashlli contains one hundred beads, which are generally made of date-stones, or of the sacred earth of Karbala. They are u^ed in repeating the hundred names of God or certain words of the Kuran, every decade of beads being separated by a tubsel. Some Sunnis are pro- hibited from employing rosaries, and count by means of the joints of their fingers. It might be wearisome if I were to attempt a description INDIAN ROSARIES. Ill of the diverse uses to which different kinds of rosai-ies are applied in India. I was told by a Grihastha, or layman of the Svami- Narayan sect of Vaishnavas, that he was able by help of his japa-mala to go on muttering Svarai-Narayan, Svimi- Narayan, Svami-Narayan one hundred and eight times with perfect precision at his morning and evening devo- tions, and that he attributed great efficacy to the act. High-caste Brahmans, on the other hand, merely use their rosaries to assist them in counting up their daily prayers, especially the well-known Gayatri from the Rig- veda {Tat savitur varenyam bhargo devasya dMmaJd dhiyo yo nah pra6odayat), which is repeated five, ten, twenty- eighty or one hundred and eight times at the dawn and sunset Sandhyas. The very sound of this precious mantra (called Gayatri, from the metre in which it is composed), quite irrespectively of the sense (which may be rendered, ' Let us adore that excellent glor}' of the divine Vivi- fier : may he enlighten our understandings'), is a mine of inexhaustible spiritual wealth to those favoured beings whose second spiritual birth — conferred by investiture with the sacred thread — entitles them to repeat it. Manu (II. 77) declares that this sacred text was ' milked out' of the three Vedas and ordains that ' a Brahman may attain beatitude by simple repetition of the Gayatri, whether he perform other rites or not,^ and ' that having repeated the Gayatri three thousand times he is delivered from the greatest guilt.' «* It is noticeable, moreover, that the proud Brahman who claims to be the true owner of this valuable piece of religious property is careful to conceal his hand in a sort of bag called a Gomukhi while engaged in counting out his morning and evening store of accumulated Gayatris. In fact, every Hindii is persuaded that jealous demons are ever on. the watch to obstruct his religious exercises, and ever- eager, like cunning thieves, to abstract a portion of their merit. This is the true secret of the universal homage 112 MODERN INDIA. paid tlirougliout India to Ganesa, lord of the demon-hosts. I have myself often seen Brahmans seated on the margin of sacred streams, with their faces turned towards the east, and apparently intently occupied in gazing on vacancy. On a closer inspection, I found that their right hands were mysteriously concealed in a red bag. Prayers were being repeated and counted up by help o{ ihe japa-mdld, and the repeater, even if too proud to betray any fear of thievish demons, seemed at any rate to understand that the value of his prayers would be increased by his taking heed not ' to be seen of men.' We must not forget, too, that a Hindu is taught by many of his own sacred precepts that the merit of religious exercises is destroyed by ostentation. Nothing, however, comes up to the Buddhist's idea of the efficacy of repeated prayers. His rosary, like that of the Vaishnavas, consists of io8 beads, which in China are often arranged in two rings. I ne\'er met with any native who could explain the proper meaning of om mani padmt liTiiii, ' hail to the jewel in the lotus ! ' although every Buddhist in Tibet believes that the oftener this six- syllabled formula is repeated by help of rosaries and prayer-wheels the greater merit will accrue to the repeater. According to some, the repetition of the six syllables exercises some sort of protective or preventive influence with reference to the six Gatis, or forms of transmigration. In China the repeated prayer is ' Omito Fat ' or ' Omito Fo ' (for am.Ha Buildlta. 'the infinite Buddha'), or ' Nama Amitabha, and in Japan, ' Namu Amida Bulsu' (for nama amlta BadiUidi/a, 'honour to the infinite Buddha'). It is not uncommon to meet Buddhists in the neigh- bourhood of DavjTling who, while they are talking to you, continue whirling their praAcr-wheels, held in their right hands, and made to revolve like a child's toy. Tlie wheel consists of a metal cylinder on which the form of prayer is engraved. It must be whirled, by means of a handle, in a particular direction (I think with the sun) ; if made to revolve the other way the number of its rotations will INDIAN ROSARIES. 113 be set down to the debtor rather than the creditor side of the owner's account. A friend of mine who had to hold a conversation with a pious Buddhist, intent on redeeming every instant of time for the repetition of prayers, came away from the inter- view under the impression that all Buddhists regard all Europeans as possessed with evil spirits. The Buddhist's diligent gyration of his wheel was mistaken by my friend for a form of exorcism. It is said that the Buddhist monks of Ladakh have a still more economical arrangement, and one not unworthy of the attention of monks in other monasteries — when regarded, I mean, from the point of view of an ingenious contrivance for saving time and making the most of both worlds. An infinite number of prayers are repeated, and yet the whole time of the monastery is saved for making money by indus- trial occupations. Long strips of the usual Buddhist prayer are rolled round cylinders, and these cylinders are made to revolve, like the works of a clock, by means of heavy weights wound up every morning and evening. A single monk takes five minutes to set the entire spiritual machinery in motion, and then hastens to join his brothers at their mun- dane occupations ; the whole body of monks feeling that the happiness and prosperity of the community are greatly pro- moted by the substitution of the precept ' laborare est orare,' for ' oraie est laborare.' It should be mentioned that in times of emergency or difficulty additional weights are attached to the cylinders, and an additional impetus thus given to the machinery, and, of course, increased force and cogency to the rotatory prayers. My friend the Collector of Kaira, in whose camp I stayed for about a fortnight, had occasion one day to ascend a hill in his district much overgrown with trees. There to his surprise he came suddenly upon an old hermit, who had been living for a long time without his knowledge in the jungle at the summit. Mr. Sheppard found the ancient I 114 MODERN INDIA. recluse in a hut near a rude temple, concealed from observa- tion by the dense underwood. He was engaged in his evening religious exercises, and, wholly regardless of the presence of his European visitor, continued turning with both hands and with evident exertion a gigantic rosary. A huge wooden roller, suspended horizontally from the posts of the shed, supported a sort of chain composed of fifteen rough wooden balls, each as big as a child's head. As he kept turning this enormous rosary round and round, each ball passed into his hands, and whilst he held the several balls in his grasp lie repeated, or rather chanted in a low tone, a short prayer to the god Rama. All the wooden balls underwent this process of pious manipulation several times before he desisted. The muscular exertion and consequent fatigue must have been great, yet the entire operation was performed with an air of stoical impassiveness. Then the devotee went into another shed, where on another cross- beam, supported by posts, were strung some heavy loi;'s of hard wood, each weighing about twenty pounds. Having grasped one of these with both hands, he dashed it forcibly against the side postj and then another log against the first. Probably the clashing noise thus produced was in- tended to give increased effectiveness to the recitation of his prayers. Sleeman somewhere relates how he happened once to be staying in the neighbourhood of an Indian village, the inhabitants of which were divided into two religious parties — those who advocated a noisy musical worship, and tliose who attributed greater efRcacy to a quiet religious cere- monial. The two parties lived together very amicably, agreeing to set apart certain hours of the day for an alter- nate use of the village temple. When the noisy faction had possession the din was terrific. In short, almost every religious idea that the world has ever known has in India been stimulated to excessive growth, and every religious usage carried to preposterous extremes. Hence, if a Hindu temple has a choir of musicians, its ex- INDIAN ROSARIES. 1 15 eellenee is estimated by the deafening discord it gives out iit the morning and evening puja; and if a devotee uses a rosary its effectiveness is supposed to depend on the dimen- sions of its beads, which may vary from small seeds to heavy balls as big as a human skull. Note. — The ninety-nine names or attributes of the Deity are called by the Muhammad ans ism-i^azlm, 'The glorious names.' Some of these are as follow : — The Lord (Eabb), the King (Malik), the Merciful (Rahman), the Compassionate (Kahim), the Holy (Kuddus), the Creator (Khalik), the Saviour (Salam), the Excellent ('Aziz), the Omniscient ('Alim), the Omnipotent (Jabbar), the Pardoner (Ghafur), the Glorious (Majid), the Beneficent (Karim), the Wise (Hakim), the Just ('Adil), the Benign (Latif), the One (Wahid'), the Eternal (Baki), the Survivor (Waris), the Last (Akhir), the Guide (Hadi), the Director (Rashid), the Patient (Sabur). I 2 INDIAN FAMINES. In the course of my travels through some of the famine- districts of India I made notes of a lew particulars which came under my observation? These notes I here give just as they were written down at the time. The area of the scarcity and famine is immense, stretch- ing, as it does, from the neighbourhood of Poena, not tiir from Bombay, to Tinnevelly, near the extreme south of the Madras Presidency. But it must not be supposed that the drought has been equally severe everywhere. Although in many places, where the usual rainfall is thirty-five or forty- five inches, only fifteen or twenty have fallen, yet other parts of the country have been more favoured. JVIoreover, all the belts of land reached by the grand system of irrigation, which stretches between the Godavari, Kistna, and Kaveri rivers — fertilizing the soil wherever it penetrates, and forcing even haters of the English rule to admit that no other Raj has conferred such benefits on India — jiresent a marvellous contrast to the vast tracts of arid waste which meet the eye of the traveller as he journeys by the Great Indian Peninsula, jNIadras, and South Indian Railways. A sad feature in the spectacle is the condition of the cattle. As I travelled from one place to another, often diverging from the neighbourhood of the railway to less frequented outlying districts, I saw hundreds of lean, half- famished kine endeavouring to eke out a doomed existence on what could only in mockery be called herbage. When it is remembered that the cow is a principal source of THE FAMINE IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 1 17 sustenance to Hindus of nearly all castes, and that no such animal as a cart-horse is to be found in India — all agricul- tural labour depending on the ox — some idea may be formed of the terrible calamity involved in a mortality among cattle. Even the cows and oxen that survive will be almost useless. Utterly enfeebled and emaciated, they will have little power left either to yield milk or to drag a plough through soil caked and indurated by months of unmitigated sunshine. But the saddest feature of all is the condition of the human inhabitants of this great peninsula. I will simply recount what I know and testify of what I have seen with my own eyes in the Madras Presidency. Only a fortnight ago, I saw many thousands of poor famine-driven creatures from the villages round Madras collected on the shore and on the pier. They were crowding round the sacks of rice- graiuj with which the sands for at least a mile were thickly covered and almost concealed from view, the grain-bags being often piled up in mounds to the height of fifteen or twenty feet. Yet no onslaught was made on the grain. A few men scattered about, armed with canes, were guarding the sacks for the merchants who owned them, and were sufficient to prevent any attempts at depredation though here and there I detected surreptitious efforts, not so much to make incisions, as to enlarge any happy defects apparent in the material which enclosed the coveted food. What generally happened was this : — Very few of the grain-bags were so well made as to make any leakage impossible, and sprinklings of rice were thus scattered about everywhere. The knowledge of this circumstance was the cause of the vast concourse of miserable, half-starved, emaciated creatures who had walked many miles to the spot. Men and women, old and young, even cripples, mothers with infants on their hips, and naked children— all more or less pitiable in their leanness and in their hard-set aspect of misery — were earnestly engaged in gleaning up every grain that escaped from the sacks on the pier and on the shore. Many were Il8 MODERN INDIA. provided with coarse sieves, l>y means of which a few rice- grains were, with infinite pains, separated from bushels of sand. On the pier every crevice was searched; and every discoloured grain eagerly scraped up, mixed as it was with dirt, ejected betel-juice, and filth of all kinds. This is a brief and imperfect description of what I saw with my own eyes. And now it will be asked, what measures are being taken to meet and mitigate the impending calamity ? My answer is that, so far as I have observed, the Governments of INIadras and Bombay are fully alive to their duty. They are org-anizing relief as speedily as possible. Before I left Jladras, I saw thirty ships laden with grain at anchor in the roads. Large surf-boats were continually plying between the ships and the shore ; heavily laden trucks were passing and repassing on the pier; and dozens of huge eranes, worked by countless coolies, were refilling the trucks as they returned empty. Thirty-five thousand human beings « ere daily being fed at Madras with cooked food or supplied with raw rice, but of these about two-thirds were taken in hand by benevolent rich natives. Kuddapah, Bellary, Kur- nool, and other towns were also feeding a large number; some as many as 2,000 every day. As I left Madras the rail was blocked with trucks laden with grain. Indeed, all the districts near the railway are tolerably certain of being adequately relieved. But how is it to be conveyed to distant corners of the famine-strieken land ? And, worse still, how is the ' water- famine ' likely to ensue two or three months hence to be met ? There is a laige tank near here which usually contains fifteen feet of water, and is now nearly dry. Possibly partial showers of rain may yet fall in particular districts. At Trieliinojioly, where I have recently been staying with the Collector Mr. Sewell, more than three inches of rain fell on Sunday and Monday last. This downpour will, I trust, check the cholera already gaining ground there. Here at Madura scarcely any rain fell, while the adjoining district was being drenched. THE FAMINE IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 1x9 It is evident, indeed, that the most severe trial has yet to come, and a hard task lies before the Collectors and Deputy- Collectors everywhere. They must not intervene with aid before the proper time, and they must by no means inter- vene too late. They have to inquire when and where and how relief is to be given, and tliey ought to provide work for all who are relieved. Many Collectors are at work from morning to night in their oflSces deciding these difficult questions. Surely, then, I may be allowed to close this imperfect account of the distressing scenes through which I have lately passed by adding a tribute to the energy and devotion of our fellow-countrymen — the rulers of this land — who are everywhere exerting themselves to the utmost in the present crisis. Numbers who had a right to furlough, or were looking forward to a holiday at Delhi, are remaining cheer- fully at their posts. Indeed, my second visit to India has impressed me more than ever with the desii-e shown by the Queen's officers in this country to govern India righteously and to make our rule a blessing to the people. Evidences of the benefits we have conferred, and are still daily conferring, meet one at every turn. But I crave permission to add a word or two of warning. In our anxiety to conciliate the natives, let us beware of alienating our own officers. Let the Central Governments balance the scales evenly between the two. Our hold of India depends mainly on the personal influence of the representatives of those Governments in the several districts, and the personal influence of these representatives depends mainly on the degree of support they receive from the central seats of authority. Every Commissioner and Collector is a little Viceroy in his own territory. He has vast responsibilities laid upon him, and he ought to be trusted by his superiors. It is right that the British public should be made aware that while the Queen is being pro- claimed Empress at Delhi, and the loyalty of her Indian subjects is being evoked by the holding of Darbars and 120 MODERN INDIA. tlie distribution of rewards to deserving natives in every Colleetorate, much irritation of feeling is apparent among her European subjects. Over and over again I havi; heard able officers exclaim, ' I dare not act on my own responsi- bility in this emergency. Cholera may break out ; symptoms of serious riots may show themselves ; people may be dying of famine ; instant action is needed, but I dare not trust to my own life-long knowledge and experience of India — I must telegraph for instructions.' There cnn be no doubt that the energy of the most successful administrator will be paralyzed if he is made to feel that a single blunder or an act of indiscretion will be visited by a formal reprimand, which is sure to find its way into every native newspaper and become tlie talk of all the bazaars throughout his district. I much fear that the benefits which have acci-ued to India from the trust reposed by the old East India Com- pany in its nfheers are in danger of being sacrificed to the present mania for the centralization of authority. A RELIEF CAMP. In my previous notes on some of the famine districts, I expressed a doubt as to whether any organization for the relief of the sufferers, however complete, would be able to reach every corner of the immense area over which the drought and dearth extend. Now that I have travelled in various directions over a great part of the country from Bombay to Cape Comorin, and noted with my own eyes what is being done to spread a network of this organization over every separate district, so as to embrace the most remote places, I am bound to admit that my fears were unfounded. Indeed, it would be difficult to use exaggerated language in speaking of the zeal, ability, and devotion displayed by Indian civilians and other executive officials in the present emergency. I have recently been staying with the energetic Col- lector of Salem (Mr. Longley), and early one morning I visited with him one of the Relief Camps now being constructed in the large district over the welfare of which he presides. The spot chosen for this Camp is an ele- vated piece of ground beautifully situated near a spring of excellent water, close under some chalk hills (supposed by the natives to be formed of the bones of the mythical bird Jatayus, killed by Ravana when carrying off Slta), and not far from the base of the Shervaroy Hills — the sanatarium of this part of India. On this ground nearly twenty long huts or sheds — each capable of accommodating forty persons — had already been constructed with bamboo 122 MODERN INDIA. poles, course cocoa-nut matting, and palmyra leaves. I was told that as only three months of the famine have passed, and at least four months have still to be provided for, it will be necessary to erect loo similar huts in this one Camp, with accommodation for 4,000 or 5,000 people. In fact, these Relief Camps may be described as tem- porary workhouses with wards for the old, feeble, and infirm, where the famine-driven inhabitants of outlying districts will take refuge, and where they will be comfortably housed, fed, and, if strong enough, made to work, till better times arrive. In Mr. Longley's camp the two classes of workers and non-workers into which every camp-community will be divided were plainly distinguishable from each other. The former were engaged in making new huts, breaking stones for a road, clearing the environs of the Camp, and keeping the whole place clean ; while the non-workers were sitting on the ground in three rows, exposed, Ijy their own choice, to the heat of a tropical sun for the sake of the warmth which insufficient food made necessary to them. It was piteous to see the emaciated old men and shrivelled old women, many of them blind or crippled, whose existence is being prolonged for a few months by the minimum of nourishment they are now receiving at the hands of a paternal Government ; but still more sad to look upon the unclothed skeletons of young men, boys, and little children with drawn features, shoulder bones standing out, legs like thin sticks, and ribs enclosing the feeble organs of their shrunk bodies, like bony cages, every bar of which was visible. \et I was told that the great difficulty in Indian famines is not so much the effective distribution of relief as the effective application of any proper method of detecting the vast number of undeserving applicants who ought not to be relieved at all. We were informed that about 300 applicants for food, without work, ought to have been present on the day of our visit, but that more than half THE FAMINE IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 733 had run off during the night, either because they disliked the confinement to which they had been subjected, or be- cause they had heard of the intended visit of the Collector and other Sahibs, and were filled with vague suspicions and fears of being questioned too closely. Yet no one is admitted to the Camp without a ticket, which is supposed to be given to deserving objects only. Those who were seated on the ground in our presence had empty earthen- ware bowls before them, in each of which about a pound of good boiled rice was placed while we looked on. This, with another meal administered in the evening, is held to be sufficient to keep the body and soul of a non-worker together. The workers are, of course, better fed. It was curious to observe the cleverness with which some of the recipients of the dole of boiled rice quietly pressed down the eagerly accepted ration with their hands, hoping thereby to be served with a little more than the due allowance. Each recipient then made a hole with his hands in the centre of his mess, and waited patiently till the half-pint of pepper-water {mulUga tanir), to which every one was entitled, had been poured into the cavity. Finally, by means of the spoons, with which every man was naturally provided, and in a manner which those only can under- stand who have seen a low-caste native seated on his hams with head bent back, mouth expanded to its utmost limits, and all four fingers and thumb converted into a convenient scoop for introducing into the aperture as much rice as a human being is capable of swallowing at once, every grain was disposed of before our eyes — in most cases with the utmost avidity and apparent satisfaction. It is intended, I understand, that caste prejudices shall be, as far as possible, respected. Those of the same caste will be grouped together in separate companies, and cooks of sufficiently high caste will be provided. But no genuine Brahman is ever likely to enter a Relief Camp. He will rather starve than submit to the chances of pollution, which to him would be worse than death. Starving 124 MODERN INDIA. Bralimans, who in some ]3arts of the country may be even more plentiful than starving Sudras, will have to be eared for by their own richer caste-fellows. I am sorry to have to add to this brief narrative that pestilence is following closely in the track of famine. At Madras three Europeans have recently succumbed to attacks of cholera, and the number of fatal cases among the natives is increasing every day. In some country towns and villages I have visited I have been cautioned to beware of a bad type of the disease prevalent all around. Of course, I could go into further details, but what I have written will, at least, give an idea of how the seven or eight millions of pounds sterling^ which the present famine is likely to cost will be spent ' The actual cost turned out to be thirteen millions. GENERAL IMPRESSIONS AND NOTES AFTER TRAVELS IN NORTHERN INDIA. Bombay, March 6, 1876. The ' Serapis' is now lying at anchor before our eyes in Bombay Harbour, reminding us that the Prince of Wales is on his road to this port, and that England will soon be preparing to welcome his return home. The interest excited by his tour has now culminated, and special cor- respondents are either bound homewards or addressing themselves to an effective winding up of their commu nieations by a telling description of the closing scene. Even after the Prince's return his doings in India are certain to continue a fashionable theme of conversation during the London season of 1876, and the Session will assuredly be marked by a constant recurrence to Indian topics. Every Parliamentary orator vdll drag in, rele- vantly or irrelevantly, allusions to the expedition and its results for the benefit of his constituents. Newspapers, reviews, and periodicals will contain trenchant articles, bristling with point, epigram, and criticism, if they do not cut the knot of our Indian difficulties. Meanwhile, I will endeavour to record, in plain lan- guage, a few particulars relative to our Indian possessions, which have impressed themselves on me most forcibly in the course of my tour in the Prince's track. 126 MODERN INDIA. It must be confessed that the impressions of a flying traveller are not generally worth recording ; but as cir- cumstances have given me peculiar opportunities of ob- serving the country, and mixing with the natives, after many years spent in studying their languages and lite- rature, some value may possibly attach to my experiences, which I propose to recount under distinct heads, com- mencing with a few notes on the political divisions of India, ancient and modern. Ancient Political Divisions. India has no historical literature of its own. Hence there are only three means of arriving at any knowledge of its early history ; i. By sifting fact from fiction, sober narrative from poetical exaggeration in its early heroic poetry, especially in its two great poems, the Ramayana, and Maha-bharata ; i. By examining the inscriptions on rocks, pillars, and monuments, on copperplate grants of land, and coins scattered in various places from Kasmir to Kuttack; 3. By putting together all allusions to India, and observations on its condition to be found in the lite- rature of other countries. The accounts written by two Chinese travellers — Fa-hian in the beginning of the fifth century of our era^ and Hiouen Thsang in the beginning of the seventh — who made pilgrimages to all the early Buddhist shrinesj have done good service in this latter way. The very name India is partly derived from a foreign source. It is the European adaptation of the word Hindu, which was used by the Persians for their Aryan brethren, Ijecause the latter settled in the districts surrounding the streams of the Siudhu (pronounced by them Hindlui,, and now called Indus). The Greeks, who probably gained their first conceptions of India from the Persians, changed the hard aspirate into a soft, and named the Hindus 'Ivhoi (Herodotus IV 14, V. 3). After the Indo- ANCIENT POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 137 Aryans had spread themselves over the plains of the Ganges, the Persians called the whole of the region be- tween the Panjab and Benares Hindustan, or ' abode of the Hindus,' and this name is used in India at the pre- sent day, especially by the Musalman population. The classical names for India, however, as commonly employed in Sanskrit literature and recognized by the whole Sanskritic race, are Aryararta, ' abode of the ' Aryas,' and Bhdrata-varsha, 'the country of king Bharata' (a prince of the lunar dynasty, who must have ruled over a large extent of territory in ancient times). The former name is more particularly applicable to India above the Vindhya mountains. After its occupation by the great Aryan race, India appears to have yielded itself up an easy prey to every invader. According to Herodotus (IV. 44), it was sub- jugated by Darius Hystaspes (called in Persian Dara Gushtasp). This conquest, if conquest it deserves to be called, probably took place between 531 and 518 b.c, about the time of the rise of Buddhism, and must have been very partial. It was doubtless followed by a certain amount of trafific between Persia and India, and to this commercial intercourse may be due the introduction into India of many new ideas- — religious and philosophical — and perhaps also of the Phcenician alphabet, with which that of some of the Asoka edicts and inscriptions is thought to be connected (see p. 129, note i). The expedition of Alexander the Great (called by the Hindus, Iskandar, or Sikandar) to the banks of the Indus, about 327 B.C., is a well-known and better authenticated fact. To this invasion is due the first trustworthy in- formation obtained by Europeans concerning the north- westerly portion of India and the region of the five rivers, down which the Grecian troops were conducted in ships by Nearchus. The first reliable date in Indian History is the era of (^andra-gupta ( = Sandrokottus) — the founder of the Maury a 128 MODERN INDIA. dynasty, who, after taking possession of Pataliputra (Pali- bothra, Patna) and the kingdom of Magadha (Behar), ex- tended his dominion over all Hindustan, and presented a determined front towards Alexander''s successor, Seleukos Nikator, the date of the commencement of whose reign was about 313 B.C. When the latter contemplated in- vading India from his kingdom of Bactria, so effectual was the resistance offered by Candra-gupta that the Greek thought it politic to form an alliance with the Hindu king, and sent his own countryman Megasthenes as an am- bassador to reside at his court '. To this circumstance we owe the earliest authentic ac- count of Indian manners, customs, and usages by an in- telligent observer who was not a native, and Megasthenes 's narrative, preserved by Strabo, furnishes a basis on which a fair inference may be founded that Brahmanism and Buddhism existed side by side in India on amicable terms in the fourth century B.C. There is even ground for believing that King Candra-gupta himself was secretly a Buddhist, though in public he gave homage to the gods of the Brahmans. Candra-gupta's reign is thought to have lasted from 315 to 291 B.C., and that of his son and successor Vindu- sara from 291 to 263 B.C. Asoka (who called himself Priyadarsin) the grandson of Candra-gupta, did for Buddhism what Constantine did for Christianity — gave an impetus to its progress by adopt- ing it as his own creed. Buddhism, then, became the state reliij;ion, the national faith of the whole kingdom of Mag- adha, and therefore of a great portion of India. For gra- dually during this period most of the petty princes of India from Peshawar and KasmTr to the river Ristna, and from Surat to Bengal and Orissn, if not actually brought under subjection to the kings of Magadha, were compelled to acknowledge their paramount authority. Asoka's reign ' In the second century B.o. some of the Bactrian kings made conquests in India AS OKA'S EDICTS. ROCK INSCRIPTIONS. 129 was remarkable for a great Buddhist council (the third since Buddha's time), held about 246 or 247 B.C., when the Tripitaka or three collections of writings in the Pali language (brought from ancient Magadha, and a form of Magadhi Prakrit, though diiferent from Jain Magadhi), containing all the teachings of Buddha — who is supposed to have never written anything himself — was finally settled. Moreover, Anoka's edicts in Pali ^ inscribed on rocks and stone pillars (probably between 251 and 253 B.C.) furnish the first authentic records of Indian history. According to Mr. R. N. Cust ^, ten of the most important inscrip- tions are found on five rocks and five pillars, though numerous other monuments are scattered over the whole of Northern India, from the Indian Ocean on the west to the Bay of Bengal on the east, from the slopes of the Vindhya range on the south to the Khaiber Pass on the north. The five most important rock inscriptions are those on (i) the Rock of Kapurda-garhi in British Afghanistan, forty miles east-north-east of Peshawur ; (2) the Rock ot Khalsi, situated on the bank of the river Jumna, just where it leaves the Himalaya mountains, fifteen miles west of the hill-sfation of Mussourie ; (3) the Rock of Girnar, half a mile to the east of the city of Junagurh, in Kathiawar ; (4) the Rock of Dhauli in Kuttack (properly Katak), twenty miles north of Jagan-nath ; (5) the Rock of Jau- gadha, in a large old fort eighteen miles west-north-west of Ganjam, in Madras. The five most important pillars are: (i) the Pillar at ' These inscriptions are iu two quite distinct kinds of writing. That at Kapurda-garhi — sometimes called Northern Asoka or Ariano-Pali — is clearly Semitic, and traceable to a Phoenician source, being written from right to left. That at Gimar is not so clearly so. It probably came through a Pahlavi channel, and gave rise to Deva-nagari , General Gun.- ningham believes this character — sometimes called Southern Asoka or Indo-PSli — to have originated in India. ^ See an interesting article in the 'Journal of the National Indian Asso- ciation,' for June 1879. 130 MODERN INDIA. Delhi, known as Firoz Shah's Lilt; (2) another Pillar at Delhi, which was removed to Calcutta, but has recently been restored ; (3) the Pillar at Allahabad, a single shaft without capital, of polished sandstone, thirty-five feet in height ; (4) the Pillar at Lauriya, near Bettiah, in Bengal ; (5) another Pillar at Lauriya. The inscriptions on these monuments present us with the best and most interesting edicts of As'oka. They prohibit the slaughter of animals either for food or for sacrifice, appoint missionaries for the ])rop;ig'ation of Bud- dhistic doctrines in various countries, inculcate peace and mercy, charity and toleration, morality and self-denial, and what is still more remarkable, enjoin seasons of general national humiliation and confession of sin every five years. Seven Buddhist kings of the Maurya dynasty, under whom the kingdom of Magadha continued to enjoy gieat prosperity (though probably not an equally extended do- minion), reigned after As'oka, until the year 195 B.C. They were succeeded by the Sanga Rajas, the chief of whom built the great Buddhist tope at Sanchi about 188 B.C., and by another line of Buddhist kings called Kanwa, who reigned till about 31 B.C. An Andhra dynasty then acquired power in ]\Iagadha. There were of course many rival principalities existing in India long before the rise of the kingdom of INTagadha, some of which traced back the pedigrees of their kings to the ancient dynasties of the heroic period. No one king- dom ever acquired universal dominion, though occasionally a single prince, conspicuous for unusual energy and ad- ministrative power, compelled a large number of less able chieftains to submit to his suzerainty, in which case he was sometimes called a ]\Iaharajadliiraja, and sometimes a Cakravarti. To fix the chronological order of the most ancient dynasties, is of course impossible. It will be sufficient to enumerate some of the most important (with occasional approximate dates) from the earliest times, merely pre- ANCIENT KINGDOMS OF NORTHERN INDIA. 131 mising that two lines of monarchs were originally domi- nant in the north of India, one of which was called Solar, because fabled to have derived its origin from the god of the Sun, while the other, called Lunar, pretended to trace back its pedigree to the god of the Moon. Some of the modern Rajput princes claim to belong to one or other of these two lines. I begin with an enumeration of the chief kingdoms in Northern India ^ : — I. The ancient kingdom of Kosala, or Ayodhyaj the capital of which was Ayodhya (now Ajudhya) on the river Sarayu, or Saryu (now Gogra). Here reigned Dasaratha, of the solar race, and afterwards his son Rama, the hero of the Ramayana. 3. The ancient kingdom of Videha (modern Tirhut) of which the first capital was Mithila, and afterwards Benares. Rama's wife, Sita, was the daughter of Janaka, king of this country. 3. The ancient kingdom of the city of Hastinapur, 57 miles north-east of the ancient Delhi (Indra-prastha). These were the capitals of the heroes of the Maha-bharata and kings of the Lunar line, some of whom appear to have dwelt at Pratishthana (Allahabad). 4. The kingdom of Avanti or Oujein (Ujjayini) in Malwa, reigned over by the celebrated Vikramaditya, whose reign is the starting point of the Hindu Samvat era, 57 B.C. He is said to have driven out the Sakas or Scythian (Turanian) tribes from Western India, and established his dominion over almost the whole of Hindustan. According to some, he was afterwards defeated by the very tribes he first con- quered. 5. The kingdom of Magadha already described. 6. The ancient kingdom of Kanya-kubja or Kanauj, in the neighbourhood of Oudh (Panc'ala). It was intensely ' A good summary which I have here consulted, will be found in a ' His- tory of India for Schools,' by Mr. E. Lethbiidge. K 2 132 MODERN INDIA. Bvahmanical and always took part with, the Brahmans against the Buddhists. A dynasty called Gupta (supposed to he descended from the great Rama) was established here in the second century of our era. This dynasty conquered the Sah or Sinha^ dynasty of Gujarat about the middle of the third century, and founded a powerful kingdom and a second capital at Vallabhi in Kathiawar. It may he noted that a dynasty of Rajputs called Rahtor subsequently ruled in Kanauj from about a.d. 470. 7. The Vallabhi Gupta dynasty, just named, which reigned over Gujarat till about the middle of the 7th century, and extended its dominion into Hindustan and the Deklian. Its second king, Samudra- Gupta, is said to have conquered Ceylon. One of its monarchs, named Siladitya, who reigned in the fifth century, was converted to the Jaina religion. Its last king, Toi-amana, was expelled by an invasion of Per- sians. The Vallabhi dynasty then migrated to ]\Iew5r or Rajputana (where it became the founder of the Rajput state of Mewar or Udaipur). It left behind a Rtijput tribe named Chaura who became the rulers of Gujarat, and transferred their capital from Vallabhi to Anhalwara, now called Patan. They were superseded by the Salonkhyas, about a.d. 942. 8. The Rajput state of Mewar or Udaipur founded by the Vallabhi Guptas from Oudh, as described above. 9. The Chaura kingdom established at Anhalwilra (now Patan) as mentioned above. 10. The Delhi Rajput dynasty, of which the last king was Prithivi Riija (the hero of Chand's poetrj-), who was first victorious over and finally conquered by Muhammad Ghori in 117,';;. 11. A Brahman ical dynasty settled at Labor, in the Punjab, known by its coins, having a bull on one side and ' The Srihs or Sinhas are thought to have been of Parthian origin, and to have wor^^hipped the Sun. A list of nineteen monarclis of the dynasty has been deduced from its coins, which are marked b}- an image of the Sun. Tlieir capital was Sehore, but their sway extended over nearly the whole of what is now the Bombay Presidency. ANCIENT KINGDOMS OF SOUTHERN INDIA. 133 a horseman on the other. The last king was Bhimapalj whose predecessor Jaipal was taken prisoner by Mahmud of Ghazni. 12. The kingdom of Gaur (Gauda) or Bengal. Not much is known of its earliest dynasties noticed in the Maha- bharata. The Pal line of kings, who were Buddhists, reigned from the 9th to the t ith century of our era, and one of them was acknowledged as a Maharajadhiraja. They were suc- ceeded by the princes called Sena, one of whom (Adisvara) invited five pure Brahmans to come from Kanauj to Bengal. These came, attended by men of the Kayastha (writer) caste, and became the ancestors of the five classes of Brah- mans and Writers now found there. The capital of the Bengal dynasty was first Ganr and afterwards Nuddea. The following are some of the ancient South Indian kingdoms : — 1. The Pandya kingdom founded by a man named Pandya who came from Ayodhya. Its capital was Madura. It lasted from the fifth century B.C. till the eleventh cen- tury A.D. 2. The Chola kingdom, founded by Tayaman Nale. Its capital was Kanchipuram (Conjeveram). For a long period (between 350 B.C. and 214 a.d.) the Chola kingdom was united with the Pandya, but again became independent. Then its capital was transferred to Tanjor. In the four- teenth century it was merged in the Maratha kingdom. 3. The Chera kingdom comprising Travankor, Malabar and Western Mysor. It existed from the first to the tenth century a.d. 4. The kingdom of Patan on the Godavari in the Dekhan, ruled over by the celebrated Salivahaiia, whose birth 77 or 78 after Christ is the beginning of the Saka era. He him- self was prince of the Sakas or Scythian (Turanian) races, who arrived in India before the Aryans, and were the great opponents of Vikramaditya. 5. The kingdom of a powerful tribe of Rajputs called Chalukya said to have come from Oudh and established at i;,4 MODERN INDIA. a place called Kalian in what is now the Western part of the Nizam's territory, in 250 a.d. Its power was greatest during the fourth and fifth centuries and then extended over the Pandyas and Cholas in the south, and Andhras in the east. It became extinct in 1182. 6. The Ballala dynasty which succeeded the Cheras, and ruled at Dwara Samudra in North Mysor. One of its Jaina kings was converted by the Vaishnava reformer Ramanuja in 1 133. 7. The great Andhra kingdom in the eastern part of the Dekhan established at Warangal, to the east of Hydeiabad. 8. The kingdom of Deogarh (now Daulatabad) ruled over by a Yadava dynasty. It was very powerful in the twelftli century-, and conquered the kingdom of Kalian. 9. The kingdom of Orissa ruled over by the Kesari dynasty from an early date till 1131 A.p., and again by the Gajapati line of princes established at Katak. 10. The Bahmani dynasty which held sway for 150 year;^ (from A.D. 1347 to 1526) over a great part of the Dekhan. It ultimately became divided into the five Muhammadau kingdoms next enumerated. 11. The five Muhammadan kingdoms of (i) Bijapur. founded by Adil Shah, a.d. 1489 ; (2) Ahmad-nagar, founded by IMulik Ahmad, a.d. 1487 ; (3) Golkondah, founded by Kutb-ul-Mulkj A.D. 1512; (4) Berar (whose capital was Ilichpur) founded by Fath-Allah, a.d. 1574; (5) Bidar and Galbavgah, founded by BarTd Shah. 12. The Hindu kingdom of Vijaya-nagar (Bija-n;igar) which became a strong power in the Dekhan, and was nearly co-e-\t(iisive with the Madras Presidency. It lasted till the time of Aklar in 1565, and at its fall a line of Hindu Rajas maintained its indej-endencc in Mysore against the J\lah- rattas, the Nizams of the Dekhan and Nawabs of the Carnatic until 171^1, when an officer in the lulja's army named Haidar usurped the government and became King ot Mysore. MUHAMMADAN INVASIONS OF INDIA. 135 One of the princes of Vijaya-nagar was king Bukka^ the piitron of Sayanadarya, the Rig-veda commentator. I may usefully add here a brief notice of the Muhammadan occupation of India. Of course, many of the Hindu dynasties just enumerated were flourishing at the epoch when Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, laid the foundation of a new empire in Arabia, soon after his flight to Medina in a.d. 623. Muhammad's suceessorsj after occupying Damascus for about one hundred years, fixed their capital at Bnghdad in 750, and thence their power extended into Afghanistan. The Arabs, however, never gained more than a temporary footing in India. Under the Khalif Walid I, in 711, ^Muhammad Kasim was sent at the head of an army into Sindh, which was then added for a time to the Khalifate,. but the Muslims were expelled in 750 ; and for two cen- turies and a half India was left unmolested by invaders from the west. About the year 950, when the power of the Arabs began to decline in Asia, hardy tribes of Tartars, known by the name of Turks (not the Ottoman tribe which afterwards gained a footing in Europe, but hordes from the Altai mountains), were employed by the Khalifs to infuse vigour into their effeminate armies. These tribes became Muhammadans and gradually took the power into their own hands. In the province of Afghanistan, Sabaktagin, once a mere Turkish slave, usurped the government. His son Mahmud founded an empire at GhaznT about the end of the tenth century. A zealous iconoclast and great warrior, he made his first of sixteen incursions into India in the year 1000. In one of his later inroads he devastated the shrine of Somnath in Gujarat and carried ofl" the sandal-wood gates of the temple as a trophy to Ghazni. He was the first of a long series of Afghan kings who maintained a dominion in India for 500 years. One of his successors was Muhammad Ghori, who, after his assumption of the empire of Ghazni, defeated and J 36 MODERN INDIA. put to death Prithivi Raja of Delhi, at the second battle of Thanesvar, and became the first Muhammadan conqueror of Delhi, and the real founder of the Musalman power in India, [ 193 a.d. Nevertheless, Kutb ud din, his lieutenant and successor (1206- 1210), was perhaps the first real king of Delhi, as Muhammad Ghori returned home after the completion of his conquests. During the thirteenth century the Mongol or JNIoghul hordes, under the celebrated Jangiz Khan, overthrew the Turkish or Tartar tribes ; and in 1398 Timur, uniting Tartars and Mongols into one army, made his well-known invasion of India. After desolating the country then ruled by the Afghan kings he retired, but the sixth in descent from him, Baber (^Bdhar), conquered Afghanistan, and thence invading India about 1526, founded the Moghul empire, which his grandson Akbar (son of Humajoin) established on a firm basis in 1556. Previously to Akbar, however, and during the reign of Humayun an Afghan chief named Shir Shah Siir, \\ho had conquered Bengal, usurped, for a time, authority over Hindiistan. He was a wise and energetic ruler, and raised the empire to great prosperity. The power of the Moglmls was at its height for a period of 150 years. It rapidly increased under Akbar, Jahangir, and Shahjahiin, until it culminated under Aurangzib, began to decline under Shah Alam (Bahadur Shah), Jahandar Shah, and Farrukh-Siyar ; and under Muhammad Shah, the fourth from Aurangzib, took place the Persian invasion ot Afghanistan and thence of India, undertaken by Nadir Shah (a.d. 1 738) to avenge on the Afghans their inroads into Persia. Hence, it apjiears that in all cases the Muhammadan invaders of India came through Afghanistan, and generally settled there before proceeding to conquer the Hindus. For this reason, and from the proximity of Afghanistan, it has followed that the greater number of Muhammadan immi- grants have been of Afghan blood. As to the development of European influence and British rule in India, a brief account of this subject will be found MODERN POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 137 in the first chapters on ' the progress of our Indian Empire ' at the end of this volume. Modern Political Divisions. Let me note, for the benefit of those who have hitherto given little heed to the progress of our Eastern Empire, that the old tripartite separation of India into three Presidencies gives an inadequate, if not inaccurate, idea of its present political divisions. The term Presidency is still conveniently retained for Bom- bay and Madras (whose governments correspond directly with the Secretary of State, and not through the Governor- General), but cannot now be suitably applied to the twelve divisions' more immediately under the Viceroy, and gener- ally supplied with officers from the Bengal Civil Service. * Mr. Trelawny Saunders in commenting on my Time^ letter, June 14, 1877, enumerated these twelve divisions, and gave an official explanation of the present political divisions of India, part of which I here extract as useful and instructive, though his description of what he states ouglit still to be called the Bengal Presidency is likely to bewilder the general reader : * JEver since the reduction of the lower Provinces of Bengal from being the chief Presidency to the position of a Lieutenant-Govei-nment, it has been the fashion in certain official quarters to deny the existence of the Bengal Presidency, and, indeed, of the Presidencies altogether. As, however, the officials of Madras and Bombay have not suffered any detraction from their rank as Presidencies, the fashion which prevails in Calcutta does not appear to have extended to Madras and Bombay ; and thus the Professor allows that " the term may be conveniently retained " in their cases. ' But the Presidency of Bengal (or, technically. Fort William in Bengal), so far from having been abolished, has become so largely extended as to require that the local Government of the original Presidency should be delegated by the Governor-General of the extended Presidency to a Lieu- tenant-Governor, just as other parts of the Presidency have been. The honours of the Bengal Civil Service are now, therefore, no longer confined to the area under the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, but are disseminated throughout India, excepting Bombay and Madras. A reference to the "India List" will prove that, as a rule, it is Members of the Bengal Civil Service ^\ho are employed, not only in (i) the Lieutenant-Government of Bengal Proper, but also in (2) the North- Western Provinces (of Bengal) and Oudh, (3) the Punjab, (4) Esjputana and Ajmir, (5) Central India, (6) the Central Provinces, (7) Hyderabad and Berar, (8) Mysore and Coorg, (9) Afsam, (10) Manipur, a little state, east of Assam, on the frontier of Burmah, (11) British Burmah, (12) the Andaman and Nicobar 138 MODERN INDIA. lb would be better, I think, to speak of Modern British India as divided into eiffht Provinces, each under its own Government. These are: — i. Bengal (sometimes called the Lower Provinces, consisting of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa) ; a. the North- West Provinces (so called from their position re- latively to Bengal); 3. the Panjab; 4. the Central Provinces; 5. British Burmah ; 6. Assam ; 7. Bombay; and 8. Madras. Till quite recently the province of Oudh formed a ninth division under a separate Government, but is now attached to the North-West Provinces. Then there are now nine principal native territories sur- rounded by, or contiguous to, these eight Ri-itish Provinces; and of course protected and controlled by us through Resi- dfnts and Political Agents, viz. i. Rajputana ; 'I. Central India (including the dominions of Sindia and liolkar) ; 3. the Bombay Maratha States (especially that of the Gaikwar of Baroda) ; 4. Hyderabad or the Nizam's territory ; 5. ^[ysor; 6.Travankor; 7. Nepal; 8. Kasmir; 9. Afghanistan. The recent war has added Afghanistan to the list. We have had to settle the question whether that country should be Russianized or Anglicized '- Most of these nine native states are independent of us in regard to their internal affairs, but all acknowledge our Islands. All these distinct governments, whether under Lientenant- Governors, Commissionere, Superintendents, or Native Princes, with poli- tical agents as their advisers, are supplied with British officials of the Tiengal Civil Service, and are subject to the superior control of the Governor-General in C'cuniLil. The Presidencies of Jladras and Bombay cover the rema nder of India, and have their own distinct Civil Services (making in all fourteen great political divisions). The tripartite organi- zation of India is also determined by this fact — that, although there are fourteen separate governments in India, including Madras and Bombay, the twelve divisions of the Bengal Presidency have no coiTespondence with the Secretary of State except through the Govemor-GLueral. Bombay and Madras, as separate Presidencies, retain that distinction.' ' In their speeches at the end of the present Session (August 14, 1879) Sir Stafford Northcote and Mr. E. Stanhope well pointed out what the war h.is achieved for us : viz. absolute control over the foreign nlations of Afghanistan ; the appointment of a British Eesident (Major Cavagnari) at Kabul ; a greatly improved frontier, both military and political, through the MODERN POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 139 supremacy. Hydeiabad (where we have a Resident), thougli completely environed by British territory, is the largest and most powerful. It is the only great Muhamraadan power that has survived the dissolution of the Moghul empire in India. It has an area of 100,000 square miles, and a popu- lation of eleven millions, and maintains an army of 50,000 men. No other native state approaches it either in area or population ; Marwar (Jodhpur) in Rajputana, which is the next largest, having an area of only 36,000 square miles, and a population of less than two millions. There are, however, five minor Muhammadan states^ viz. Khairpur^ bordering on Sindh ; Bhawalpur, contiguous to the Panjab ; Rampur in the North-West ; Bhopal (for Bhupal) in Central India ; and Tonk in Rajputana. Of course some of the nine principal native lerritories include an immense number of separate states and princi- palities. For example, there are nineteen Rajputana states, of which the three chief are (i) Jodhpur, or Marwar, (2) Jaipur, and (3) Udaipur, or Mewar ^. These (especially the last) are the most ancient sovereignties of India. Central India includes the state of Gwalior (with more than 33,000 square miles, a population of nearly three millions, and an army of more than 23,000 men), ruled by Sindia ; and that of Indore (with little more than 8,000 square miles and half a million population, and, according to Colonel ]Malleson an army of 8,500 men), ruled b}' Holkar. The Bombay Maratha states include (besides that of the Gaikwar of Baroda in Gujarat) a large number of minor principalities in Kathiawar, and in the South, so that the grand total of native states and feudatories great and small, throughout India, is not far short of five hundred. occupation of advanced strategical positions which give us the command of all the important Afghan stations and passes, as, for example, Quetta with the Eolan, Khuram, Sibi, Peshin, Ali Masjid with the Khaiber ; a com- mercial treaty with Afghanistan, and the opening out of an enormous trade with Central Asia ; and lastly, the power of conciliating, humanizing, and civilizing the lawless mountain tribes. ' Or Maiwar, said to be a contraction of Mailhymodr, central region. I40 MODERN INDIA. Geographical and P/iijsical Features. It is no part of my plan to describe the physical geo- graphy of India. Let me merely direct attention to eight principal geographical divisions marked in the map which accompanies this volume thus : — I. The lower valley or basin of the Ganges, including Bengal, Behar and Orissa ; 2. the upper basin of the Ganges from Patna to the Sutlej, constituting Hindustan proper, this being the only part of India properly called Hindustan ^ ; 3. the whole basin of the Indus, embracing the Panjab and Sindh ; 4. the Indian desert, including Rajputana; 5- Gujarat, forming with the peninsula of Kathiawar ^, or ancient Saurashtra, a large extent of fertile country of a horse-shoe shape, whose area is about equal to that of Great Britain ; 6. the triangular plateau of Central India, including Malwa, and on the east Ban- delkhand, and in its widest sense compiehending the whole region between the Aravali and Vindhya ranges ; 7. the plateau of the Dekhan, or, more properly, Dakhin, that is to say, the South Country, including part of the southern Maratlia country, the central provinces, the Nizam's ter- ritory and Mysor ^ ; 8. the valley of the Brahma-putra, including Assam. "With a view to clearness, the physical boundaries are ' The whole of Northern and Central India from the Himalayas to tlie Vindhya range is sometimes called Hindustan, to distinguish it from the Dekhan. - Properly written Kathiawad, and meaning the abode of a tribe called Kathi. ^ The whole triangular plateau south of the Vindhya mountains as far as Cape Coraorin (Kumarin) is correctly called the Dekhan or South Country, but it would be more in conformity with modem usage to say that the river Krishna divides the south into two plateaux, the Northern of which is the Dekhan proper, wliiie Mysor forms the Southern plateau. In fact, the map of India may be conveniently divided into three broad belts, viz. I. the Northern belt called Hindustan, extending from the Himalaya to the Vindhya range ; 2. the upper Southern belt called the Deklian, extending from the Vindhya range to the river Kistna ; 3. the lower Southern belt called the Peninsula, extending from the Kistna to Cape Comorin. GEOGRAPHICAL AND PHYSICAL FEATURES. 141 purposely exaggerated in the map, and with the same object the true hydrographieal lines are not quite correctly drawn. The first noticeable feature is the vast alluvial plain which bends round in an immense curve from the mouths of the Indus to the mouths of the Ganges. Then^ observe how the gigantic Himalajas (the abode of snow ^) curve round as if to form a stupendous ring-fence towards the two seas ; next, how the less lofty Vindhya ^ and Satpura ^ ranges, traversing the centre of the country, have acted as a line of separation to mark off Central and Northern India, and Hindustan from the table-land of the Dekhan, or Southern India, and helped to preserve a certain degree of individuality in each region ; thirdly, how the line of the Vindhya range and Sone river, taken in conjunction with the line of the Ganges valley, and that of the ChittiJr range and Chambal river, form the three sides of a central triangular plateau embracing Mahva and Bandelkhand *, or the Central India native states ; fourthly, how the Ara- vali ^ range, running parallel with the Chittur hills, shuts off Central India, — or, speaking roughly, the country called Malwa — from the desert of Rajputana. India, like China, Babylonia and Egypt, owes much of its early prosperity and civilization to its inexhaustible supply of living waters. Indeed the history of the world proves that rivers are a country's very life-blood. If we compare the condition of India in this respect with that of the peninsula of Arabia, which has not a single navi- gable stream, it will not surprise us that rivers, like every ' From Sanskrit Tiima, ice or snqw, and alaya, abode. Where they separate the Panjab from Afghanistan, they have the name Sulaiman, and where they divide Sindh from Biluohistan various local names, such as Hala, &c. " Vindhya may be derived from the Sanskrit bind, for root Md, to divide. ^ Satpura is probably for Sdt-picda for Sdf-pu^a, seven folds, or sinuosities. ' Malwa, or more properly Malava = Madhya-dei'a, the middle country : Bandelkhand = the country of the Bandela tribe. ° From Sanskrit dra, a point, and dtali a line. 142 MODERN INDIA. other oLject in nature from which great benefits arise, are personifiuJ and worshipped by the Hindis as actual di- vinities. Almost all the rivers in India have significant Sanskrit names. The Indus is properly in Sanskrit SivdJiu. It has a special interest of its own, because it gives its name to India, the first settlements of the Indo-Aryans having been on its banks. Like the Brahma-putra it has a course of about 1800 miles. But the first in importance, though not in length — its course being only 1514 miles — is the Ganges, the 'great goer,' its name in Sanskrit being Gaugd (from the root gam, to go). It has numerous important tributaries, such as the Jumna (Sanskrit Ydininia), the Cliambal, the Gandak (Sanskrit Gaiuhkl) and the Sone (Sanskrit Soya). Both the Indus and the Ganges, through taking opposite courses to the sea, have their sources, along with that of the Bralima-putra, at no great distance apart in the snows of the Himala\ as ; and. it may be noted, that the Ganges and Brahma-putra, flowing in the same direction, though on opposite sides of the vast mountain range. Lave deltas which run into each other and become intermixed in the plains around Calcutta. Of the other principal rivers those which flow, like the Indus, into the Western or Arabian Sea, the Narbada ^ — 800 miles long — is perhaps the next most sacred river after the Ganges. Hence its proper Sanskrit name is NaniM-(Jn, or 'bliss giver.' Almost every river, however, rivals the Ganges in being held by those who live near it to have more sanctifying power than anjr other river. The Taptl, 400 miles long, on which Surat is situated, takes its name from a word fapati'^, derived from the Sanskrit root faji, ' to be warm.' ' Broach (which is probably a corruption of Bhngu-kncha') is on this river. Its other name is Re\ri. The territory of the Raja of Rew-ili (Revfi) surrounds the sources of this ri\ er. '' Mure properly tui-iaidl, heating, hot, warm. Another name for it is RIVERS OF INDIA. 143 The Lunl^, lying between it and the Indus, may be so called from its saline {lavana) properties. The SabharraatI ^ is said to be so named from Sanskrit Sabhramatl, but is more probably from Svabhramati, ' having holes/ {SvabJira being ' the hole of an animal'). Then come those rivers which flow like the Ganges into the Eastern Sea, or Bay of Bengal^ viz., the great Brahma- putra (meaning in Sanskrit ' Son of Brahma') whose course is chiefly on the other side of the Himalayas ; and the Maha-nadl ^ (or 'great river'), 520 miles long. Then those which descend from the water-shed of the western ghats, such as the Go-davarl* (meaning 'water-giver') with a long course of 898 miles ; the Kistna (corrupted from Krishna) 800, and the Kaveri °, 47a miles long. There are three smaller rivers nearer to the mouths of the Ganges called the Subanrekha (for Sanskrit Surama-rekha, 'golden-streaked^), the Baitaranl ', and the Brahmani (re- spectively 317, 345, and 410 miles long), and some other less important streams, such as the Punniir and the Vaiga, may be noted in the south. Extensive irrigation works have been successfully carried out in connection with the Go-davari, Kistna, and Kaveri rivers. These are due to the skill and energy of Sir Arthur Cotton, and are of incalculable benefit to the country in times of drought and famine. The three districts watered and irrigated by these rivers, especially the Delta of the Kaveri round Tanjore, instead of adding millions to the grand total of famine-stricken people during the recent Payoshni, ' warm as milk.' Surat ought to be pronounced Stlrat; it is from the Persian word for beauty of form. ' Loni is probably for Lavani, lavana meaning salt. "^ Ahmedabad is on this river. " Mahl in Sanskrit means the earth. Baroda (a name said to be derived from vala, the Indian fig-tree) is rear this river. ' Godavari may also mean in Sanskrit cow-giver. It is held very sacred. ' The Kaveri is said by those who live near it to have a fourth more power of washing away sin than the Ganges. It is however called by some Ardlia-Ganga, half the Ganges. ' For Vaitarani, the name of a fabulous river in the infernal regions. 144 MODERN INDIA. famine, poured millions of bushels of grain into the starv- ing regions. A study of the most prominent physical features of India makes it less difficult to comprehend how the Indo- Aryan settlers elaborated out of their own imaginations the singular, and to us ridiculous, system of geography recorded in their Puranas. Extending their immigrations first southwards and then towards the east and west, and surrounded on all sides either by the sea or by vast rivers, which in the rainy season spread themselves out like seas, they imagined India to be a flat circular continent, bounded on all sides by a ring-shaped ocean, to which they added six other ring-shaped continents ^, each sur- rounded by its own ring-shaped sea. Far off in the horizon the vast pile of the Himalayas towered upwards into the sky. Hence they believed the furthest ocean to be encircled by an impassable mountain wall, which formed the boundary and limit of the universe. Beyond this barrier neither land nor sea existed, and the light of the sun could not penetrate. All was blank space and total darkness. And, in truth, this self-contained peninsula of India presents the students of physical geography, as well as every other student of nature and every admirer of scener\ , with an epitome of the world. Where can be seen more wonderful contrasts, where such amazing variety ? Mono- tonous plains, sandy deserts, noble rivers, fertile fields, im- mense districts wooded like English parks, forest, grove, and jungle, gentle undulation, hill and dale, rock, crag, precipice, sno\vy peak — everything is here. The one ex- ception is lake scenery. India has nothing to ofifer like the ]iicturesque lakes of Europe. But the grand distinctive feature which impresses a traveller most is the sublime rang-e which, stretching" from ^ The Indians were not so far wrong in their notion of seven continents, for Aiiiurica may fairly be rtcknned as two continents, and a seventh conti- nent is supposed to surround the South Pole. MOUNTAINS OF INDIA. CLIMATE. 145 the east towards the west, blends with other ranges north- wards, and surrounds the whole upper part of India (as the Alps surround Europe) with a mighty natural rampartj shutting it out from the rest of the continent of Asia, and, indeed, from the rest of the world, except from the sea. It is true that constant incursions have taken place from the earliest times through the principal passes of Afghan- istan (especially the Khaiber and Bolan), as well as along the course of the Brahma-putra ; and the later Muham- madan invaders have had little difficulty in following the same route ; but all these invasions occurred before the existence of steam-navies, ironclads, railroads, and tele- graphs. A great aggressive power like Russia may, here- after, give us trouble by stirring up disaffection among the people of Afghanistaa, and the excitable tribes in the neighbourhood of the passes ^, but no power that cannot beat us at sea is ever likely to dispossess us of India. My first view of the Himalayan range on a clear evening from a point about 150 miles distant was absolutely over- powering. Imagine the Jung Frau piled on Mont Blanc, and repeated in a succession of peaks, stretching apparently nearly half round the horizon in an unbroken line, far more extended than that of the Alps as seen from Berne, and a faint idea may be formed of the sublimity of the spectacle presented by this majestic pile of mountains, some of which tower to a height of nearly 30,000 feet above the plain. In regard to climate, too, India, which is in other re- spects a complete world in itself, seems to include all the climates of all countries. Far from being 'deadly' (at least, from November till April), as I have heard it de- scribed, I believe the winter climate of Northern India to be more salubrious than that of England. Perpetual sunshine, balmy breezes, perfect dryness of air and soil, with lovely flowers and summer foliage constantly before the eyes, cannot fail to exhilarate the spirits and benefit ' Thia was written in 1876, and may be read in the light of recent events. L 1 46 MODERN INDIA. the health. Many invalids, who habitually resort to Italy to escape the damp and gloom of our English climate, would do well to devote a winter to India. The facilities now offered by the Suez Canal, and the beautiful weather prevalent in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean from No- vember to April, make the passage itself not the least delightful part of the expedition ; and if English tourists would oftener turn their steps towards our Eastern pos- sessions, the present lamentable ignorance on Indian sub- jects, amounting in most cases to Cimmerian darkness, would be replaced by a better appreciation of the character of the country. Would, too, that a few more students of astronomy could be induced to wend their way towards India ! I in- quired in vain for professional astronomers, and only came across one amateur during the course of my travels in Northern India. The sight he gave me of the planet Saturn through his well-appointed telescope at Allahabad, will remain indelibly impressed on my memory. How is it, then, that there are not more telescopic batteries di- rected against the heavens in an atmosphere unequalled for clearness, stillness, and all the conditions favourable to new conquests in the field of astronomical research ? Nor can I refrain from expressing my surprise that zoologists and botanists do not resort in larger numbers to India and revel in the rich fare — the endless variety spread out in every direction, and asking to be appreciated and enjoyed. For my own part, I would rather see them abound than sportsmen, of whom, indeed, there is no lack at all. It must be confessed that the omnipresent insects which most people execrate as the greatest pest incident to an Indian climate, are a little too demon- strative for the ordinary traveller and resident. Various appliances may temper extremes of heat and cold, but what can repress the irrepressible mosquito, or check the un- pleasant exuberance of every form of insect life ? ' If I could get .^200 in England,' I have often heard irritated RACES OF INDIA. 147 young civilians exclaim, ' I would give up my .^800 a year in this country.' Certainly there are many draw- backs to a life in Eastern climates, and the insect nuisance is not the least of them. But one man's plague may be another man's prize. To an entomologist the study of Indian ants alone would be an inexhaustible subject of interest, while to the ordinary amateur what can be more attractive than the whole butterfly world of India. I well remember how, walking in a secluded lane, I was sud- denly surrounded by a flight of at least a hundred gor- geous specimens of this form of insect life. How is it then that I looked in vain for entomologists and butterfly- collectors in my travels ? Races and Languages. India, including the slopes of the Himalayas, presents us with examples of all the principal races of the world ; for example, the Caucasian — Aryan in the Brahmans and Rajputs, and Semitic in the Arabs ^ — the Mongolian, and even the Negro, some of the aboriginal hill tribes being manifestly either negroid or negrito. And all races are more or less blended. Yet Brahmans, Rajputs, Jats, Baniyas (in Sanskrit Banijas= FaUt/as), Sudras, and hill tribes differ as much inter se as Greeks, Italians, Saxons, Slaves, Celts, Finns, and Laps. In point of fact, the insularity of India, caused by its vast natural barriers of mountain and ocean, enables us to under- stand how it has happened that when the whole country once became filled with Turanian and Aryan settlers, their manners, customs, domestic usages, religious ideas, and languages, have undergone less change through extraneous influences than they have in other parts of the world to which the same races have immigrated. For there are really only three principal gateways through the mighty wall of the Himalayas, as roughly indicated in ' But it must be admitted that there is no great admixture of Arab blood. L a 148 MODERN INDIA. the map. Two of these are by the passes of the North- west, and the third by the Brahma-putra valley on the East into Bengal. Few invaders have entered India except through the long and difficult passages constituting these gateways. Both Turanians^ and Aryans came one after the other through the two North-western passes, some through the Khaiber Pass into the Panjab, some through the Bolan Pass into Sindh. The Indo-Turanians, whose original home was probably somewhere in Northern Turkestan, were nomad races who passed into India at different times and were the first to occupy all the Northern and Central regions. The Aryans, who were half nomad, half agricultural, came from the more southerly districts of Central Asia and Turkestan — probably from the Pamir plateau and the region surrounding the sources of the Oxus. They, too, entered India by successive waves of immigration, but their incur- sions did not begin till some centuries later. The more peaceful Aryan immigrants finding the Tura- nians already in possession of the country settled down with them on the soil, and in conjunction with them formed the great class of the Vais'ya or agricultural population ^. Other incursions of the Aryan race followed, and those who were intellectually superior took advantage of that growth of religious ideas which generally •accompanies political growth, and formed themselves into a body of religious teachers, afterwards called Brahmans, — while the more warlike tribes (afterwards called Kshatriyas), advan- cing southwards, drove the more independent and less sub- missive of the Turanians towards the Southern Peninsula. There these Turanian races retained their own languages, ' This term is properly only applicable to the people of Turkestan, though it is sometimes loosely applied to the omnium-gatherum of all races not Aryan or Semitic. ^ Even now the great mass of the Hindu population are agriculturists, but they are no longer called Vaisyas or 'settlers on the soil* (from the root iiV), this name being applied to traders. The pure Vaisya caste no longer exists. RACES OF INDIA. 149 acquired an independent civilization, and were called by a distinct name — Dravidians^ — though they ultimately amalgamated to a great extent with the advancing Aryan immigrants and became Aryanized in religion, literary culture, and social usages. The Dravidians of the South were the Rakshasas, or powerful demons of Indian Epic poetry. The non-Aryan and non-Dravidian races (consisting of the Kols, Santals, Juangs, &c., of Chota Nagpur, and neighbouring districts) are now usually called Kolarian. Some of them may be of Tibetan origin, while others are rude aborigines whose origin cannot be traced beyond their present locality, and who have a manifest afiSnity with Negritos and Australian savages. The Tibetan tribes probably entered India through the Eastern gateway long before either Indo-Aryans or Dravi- dians. These non-Dravidian and aboriginal tribes were the monkeys of Indian Epic poetry. As to the Muhammadan invasions of India, they were really little more than further incursions of Tartar (Turkish) races who had become converted to Islam, and who over- ran Sindh, Gujarat, and the Panjab, after first settling in Afghanistan and fusing to a certain extent with the Afghans. The Parsis represent a remnant of the ancient Persians, who, when the Khalifs conquered Persia in the 7th and 8th centuries, retained their own religion, settling first at Yazd in Persia, and afterwards, to escape persecution, emigrating to the Western coast of India. It is clear, then, that India has been continually overrun by successive immigrants and invaders from time imme- morial. And of these immigrants the best fitted by physical energy, character and habits to achieve ascendancy were the Aryan races. In point of fact, these races have continued dominant in moral and religious influence, though political power has long since passed out of their hands. They may ' Properly Dravidah, from Dravida, the name given to the extreme South or Tamil part of the Peninsula. 150 MODERN INDIA. be called by the general name Indo-Aryans to distinguish them from the Aryans who spread themselves over Europe, and differences distinguish them as great as those which divide European Aryans. Indeed, from their admixture with the Turanian and aboriginal races it is difficult to find pure Brahmans^, Kshatriyas ^, or Vaisyas anywhere. A purely ethnical arrangement of the people of India is now practically impossible. Reckoning, however, Aryans and non- Aryans, and taking difference of speech as marking and perpetuating separation of populations, though not as necessarily determining dis- tinction of race, we are able to distinguish sixteen separate peoples in India, constituting what might almost be called sixteen separate nationalities. First come eight divisions of the Indo-Aryans, all of whose languages are more or less Sanskritic in structure as well as in vocabulary. 1. Hindi., which we may calculate as spoken by about one hundred million persons in Hindustan proper, including the High Hindi and the Muhammadan form of it called Hindustani, and the various dialects, called Braj, KanaujI, Mewari, Old Purbi, Awadhi, Bhojpuri, and Marwari, the last being particularly deserving of notice as spoken throughout Jodhpur, the most extensive of all the Rajput states. 2. Bengali, spoken by about thirty-seven millions in Bengal, a little more than half of whom are Hindus and the remainder Muhammadans. 3. Marat At ^, spoken by about eleven or twelve millions chiefly Hindus, throughout Maharashtra or the Maratha country in the Dekhan, part of the province of Bombay ' The northern division of Brahmans in Hindustan claim to be of pure descent, especially the Kanyakubja and Sarasvata Brahmans. ^ The Rajputs of Rajputana claim to be pure Xshatriyas. ^ Mr. Beames considers that Marathi has been formed by the Mat^adhi and Sauraseni Prakrits quite as much as by the Maharashtri. LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 15 1 and the Central Provinces, including a dialect in the Kon- kan, known as Konkani. 4. Gvjarati, spoken by about seven millions in Gujarat, and regarded by some as a mere dialect of Hindi. 5. Panjdhl, spoken by twelve or thirteen millions in the Panjab, of whom one half are Muhammadans. It is reallj a mere dialect of Hindi. 6. Kaimlrt, a sister language of Hindi, spoken (with Dogri, a dialect of Panjabi) by nearly two millions in the kingdom of Kasmir. According to Dr. Biihler there are three varieties of Kasmlri. The Kasmirl Pandits are among the finest types of the Aryan race. 7. Sindki, spoken by about two millions in Sindh, of whom one fifth only are Hindu, the remainder being Muhammadan. Dr. Trumpp has published a scientific grammar of this language. 8. Oriya, spoken by about eight millions, chiefly Hindus, in Orissa. Next, taking the non-Aryans, we have eight other race- difierences, which we may also mark by the names of eight languages. In the first place, six Dravidian races (num- bering nearly forty-six million persons), as follow : — I. Tamil, spoken by about fifteen millions throughout an extensive region, beginning with the northern portion of Ceylon, and extending from Cape Comorin northward along the South of Travankor, and what is called the Karnatic ; that is, along the southern part of the Coromandel coast to about a hundred miles north of Madras ^. a. Malayalam, almost a dialect of Tamil, spoken by nearly four millions in Travankor and along the southern portion of the Malabar coast. 3. Telugu, called from its softness the Italian of India, spoken by nearly sixteen millions throughout a region beginning from a line about a hundred miles north of Madras, and extending along the northern part of the ' Tamil has an imperfect alphabet; and makes use of a separate literary character {granilia) for writing Sanskrit. 3 53 MODERN INDIA. Coromandel coast, or Northern Circars, and over part of the Nizam's territory. 4. Kanarese, spoken by rather more than nine millions in Mysore, in the southern portion of the Bombay Presi- dency, in Kanara, and part of the Malabar Coast. There are also two semi-cultivated Dravidian dialects scarcely deserving enumeration, viz : 5. Tnlu, spoken in a small district of Kanara by about 300,000 persons, and 6. Koorg or Koddgu, spoken by only 150,000 persons in the hill district to the west of Mysore. Then comes the chief uncultivated Dravidian language, viz : — 7. Gond^, spoken by nearly two million persons, divided into clans, some of whom are almost savages, while others are comparatively civilized, inhabiting Gondwana(for Gonda- vana, the forest of the Gonds) in the Central Provinces. The language of the Gond race has been lately systematized and expressed in Deva-nagari characters. The other uncultivated Dravidian dialects, viz : — Oraon, Rajmahal, Khond, Toda and Kota, belong to insignificant tribes rather than to races. Lastly come the wholly uncultivated and barbarous non- Aryan and non-Dravidian dialects, called, — 8. Kolarian, belonging to wild tribes inhabiting the plateau of Chota Nagpur and some adjacent hills ^, and numbering more than three millions. They speak about seven rude dialects, of which the best known are those of the Kols, the Juangs (the most primitive tribe in all India), the Santals, the Mundas, and the Hos. In the above enumeration are not reckoned the languages ■ Gond may be a corruption of Oovinda, a cowherd. These tribes straggle southwards into the Tamil country as far as the latitude of Madras. They have adopted many Tamil words. ' The Kols are found not only at Ranchi but also at Sumbhulpur, and in hills belonging to the Sstpura range, and even at Nagpur, Eliohpur, and still further south at Kalahandi. The Bhils are probably Dravidian. LANGUAGES OF INDIA. 153 whicli belong, so to speak, to the outer fringe of India proper, e.g. the Pashtu or Pakhtu of Afghanistan, the Nepali or Nepalese of Nepal, the Assamese of Assam, the Burmese of British Burmah, and the Sinhalese of Ceylon ; besides an immense number of dialects spoken by tribes inhabiting the mountains of Nepal, Bhiitan, and Assam (some of them coming under the Himalayan family, and many of them more or less connected with Tibetan), making about two hundred languages and dialects, cultivated and uncultivated, in the whole of India. We see, therefore, that just as all the principal races of the world are represented in India, so also are all families of languages — ^Aryan, Semitic and Agglutinative (Turanian). Perhaps the chief bond of union between the races is religion. All who believe in the Veda and the Brahmanical system, whether they be Aryan or non- Aryan, may be called Hindus, provided it be clearly understood that the term Hindu has no real ethnical significance. Similarly all who believe in the Kuran and the teaching of Muhammad may be called Muslims or MuhamraadanSj it being understood that they may have originally belonged to Hindu races. Two languages also act as linguistic bonds — Sanskrit and Hindustani. Sanskrit is, as everyone knows, the ancient classical language of all India, and the elder sister of Latin and Greek. It is to the Hindus what Arabic is to the Musalmans. The one is the language of the Veda, the other of the Kuran. Wherever the Hindu religion prevails there Sanskrit is cultivated and venerated. It is a dead language like Latin, but is still spoken fluently by learned men throughout India as Latin once was throughout Europe. Moreover, though in one sense dead, in another it has the utmost vitality. It lives and breathes in the eight Aryan dialects abeady enumerated, which are merely spoken forms of it. As to Hindiistani, it is simply a modern modification of Hindi, serving as a lingua franca for the whole of India, like French in Europe. It is a highly composite language, and, 154 MODERN INDIA. like English, reflects the composite character of the people who speak it. In fact, Hindustani scarcely existed as a distinct language till the time of the Emperor Timur — about the year 1400 of our era — when it was finally formed in his Urdu 1, or camp, by the blending of the Arabic and Persian of the conquering Muhammadans with the San- skrit and Hindi of the conquered Hindus. Hence it has an Aryan stock, but has adopted a vast number of Semitic words, and is now taking English words largely from us. Few languages have a greater power of assimilating foreign vocables. I have heard it asserted that English is likely to supplant Hindustani as a general lingua franca for the whole popula- tion of India. I see no signs whatever of this. On the contrary, English has scarcely made its way at all among the masses of the people. Nevertheless, the cultivation of the language of the ruling race is becoming increasingly common at all the principal towns. It is taught at all Government and Missionary Schools and Colleges, and even at all larger native schools. Everywhere I found it both cultivated and spoken fluently by most educated Indians — to the neglect, I am sorry to say, of their own vernacular languages. Not that English is often studied for its own sake, but rather, I fear, from purely interested motives, a knowledge of it being an indispensable qualification for Government situations. Character of the Teople. I have found no people in Europe more religious — none more patiently persevering in common duties, none more docile and amenable to authority, none more courteous or respectful towards age and learning, none more dutiful to parents, none more faithful in service. Superstition, ' This word, meaning camp, is of Turkish origin, and is often applied to the Hindustani language. CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE. RELIGIONS. 155 immorality, untruthfulness, pride, selfishness, avarice, all these and other faults and vices, of course, abound, but not more than they do in other countries unpenetrated by the spirit of true Christianity, and not more than will be found among those merely nominal Christians who, after all, constitute the real mass of the people in Europe. While on this subject, let me notice a few leading par- ticulars as to creeds and religious usages, Religious Creeds. Just as all races and families of languages are repre- sented in India, so are the four principal religious creeds in the world — namely, Brahmanism or Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam or Muhammadanism, and Christianity. The term Brahmanism should, in my opinion, be re- stricted to the purely pantheistic and not necessarily idolatrous system evolved by the Brahmans out of the partly monotheistic, partly polytheistic, partly pantheistic religion expressed in the sacred works collectively termed Veda.. This system was fully developed in a still later work following on the Veda, called the Vedanta phi- losophy, where it is designated by the term Advaita — Non-Dualism. Brahmanism, in fact, is a mere assertion of the unity of all being. Nothing really exists, it affirms, but the one Universal Spirit (named Brahman, from the root hrih, ' to spread and pervade '), and what- ever appears to exist independently is identical with that Spirit. But it has also other characteristics. It may be de- scribed as in one sense the most self-annihilating system in the world, for it asserts that there can be no real self (atman) existing separately from the one self- existent Supreme Self — called Taramatman, as well as Brahman, and when by the act of that Self the individuated spirits of men are allowed for a time an apparent separate ex- istence, the ultimate end and aim of such spirits should 156 MODERN INDIA. be to attain complete reunion with the one Eternal Self in entire self-annihilation. A Brahman, who holds this doctrine, thinks the religion of the Christian, who is con- scious of severance from God, and yearns for reunion with Him, and yet does not wish his own self-consciousness to be merged in God, a very selfish kind of creed, com- pared with his own. It is evident, however, that there may be more real selfishness in the self-annihilating creed. For whatever may be said about the bliss of complete union (gdyujya) with the Supreme Spirit, the true aim of Brahmanism, pure and simple, is not so much extinc- tion of self, as extinction of personal existence for the sake of release from the troubles of life, and from the consequences of activity. The term Hinduism, on the other hand, may be used to express Brahmanism after it had degenerated — to wit, that complicated system of polytheistic doctrines and caste- usages, which has gradually resulted out of the mixture of Brahmanism, first with Buddhism and then with the non- Aryan creeds of Dravidians and aborigines. This system rests on the whole series of Hindu sacred writings — the four Vedas with their Brahmanas and Upanishads, the Siitras, the laws of Manu, and Ramayana and Maha-bha- rata, the eighteen Puranas and sixty-four Tantras. Hence, Hinduism is something very difierent from Brahmanism, though the one is derived from the other. It encourages idolatry — that is to say, worship before the images and symbols of Vishnu, the Preserver, and Rudra-Siva, the Destroyer and Regenerator (the highest manifestations of Brahman) and other deities, as a help for weak-minded persons ; and every enlightened Brahman admits that the unthinking and ignorant, who are by far the majority, adore the idols themselves. In fact, Hinduism is like a huge irregular structm-e which has had no single architect but a whole series, and has spread itself over an immense surface by continual additions and accretions. The gradual growth of its con- BRAHMANISM AND HINDUISM. 157 geries of heterogeneous doctrines is exactly reflected in the enormous mass of its disjointed sacred writings which, beginning with the E-ig-veda, about the time of the com- position of the Pentateuch, extend over a period of 3500 years. It is perhaps the only religion in the world which has neither any name derived from any single founder, nor any distinct designation of any kind. We may call it Brahmanism and Hinduism, but these are not names recognized by the natives themselves. Its present aspect is that of an ancient overgrown fabric, with no apparent unity of design — patched, pieced, restored and enlarged in all directions, inlaid with every variety of idea, and, although looking as if ready at any moment to fall into ruins, still extending itself so as to cover every hole and corner of available ground, still holding its own with great pertinacity, and still keeping its position securely, because supported by a hard foundation of Brahmanism and caste. It is only, however, by the practice of a kind of universal toleration and receptivity — carried on through more than aooo years — that Hinduism has maintained its ground and arrived at its present condition^. It has been as- serted that Hinduism is unlike Buddhism in not being a missionary religion. Certainly Buddhism was once a proselyting system (though its missionary spirit is ex- tinct), and it is very true that a Brahman nascitur nonfit, but it is equally true that Hinduism could not have extended itself over India if it had never exerted itself to make proselytes. In point of fact, it has first borne with and then accepted, and, so to speak, digested and assimilated something from all creeds. It has opened its doors to all comers — and is willing to do so still — on the two conditions of their admitting the spiritual su- * Moor, in Ma 'Pantheon' (p. 402), tells us that a learned Pandit once observed to him that the English were a new people, and had only the record of one Avatara, but the Hindus were an ancient people, and had accounts of a great many, and that if the Puranas were examined, they would probably be found to record the incarnation of Christ. 158 MODERN INDIA. premacy of the Brahmaiis, and conforming to certain caste- rules about food, intermarriage, and professional pursuits. In this manner it has adopted much of the Fetishism of the aborigines of India ; it has stooped to the practices of various primitive tribes, and has not scrupled to ap- propriate and naturalise the adoration of the fish, the boar, the serpent, rocks, stones, and trees ; it has borrowed ideas from the various cults of the Dravidian races; and it may even owe something to Christianity. Above all, it has assimilated nearly every doctrine of Buddhism ex- cept its atheism, its denial of the eternal existence of soul, and its levelling of caste-distinctions. Buddhism originated in India about 500 B.C. It was a reformation of Brahmanism introduced by a man named Gautama (afterwards called Buddha, ' the Enlightened ') of the Sakya tribe, whose father was king of a district situated under the mountains of Nepal. It is noteworthy that the images of Buddha — which are probably, like the pictures of Christ, merely ideal — gene- rally represent him with features and hair of an Egyptian or Ethiopian type, and with the curly hair of a Negro ^. He is usually described as a Kshatriya, or man of the kingly and military class. According to some, it is not impossible that the tribe to which he belonged may have been of aboriginal extraction, or even Mongolian. Buddhism was originally no new religion, but a mere modification or reconstruction of Brahmanism, and even now has much in common with it. But the Buddha, in opposition to the Brahmans, refused to admit that the doctrines of a supreme eternal Spirit, and of the eternity of the human soul were susceptible of proof, and repu- diated the authority of the Veda, caste-distinctions, sa- crifices, and sacrificing priests. His own doctrines were afterwards collected in the sacred writings called Tri-pitaka or ' Triple-collection' (written in Pali, the ancient lan- It is curious that the figures in the caves of Elephanta have also curly hair. BUDDHISM AND JAINISM. 159 guage of the Magadha district closely allied to Sanskrit), He maintained that the only deity was man himself, when brought to a condition of Buddha-hood or perfect wisdom, and he made Nirvana, ' extinction of all being,' take the place of Sdyujya, ' identification with one sole Being of the Universe,' as the great end and object of all human effort. His doctrines soon spread to Ceylon, Burmah, and other countries, but pure Buddhism does not exist any longer anywhere. In India it first co-existed with Brahmanism, then met with some persecution, and finally lapsed back into Brahmanism about the ninth century of our era. Jainism, the home of cold indifferentism, even more un- worthy to be called a religion than Buddhism, is now the only representative of Buddhistic ideas in India proper. I believe that, according to the last census, the number of Buddhists under our rule in British Burmah amounts to aboiit two millions and a half. The Jainas or Jains, in India proper, only number about 380,000, at least half of whom are in the Bombay Presidency. They congregate most thickly in the districts round Ahmedabad. The Jainas maintain that their system originated earlier than Buddhism, and from an independent source. Recent researches tend to show that there is ground for this as- sertion. Jainism and Buddhism probably represent two parallel lines of philosophical inquiry. One thing is cer- tain, that Jainism has much in common with Buddhism, however it may differ from Buddhism in various ways. Perhaps the chief point of difference is that the Jainas retain caste-distinctions, but this again may be a later innovation. They are divided into two sects — ^the Sve- tambaras, ' clothed in white/ and the Dig-ambaras, ' sky- clothed' — of which the latter sect was probably the earliest. The doctrines of both sects rest on sacred books, called Agamas (divided into Angas, Upangas, &c.), many of which are common to both. They agree with the Bud- dhists in rejecting the Veda of the Brahmans. Formerly the Dig-ambaras, who are now the least numerous, were i6o MODERN INDIA. forbidden to wear clothing, and even to the present day they are said to eat naked. The principal point in the creed of Jainas (as of Bud- dhists) is the reverence paid to holy men who by long discipline have raised themselves to a kind of divine per- fection. The Jina, or ' conquering saint/ who having conquered all worldly desires reveals true knowledge, is with Jainas what the Buddha or 'perfectly enhghtened saint' is with Buddhists. Great numbers of the Marwaris and Baniyas, or traders of Western India, who claim to be Vaisyas, are Jains. If a Jain wishes to acquire religious merit, he either builds a new temple to hold an image of one or all of the twenty- four Jina saints, or a hospital for the care of worn-out animals. No one thinks of repairing the work of his predecessor, though it be that of his own father. At Palitana, in Kathiawar, there are hundreds of new temples by the side of decaying old ones. Jainism, like Brahmanism and Buddhism, lays great stress on the doctrine of transmigration, or repeated births. Hence Jainas carry their respect for animal life — even that of the most minute infusoria — to a preposterous extreme. Their only worship, like that of the Buddhist, is adoration of human perfection. Though they dissent from the Veda, they regard themselves as Hindus. I have already (p. 93) described the religion of the ParsTs, or, as it is sometimes called, Zoroastrianism. It represents the religion of ancient Persia imported into India by a small body of Persian immigrants, when driven out of Persia by the Muhammadan invaders, and rests on certain sacred writings called the Zand-Avasta — attributed to the prophet Zoroaster about 500 B.C. — which have suffered more from the inroads of time than any of the other re- ligious books of the world. I may here add that the religion of the ancient Persians had a common origin with that of the Hindus, and that Parsiism, like Brah- manism, is based on a kind of Monotheistic Pantheism. PARSllSM. HINDU RELIGIOUS USAGES. i6i It has not, however, advanced beyond the stage of regard- ing Fire, Sun, Earth, and Sea as principal manifestations of the one Supreme Being, called by the Parsis Ormazd (the creator of the two forces of construction and destruc- tion, Spentamainyus and Ahriman). It has never lapsed, like Brahmanism, into gross and degrading idolatry. The ParsTs are certainly near relations of the Brahmans, but they have kept themselves separate from the other races of India, and retained much of the natural vigour and energy of the Aryan character. And now a few words on the subject of Hindu religious services and ritual. Of ancient Vedic sacrificial cere- monial and public religious worship very little is left. Nor is congregational worship performed in temples. The priests in charge of the idols decorate them and bathe them with sacred water on holy days, and do them homage {puja) with lights and a rude kind of music at stated periods, generally both morning and evening. Moreover, offerings of flowers, grain, fruits, &c., are presented to the idols of the most popular gods (practically to the priests) by lay worshippers, and mantras or texts are repeated with prostrations of the body. Common prayer, in our sense, there is none. The religion of the mass of the people — much of which is probably aboriginal and pre-Aryan — resolves itself, I fear, into a mere matter of selfish superstition. It is principally displayed in endeavouring to avert the anger of evil demons and in doing homage to local divinities, supposed to guard their worshippers from the assaults of malignant beings, and believed to be specially present in rude idols, trees, rocks, stones, and shapeless symbols, often consecrated with daubs of red paint. In place of public worship, however, great attention is given to pri- vate religious usages and to the performance of domestic ceremonies at births, marriages, funerals, &c., conducted by Brahman priests, who have nothing whatever to do with .temples or with worship performed in temples. More- M l62 MODERN INDIA. over, homag'e to ancestors and to the spirits of deceased fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers, enters largely into the religious rites of the Hindus as into those of the Chinese. All these observances vary with caste, and caste is now so divided and subdivided that even the Brahmans are broken up into innumerable classes and tribes, one claiming superiority over the other. Some of these are little more than groups of families bound together by peculiar usages. In other cases, caste is only another name for an associa- tion of men united by common occupation in a kind of trade union, every such combination being cemented in the same way by the practice of distinctive religious observances. In fact, caste in India is an essential part of religion. It is no longer to the same extent as it once was, a bond of union among large bodies of men. Its action tends to split up the social fabric into numerous independent communities, and to prevent all national and patriotic combinations. In the present day the family- bond (hhdl-band) appears to be stronger than that of caste. Certainly both these ties operate far more powerfully in India than in Europe, because they are both intimately associated with religion. I fear, however, that other ties are proportionately weak, and that Indians, as a rule, have few sympathies and little disposition to co-operate with others beyond the circle of their own families, and none at all beyond the limits of their own immediate castes. Indian Muhammadanism. Turn we next to a brief consideration of Indian Muham- madanism. The position of Islam, with reference to the idolatry of India, is very similar to that once occupied by Judaism relatively to the idolatry of Egypt and Canaan, and very similar to its own original position relatively to the Sabeanism of Arabia. In fact, Islam may be regarded as an illegitimate child of Judaism born in Arabia in the MUHAMMADANISM. 163 seventh century. It was a protest against the Sabeanism, idolatry, and fetish stone- worship prevalent in that country, and a declaration of God's Unity made by Muhammad in supposed continuation of the original revelation transmitted by Abraham through Ishmael, rather than through Isaac ^. Indeed at one time it seemed likely that the religious reform preached by Muhammad would develope into a sect of Christianity, and had not the corrupt Christian doctrines with which Muhammad came in contact prevented his per- ceiving that the statement of a Trinity in Unity is also the strongest assertion of a Unity in Trinity, we might have had another Eastern Church in Arabia answering to those founded in Egypt, Syria, Armenia, and Constantinople. The name Muhammad is simply the passive participle of the Arabic verb hamada, ' to praise,' and no more admits of any variety of spelling than our word ' praised,' nor can I see why the numerous arbitrary violations of orthography to which the false prophet's name has given rise should be perpetuated any longer. It should be noted that although Muhammad was a self- deluded enthusiast, he did not put himself forward as the founder of a new religion, and would have indignantly for- bidden the use of such a term as Muhammadanism. Accord- ing to his own views he was simply the latest of four prophets (the others being Moses, Elias, and Christ), who were all followers of Abraham, the true founder of the doctrine of Islam, and were all Muslims because all preached the Unity of God and submission to His will^. In this * The Ka'ba, or Bmall cube-shaped temple of Mecca, is supposed to have been built by Abraham (who is called by Muhammad the first Muslim) over the spot vehere he was about to sacrifice Ishmael. The eacredness of the small black stone imbedded in the eastern angle is probably the result of the fetish stone-worship once prevalent in Arabia. Abraham is supposed to have stood upon this stone when he built the Ka'ba. ' In the Kuran, the Old Testament and the Gospel are spoken of with the greatest reverence, as the word of God. Muhammad never threw any doubts on the inspiration of either ; faith in them was enjoined on penalty of hell. But the Kuran was a later revelation, and therefore a higher authority. M 3 l64 MODERN INDIA. respect lie was like the otlier great religious leaders — Zoroaster, Buddha, and Confucius. In the end, however, the necessities of his position obliged him to break away from both Jews and Christians, with whom at first on his flight to Medina (a.d. 632) he contemplated an alliance. Nor did his doctrine, like that of Buddhism, win its way anywhere in the world by per- suasiveness, except on its first propagation. It is true that Muhammad at the commencement of his career fought his way through the idolatry around him with no other weapons but argument and persuasion, but when he had collected suflScient adherents, the force of circumstances compelled him to adopt a more summary method of con- version. His conversions were then made at the point of the sword, Muhammad became a conqueror and a ruler, and Islam became as much a State polity as a religion. About forty-one millions of the inhabitants of India are Muhammadans. Indeed, one of the unexpected facts brought out by the last census was the vast increase of Indian Muslims. Great numbers of them are the descen- dants of Hindus converted to Islam by the Muhammadan conquerors, and are much Hinduized in their habits and ways. In some places the lower classes of Musalmans do homage to the Hindu goddess of smallpox, and take part in the Holi festival. It is certain that numbers of low-caste Hindus formerly became Muhammadans with the sole object of raising themselves in the social scale. For all Muslims are theoretically equal, and since there is no equality, nor even any real citizenship, in a Muhammadan State for those who are not Muslims, it has often happened that whole communities have adopted Islam merely to place themselves within the pale of State protection, patronage, jurisdictioUj and authority. Unhappily;, however, the Indian Muslims do not imitate the Hindus in their toleration of each other's sectarian divisions. There are, as most people know, two principal sects of MUHAMMADAN SECTS. 165 Muslims, called Snnnis and Shi'as. The Shi'as deny that the three immediate successors of the prophet — Abubakr, Omar, and Othman — were true Khalifas. They declare that All, Muhammad's son-in-law, was his first riglitful successor. The Turks and nearly all Indian Musalmans, except those connected in any way with Persia, are Sunnis, All Persians are Shi'as, and the animosity between the two divisions is even greater than between Roman Catholics and Protestants. I have heard it humorously said that, besides the Shi'as, there are seventy-two subordinate sects, each of which considers that the other seventy-one wiU assuredly go to hell. I observed in my travels that the mass of Indian Mu- hammadans, who are ignorant and uneducated, have a tendency to deify either Muhammad himself, or his son-in- law All, or the innumerable Muhammadan saints (Firs), whose tombs are scattered everywhere throughout Hindu- stan and the Dekhan. Many regard them as mediators. Moreover, the Islam of India appears to have borrowed something not only from Hinduism but from Buddhism. I saw relics of Muhammad, including a hair from his head, preserved as sacred objects in Delhi and Labor, and the impress of his foot is revered much as the Hindus and Buddhists revere the footstep of Vishnu and Buddha. When Islam thus lapses into too great exaltation of Mu- hammad, it may fairly be called Muhammadanism. The attitude of a Muhammadan towards Christianity is far more hopelessly hostile than that of a Hindu, and it is generally believed that, although Indian Muslims in some parts of India are more active and intelligent than Hindus, the teaching of the Kuran has a tendency to make them more intolerant, more sensual and inferior in moral tone. They are certainly more proud and bigoted, and are often left behind by the Hindus for the simple reason that they refuse to avail themselves in the same way of the educa- tional advantages we offer. With regard to Christianity, I have no hesitation in 1 65 MODERN INDIA. declaving my conviction that it has more points of contact with Hinduism (notwithstanding the hideous idolatry en- couraged by that system) than with Buddhism, Jainism, or even Islam. For example — Hindus are willing to con- fess themselves sinful. They acknowledge the necessity of sacrifice. They admit the need of supernatural revelation, and they have a doctrine of inspiration even higher than our own. Their sacred scriptures are not the work of one mind like the Kuran, but represent a process of gradual accretion and progressive expansion like the sixty-six books of our own Holy Bible. They are familiar with the ideas of a divine trinity, of incarnation, and of the need of a Saviour, how- ever perverted these ideas may be. Their Gayatri, a prayer repeated morning and evening by every Brahman through- out India, might with slight alteration be converted into a Christian prayer. Tliey believe in the ' vanity' of all earthly concerns. They afiBrm that the Supreme Being is a Spirit, omnipotent and omnipresent, and their dogma that ' God is existence, thought, and bliss,' is only inferior to the Christian assertion that ' God is love.' With regard to the progress of Christianity in India, I will only at present record my opinion that the best work done by the missionaries is in their schools. In some im- portant places, such as Benares, the missionary schools are more popular than those of the Government, although the Bible is read and religious instruction given in the former, and not in the latter. Education is, indeed, causing a great upheaving of old creeds and superstitions throughout India, and the ancient fortress of Hinduism is in this way being gradually undermined. The educated classes look with con- tempt on idolatry. In fact, the present condition of India seems very similar to that of the Roman Empire before the coming of Christ. A complete disintegration of ancient faiths is in progress in the upper strata of society. Most of the ablest thinkers become pure Theists or Uni- tarians. In almost every large town there is a Samaj, or CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA. BRAHMA SAMAJ. 167 society of sneh men, whose creed would be well expressed by the first part of the first Article of the Church of Eng- land. They retain the name Brahma as applicable to the Supreme Being, but they regard him as a personal god, to be addressed by prayer as well as praise. No sooner, how- ever, is a Samaj formed than, as is usual in India, it splits up into subdivisions, some founding their theism on the Veda, others partially appealing to it, and others rejecting it altogether. Even great leaders like Keshab Chandra Sen, of Calcutta, are unable to unite all Indian Theists into one body. Christianity has made most progress among people of low caste and with some of the aboriginal tribes, and will pro- bably gradually work its way upwards as it did on its first propagation by our Lord and His disciples. The religion of conquerors is never likely to be popular with either the higher or lower classes, if it ofiers no political or social advantages; and controversial discussion, though it may convince the head, will not touch the heart. It should always be borne in mind that, unlike the Muhammadans and Roman Catholics, we have abstained, as a conquering government, from enforcing our religion by government influence and authority. Hence conversions to Christianity bear no adequate proportion to the teeming millions of India (as indeed the Indian Bishops themselves allow in their circular of November a7th, 1873). Nor will con- versions, in my opinion, be more common until our religion . is presented to the Hindus in a more Oriental form, — that is, in a form more like that which belonged to it on its first foundation at Jerusalem ; and by more Orientalized mission- aries, — that is, by men who will consent to live among the natives and become themselves half Indianized. It is even a question whether certain caste-customs might not be tolerated among Indian converts. At any rate, an Indian ought not to be expected to have less caste-prejudices than a European. He ought to be allowed, as a convert to Christianity, to retain such of his 1 68 MODERN INDIA. caste-customs as may not be inconsistent with his sub- mitting to the test of baptism, and meeting other converts on terms of perfect equality at the communion table. Our Administration of the Country. No one can travel in India and shut his eyes to the benefits conferred on its inhabitants by English rule. In fact, our subjugation of the country affords an exemplifi- cation of the now trite truth that the conquest of an in- ferior race by a superior, so far from being an evil, is one of the great appointed laws of the world's progress and amelioration. We are sometimes accused of governing India in the in- terest of England and English commerce — of making India the corpus vile of political, social, and military experiments, of thinking more of what is called the maintenance of our prestige tban of the welfare of the country. Yet the travel- ler has only to look around to see everywhere conspicuous monuments of the good intentions, integrity, and efliciency of our administration. I believe that in no part of the world is so much work done, and so well and conscientiously done, and with such a single regard to the discharge of duty, as by the Queen's servants in India. Even men of inferior energy and mental calibre, who, in England, would do little to benefit society, are, by the circumstances of their position in India, drawn out and developed into useful ofiicers and able administrators. And what are the results ? The picture once presented to our view was that of a country devastated by intestine wars, oppressed by despotic rulers, depopulated by famine, and left to succumb unresistinglj' to the attacks of pesti- lence or to the destructive energy of physical forces. In- stead of which, what do we now find ? The same forces tamed and controlled, steam and electricity made to sub- serve the purposes of trafiic and intercourse, good roads, canals, and waterworks constructed, rights of all kinds INDIAN ADMINISTRATION. 169 secured, justice impartially administered, education actively promoted, and everywhere a thriving, law-abiding, rapidly increasing population. Yet our very anxiety to do all we can for India may sometimes lead to our doing too much. The extension of the telegraphic system has necessarily caused greater cen- tralization of Government authority at Calcutta. But India is a collection of countries which differ so essentially, and require such varied treatment, that each would probably be better governed by carefully-chosen men of strong will and judgment, if more power of independent action were conceded to them. And now, again, submarine telegraphy has led to further centralization, so that India is at present more governed from the central terminus of Queen, Lords, and Commons, than by those who are at the Indian end of the wires. Formerly the ignorance and apathy of Parliament were of little importance ; now its interposition may often compli- cate our difficulties. Moreover, the possibility of conveying a message back- wards and forwards between the India Office and Calcutta in a few hours fosters a forgetfulness of the enormous distance dividing the Western from the Eastern Empire, and of the vast gulf separating the condition of England and of English society and habits of thought from those of India. Hence it is often supposed that Western ideas may be suddenly transfused into an Eastern mind, and English institutions abruptly transplanted to an Indian soil, when neither the one nor the other is prepared to receive them. It may certainly be questioned whether we are not prone to too much and too frequent legislation, and whether, in many places, we are not fifty, or even a hundred, years too early with some of our laws and regulations, with our civil courts and trials by jury, with our appeals to supreme tribunals, and our modern municipal institutions. The Collector of a large district assured me that, as chairman of a municipal board in a large town, he could l7o MODERN INDIA. make native members vote in any way he chose to direct. Clearly that town is not advanced enough for the rate- payers to elect their own municipal authorities. Yet India has for centuries been accustomed to a form of municipal self-government in its village corporations. What is wanted is a wise and cautious progress, a zeal according to know- ledge, a discreet adaptation of legislation to varying con- ditions of time and place. Our Connection with the Native States. Few persons are aware that the number of native States and Principalities still remaining in India exceeds 460. They cover an area of about 600,000 square miles and are inhabited by about 50 million persons. They are certainly instrumental in preserving the distinctive nationalities of the separate races of India which are apt to melt into each other or lose the sharpness of their definition under our rule. Some frontier countries, like Nepal, merely acknowledge our supremacy ; others pay us tribute, or provide militarj^ contingents. Some have powers of life and death, and most of them are obliged to refer capital cases to English Courts. Nearly all are allowed to adopt on failure of heirs, and their continual existence is thus secured. In fact, we are bound by treaty to maintain them, provided they govern well. Some think that in case of a rising in our own territories, the native States will increase our risks and weaken our position, instead of becoming havens of refuge and sources of strength. No doubt, in such a case, most of the Maharajas would be individually eager to aid us, be- cause they know that their own existence is bound up in ours. Few of them would survive the anarchy that would inevitably follow if we were cruel enough to leave India to govern itself. Hence they would strive to help us. But very few have sufficient personal authority and influence with their own peopk, and even with their own troops, to control their hostility to us. I fear that the people NATIVE STATES. T71 generally prefer maladministration and a limited amount of oppression under their own rulers to good government under ours. I ought here, however, to remark that it is naturally considered rather surprising that we only employ an army of 190,000 men (65,000 Europeans and 125,000 Natives) for the government of the 190 millions of people under our own direct administration, while native states with a popu- lation of only fifty million are allowed by us to employ armed men to the amount of nearly 315,000.^ Of these men the troops of the Nizam and of Sindia are the best disciplined ; and in case of a mutiny among our own native army they would probably add very seriously to our diffi- culties instead of helping us out of them. Granted that of the others some troops would be con- trolled by loyal chiefs and ministers, as the Nizam's soldiers formerly were. Granted, too, that a vast number would be simply contemptible either as allies or as opponents. Yet the expediency of permitting the native feudatory princes to organize and equip, at the expense of their impoverished people, unnecessarily large forces, is certainly a matter which has not yet awakened the attention it deserves. The external and internal security of the native states is guaranteed by our administration ; and all they need is an effective police force, the maintenance of which would not drain the resources of their territories as standing armies do. I believe that the gross revenue of all the feudatory states subject to our rule is about sixteen millions, and that out of that amount a sum of only three quarters of a million sterling is annually contributed towards the Imperial admi- nistration which guarantees to them complete immunity from foreign invasion and from internal rebellion. Surely a portion of the money now wasted on needless armaments and senseless military show, might reasonably be compelled by us to flow into channels which would improve and ' Col. Malleaon enumerates the fighting men of the native states thvis : 241,063 foot soldiers, 64,1 72 cavalry, 9,320 trained artillerymen, 5,252 guns. 172 MODERN INDIA. enrich the condition of the people. In this manner eacb particular state would be enabled to make an adequate return for the protection it receives, both indirectly and directly — indirectly by augmenting the general prosperity, directly by paying an equitable contribution to the Imperial Treasury. At Calcutta, and other places in India, during the Prince's tour, I had unusual opportunities of becoming acquainted with the principal Maharajas, and occasional interesting conversations with them and their Ministers. Some are enlightened men. Many have been brought up under our superintendence with great care. But I fear the truth about many of them is this. On coming of age they are allowed to manage their kingdoms, under the eye of our Residents and political Agents, who watch them without direct interference. At first they give great promise, but soon become surrounded by designing Ministers, who, to serve their own interests — -which are better promoted by bad government than by good — encourage the young Rajas in a life of dissipation . Very few resist the evil influences of their surroundings for any length of time. By degrees they succumb and degenerate. In the end they fall into excesses and become debilitated in body and mind. Then their feeble sons, if they have any, generally die early, and an heir is adopted. Happily, there are remarkable exceptions to this rule, and examples might be given of good native princes who devote themselves to the welfare of their territories. As an illustration I may state that, when I was at Cal- cutta, I accepted the invitation of the Maharaja of Kasmir to pay him a visit at Jammu. He is a son of Gulab Singh, a Rajput chief who served under the Sikhs, and to whom we made over the Dogra district, of which Jammu is the capital, and Kasmir, of which Srinagar is the capital, for a stipulated sum of money after the first Panjab war. The present Maharaja is most desirous of pleasing us, and opens his kingdom to our travellers for eight months in the year, providing them with accommodation at his own ex- NATIVE STATES. JAMMU. 173 pense. He himself prefers living- in the town of Jammu (probably named from the Jambu tree common in the neighbourhood), because it commands the entrance to his territories, which altogether cover an area larger than Eng- land. The town most picturesquely crowns one of the undulations which, rising abruptly from the Panjab plains, are succeeded by wave after wave of higher ranges till they terminate in the white crests of the Himalayas. From the King's palace a grand view of the Tavl Valley, shut in at the further end by snowy ranges, may be obtained. Another palace, very like a large railway station, was built the other day for the occupation of the Prince of Wales at an alleged expense of .^'60,000. The Maharaja, whose appearance is handsome and soldier- like, is unwearied in his royal duties. He rises early, is strict in his devotions, and temperate in his habits, and every morning for several hours may be seen in a room overlooking the courtyard of his palace, surrounded by able advisers, and diligently superintending the affairs of his kingdom. What chiefly deserves mention as distinguishing him from the generality of native Sovereigns is his en- couragement of literature. He is the Augustus of Indian Princes. Not only has he established the best native schools I have seen in India for the teaching of Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, and English, but he has also set up a press, with a type foundry, and keeps around him a large staff of Pandits and other learned men who are constantly engaged in translating the best European works into the dialects of the country. This dialect is a modification of Panjabi — called Dogra, as belonging to the Dwigarta dis- trict, between the Ravi and the Chenab. Translations have already been made of works on grammar, history, geography, mathematics, surveying, architecture, medicine, and several of the physical sciences. A dictionary has also been commenced in six languages. Moreover, a standard alphabet has been constructed with much skill by em- ploying the Devanagarl to improve the imperfect graphic 174 MODERN INDIA. system formerly current in the country. The King's zeal for learning was rather curiously exhibited for my benefit. He had a detachment of soldiers manauvred before me that I might listen to the words of command, which were all in Sanskrit. The spread of education and knowledge in the Maharaja's dominion during the last ten years is most remarkable. There are other examples of well-governed States, notably that of the Maharaja of Travankor; but the description of one must here suffice. Our Education of the People. It is commonly alleged that if we go on educating on our present plan we shall soon lose India. No one will dispute that whatever the consequences may be our duty is to continue educating. "Whether, however, our system is altogether wise, admits of question. I can certify that a vast work has been effected and is still proceeding. Every- where there are schools — primary, intermediate, middle, and high — besides Colleges and Universities — and every year witnesses an increasing number of scholars and stu- dents. At Bombay I saw 12,000 children — all under education — assembled to greet the Prince of Wales. I also saw 1,363 candidates being examined for matriculation, and among them some young Princes. At Calcutta I saw even a greater number, and the standard of proficiency seemed higher than in England. Yet we have merely penetrated the outer fringe of society. Very little impres- sion has yet been made on the masses of the people, and the chasm separating the educated from the uneducated is enormous. India cannot be said to possess a real middle- class, so that any middle education like that in England is impossible. Even in the case of those supposed to be under the higher form of education, I fear the work effected is rather information than education — rather in- forming the mind than forming the character and raising its tone. EDUCATION. 175 This sort of education is, in some cases, better than nothing, but too often inflates young men with conceit, unhinges their faith in their own reh'gion without giving them any other, leads them to despise the calling of their fathers, and to look upon knowledge as a mere stepping- stone to Government situations which they cannot all ob- tain. I heard it stated (possibly with some exaggeration) that not long ago there were 500 applications for a muni- cipal post at Kurnoul, worth only Rs. 15 per month. Those who are unsuccessful in gaining appointments will not turn to manual labour, but remain discontented members of society and enemies of our Government, converting the little real education they have received into an instru- ment to injure us by talking treason and writing seditious articles in native journals. I believe the defects of our present system are beginning to be acknowledged. Many think we shall be wiser to educate the generality of natives in their professions and callings rather than above them — to make a good husbandman a better one, a good mechanic more skilful in his own craft — and only to give higher forms of education in exceptional cases. With regard to female education, although its bearing on the moral and intellectual and even physical progress of India can scarcely be overrated, little impression, I fear, has yet been made on the mass of the population. Scattered efforts are prosecuted with much energy and some success, but too often show signs of languishing. The truth simply is that, before we can raise the women of India, we must first raise the men. We must do more than inform their minds — we must form their whole cha- racters and cast them in a higher mould ; and if we cannot convert them to the dogmas of Christianity, we must instil into them Christian ideas and ways of thinking. When we have thus elevated the men, we may safely leave the women to their keeping. The women will then be raised to the level of the men by the act of the men themselves without our interference. At present Hindu T76 MODERN INDIA. women are generally faithful wives and devoted mothers, and have great influence with their families, but they are grossly ignorant ; and to their ignorance, bigotry, and subjection to the Brahmans, the maintenance of super- stition and idolatry, which would otherwise rapidly lose ground among the men^ is, I suspect, mainly due. Disposition and Aitifvde of the Natives towards ns and our Rule. In the first place, how are they disposed to us per- sonally? I am sorry to say that my travels in India have revealed to me that between the ruler and the ruled in India there is a great gulf fixed, which, since the Mutiny, has widened and is becoming more and more difficult to be bridged over. The very arrangement of every large town bears witness to the truth of this state- ment, the European residences being collected in a quarter of their own quite distinct from the native town. Another significant fact is that on railways Europeans and natives are never seen together in the same carriages. The causes which lead to this separation are mostly patent, but a remedy is not easily applied. First, there is what is called the race feeling, by which is meant the natural antipathy between races of different coloured skins — a feeling which, however manifestly unreasonable, is diflScult to overcome. Then there is the caste feelino-, which we have quite as strongly in our own way as Indians. With us, however, it is of a different kind. It is not part of our religion. In the case of the Hindus the principal result of caste, in relation to us Europeans, is that although they may be of the same rank as our- selves they will not consent to eat with us, or to drink water touched by us or our servants. We, on the other hand, are accustomed to regard dining together as essential to social intercourse, and are apt to resent their declining to sit at meat with us, as if we were personally insulted. ATTITUDE OF THE NATIVES. 1 77 But we ought to bear in mind that eating and drinking is, -with a Hindu, bound up with his religion, or rather with its system of purificatory rites ; and that the killing of animals (especially oxen) for food is regarded as an im- pious act, so that the absence of Hindus from our tables ought not to oifend us more than their absence from our churches. Then there is the feeling naturally springing up between governors and governed. A commanding tone of voice may often be necessary for the maintenance of authority, but I fear we rulers are sometimes unnecessarily imperious. We are naturally conscious of our superiority, but need our bearing towards those we are ruling make them feel their inferior position too keenly ? An advanced native, of independent character, once com- plained to me that most Englishmen appeared to him to walk about the world with an air as if God Almighty in- tended the whole universe to be English. He had probably been thrown with young civilians recently imported from England. Few others would think of lording it over their Indian brethren in any offensive manner. A re- action in this respect has set in all over India. I could enumerate many cases in which the mild Hindu is not a whit milder in manner than those who are set over him. Then there are other feelings springing from early train- ing, habits, and association. It is difficult for a European, who has never been in the East, to estimate the difference in ideas and ways of thinking arising from this source. Not only is there a different standard of taste as shown in dress, music, &c., but even to a certain extent of right and wrong. For instance, if a Hindu thinks it wrong to kill animals for food, much more does he object to de- stroying life of any kind for sport. Again, an Asiatic, whether Hindu or Musalman, thinks it highly improper for women to mix familiarly with men who are not re- lations, much more to dance with them. Then there are differences in nearly eveiy common custom. For example, N 178 MODERN INDIA. a Hindu shows respect by covering his head when a Euro- pean uncovers it. In a few cases assimilation of habits has been effected, but when this has occurred the Indian has become more Europeanized than the European has be- come Indianized. It would be foolish to expect these differences to cease. What is really to be regretted is the estrangement they produce. And now, in the last place, what is the attitude of the natives of India towards our Government ? The most in- telligent are quite ready to admit that they enjoy greater benefits under our rule than they would under any other ; and the wiser, who know that universal disorder would follow its cessation, even pray for its continuance ; but the mass of unthinking people would rather be badly governed by their own chiefs than well governed by us. In the native states they will acquiesce in exactions which in our territories would be regarded as intolerable. Of course nothing will conciliate those who are determined to dislike us. But even the wiser, who value our rule, consider that they have certain grievances. Why — I have often been asked — are we treated as if in mental capacity and moral tone we were all inferior to Europeans ? Why are we never allowed to rise to the highest executive appointments ? Why are those of us who compete for the Civil Service forced to go to England for examination ? Supposing we are not yet fit for representative government, why are we not allowed deliberative assemblies, like the Houses of Convocation in the English Church, that our opinions may be made known before fresh laws are enacted ? Why cannot justice be administered more cheaply and directly, and with fewer delays ? Why does the Government spend so much of the revenues on public works and give us no new serais and tanks ? These are a few of the complaints I have heard. Perhaps some of them are not real, and others are in course of redress. I believe our Government admits that when natives can show themselves mentally and morally ATTITUDE OF THE NATIVES. 179 fit for the highest administrative ofiices they must be allowed to fill them *. We are certainly doing our best to redress political grievances. Let us also endeavour to do more than we have hitherto done towards bridging over the social chasm that at present separates the two races and complicates the difficulties of our position in India. Our great English Universities may contribute something towards this important object, if they will make facilities for the reception of young Indians and for their intercourse with young Englishmen. I believe that the young men of England and India may learn useful les- sons from each other, and yet preserve their separate nationalities. We must of course be conscious of our own superiority in religion, morality, and general cul- ture ; but let us give our Indian fellow-subjects credit for such excellencies as they possess, and condescend to admit that good may accrue I'rom some interchange of ideas and mutual attrition between the two races. Assuredly a better feeling between them must result from conscious- ness of reciprocal benefits bestowed. One thing at least is certain, that India is given to us to conciliate as well as to elevate, even if she offers us nothing to imitate. In my opinion the great problem that before all others presses for solution in relation to our Eastern Empire is, how Can the rulers and the ruled be drawn closer together ? How can more sympathy and^ cordial feeling be promoted between them? ' By 33 Vict. cap. 3, see. 6, it is no longer necessary for Indiana to come to England that they may be eligible for civil appointments. The local governments can nominate a certain proportion (one iifth of the number of Europeans) every year, and the number of civilians selected in England is then diminished in a corresponding degree. The native candidates selected in India are not allowed to be more than twenty-five years of age, except in cases of special ability, and they are obliged to serve on pro- bation for two years. The great difiiculty is the adjustment of salaries, How can those of Europeans, working as exiles from their country and homes in a hot climate not always suited to their constitutions, be estimated on the same scale as those of natives ? N 2 GENERAL IMPRESSIONS AND NOTES AFTER TRAVELS IN SOUTHERN INDIA. SoTJTHEEN India may be regarded as embracing all India below the twenty-second parallel of latitude — that is to say, speaking roughly, all within the northern tropical line. It will, therefore, include that part of the Bombay Presidency south of the Narbada, of which Bombay and Poona are the capitals ; that portion of the Central Pro- vinces, of which Nagpur is the chief town ; Orissa ; the Nizam's territory, of which Hj'derabad is the capital ; Mysor, and the whole Madras Presidency, with Travankor as far as Cape Comorin. To these may be added the island of Ceylon, the south point of which is within six degrees of the Equator. Climate of Southern India. I described my experience of a winter in the Northern parts of India as delightful, and now a winter passed in the South has not changed my opinion as to the superi- ority of the Indian climate to our own for at least five months in the year. Indeed, I am satisfied that to those who can retire to the Hills for a time in the hot and rainy seasons, residence in India all the year round is attended with as little risk to health as residence in England. But India is like a continent which ofifers every variety of sanitary condition, and it must not be forgotten that the whole of Southern India is within the Tropics. It has PHYSICAL FEA TURKS OF SO UTHERN INDIA . 1 8 1 places which are correctly described as deadly in their effect on the health of Europeans, and in certain jungly districts, where there is no lack of moisture and the temperature is persistently high, rank deciduous vegetation generates fever as a matter of course. The rainfall on the western coast is the greatest, and with abundant tropical rain, and abundant tropical vegetation, comes inevitable malaria. It must be admitted, too, that so far as my experience has gone during the past winter, I found the climate of the whole of Southern India more trying to the health than that of the districts north of the Narbada river and Vindhya hills. It is true that there is not the same inten- sity of summer heat in the South, and the temperature from one year's end to the other is more equable, but there are no intervals of bracing cold either in the winter or in the night time. I believe it may be proved by statistics that cholera is always more prevalent in the South than in the North. Certainly, in the beginning of 1877 a bad type of the disease prevailed in some of the districts through which I travelled, and I heard of many Europeans being attacked. Probably, however, the drought, famine, and badness of the water may have caused an exceptionally unhealthy season. Physical Features of Southern India. What strikes one most in travelling through any part of India is the vastness of the country. No sooner does one land in Bombay than one's whole ideas of distance have to be cast in a new mould. You are told that an old acquaint- ance is residing close to your hotel, and you find to your surprise that a visit to his house involves a drive of ten miles. The sense of vastness is not so overpowering in Southern India as in Northern, and yet the Nizam's ter- ritory alone embraces an area little less than that of the kingdom of Italy. Perhaps the most remarkable physical feature of Southern India is the existence of an immense triangular plateau of l82 MODERN INDIA. table-land caused by the circumstance that the high ranges of hills on the western coast slope down gradually, but with numerous irregular depressions and isolated elevations, to- wards the eastern coast, where the plateau breaks up into lower ranges, leaving much level land between the heights and the sea. The two eastern and western coast ranges, which come to a point near Cape Comorin, are called Ghats because they recede like steps (Sanskrit GJialta) from the sea-shore ; and the triangle of table-land formed by their junction with the two extremities of tlie Yindhya range which traverses the centre of India, is called the Deccan, from Prakrit Bakkin, for Sanskrit DaJishhi, ' the south country.' The great Indian Peninsula Railway from Bom- bay to Jabalpore and Raichor conducts to this plateau by a wonderful piece of engineering skill up the Bhore Ghat. Poona, the capital of our part of the Deccan, is nearly 2,000 feet above the sea ; so is our military station of Secundera- bad, close to Hyderabad, the capital of the Nizam's portion of the Deccan ; and our station of Bimgalor, in the Mysor country, is about 3,500 feet above the sea level. Tliero is an extensive tract of ugly flat country' round Madras, along the Coromimdel coast and Northern Circars. But there is no lack of grand scenery on the Western Ghats, especially towards their southern extremity, on the Nilgiri, Animalli, Pulney, and Asambhu hills^ some of which rise to an alti- tude of more than 8poo feet. The ascent to Ootacamund is quite equal to the finest Swiss pass I ever saw. What it loses by the absence of snow is counterbalanced by the glories of its tropical vegetation. Moreover, all Europe cannot boast such waterfalls as the Gairsappa Falls, on the Malabar coast^ and those of the River Kaveri in j\Iysor. The former even in the dry season present a perpendicular fall of a large mass of water 900 feet high. I have heard this called the third sight of India, the Himalayas coming first, and the Taj at Agra second. & MADRAS. 183 Marlras, As to the chief town of thu Madras Presidency, a situa- tion more unsuited to a great capital can hardly be con- ceived. Madras has no harbour and no navigable river, and the ships anchored in its roads are in constant danger of being driven ashore, as the ' Duke of Sutherland ' was the other day. Its drainage — if any is possible where the ground is often below the sea level — is so bad that cholera is never absent. Indeed, so far as my experience goes, Madras is inferior to Bombay and Calcutta, not only in a sanitary point of view, but in nearly every other par- ticular, except perhaps in the one point that more English is spoken by the native servants. Its inhabitants are now making a great effort to improve its trade, and the present Governor, who has a decided penchant for engineering, is developing his taste in the interest of the merchants by promoting the construction of an artificial harbour, the cost of which is to be defrayed out of the revenues of India. Untold sums of money are being thrown into the sea in the shape of huge blocks of concrete, each of them about 13 feet long by 10 feet in breadth and 8 feet in thickness, for the formation of a breakwater, which is to encircle the present pier with two projecting arms. But the difficulty of enclosing a sufficient area of water, and the perpetual drifting of sand along the coast, make the success of the undertaking highly problematical. Under any circum- stances, Madras, though large enough to attract a trade of its own, will never overcome its own natural disadvan- tages of position, so as to compete with either Bombay or Calcutta, the former of which is destined to become the great commercial emporium and capital of all India (if not of all Asia), the wealth and importance of which will be vastly increased so soon as the Baroda Railway is connected with Ajmere, Agra, and the North- West. Calcutta, too, is likely to continue the political capital of India, both from the convenience of its situation on the Ganges, in the midst 184 MODERN INDIA. of a naturally peaceful and law-abiding population, and from the obstacles its position offers to an attack from the sea. Animal and Plant Life in Southern India. Perhaps the most striking- point of difference between Northern and Southern India is due to the circumstance that the South possesses all the characteristics of the Tropics in the greater exuberance of all kinds of life and vegetation. To realize this exuberance fully one must go to the extreme South and Ceylon. There one may come across almost every animal, from a wild elephant to a fire-fly. There, as one strolls through a friend's compound or drives to a neighbouring railway station, one passes the choicest plants and trees of European hothouses growing luxuriantly in the open air. As to animals, they seem to dispute possession of the soil with man. They will assert with perfect impunity their right to a portion of the crops he rears and the food he eats, and will even effect a lodg- ment in the houses he builds as if they had a claim to be regarded as co-tenants. This is a good deal owing to the sacredness of animal life in India. Not only is there an absolute persuasion in the mind of a Hindu that some animals, such as cows, serpents, and monkeys, are more or less pervaded by divinity, but most Indians believe that there are eighty-four lakhs of species of animal life through which a man's own soul is liable to pass. In fact, any noxious insect or loathsome reptile may be, according to the Hindu religion, an incarnation of some deceased relative or venerated ancestor. Hence, no man, woman, or child among the Hindus thinks it right to kill animals of any kind. Hence, too, in India animals of all kinds appear to live on terms of the greatest confidence and intimacy with human beings. They cannot even learn to be afraid of their enemies the European immi- grants. Musquitoes will settle affectionately and fearlessly on the hands of the most receut comer, leeches will in- ANIMAL AND PLANT LIFE. 185 sinuate themselves lovingly between the interstices of his lower garments, parrots will peer inquisitively from the eaves of his bedroom into the mysteries of his toilet, crows will carry off impudently anything portable that takes their fancy on his dressing-table, sparrows will hop about imper- tinently and take the bread off his table-cloth, bats will career triumphantly round his head as he reads by the light of his duplex lamp, monkeys will domesticate themselves jauntily on his roof, and at certain seasons snakes will domicile themselves unpleasantly in his cast-ofF garments, while a whole tribe of feathered creatures will build their nests confidingly under the trees of his garden before the very eyes of the village boys who play near his compound. I have heard it said in England that the tigers of India will soon be exterminated ; yet I looked down from the heights near Ootacamund on a tract of country swarming with tigers and wild animals of all kinds. Such animals are on the increase in these and other similar localities, notwithstanding the active hostility of rifle-armed English sportsmen. The truth is that those Europeans who venture into such jungles to shoot down tigers are themselves struck down, like Lord Hastings, by jungle fever ; and before we can induce the natives to wage a war of extermi- nation against beasts of prey, we must disabuse them of the notion that men are sometimes converted into wild beasts, and that the spirit of a man killed by a tiger not unfrequently takes to riding about on the animal's head^. With regard to plant life, it must be borne in mind that in the creed of the Hindus even plants may be permeated by divinity or possessed by the souls of departed relatives. No Hindu will cut down the divine Tulsi, or knowingly injure any other sacred plant. As to the holy Pipal, it may indulge its taste for undermining walls and houses, and even palaces and temples, with perfect impunity. Happily, there is a limit to even the most pious Hindu's respect for plant life. ' See Sleeman's 'Rambles and Recollections,' p. 162. 1 86 MODERN INDIA. Perhaps the most demonstrative and self- asserting and, at the same time, most useful of tropical trees is the palm. Palm trees are ubiquitous in Southern India, and yet the eye never wearies of their presence. One hundred and fifty different species may be seen in Ceylon, among which the most conspicuous are the cocoa-nut, the palmyra, the date, the sago, the slender areca, and the sturdy talipot — often crowned with its magnificent tuft of flowers, which, it produces only once before its decay, at the end of about half a century. Avenues of palm trees overshadow the roads and even line the streets of towns. The next most characteristic tree of Southern India is the banyan. The sight of a fine banyan tree is almost worth a voyage from Southampton to Bombay, and it can only be seen in per- fection in the South. One I saw in a friend's compound at Madura was 1 80 yards in circumference, and was a little forest in itself Then there is the beautiful plantain, with its broad, smooth leaves, rivalling the palm in luxuriance and ubiquity. Then one must go to Southern India to understand how the lotus became the constant theme of Indian poets, as the symbol of everything lovely, sacred, and auspicious. Space indeed would fail if I were to tell of groves of mangoes and tamarinds, clumps of enormous bamboos, gigantic creepers in full blossom, tree ferns, oranges and citrons, hedges of flowering aloes, cactus, prickly pear, wild roses, and geraniums, or even if I were to descant at large on such useful plants as coffee, cinchona, tea, and tobacco. With regard to these last I will merely say that our thriving colony of Ceylon is the true home of the coffee plant, and that I found coffee-planting there in a peculiarly flourishing condition. About £^ per cwt. was given in 1876 for coffee which formerly realised only £% \os} The ' According to a correspondent of the Times, 749,870 cwt. of coffee was shipped up to June 20, 1879, as compared with 529,807 cwt. for List j'ear, and 77^>^79 ^^^ ^^^^ year previous. It appears that there is now a cer- tainty of lidding coffee plantations of that destructive pest — Hemcleia vas- CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE. 187 island owes much of its present prosperity to Sir William Gregory's energetic governorship. Coffee in great quan- tities is also grown on the Nilgiris, the hill districts of Mysor, the Wynaad, Travankor, and the Asambhu hills. Cinchona (jielding quinine) is being cultivated with great success in Ceylon, Sikkim, and some hill stations of Southern India. As to tea, ever since the tea-plant was found to be indigenous in Assam and Kachar, its cultiva- tion has gone on increasing so rapidly that it is likely to become one of the staple products of India, and will vie as an export with rice, opium, cotton, and jute. It is said that 357,000 chests were exported last j-ear from Assam, Kachar, and Darjiling — the three chief tea districts — alone. Tea cultivation is also carried on in other hill stations of Northern and Southern India. I am told that a great future is in store for tobacco, and that it will take the place of opium as a source of revenue should the Chinese demand for the latter cease. All that is wanted is skill in its culti- vation, and more delicate manipulation in the rolling of the leaves of the plant for the manufacture of cigars. Its success in British Burmah is remarkable. But enough of plants ; let me turn to men. Character of the People in Southern India. If the most apathetic traveller is astonished by the nature of the climate, by the vastness of the country, by the diversity of the scenery, by the exuberance of animal and plant life in Southern India, much more is his wonder excited by the multiplicity of races which constitute its teeming population, by the variety of their costume, man- ners, social institutions, usages, religious creeds, and dialects. Biologists, ethnologists, archaeologists, and philologists will find here (as in Northern India) a rich banquet set before them, from which they may always rise with an appetite for iairix popularly known as leaf-disease, by means of a mixture of sulphur and lime recently invented by a certain Mr. Morris. 1 88 MODERN INDIA. more. The inhabitants of Bombay, whose number exceeds that of any other city in the British Empire (except London and Calcutta), may be said to belong partly to Gujarat, partly to the Konkan, and partly to the Maratha country. When we have ascended the Bhore Ghat and are in that part of the Decean of which Poona is the capital, we are fairly among the Marathas, who are the principal repre- sentatives of the Aryan race in Southern India. The Brahmans and higher classes of this race are often fine intelligent men, and sometimes great Pandits, but withal proud and bigoted. Their women are kept less secluded, and are far more independent than the women in Northern India, where Muhammadan influences are much stronger. It is common to see Maratha ladies walking about in the streets of large towns and showing themselves in public without any scruple. The rest of Southern India, not including the Aryan portion of Orissa, is peopled first by the great Dravidian raci's (so called from Dravida, the name given by the Sanskrit speakers to the Southern, or Tamil, part of the Peninsula), whose immigrations into India in successive waves from some part of Central Asia immediately pre- ceded those of the Aryans. These Dravidians are of course quite distinct from the Aryans ; their skin is generally much darker, and the languages they speak belong to what is sometimes called the South Turanian (agglutinative) family. They may be separated into four distinct peoples, according to their four principal languages — Telugu, Kanarese, Tamil, and Malayalam (see p. 151). Secondly, Southern India is peopled by the wild primitive races, some of them Negroid in complexion, and others Negrito, of a type similar to the savages of Australia. They are now usually called Kolarians ^. Their irruptions preceded the advent of the Dravidians, and they are still ' See p. 149. I believe the convenient designation Kolarian (formed from the word Kol, the name of a particular race) is due to Sir George Campbell, who first used it. CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE. 189 found in the tills and other outlying localities. Of the Dravidians the Telugu and Tamil speakers are by far the majority, each numbering fifteen or sixteen millions. The Tamil race, who occupy the extreme south from Madras to Cape Comorin, are active, hard-working, in- dustrious, and independent. Their difficult and highly accentuated language reflects their character and possesses quite a distinct literature of its own. The Telugu people, inhabiting the Northern Circars and the Nizam's territory, are also remarkable for their industry; and their soft lan- guage, abounding in vowels, is the Italian of the East. The Kanarese of Mysor resemble the Telugu race in lan- guage and character, just as the Malayalams of the Malabar coast resemble the Tamils. I noticed that the seafaring Tamils of the Southern coast near JElamnad, Ramesvaram, and Tuticorin are much more able-bodied and athletic than ordinary Hindus. Numbers of them migrate to Ceylon, and at least half a million form a permanent part of the population of that island. They are to be found in all the coffee plantations, and work much harder than the Sinhalese. Indeed, all the races of South India seem to me to show readiness and aptitude for any work they are required to do, as well as patience, endurance, and perseverance in the discharge of the most irksome duties. The lower classes may be seen everywhere earning their bread by the veritable sweat of their brow and submitting without a murmur to a life of drudgery and privation. But they are not, as a rule, physically strong, and their moral character, like their bodily constitution, exhibits little stamina. They have, so to speak, little solidity of backbone, either to keep them upright when they are brought into collision with stronger races, or to enable them to rise to the high standard of European morality. It must be borne in mind, too, that Europeans are sometimes strong in vices as well as in virtues; and that, as the Hindu rarely has the j)ower of assimilating himself to our best qualities, he is apt to copy 190 MODERN INDIA. our worst. Even our Administrative Government^ with all its moral purity, has introduced temptations which are to him a stone of stumbling'. Yet I have been told by officers of long experience, who have witnessed the growth of much of our Indian Empire, that on the acquisition of newly- acquired territories, the inhabitants have never shown any immediate disposition towards deceit, litigiousness, subtlety, and avarice, or any of the faults they have afterwards dis- played so conspicuously in our Courts of Justice, and in their dealings with us as rulers. The plain fact is, that the people of India are simply human beings with very human infirmities ; and that, if the professing Christian finds it difficult to bear up against the tide of human care, crime, and trial which ever follows in the track of advancing civilization, much more does the non-Christian Hindu. I doubt, however, whether the worst Indians are ever so offensive in their vices as the worst type of low, unprinci- pled Europeans. At any rate, their vices are more secret and subtle. As servants, they are faithful, honest, and devoted, and will attach themselves with far greater affec- tion than English servants to those who treat them well. They show greater respect for animal life than Europeans. They have more natural courtesy of manner, more filial dutifulness, more veneration for rank, age, and learning, and they are certainly more temperate in eating and drink- ing. I once asked a Peninsular and Oriental captain whether he preferred a crew of ordinary Indian or ordinary English sailors, and he unhesitatingly gave tlie preference to Indians, ' because,' said he, ' they are more docile, more obedient, less brutish in their habits, and can be trusted not to get drunk.' Another point to be noted in comparing Indians with Europeans is that the rich among them are never ashamed of their poor relations, and, what is still more noticeable, neither rich nor poor are ever ashamed of their religion. RELIGIONS OF SOUTHERN INDIA. 19 1 Religions of Southern India. Religion is even more closely interwoven with every affair of daily life, and is even more showily demonstrative in the South of India than in the North. Unhappily, it is not of a kind to strengthen the character or fortify it against temptation. Yet its action on social, domestic, and political life is so potent, that to make clear the con- dition of the people, I must briefly explain the nature of their creeds. A distinction has already been pointed out between Brahmanism and Hinduism i- Brahmanism is the purelj' pantheistic and not necessarily idolatrous creed evolved by the Brahmans out of the religion of the Veda. Hinduism is that complicated system of polytheistic doctrine, idola- trous superstitions, and caste usages which has been deve- loped out of Brahmanism after its contact with Buddhism and its admixture with the non-Aryan creeds of the Dravidians and Aborigines of Southern India. Brah- manism and Hinduism, though infinitely remote from each other, are integral parts of the same system. One is the germ or root, the other is the rank and diseased out- growth. It is on this account that they everywhere co- exist in the same localities throughout the whole of India. Nevertheless, the most complete examples of both creeds are now to be looked for in Southern India, because the North has been always more exposed to Muhammadan influences. In fact, it was the South which produced the great religious revivalists, Kumarila, Sankara, Madhva, Ramanuja, and Vallabha. The followers of Sankara (who lived about the seventh or eighth century of our era, and whose successors reside at ^ringeri, on the Mysor Ghats) are usually strict Brah- mans. They call themselves Smartas, as observers of Smriti or traditional doctrines and ceremonies, and their creed is ' I was the first to suggest this distiaction in the use of the terms Brahmanism and Hinduism, and am alone responsible for it. 192 MODERN INDIA. generally pure Brahmanism. In other words, they are pure Pantheists. They accept the Vedas, Itihasas, Manu, and Puranas, and maintain the doctrine of one universal Spirit^ manifesting himself equally in Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, and developing himself in every other form of divine, semi- divine, human and demoniacal personality. The adherents of Madhva, on the other hand, call them- selves Vaishnavas — as worshippers of the god Vishnu alone, whom they regard as the one Supreme Being, admitting that he has assumed various incarnations for the preserva- tion of his creatures. They also differ from the Smarta followers of Sankara in maintaining an eternal distinction between the human and Supreme Soul. This is a form of Hinduism which has more common ground with Christi- anity than any other. I have met with many excellent and intelligent Brahmans and others in the South of India who profess it. But the great majority of South Indian Vaishnavas are followers of Ramanuja, who led the Vaishnava revival in the twelfth century. These illustrate the operation of a law which appears essential to the vitality of every reli- gious and political system. They have separated into two grand antagonistic parties — the Tengalais, or followers of the Southern doctrine, who maintain the doctrine of absolute faith in Vishnu, which they illustrate by a kitten's passive dependence on the hold of the mother-cat ; and the Vada- galais, or followers of the Northern, who uphold the doctrine of man's co-operation with ^^ishnu, illustrated by the young monkey's effort to grasp the mother-monkey when she moves from one branch to another. Their opposition is very similar to that which prevails in Europe between Calvinists and Arminians, and not unlike that between Protestants and Roman Catholics. Their quarrels in the present day relate more to the external mark of their sect than to differences in fundamental doctrine, the one party contending that this mark — made with a kind of white paint on the forehead — should represent both Vishnu's feet RELIGIONS OF SOUTHERN INDIA. 193 and should extend half-way down the nose, while the other maintains that the mark should only represent one foot of Vishnu and that the nasal organ is not entitled to be honoured with any paint at all. The proper marking of the idols in their temples is a special subject of contention and sometimes of litigation. The Tengalai frontal mark, which has some resemblance to a trident, is represented below. It is, however, no trident, if by that is meant a spear. The two outer lines which resemble prongs really stand for the two soles of Vishnu's feet, while the line which extends down the nose is held to represent a kind of lotus throne on which the feet are supposed to rest, as in the annexed diagram. On the other hand the Vadagalai mark, as drawn on the next page, is said to stand for only one of Vishnu's feet. o 194 MODERN INDIA. The Vadagalais contend that since the Ganges sprang from the sole of Vishnu's right foot, his right foot should be held in special veneration, and its sign impressed on the forehead. Both parties agree in employing a central mark to sym- bolize Vishnu's wife Lakshmi. But, it ought to be stated that educated Vaishuavas repudiate the idea of Vishnu's being really married. Vishnu, they say, is merely a name for the Supreme Being or in other words for the Infinite Spirit of the Universe, who cannot have an actual wife. The goddess Lakshmi, according to their view, is no real deity, but simply an ideal personification of the mercy of God. For the religion of the Vaishnavas is, at least theoretically, one of love, tenderness, and compassion, while that of the Saivas is inclined to take a sterner and more austere view of God's nature. Besides these three principal sects there is another, called Lingavats (vulgarly Lingaits), who are the followers of a leader Basava (=Vrishabha). They are worshippers of Siva (symljolized by the lingam worn round their necks) ; but abjure all respect for caste distinctions and observance of Brahmanieal rites and usages. A great part of the Kanarese population below Kolapore and in Mysor is Lingait. In short, Vaishnavism and Saivism (or the worship of Vishnu and Siva as personal Supreme Beings) constitute the very heart and soul of Southern Hinduism. As to Brahma — the third member of the Hindu Triad, and ori- ginal creator of the world — he is not worshipped at all except in the person of his alleged offspring, the Brahmans. Moreover, Vaishnavism and Saivism are nowhere so pro- DE VI L- WORSHIP. 1 95 nounced and imposing as in Southern India. The temples of Kanjivaram (Kandipuram), Tanjore, Trichinopoly, Ma- dura, Tinnevelly, and Ramesvaram are as superior in mag- nitude to those of Benares as Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's are to the other churches of London. Furthermore, it must not be forgotten that, although a belief in devils, and homage to hhiitas or spirits of all kinds, is common all over India, yet what is called ' devil worship' is far more systematically practised in the South of India and in Ceylon than in the North. And the reason may be that as Dravidians and Aryans advanced towards Southern India, they found it peopled by wild aboriginal savages, whose behaviour and aspect appeared to them to resemble that of devils. The Aryan and Dravidian mind, therefore, naturally pictured to itself the regions of the South as the chief resort and stronghold of the demon race, and the dread of demoniacal agency be- came more rooted in Southern India than in the North. Curiously enough, too, it is commonly believed in Southern India that every wicked man contributes by his death to swell the ever-increasing ranks of devil legions. His evil passions do not die with him. They are intensified, con- centrated, and perpetuated in the form of a malignant and mischievous spirit. Moreover, the god Siva is constantly connected with demoniacal agencies, either as superintend- ing and controlling them, or as himself possessing (espe- cially in the person of his wife Kali) all the fierceness and malignity usually attributed to demons. Such demons though worshipped, or rather propitiated, have never any imposing temple-like structure dedicated to them. Often a mere heap of earth piled up in pyra- midal shape, or a similar erection formed with bricks and painted with streaks of white constitutes the only devil- shrine, while another heap in front with a flat top does duty for the demon's altar. There is rarely any image, and probably a tree above, or near at hand, is the devil's supposed dwelling-place. O 3 196 MODERA INDIA. In fact, in the South of India, even more than in the North, all evils, especially drought, blight, and diseases, are attributed to devils. When my fellow-travellers and myself were nearlj- dashed to pieces over a precipice by some restive horses on a ghat near Poona, we were told that the road at this particular point was haunted by devils, who often caused similar accidents, and we were wiven to understand that we should have done well to conciliate Ganesa, son of the god Siva, and all his troops of evil spirits, before starting. Of all gods Gancs'a is, perhaps, the most commonly conciliated, not, in my opin- ion, because he is said to bestow wisdom, but simply be- cause he is believed to prevent the obstacles and diseases caused by devils. Homage, indeed, may be rendered to the good God, or Supreme Spirit pervading the universe, but he is too absolutely perfect to be the author of harm to any one, and does not need to be appeased. Devils alone require propitiation. Often the propitiating process is performed by offerings of food or other articles supposed to be peculiarly acceptable to disembodied beings. For ex- ample, when a certain European, who was a terror to the district in which he lived, died in the South of India, the natives were in the constant habit of depositing brandy and cigars on his tomb to propitiate his spirit, which was believed to roam about the neighbourhood in a restless manner and with evil proclivities. The very same was done to secure the good offices of the philanthropic spirit of a great European sportsman, who, when he was alive, delivered his district from the ravagres of timers. Indeed, it ought to be mentioned that all evil spirits are thought to be opposed by good ones, who, if duly pro- pitiated, make it their business to guard the inhabitants of particular places from demoniacal intruders. Each district, and even every village, has its guardian genius, often called its mother. If smallpox or blight appear, some motlicr (especially the one called Marl Amman) is thought to be angry, and must be appeased by votive DEVIL-WORSHIP AND DEVIL-DANCING. 197 offerings. There are no less than 140 of these mothers in Gujarat. There is also one very popular male god in Southern India called Ayenar {Hanhara-imtra), son of Siva and Vishnu, to whom shrines in the fields are constantly erected. A remarkable point is that these guardian spirits — especially Ayenar — are supposed to delight in riding about the country on horses. Hence the traveller just arrived from Europe is startled and puzzled by apparitions of roughly-formed terra-cotta horses, often as large as life, placed by the peasantry round rude shrines in the middle of fields as acceptable propitiatory offerings, or in the ful- filment of vows during periods of sickness. Another remarkable circumstance connected with the dread of demoniacal agencies is the existence in the South of India and Ceylon of professional exercisers and devil- dancers. Exorcising is performed over persons supposed to be possessed by demons in the form of diseases. The exerciser assumes a particular dress, goes through various antics, mutters spells, and repeats incantations. Devil- dancing is performed by persons who paint their faces, or put on hideous masks, dress up in demoniacal costumes, and work themselves up into a veritable frenzy by wild dances, cries, and gesticulations. They are then thought to be actually possessed by the spirits and to become, like spiritualist mediums, gifted with clairvoyance and a power of delivering oracular and prophetic utterances on any matter about which they may be questioned. There seems to be also an idea that when smallpox, cholera, or similar pestilences are exceptionally rife, exceptional measures must be taken to draw off the malignant spirits, the supposed authors of the plague, by tempting them to pass into these wild dancers and so become dissipated. I myself witnessed in Ceylon an extraordinary devil dance performed by three men who were supposed to per- sonate or represent three different forms of typhus fever ; and when I was at Tanjor, the learned Sanskritist Dr. 198 MODERN INDIA. Burnell, who is Judge of that district, gave me some inter- esting information in regard to the demon-festivals which recur periodically in the district of Mangalor where he held office for some time. One of the most popular of these festivals called Illed- chida Nema is celebrated every fifteen or twenty years. At another called Kallyata a wild dance is performed every 60th year before a particular rock or stone which is sup- posed to tremble and shake periodically. Sometimes the performance takes place in a large shed in the middle of which burns a common lamp under a canopy. Around are images of the Bhutas. At the distance of about a foot in front of the lamp is placed a common wooden tripod-stand, two or three feet high, on which is constructed a square frame of cocoa-nut leaves. Inside this frame a quantity of rice and turmeric is piled into a P3'ramid into which a three-branched iron lamp is inserted. Around are arraiig-ed offering's consisting' of fruits and living victims such as fowls and goats. The latter are adorned with garlands, and both fowls and goats are after- wards decapitated, the warm blood being either poured out on the ground or on the altar, or else drunk by the offici- ating priest. The idea is that the demon thirsts for blood, and becomes irritated if his cravings arc not satisfied. The sole object of sacrificing animals is to assuage his thirst and appease his anger. All this is preliminary to the principal performance which takes place in an open space in front of the slaughtered victims. The priest, or some other devotee who has undergone a long preparatory fasting, comes for- ward to personate a particular demon. He is dressed up in a fantastic costume, often covered with grotesque dang- ling ornaments and jingling bells. Sometimes he wears a hideous mask ; sometimes his face is daubed with paint of different colours. In one baud he holds a sword, trident, or other implement, and perhaps a bell in the other. He then commences dancing or pacing up and down in an DE VIL-DANCING. 199 excited manner, amid beating of tom toms, blowing of bornSj and all kinds of noisy music, while an attendant sings songs or recites rude poems descriptive of the deeds of the demons. Meanwhile spirituous liquor is distributed, the performer becomes violently excited, and the demon takes complete possession of him. Finally he succumbs in an hysterical fit, and gives out oracular responses to any inquiries addressed to him. Most of the bystanders con- sult him as to their several wants and destinies, or the welfare of absent relatives, but are not allowed to do so without first presenting offerings. 200 MODERN INDIA. The figure on the preceding page represents a performer dressed up as a particular demon called Panjurli, whose wor- ship is connected with some of the deeds of the god ^iva. Another mischievous female demon called Kallurti, be- lieved to be addicted to the unpleasant habit of throwing stones and setting fire to people's houses, is represented below with a torch in her hand. This Kallurti is worshipped and conciliated by similar performances. With regard to Buddhism, although its importation into Ceylon must have been effected to a great extent BUDDHISM. INDIAN MUHAMMADANISM. 30I from Southern India, where its images still occasionally do duty as Hindu gods, yet it no longer exists there. In Ceylon it is a cold, negative, undemonstrative, sleepy religion, contrasting very remarkably with the showy, positive, and noisy form of Hinduism prevalent on the other side of the Straits. Its only worship consists in presenting flowers before images and relic shrines of the extinct Buddha, and in meditating on his virtues and se very caste-rules which we believe to be a hindrance to his adoption of the true religion are to him the very essence of all religion, for they influence his whole life and conduct. And the lower the caste, the more do its members appear to regard the observance of its rules as an essential part of all re- ligion and morality. To violate the laws of caste is the greatest of all sins. For example^ marriage is a Divine institution closely connected with caste. It is declared to be a Saiiskilra, or sacramental purificatory rite. Every man, as soon as he is old enough, is under absolute. .religious obhgation to have his own wife, and every womifci her own husband. For a man not to marry, or to marry out of his caste, is, with rare exceptions, a positive sin, fraught with awful consequences in a future state. Husband and wife are sacramentally united. The wife is half her husband's body. The}' ought not to be parted, even by death. INDIAN AND EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION. 239 Furthermore^ all the caste-rules about food, its prepara- tion, and the persons in whose company it may be eaten, are strictly a matter of religion. A Hindii abhors, as the most impious of beings, any one who allows himself un- restrained liberty in eating and drinking. Not only purity of blood, but religious purity also depends on purity of nutriment, and the distinction between lawful and unlawful food is even more observed as a Divine ordinance than it was with the Jews. No high caste will eat with a lower caste, and not even a low caste will eat with Christians. Then, finally, in regard to the dead, funeral ceremonies among the Hindus are of course solemn acts of religion, as in all other countries. But far more than this — the bodies of deceased Hindus must be burnt by certain near relatives according to carefully prescribed rites, on pain of bringing misery on the disembodied spirits ; and such rites must be repeated periodically. To maintain the per- petual memory of the dead, to make periodical offerings to the spirits of fathers, grandfathers, and great-grand- fathers, is a peremptory religious duty. But what are a Hindu's ideas about the nature of that God who thus superintends every act, and directs every step of his existence from the cradle to the grave ? It is here that his pride in his own superiority may be said to culminate. The very point in which we think the Hindus most mistaken is the very point in which they pride themselves most of all. We admit that they might, with reason, be proud of the perfection of their alphabet, of the symmetry of their language, of the poetry in their litera- ture, of the subtlety of their philosophy, of the acuteness of their logic, of their invention of the ten arithmetical figures, of their advance in mathematics and science when all Europe was wrapped in ignorance, and even of the elevated sentiments in their moral code ; but we cannot understand their being proud of their false ideas of the Supreme Being. The Hindus, we afiirm, have no know- 230 MODERN INDIA. ledge of the true God. They have not one God, but many. They degrade their deities to the level of sinful creatures by the acts, characters, and qualities they attri- bute to them. Yet tht' Hindus themselves maintain that they are not polytheists at all, but worshippers of one God, who mani- fests Himself variously, and that they have conceived sub- limer notions of this Deity than any other people, ancient or modern. 'Our sacred books,' say they, 'insist on the unity of the Supreme Being, and abound in the grandest descriptions of His attributes.'' He is ' the most Holy of all holies ; the most Blessed of the blessed ; the God of all .gods : the Everlasting Father of all creatures ; omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent ; He is the Life in all; the Father, Mother, Husband, and Sustainer of the world ; the Birth, the Death of all ; the Incomprehensible ; the Ancient Sage, without beginning or end; the Universe's Maker ; the one God hidden in all beings, and dwelling as a witness within their hearts.' And are not we Christians bound to accept and approve such sublime descriptions of the attributes of the Deity, though we well know that in the Ijooks from which they are taken, abundant false conceptions are mingled with the true, and tliat a Hindu's boasted theism is simple pantheism, behind which, as behind an impregnable for- tress, he retires whenever his polytheism and idolatry are attacked ? There is, however, one point left in which we think educated Indians must at last acknowledge themselves inferior to Christian nations. ' Your religion,' we affirm, ' leads to the grossest idolatry. Everywhere in India idol -worship and superstition are hideously rampant!' How great, then, is our astonishment when we are as- sured in India by the educated Hindus that they are not really idol-worshippers. ' Worship before images, not to images,' say they, ' is practised by us as a condescen- sion to weak-minded persons. The highest form of wor- INDIAN AND EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION. 231 ship is the Manasa-puja and the Nirakara-puja — heart- worship and formless worship.' Hear what Mr. Pramada-Das Mitra, of Benares, in a recent address delivered at the Benares Institute, replied to one who accused his fellow-countrymen of the grossest idolatry : ' If by idolatry,' he said, ' is meant a system of worship which confines our ideas of the Divinity to a mere image of clay or stone, which prevents our hearts from being elevated with lofty notions of the attributes of God — if this is what is meant by idolatry, we disclaim idolatry, we abhor idolatry, and deplore the ignorance and uncharitableness of those that charge us with this grovel- ling system.' And he then goes on to point out that, so far from worshipping material images, the HindCis are too spiritual to believe even in the existence of matter, the only really existing essence being (according to a dogma of their philosophy) the one universal spirit, of which the numerous gods, represented by images, are but mani- festations. Clearly, then, the chief impediment to Christianity among Indians is not only the pride they feel in their own religion, but the very nature of that religion. For pantheism is a most subtle, plausible, and all-embracing system, which may profess to include Christianity itself as one of the phenomena of the universe. An eminent Hindu is reported to have said, ' We Hindus have no need of conversion ; we are Christians and more than Christians already.' In short, it is the old story. Pride and self-complacency are the chief obstacles to the entrance of truth into the human mind. We go to the Hindus with a true revelation and the good news of God's love and good-will towards them in becoming incarnate for their sakes, and we find that they claim to have possessed a true revelation of their own, incarnations of their own, and a more excellent way of salvation suited to themselves, long before Europe had any revealed religion at all. 232 MODERN INDIA. I could proceed to point out other great hindrances in the Hindus themselves, such as their peculiar mental con- stitution, their incapability of appreciating historical facts, their appetite for wild legends and monstrous exaggera- tions, their natural dislike to the doctrine of sanctification as the only evidence of regeneration ; but it is time for me to come nearer home, and to direct attention to the hindrances arising from our own self-complacency, our own priile in our own boasted civilization. Let me begin with the pride of race. It is now well known that, notwithstanding the recent demonstration of the original oneness of the Indo- Aryan and English races, there is at present little or no social blending between the ruleis and the ruled in India. Both Indians and Englishmen may be equally in fault, and each lays the blame upon the other ; but the simple fact is, that Indians and Englishmen keep as distinct from each other as oil and water. Even Christianity does not overcome this race feeling. It is, indeed, generally acknowledged that if a hiffhlv-educated Brahman becomes a Christian, and thereb\ consents to sit at table with Christians, he ought to be admitted into the best European society, but the pride of race is generally too strong for the sense of duty, and I fear that, as a matter of fact, few English homes, except those of the missionaries, are really opened to high-caste converts. Thus it arises that well-bred men, who are quite our own equals in rank and education, are deterred from an open profession of Christianity through the want of any respect- able circle of society to which they can be admitted in the adopted religion. If the force of conviction compels them to seek baptism at any sacrifice, they are instantly excom- municated by their own community, and then, if no mis- sionary family be near, have no choice except to live alone or put up with the society of low-born native converts, with whom, perhaps, they have nothing in common but their adopted faith. INDIAN AND EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION. 233 Then there is the pride of knowledge. The English in India must, of course, be conscious of their superiority in civilization and scientific knowledge, but they bring dis- credit on Christianity and hinder the missionary cause when they take no pains to conceal their contempt for Hindus and Muhammadans ; and, forgetting that India was given to us to elevate rather than to humiliate, make them feel their own inferiority too keenly. But perhaps the greatest hindrance arising from our- selves is the pride of religion. We cannot glory too much in our possession of the Gospel of Christ. God forbid tlial we should not glory in what we believe to be the only power of God unto salvation to Jew, Greek, Hindu, and Muhammadan ! But if our love for our Gospel truth leads us to shut our eyes to the elements of truth that underlie all false religions, how are we even to approach those religions, much less bring any force of argument to bear upon them? The missionaiy who goes to a believer in the Kuran or the Veda with the Holy Bible in his hand, has no choice but to search diligently for a common standpoint. ' Any- thing in your Bible,' the Musalman will say, ' which agrees with my Kuran I will accept, otherwise I will not even listen to it.' The same language will be held by the Hindu with regard to the Veda. It may, indeed, shock Christians in this Christian country of ours to think of our missionaries placing the Bible on the same platform with the Kuran and the Veda; but there is really no alternative. Young and enthusiastic missionaries must not be sur- prised, nor must we in England blame them, if they are forced to imitate St. Paul — to become Muslims to the Muslims, Hindus to the Hindus (without, however, giving up one iota of the truth which they themselves hold), in order that both Muslims and Hindus may be won over to Christ. And is there really no common ground for the Christian 234 MODERN INDIA. missionaiy, the Muhammadan, and the Hindu to stand upon ? Are there not certain root-ideas in all religions which bear testimony to the original truth communicated to mankind ? Hindiiism, at any rate, may be shown to be a system which, on a solid basis of pantheism, has brought together almost every idea in religion and philo- sophy that the world has ever known. Even some of the greatest truths of Christianity are there, though dititorted, perverted, curicatured, and buried under superstitionj error, and idolatry. And is it not a proof of the Divine origin of Christianity, and its adaptation to humanity in every quarter of the globe, that some of its grandest and most ebsential dogmas, and, so to speak, its root-ideas, do indeed lie at the root of all religions, and explain the problems of life which sages and philosophers in all ages of the world have vainly at- tempted to solve ? Is it not the fact that all the gropings after truth, all the religious instincts, faculties, cravings, and aspirations of the human race which struggle to ex- press themselves in the false religions of the world, find their only true expression and fulfilment — their only com- plete satisfaction — in Christianity ? When I began the study of Hinduism, I imagined that certain elementary Christian conceptions — such as the Fatherhood of God, the Brotherhood of God, and the indwelling of God in the human heart — were not to be found there, but a closer examination has enabled me to detect not only these, but almost every other rudimentary idea of our holy religion. The}' are nearly all to be found in Hinduism, like portions of adamantine granite beneath piles of shifting sedimentary strata, and they ought to be eagerly searched for by the missionary as a basis for his own superstructure. Hinduism, in fiict, is a mere general expression, invented by Europeans for all the innumerable phases of pantheistic worship which exist in India. And, verily, I believe that much has yet to be done before all the shapes, and, so INDIAN AND EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION. 335 to speak, dissolving views of this Protean system are thoroughly comprehended. At any rate, we students of India (including missionary students) have not as yet produced, though we are trying to do so — witness the series of hooks just published by the Christian Knowledge Society — any thoroughly ex- haustive ••»nd trustworthy account of Hinduism. We have not sufficiently studied it in its own siicred Sanskrit. We under-estimate its comprehensiveness, its receptivity, its subtle compromising spirit, its recuperative hydra-like vi- tality ; and we are too much given to include the whole system under sweeping expressions, such as ' heathenism ' or ' idolatry,' as if every idea it contains was to be eradi- cated root and branch. Again, our religious pride will operate prejudicially to the missionary cause if it leads us to expect a complete and universal adoption of our own form of English Christianity. We cannot indeed glory too much in our loved Church of England, in her organization and her Book of Common Prayer ; but is our zeal altogether according to knowledge if we attempt to force the Act of Uniformity with too iron a hand on all our Indian fellow-subjects ? Depend upon it, that when the fulness of time arrives, and the natives of India everywhere openly accept Christianity, they will construct for it a setting of their own. And bearing in mind that our religion originated in the East, and that the Bible itself is a thoroughly Eastern book, we shall not only expect, but joyfully acquiesce in an Indian framework for Indian Christianity. I will merely allude to two other obvious hindrances which beset the missionary cause in India, — I mean our own divisions and our own inconsistencies. As to the first, after travelling from Kasmir to Cape Comorin, I am ■ able to certify that I have found, as a general rule. Christians of all denominations working together harmoniously, and forgetting in their conflict with a a.r^ei MODERN INDIA. common foe their own conflicts of opinion in unessential matters. Still, grave differences have recently arisen in some localities ; and I venture to submit that it may be well not to forget that in the first struggles of Christianity with the paganism of the Roman Empire, the one mark by which all Christians were singled out from the rest of the world was their love for each other. ' See how these Christians love one another.' As to our inconsistencies, let me quote the same mem- ber of the Brahma Samaj. 'Why,' he says, 'do you not make more Christians among the respectable classes of society ? Because there is little to recommend itself in your Christianity. Does it make your merchants honest men ? Are their goods pure and unadulterated ? Does it make your soldiers polite and moral?' It is satisfactory, however, to note, as I have lately done, that although some professing Christians may still walk as if they were the enemies of the Cross of Christ, no glaring scandals are now common in India. Nor can it be said of us by the natives, as it was to Mr. Terry (the first English clergyman, I believe, who ever visited India) in 1616, ' Christian religion devil religion ; Christian much drunk. Christian much do wrong. Christian much beat, Christian much abuse others.' And surely there is comfort in the thought that our hindrances in India under our own friendly rule are not greater than the obstacles in Europe under the hostile Roman Empire ; nor are they greater anywhere than they always have been everywhere and may be expected to continue. And is it not the case that a steadily advancing cause thrives best under impediments, and that success is only the last step in a series of failures, difficulties, and discouragements ? At any rate, it is certain that men may hinder and men may impede, but the living waters of the river of God's truth will flow on for ever. Nay more, it is certain INDIAN AND EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION. 337 that though barrier and embankment may obstruct their course, the heaped-up waters will only gather strength and volume, till, with accumulated force, they spread themselves irresistibly over every region of the habitable globe ^. ' The above was delivered as an address at a Missionary Congress held in Oxford on May 2, 1877. INDIAN MUHAMMADANISM IN ITS RELATION TO CHRISTIANITY, AND THE PROSPECTS 0¥ MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE TOWARDS IT'. In my travels through India, I repeatedly passed from Hindu to Musalraan places of worship, and my spirit, troubled by the hideous idolatry witnessed in the temples of A'ishnu and Siva, was instantly tranquillized by the severe anti-symbolism conspicuous in all the surroundings of Muhammadan mosques. It is true that the transition was a little too abrupt. The atmosphere and aspect of the mosque seemed to strike me with a sudden chill; I appeared to have jumped from tropical glare to Arctic ice. But when I beheld the earnest bearing of Muslims prostrating themselves in adoration on the cold stone, and apparently worshipping God in spirit, if not in truth, 1 felt that there was nothing in the outward appearance of either building or worshippers incompatible with the spirit of Christian prayer. Nay more — I felt as I watched the devout Mus- lims, that I also might have prayed in the same pluce in my own way, and even learnt from them to pray with more solemnity and reverence of manner than I had ever before practised. Ou such occasions I frequently asked myself the ques- tion — How is it that the attitude of Islam toward-^ Chris- tianity is far more hof)elessly hostile than that of the other two great false systems of the world, Brfihmanism ' Speech at the Croydon Church Congress, October 1S77. INDIAN MUHAMMADANISM. 239 and Buddhism ? Have we not read of hundreds and thousands of Hindus and Buddhists converted by Chris- tian Missionaries ? but where are the Muslims ? Why is it that so few Muhammadans are found to give glory to God in the knowledge of Christ ? We are verily guilty concerning fortj'^-one millions of our Indian brethren, and we are bound to search and try our ways, and see where our fault lies. In the first place, how do we meet the present intolerant bearing of Islam towards other religions ? Our Govern- ment is wisely neutral, but in our Missionary efforts are we not inclined to fight Islam with its own weapon? do we not sometimes oppose intolerance by intolerance ? There is, I admit, a false and true tolerance. But do we bear with all that we can, and denounce as little as we can in a system whose founder, however fiercely intolerant of idolaters, never denounced the Founder of our own religion ? In an excellent work by a faithful Missionary, recently published ^, I fiud it advocated that the attitude of Chris- tianity towards the religions of India ought to be one of true intolerance. And what is his reason? 'Because,' he says, ' there is none other name under heaven but one, given among men, whereby we must be saved.' But need we give vip one iota of this precious truth, because we welcome everything good in Muhammad's sy.«- tem, and because we hold that we can best overcome the uncompromising intolerance of modern Muslims by eon- fronting it with the charity and forbearance of our Lord Himself, and the first Missionaries, His Apostles? Let us never forget that however bitter the feelings of hostility now displayed by the followers of Muhammad towards the followers of Christ, the attitude of Muhammad himself towards Christ Himself aiid the Gospel, as ex- hibited in the Kuran, was not only tolerant, but friendly ' Bobson's 'Hinduism, and its relation to Christianity,' p. 297. 240 MODERN INDIA. and reverential^- Indeed, the more I have reflected on the present want of success in winning Musalmans to cm- own most holy faith, the more surprise have I felt that we do not oftener advance to meet them on the common ground which belongs to the Bible and the Kuran — that we do not oftener remind them that the Kuran itself exalts Christ above humanity and teaches a manifold connexion between Islam and the Gospel. We ought to bear in mind that the people we call Muhammadans call themselves Muslims, that is, persons who were taught by Muhammad to believe that salvation consists in holding as cardinal doctrines the Unity of God, and resignation to His Will. Muhammad himself never claimed to be the originator of these doctrines, and never allowed them to be called by his name. He was, in his own view of his own mission, the latest of four prophets (the others being Moses, Elias, and Christ), who were all followers of Abraham, the true founder of the doctrine of Islam^, and were all Muslims, because all preached the Unity of God and submission to His Will. O for more of the wisdom and courage of the great Apostle of the Gentiles ! Were he at this moment un- folding before Muslims the unsearchable riches of Christ, ' Sir William Muir (p. 157 of his excellent work, ' The Life of Mahomet') shows that no expression regarding either the Jewish or Christian Scrip- tures ever escaped the lips of Muhammad other than that of implicit reverence. Both Jews and Christians, however, are repeatedly accused of having falsified certain texts (see Kuran, Sara II. 39, 1 34). Islam was really an illegitimate child of Judaism, and Muhammad owed much ot the sternness of his monotheism to the teaching of the Jews. Christians as well as Jews are styled in the Kuran ' people of the Book.' The Pentateuch, and sometimes the whole Old Testament, is called Taurat, and the New Testament Injil. All three — the Law, the Gospel, and Kuran — are spoken of as the Word of God, and belief in them is enjoined on pain of heU, but the Kuran, according to Muhammad, was the latest revelation. See Kuran, Sura III. 2 ; V. 52. The miraculous birth of Christ is asserted in Sura III. 40-43. ^ Muhammad always called Abraham the first of JIuslims. Islam and Muslim are from the same Arabic root salama, signifying ' to submit to (Jod's Will,' 'to trust in God.' INDIAN MUHAMMADANISM. 341 would he not begin by saying, ' I also, like Abraham, am a Muslim. I believe as strongly as you do in the Unity of God. I resign myself as submissively as you do to the Will of God. Whatsoever things are good, are true, are lovely, are of good report in your system, I think on them, I accept them, I welcome them, nay more, I call on you to hold them fast' ? And ought not every Missionary to begin by meeting the Muslim on the ground of his own Kuran, for the very reason that he may more effectually combat its soul- destroying errors. I fear that the present position of the Church Militant on earth is making cowards of us all.- We shrink from Unitarian Islam as if we dreaded the infection of a disease easily communicated. We are living in the midst of ma- larious influences — some outside, some inside our camp. Every man suspects the soundness of his neighbour's re- ligious opinions. What excites especial alarm in our Indian Mission-fields is the spread of theistic and pan- theistic ideas among educated natives. Even the religious atmosphere of Europe is believed to be largely impreg- nated with the subtle germs of many forms of deistic and materialistic philosophy. In our dread of wandering un- guardedly into the neighbourhood of these contagious errors we are doubtless rightly careful to take our stand firmly on the sure foundation of the divinity of God the Son. But ought we on that account to insist less forcibly on the doctrines of God's Fatherhood and of Christ's humanity which equally lie at the very foundation of sound Christianity ? I trust I shall not be misunderstood if I venture as a layman deferentially to inquire why it is that nearly every sermon I have heard for many years, whether in India or England, has been eloquent of God the Son — few sermons of God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit ? Why is Christ so constantly held up to believers and K 242 MODERN INDIA. unbelievers as the one God — so rarely as the Man Mediator leading us by one Spirit unto the Father ? We cannot, indeed, wonder that deeply religious Chris- tians should concentrate their affections on the Saviour of the world. Nor can they render to the world's Redeemer more love than is His due. Yet it seems to me that in combating Unitarianism in our Indian brethren we may possibly ourselves be fairly charged with lapsing into a subtle form of Unitarianism, if we habitually place the One Mediator in the position of the One God. Let me not be mistaken. I trust no one believes more firmly than I do in the necessity for insisting on Christ's Divine nature. But I am persuaded that if we would achieve more success in our Missionary dealings with Mu- hammadans, our first care should be to convince them that Christianity alone satisfies the yearnings of the human heart for mediation and atonement, because Christianity alone presents us with the One perfect Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus. For if Muslims admit that their own prophet believed himself to be an imperfect man who needed every day to pray for the pardon of his own sins\ they are on that very account more likely to be impressed with the contrast, when we set before them Christ as the One perfect Re- presentative of our race, — the One divine Mediator whose atonement was efficient, because He was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Depend upon it that in seeking to win Muslims to the true faith, we require to cultivate more of the wisdom of the serpent. We require to creep into their hearts by a frank admission of the Unity of the Godhead, and of the excellence of Muhammad's teaching in regard to this and other doctrines. We may then perhaps induce them to meet us half-way — to relax a little of their stern mono- theism — to concede that sinful man's necessity may have ' See Kuran, Sura XLVIII. 2. INDIAN MUHAMMADANISM. 243 acted, like a prism on Hghtj to exhibit a triple manifes- tation of the One God ; and so may cautiously, tenderly, gradually, lead them on to a full sense of the complex existence of the Almighty Being Who created us in His own Image, and to an unqualified acceptance of the great central dogma of our Church. But even when we have brought the need of an everliving Mediator and eternal Paraclete home to their hearts, we may wisely hesitate to force upon them, before they are able to bear it, the acceptance of merely ecclesiastical terms not found in our Bible. I know that we members of the Church of England are rightly jealous for the term Trinity. I know that half the Sundays of the ecclesiastical year remind us of our Trinitarian creed. I know, too, that we rightly fence round our great central doctrine with every possible eccle- siastical safeguard. But in our first efforts for the con- version of Muslims, we shall be equally right to bear in mind that the language of the Bible preceded the Book of Common Prayer, that Christ Himself declared the first of the commandments to be, ' The Lord our God is One Lord,' that in the first Article of our Church, and in all our Creeds, the Unity of the Godhead is asserted before the triple Personality. Before I conclude let me express a doubt whether we Christians, who claim divine inspiration for the Bible, believed by us to be the only true Word of Godj delivered through the minds of men, are quite as fair as we ought to be towards the book believed by Muhammadans to be a record of the actual words of the Almighty. In travelling from Kasmir to Cape Comorin, I scarcely met a single Missionary who professed himself conversant with the language in which the Kuran is written. His chief knowledge of the book, held to be the direct word of God by forty-one millions of our Indian fellow-subjects, is derived from translations made by Christians who utterly disbelieve even its partial inspiration. E, 2 244 MODERN INDIA. Moreover, although innumerable commentaries on the Kuran have been written in Arabic by pious Muslims, not a single one is generally studied by our Missionaries, nor has a single one ever been translated into English i, nor do our Missionaries think of accepting any other interpretations of difficult passages than those given by unbelieving Christians. I ask then what should we think of Indian Musalmans if, after organizing a mission to convert England to Islam, they were to send us Missionaries who judged of our Bible not from their own knowledge of the original text, or even of our own English translation, but from translations into Indian languages made by unbelieving Muslims? Or again, if Musalman controversialists were to inter- pret all the difficulties of our sacred Scriptures, not from the point of view of such Christian writers as Butler, Pearson, or Hooker, but from that of hostile Muslim commentators ? One reflection more before I conclude. If only the self- deluded but fervent-spirited Muhammad, whose whole soul was stirred within him when he saw his fellow-townsmen wholly given to idolatry, had been brought into associa- tion with the purer forms of Christianity — if he had ever listened to the true ring of the Gospel — if, from the examples which crossed his path he had formed a cor- rect ideal of the religion of Christ, he might have died a martyr for the truth, Asia might have numbered her millions of Christians, and the name of a Saint Muhammad might have been recorded in the calendar of our Book ot Common Prayer. As it was, alas ! the only Christianity presented to the Arab enthusiast, thirsting for the well of living water, was ' The two Ar.ibic Commentaries of highest repute, and indispensable for a right undf [standing of the Kuran, are those of Zamakhshari and BaidlifLwi, the latter especially valuable for grammatical and historical explanations. There are excellent editions of these Commentaries by Lees and Fleischer, but no English translation. Two otlier well known Commentaries are by the two Jalalu'd-dins. INDIAN MUHAMMADANISM. 245 that adulteration of the truth prevalent in the seventh century, which he believed it his mission to supplant by a purer system. It has somewhere been affirmed that the religion of Jesus, and the precepts of the Gospel, may be found scattered piecemeal through the pages of the Kuran. What should rather be alleged is that the religion of a spurious Jesus, and the precepts of a spurious Gospel, may be extracted from such parts of Muhammad's pretended revelations as were communicated to him by the followers of a debased form of Christian doctrine. Think, then, of the difference in the present condition of the Asiatic world, if the fire of Muhammad's eloquence had been kindled, and the force of his personal influence exerted on the side of veritable Christianity. Ought not this thought to intensify the sense of re- sponsibility in those of us who are living among Mu- hammadans? What examples are Christians setting in Muhammadan countries ? What ideal of Christianity are they presenting to millions of Muslims in our own Indian territories ? It is I fear too true that the pages of the Kuran are ever presenting to the pious Musalman yearning like our- selves for a perfect Mediator, the image of a counterfeit Christ and a counterfeit Gospel ; yet the spuriousness of the copy will not be so clearly manifested by argument and controversy as by the exhibition of a true reflection of the Divine Original in the lives, acts, and words of Christian men. THE THREE RELIGIONS OF INDIA COMPARED WITH EACH OTHER AND WITH CHRISTIANITY. Let me begin by declaring my conviction that the time is approaching, if not ah-eady arrived, when all thoughtful Christians will have to reconsider their po- sition, and, so to speak, readjust themselves to their altered environments. Be it observed, I do not say readjust their most holy faith — not the doctrines once for all delivered to the saints, which cannot change one iota with changing cir- cumstances — but readjust themselves and their own per- sonal views. All the inhabitants of the globe are being rapidly drawn together by facilities of communication, and St. Paul's grand saying, that God has made all na- tions of the earth of one blood, is being brought home to us more forcibly every day. Steam-presses, railroads, electric telegraphs, telephones, are producing effects quite without a parallel in the re- cords of the past, and imposing on us Englishmen, the principal colonizers of the world, new duties and respon- sibilities. A mighty stir and upheaving of thought is shaking the foundations of ancient creeds to their very centre ; and those not reared on the living Rock are tottering and ready to fall. Thinkers, speakers, and writers. Chris- tian and anti-Christian, throughout Europe, America, and Asia, are eagerly interchanging ideas on all the unsolved problems that have for ages baffled the powers of the human mind. COMPARISON OF THE RELIGIONS OF INDIA. 347 Christians, whether they will or no, are forced to regard the most sacred questions as admitting of other points of view besides their own. Christianity itself is tested like everything else — its time-honoured records placed (so t» speak) in the crucible ; its cherished dogmas submitted to that potent solvent, Reason. Muslims^ Brahmans, Parsis, and even Buddhists and Confucianists, no longer ignore our Bible, presented to them in their own languages. Intelligent and educated adherents of these creeds are found to look upon Chris- tianity with respect, though they regard it from their own respective stand-points, and examine it by the light of their own hereditary knowledge and traditional doctrines. In fact, a conviction is everywhere deepening in men's minds, that it is becoming more and more the duty of all the nations of the world to study each other ; to inquire into and compare each other's systems of belief; to avoid expressions of contempt in speaking of the sincere and earnest believers in any creed ; and to search diligent! v whether the principles and doctrines which guide their own faith and practice rest on the true foundation or not. And thus we have arrived at an important epoch in the history of the human race. Thoughtful men in the East and West are fairly trying to understand each other's opinions, and impartially weighing all that can be said in favour of every religion opposed to their own. And we Christians are taking the lead, and setting the example. We are labouring to translate our own Holy Scriptures into all the languages of the world. We are sparing no expense in printing and distributing them lavishly. We are saying to unbelievers everywhere : ' Read, mark, learn,' judge for yourselves. But this is not all. We are doing for the adherents of other religious systems what they are slow to do for themselves. We are printing, editing, translating, and publishing the ancient books which claim to be the in- spired repositories of their several creeds. And thus to us 348 MODERN INDIA. Christians is mainly due that now, for the first time, it is possible for the adherents of the four chief antagonistic systems prevalent in the world — Christianity, Brahmanism, Buddhism, and Islam — to study each other's dogmas in the books held sacred by each. Here, then, we have before us four sets of books. First, and in the forefront, our own Holy Bible. All honour to our Bible Society ! this sacred book^ which we hope may one day be carried into every corner of the globe, has already been translated into 210 languages ; and if we in- clude the labours of other societies, 296 different versions of it exist. Secondly, the Veda, a word meaning know- ledge, on which Brahmanism rests. There are four Vedas (namely. Rig, Yajur, Sama, and Atharva, written in an ancient form of Sanskrit), each containing three divisions • — Mantra, Brahmana, and Upanishad — nearly all of which have been edited and nearly all translated. Besides the four Vedas, there are the eighteen Puranas which con- stitute the bible of popular Hinduism. Thirdly, we have the Tri-pitaka, or three baskets, that is, the three collec- tions of writings on which Buddhism rests (written in an ancient language of the Sanskrit family, called Pali). Three important portions of these collections have been edited by European scholars, and recently translated into English. They arc called the Bliamma-pafla, ' Precepts of Law ; ' Sutta-nipCd (I , 'occasional discourses;' Jdtaka, 'previous birtlis of the Buddha.' Fourthly, we have the Kuran, in Arabic, a word meaning ' the book to be read by all,' on which, as every one knows, Islam rests, and of which Sales excellent English translation has been long available. I now give specimens of select passages from the Veda and Puranas, from the Tri-pitaka, and from the Kuran. From the Atharva-Veda (IV. 16). The mighty Varuna, who rules above, looks down Upon these worlds, his kingdom, as if close at hand. AVhen men imagine they do ought by stealth, he knows it. COMPARISON OF THE RELIGIONS OF INDIA. 249 No one can stand, or walk, or softly glide along, Or hide in dark recess, or lurk in secret cell; The God detects him, and his conduct spies. Two persons may devise some plot, together sitting In private and alone, but he, the king, is there — A third — and sees it all. This boundless earth is his. His the vast sky, whose depth no mortal e'er can fathom. Both oceans find a place within his body, yet In that small pool he lies contained. Whoe'er should flee Far, far beyond the sky, would not escape his grasp, His messengers descend, for ever traversing This world and scanning with a thousand eyes its inmates. Whate'er exists within this earth, and all within the sky. Yea, all that is beyond, the mighty king perceives. From the Katha Upanishad (Valli a). The good, the pleasant, these are separate ends. The one or other all mankind pursue. But those who seek the good, alone are blest. The careless youth, by lust of gain deceived, Knows but one world, one life ; to him the Now Alone exists, the Future is a dream. The highest aim of knowledge is the soul ; This is a miracle, beyond the ken Of common mortals, thought of though it be, And variously explained by skilful teachers. Wlio gains this knowledge is a marvel too ; He lives above the cares — the griefs and joys Of time and sense — seeking to penetrate The fathomless unborn eternal essence. The slayer thinks he slays, the slain Believes himself destroyed, the thoughts of both Are false, the soul survives, nor kills, nor dies ; 'Tis subtler than the subtlest, greater than The greatest, infinitely small, yet vast. Asleep, yet restless, moving everywhere Among the bodies — ever bodiless — Think not to grasp it by the reasoning mind; The wicked ne'er can know it : soul alone Knows soul, to none but soul is soul revealed. From the Vishnu-purana (V. 23). Lord of the Universe, the only refuge Of living beings, the alleviator Of pain, the benefactor of mankind. 250 MODERN INDIA, Show me thy favour and deliver me From evil ; creator of the world, Maker of all that has been and will be, Of all that moves and is immovable, Worthy of praise, I come to thee, my refuge, Kenouncing all attachment to the world, Longing for fulness of felicity — Extinction of myself, absorption into thee. From the Tri-pitaka {Bliamma-pada). Conquer a man who never gives, by gifts ; Subdue untruthful men by truthfulness; Vanquish an angry man by gentlene:is ; And overcome the evil man by goodness. The following' is a prophecy from the Lalita-vistara of what the Buddha was to do for the world (translated by Dr. John Muir). The world of men and gods to bless, The way of rest and peace to teach, A holy law thy son shall preach — ■ A law of stainless righteousness. Ey him shall suffering men be freed From weakness, sickness, pain, and grief, From all the ills shall find relief Which hatred, love, illusion, breed. His hand shall loose the chains of all Who groan in fleshly bonds confined ; With healing touch the wounds shall bind Of those whom pain's sharp arrows gall. His potent words shall put to flight The dull an-ay of leaden clouds Which helpless mortals' vision shrouds. And clear their intellectual sight. By him shall men who, now untaught, In devious paths of error stray, Be led to find a perfect way — ■ To final calm at last be brought. From the Tri-pitaka i^Sn-iia-nrpafa). How can a man who has fallen into a river, having bottomless water and a swift-flowing current, being himself carried away, and following the current, cause others to cross it ? COMPARISON OF THE RELIGIONS OF INDIA. 251 As one, skilful, attentive, and acquainted with the mode of steering, going on board a strong ship provided with oars and rudders, causes by means of it many others to cross the ocean ; even so he who has attained the knowledge of religious paths, ueing devoted to meditation , very learned, and of an unmoved nature, can teach others who listen with attentive ears to his preaching. Drinking of the water of a Ufe of seclusion and of the water of sub- jugating the passions, drinking also of the pleasant beverage called the perception of truth, one becomes freed from emotion and sin. Thou art the Buddha, thou art the Teacher, thou art the Vanquisher of the evil one {Mara), thou art the Sage ; having cut oif all thoughts, and crossed the sea of repeated births, thou hast taken over these beings to the other shore. From the Kuran (Chapters II, VIII). To God belongeth the east, and the west ; therefore, whithersoever ye turn to pray, there is the face of God ; for God is omnipresent, and omniscient. And when he deoreeth a thing, he only saith unto it, ' Be,' and it is. The Jews say, the Christians are grounded on nothing, and the Christians say. The Jews are grounded on nothing ; yet they both read the scriptures. But God shall judge between them on the day of the resurrection concern- ing that about which they now disagree. Verily the true believers are those whose hearts fear when God is mentioned, and whose faith increaseth when his signs are rehearsed unto them, and who trust in their Lord; who observe the stated times of prayer, and give alms out of that which we have bestowed on them. These are really believers. They shall have superior degrees of felicity with their Lord, and forgiveness, and an honourable position. true believers ! answer God and his apostle, when he inviteth you unto that which giveth you life ; and know that God goeth between a man and his heart, and that before him ye shall be assembled. true believers ! deceive not God and his apostle, neither violate your faith, against your own knowledge. And know that your wealth and your children are a temptation unto you, and that with God there is a great reward. Having, then, these books before us, it is clear that we ought not to despise documents held sacred by our fellow- creatures, as if they were too contemptible even to be glanced at from the elevated position on which we stand. Rather are we bound to follow the example of the great Apostle of the Gentiles — who, speaking to Gentiles, did 252 MODERN INDIA. not denounce tliem as atheists or idolaters, but appealed to them as Aeto-iSatfioyeo-repoDs, very God-fearing' ; and even quoted one of their own poets in support of a Christian truth — and who, writing to Christians, enjoined them not to shut their eyes to anything true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report, wherever it was to be found ; but that if there was any virtue anywhere, or any praise anywhere^ they were to think on these things. And have not we Englishmen, in particular, to whose rule India has been committed, special opportunities and responsibilities, brought as we are there into immediate contact with these three principal religious systems — Brahmanism, Buddhism, and Islam? Let us look for a moment at any modern map of India. The first glance shows us that it is not one country but many. Nor has it one race, language, and religion, but many races, languages, and religions. Mr. R. N. Cust, late a distinguished member of the Bengal Civil Service, and a member of the Legislative Council at Calcutta, has recently published a map of India (including all the ter- ritories subject to British imperial authority) in which the boundaries of all the languages are marked out. It is accompanied by a table which classifies the languages under eight heads. These are as follow: — (i) Aryan, co ; {%) Dra vidian, 13 ; (3) Kolarian, 7 ; (4) Tibeto-Burman, 56 ; (5) Khasi, I ; (6) Tai, 5 ; (7) Mon-Anam, 5 ; (8) Malayan, 33; in all, 139 distinct languages. At least 100 dialects are not included in the above classification. We may safely affirm, therefore, that the languages and dialects of India amount to at least 200. Its population, according to the recent census, now exceeds 240,000,000. Of these, about 185,000,000 are Hindus, nominal adhe- rents of Brahmanism. Then, secondly, nearly 41,000,000 are Muhammadans, adherents of Islam — so that England is by far the greatest ]\Iuhammadan power in the world, and the Queen reigns COMPARISON OF THE RELIGIONS OF INDIA. 253 over about double as many Muslims as the representative of the Khallfs himself. Then, thirdly, there are about 3,000,000 Buddhists, including the Jains (whose peculiar tenets and sacred scriptures are described at p. 159). This will appear a small number to those who are aware that there are nearly 500,000,000 nominal Buddhists now in the world, the numbers of nominal Christians being far less — only about 360,000,000. Nevertheless, the original home of Buddhism was India, which it did not finally leave till about the eighth or ninth century of our era. It is now found in the Chinese empire, Ceylon, Burmah, Nepal, Assam, and scattered here and there throughout India in the form of its near relative, Jainism. For what purpose, then, has this enormous territory been committed to England ? Not to be the ' coi-pus vile ' of political, social, or military experiments ; not for the benefit of our commerce, or the increase of our wealth — but that every man, woman, and child, from Cape Comorin to the Himalaya mountains, may be elevated, enlightened. Christianized. Let us now, therefore, briefly inquire what are the leading ideas which characterize these chief religions of the world, as represented in India ; and in doing so let us rise from the false to the true. I. To begin with Brahmanism. This has two sides — two aspects — and a vast chasm separates the two. One is esoteric, the other exoteric ; one is philosophical, the other popular ; one is for the few, the other for the many. What, then, is the highest or philosophical form of Brahmanism ? Its creed, which rests on the Upanishad portion of the Veda, has the merit of extreme simplicity. It may be described in two words : Spiritual Pantheism ; or, in the original Sanskrit, Ekam eva advitlyam. One only Being, no second — that is, nothing really exists but 254 MODERN INDIA. the one self-existent Spirit, called Brahma (neuter) ; all else is Maya, or illusion. In other words, nothing exists but God, and everything existing is God. You, he, and I are God. We do not know that we are God, because God wills for a time to ignore Himself. When this self- imposed ignorance ceases, all distinction of personality vanishes, and complete oneness of being is restored. This is true philosophical Brahmanism — the unity of all being. An enormous gulf separates this pure pantheism from the popular side of Brahmanism, which may be called Hinduism, and which rests on the Puranas, and is prac- tically polytheism. But the gulf is bridged over by the word emanation. In the philosophical creed, every- thing is identified with Brahma ; in the popular, every- thing emanates from Brahma. Stones, plants, animals, men, superior and inferior gods, good and bad demons, and every conceivable object, issue from the one self- existent universal soul, Brahma, as drops from the ocean, as sparks from fire. Men emanate in fixed classes. They cannot alter their social status in each separate existence. Born Brahmans, they must remain Brahmans ; born sol- diers, they must remain soldiers ; born tillers of the ground, they must remain tillers of the ground ; born menials, they must remain menials. But what of stones, plants, animals? The spirit of men may pass into any of these, if their actions condemn them to fall in the scale of being ; or, on the other hand, it may rise to gods. And what of gods ? There have been direct emana- tions from the Supreme Being in the form of personal gods : and it is noteworthy that these divine personalities are generally grouped in threes or multiples of three. In the Veda we have sometimes three principal gods, some- times thirty-three gods named. The Vedic triad consists of — I. Indra, or the atmosphere personified ; 2. Agni, Fire ; 3. SHri/a, the Sun. The latter and better known triad consists of — I. Brahma (masculine), the Creator; 2. Vishnu, COMPARISON OF THE RELIGIONS OF INDIA. 255 the Preserver ; 3. Rudra-Siva, the Dissolver of the world, and its reproducer. This leads to the doctrine of Incarnation. The god Vishnu, as Pervader and Preserver, passes into men to deliver the world from the power of evil demons. His most popular and best known incarnations are those of Krishna and Rama. The history of Rama is told in the great epic poem called Ramayana. Again, many stories of miracles worked by Krishna — the other principal incarnation of the god Vishnu — are told in the second great epic, called Maha-bharata. He is there represented as fighting with and destroying many evil demons, notably one in the form of a serpent (Kaliya), on whose head he is sometimes depicted as trampling. What, then, is the end of Brahmanism ? Men, animals, plants, stones, pass through innumerable existences, and may even rise to gods. But gods, men, animals, plants, and every conceivable emanation from the supreme Soul, aim at, and must end by, re-absorption into their source, Brahma. This is Brahmanism. 3. Turn we now to BuddJiism. Buddha was the son of a king who reigned in Kapila- vastu, a district to the east of Oudh and south of Nepal. He was, therefore, of the royal caste. The name Buddha is merely a title meaning the Enlightened. His othei names are Gautama, Sakya, Siddhartha. He lived about 500 years B.C. ; that is, about contemporaneously with Pythagoras, Zoroaster, and Confucius — all wonderful men. He was a great reformer of Hinduism ; but it is a mis- take to suppose that he aimed at an entire abolition of Brahmanism, with the philosophical side of which his system had really much in common. His mission was to abolish caste, to resist sacerdotal tyranny, to preach universal charity and love, and to enjoin self-mortification and self- suppression through perhaps millions of exist- ences, as the only means of getting rid of the evils of life and self-consciousness by an extinction of all being. «56 MODERN INDIA. He was himself the model of a perfect ascetic. He never claimed to be a god^ but only the ideal of that perfection of knowledge and self-subjugation to which every man might attain. The Buddha had himself passed through millions of births, and was aliout to become extinct; but before his own attainment of Nirvana, or annihilation, he was enabled, by perfect knowledge of the truth, to reveal to the world the method of obtaining it. He died, and exists no more. He cannot, thereforej be worshipped. His memory only is revered. Temples are erected over his relics, such as a hair or a tooth. The Dathavans'a, a history of one of his teeth, has recently been translated from the Pali. In the same manner every man must pass through innumerable existences, rising or falling in the scale, according to his conduct, until he also attains Nir- vana, and becomes extinct. The Buddlia once pointed to a broom in a corner, which he said had, in a former birth, been a novice who had neglected to be diligent in sweeping out the Assembly Hall. In Buddhism, then, there can be no God ; and if no God, then no prayer, no clergy, no priests. By ' no God' I mean no real God. Yet action is a kind of God. Action is omnipotent. Action is all-powerful in its effects on future states of being. 'An evil act follows a man through a hundred thousand transmigrations, so does a good act.' By ' no prayer' I mean no real prayer. Yet there are two forms of words (meaning, when translated, ' reverence to the jewel in the lotus,' ' honour to the incomparable Buddha,') which repeated or turned in a wheel either once or millions of times, must produce inevitable corresponding results in future existences by the mere mechanical law of cause and effect. By ' no clergy,' I mean no real clergy. Yet there are monks and ascetics by thousands and thousands, banded together in monasteries, for the better suppression of passion and attainment of extinction. Many of these are religious tcacbers but not priests. COMPARISON OF THE RELIGIONS OF INDIA. 257 Has Buddhism, then, no morality? Yes — a lofty system of universal charity and benevolence. Yet extinction is its ultimate aim. In this respect it is no improvement upon Brahmanism. The more the depths of these two systems are explored, the more clearly do they exhibit themselves in their true light as little better than dreary schemes excogitated by visionary philosophers, in the vain hope of delivering themselves from the evils and troubles of life — from all activity, self-consciousness, and personal existence. 3. We now pass to Islam, sometimes called Muham- madanism, but not so called by Muhammad himself, who never claimed to be the founder of a religion. Its creed is nearly as simple as that of esoteric Brahmanism. The one is stern pantheism ; the other stern monotheism. The one says everything is God ; the other says God is one, but adds an important article of belief — ' Muhammad is the prophet of God.' In short, the mission of Muhammad, according to himself, was to proclaim the unity of God (tawJM) and absolute submission to His will (islam). What is its end ? The ICuran promises to its disciples a material paradise (jannat) or paradises (for there are seven), with shaded gardens, fresh water — two great desiderata in Arabia — black-eyed Huris, and exquisite corporeal enjoyments. It also declares the existence of seven hells. The seventh and worst is for hypocrites ; the sixth for idolaters ; the third for Christians ; the second for Jews. Islam is plainly a corruption of Judaism and Christi- anity, and in point of fact began by admitting the trutli of both. The end or aim then of Brahmanism is absorption into the one Soul of the universe ; of Buddhism is extinction ; of Islam is admission to a material paradise. 4. So much, then, for the three great religious systems confronting Christianity. Now for Christianity itself, which, creeping onwards little by little, is gradually sur- s 258 MODERN INDIA. rounding them on all sides — sometimes advancing on them by indirect approaches, sometimes pressing on them by direct attack. And here I desire to speak reverentially, deferentially, and with deep humility. But I have the highest authority for vs^hat I am about to state. Chris- tianity is a religion which offers to the entire human race access to God the Father through Christ by one Spirit. Tlie end and aim, therefore, of Christianity is emphati- cally union with God the Father, but such a union — mark here the important point — such a union as shall secure the permanence of man's personality, energy, and individuality ; nay, even shall intensify these. Let us now, the better to compare the four systems, inquire by what means the end of each is effected. And here let us change the order, and begin with the religion which we believe to be the only true religion in the world. Christianity, then, asserts that it effects its aim through nothing short of an entire change of the whole man, and a comjplete renovation of his nature. The direct means by which its end is accomplished may be described as a kind of mutual transfer, leading to an interchange and co-operation between God and man's nature, acting on each other. Man — the Bible says — was created in the image of God. But the first representative man fell, and transmitted a taint to his descendants which could only be removed by suffering and death. Hence the second representative man, Christ, Whose nature was divine and taintless, vo- luntaril)' underwent a sinner's suffering and death, that the taint, transierred from the tainted to the Taintless One, might be removed. This is not all. The grand central truth of our religion is not so much that Christ died as that He now lives and lives for ever. It is Christ that died — yea rather. Who is risen a^ain — that lie may bestow, first, life for death: secondly, a participation in His own divine nature for the tainted ualuie He has removed. COMPARISON OF THE RELIGIONS OF INDIA. 359 This is the mutual exchange that marks Christianity — an exchange between the personal man descended from a corrupt parent, and the Personal God made man and becoming our Second Parent. We are separated from a I'otten root and grafted into a living root. We part with a corrupt nature and draw re-creative force — a new nature — from the ever-living Divine stem of the Second Adam, to which by a simple act of faith we are united. Other religions have their doctrines, their precepts of morality, which, detached from much that is worthless, may even vie with those of Christianity. But Christianity has what other religions have not — a Personal God, ever living to supply the regenerating Spirit and Life by which man, being re-created and again made God-like, and again becoming 'pure in heart' — yet still preserving his own personaHty — obtains access to God the Father, and fitness to dwell in His presence for ever. Secondly, Islam. What are its means of effecting its end ? Muhammad was the prophet of God, says the Kuran, but nothing more. He claimed no combination of Divinity with humanity. Even his human nature was not asserted to be immaculate. He made no pretensions to mediatorial or vicarious functions. He died like any other man, and certainly did not rise that his followers might find in him eternal springs of divine life and power. Even Muslims do not regard him as the source of any re-creative force, capable of changing their whole nature. Muhammad sets forth faith in Islam and in his own mission, repentance, the performance of prayer, fasting, alms, pilgrimages, and the constant repetition of certain words (especially parts of the Kuran), as infallible means of obtaining Paradise. In one place, patience, perseverance, walking in the fear of God, and attachment to Him, are insisted on. Yet it must be admitted that the Kuran elsewhere maintains that good works have no real meritorious efficacy in procuring Para- dise, and that the righteous obtain entrance there through God's mercy alone. Indeed, every action in Islam is done s 2 36o MODERN'INDIA. ' in tte name of God, the merciful, the compassionate ' (b'ismiUdh ar-rahmdn ar-rah'mi). But it should be borne in mind that the Kuran is by no means systematic or con- sistent. It was delivered in detached portions according to the exigencies of the moment, and, being often confused and contradictory, had to be explained and developed by traditional teaching. It has some noble passages. In one thing the IMuslim sets the Christian an example — submission to the will of God. But can the submission enjoined in the Kuran bear comparison with the sublime example of the Redeemer in the Garden of Gethsemane ? Is it the submission of a slave to the will of a master, or the dependence of a child on a loving Father for life and breath and all things ? Thirdly, Bralimanlsm. What are its means of attaining its ends ? In fairness we must allow that the lines of Brahmanical and Hindu thought often intersect those of Christianity. In the later Hindu system the end of union with a Supreme Spirit is effected by faith in an apparently per- sonal God. But this seeming personality melts on scrutiny into a vague impersonal essence. True, God becomes man, and interposes for the good of men. There is a seeming combinalion of the human and divine — an apparent interehannc of action. Most remark- able language, too, is applied to Krishna (in the Bhagavad- gita) as the source of all life and ener<4y. But how can there be any permanent interaction and co-operation be- tween divine and human jiersonalities when both must ultimately merge in the Oneness of the Infinite ? Fourthly and lastly, Burhlhism. What are its means of accomplishing its end ? Extinction of being is effected by self-mortification, by profound contemplation, and by ab- stinence from action. The Buddha himself is extinct. He cannot therefore, of course, be the source of eternal life. Nor can indeed eternal life ever be desired by those whose highest aim is to be blown out like a candle. COMPARISON OF THE RELIGIONS OF INDIA. 261 I It is refreshing to turn from such unsatisfying systems — however interspersed with sublime sentiments and lofty morality — to the living, energizing Christianity of European nations, however fallen from its true standard, however dis- graced by the inconsistencies of its nominal adherents. One more observation before I conclude. Brahmanism is not a missionary religion, and from its very nature never has been nor can be. Trades may be associated in castes, and such associations are even now admitted into the modern caste-system of Hinduism ; but trade combinations are no part of its true creed. Brahman- ism cannot make a Brahman, even if it would ; and so far from distributing in other countries the texts or translations of its own sacred Vedas on which its creed rests, prohibits the general reading and repeating of them by its own people, indiscriminately. As to printing and editing these books, even for philological purposes, orthodox Brahmans regard them as too sacred to be defiled by printers' ink. Had it not been for the labours of Christian scholars, their contents would have remained for ever a ' terra incognita ' to the majority of the Hindus themselves. Brahmanism, , therefore, must die out. In point of fact, false ideas on the most ordinary scientific subjects are so mixed up with its doctrines that the commonest education— the simplest lessons in geography — without the aid of Christianity, must inevitably in the end sap its foundations. Buddhism, on the contrary, when it first arose in India, was pre-eminently a proselyting system. Hence its rapid progress. Hence it spread as no other false system has ever spread before (5r since. But its missionary zeal has now departed, its philosophy has lapsed into superstition, and of real religion it has none, nor ever claimed to liave. Hence its fate in India, and hence the fate that awaits it everywhere. Buddhism does not seem to have been driven forcibly out of India ; it simply pined away and died out. It could not maintain its hold upon the Hindus, who are essentially a religious people, and must have a religion of 263 MODERN INDIA. some kiud. Take away Brahmanism, and they cannot aL;ain become Buddhists. They must become Christians, JNIuslims, or Theists. Young Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay, educated and Europeanized without being Christianized, may glory in Pdsitivism ; but these are not the real population of India. The masses will never be satisfied with mere European knowledge, or with systems of philosophy and oppositions of science falsely so called. Christianity has many more points of contact with their ancient faith than Islam has, and when the walls of the mighty fortress of Brahmanism are encircled, undermined, and finally stormed by the soldiers of the Cross, the victory of Christianity must be signal and complete. And how does the case stand with Islam ? Here we have a system which is still actively proselyting, and therefore still spreading. Indeed, if Christians do not collect and concentrate their energies so as to stem the tide of its progress in Africa, the advancing wave of the Muslim faith — a faith attractive to uncultured minds from its simplicity — will rapidly flood that whole continent. But of no other religion can it be affirmed so emphati- cally as of Christianity that the missionary spirit is of its innermost essence; for Christ, AMio is the Life and Soul of Christianity, was Himself a missionary — ^the first and greatest of all missionaries. And if He had not ordained the Apostles to be His missionary successors, and if they had not ordained other missionaries, there would be no Christianity among us here, no Christianity anywhere in the world. PROGRESS OF OUR INDIAN EMPIRE, i Part I. Macatjlay, in his essay on Lord Clive^ asserts that every English schoolboy ■■ knows who imprisoned Montezuma, and who strangled Atahualpa,' but doubts ' whether one in ten, even among English gentlemen of highly cultivated minds, can tell who won the battle of Buxar, who perpetrated the massacre of Patna, whether Sujah Dowlah ruled in Oude or in Travancore, or whether Holkar was a Hindu or a Musalman.' Macaulay's review was written nearly forty years ago. Whether the Tom Browns and Julian Holmes of the present day are equally well ' posted up ' in Mexican history, and whether, when turned out into the world as educated men, they are equally ignorant of Indian history, admits of question. Probably the main facts of the material development of British India are better known than they were when Macaulay wrote his essays in the Edinburgh. Yet at a time when great statesmen speak of our Eastern Empire as ' founded on criminal ambition,' and when other politicians accuse Russia of a desire to extend her territorial possessions in a manner equally unscrupulous, it may not be unprofitable to recall attention to the irresistible current of circumstances which has landed ns in our present position ' This and the following Essay appeared first in the Contemporary Reinew. 264 MODERN INDIA. in India, and made British Indian interests and British Indian duties important elements of the momentous Eastern problem which the recent war has not yet finally solved. The history of European enterprise in the East begins with the maritime supremacy of the Portuguese. The journeys of the Venetian traveller, Marco Polo, in Central and Eastern Asia, between 1 391 and the close of the thir- teenth century, and the narrative of his visit to the coast of India, excited much interest in Europe, and stimulated travellers and navigators to feel their way eastward. Our fellow-countryman. Sir John INIandeville, left England in 1327, and, after wandering for thirty-three j'ears through Europe and Asia, returned home and wrote his well-known narrative, which was printed in 1499. The marvels ' of Inde ' which he described probably contributed to stimulate the prosecution of maritime discovery, though it is doubtful whether he was ever in India at all. Nieolo Conti, a noble Venetian, is said to have travelled in India between 141 9 and 1444; Athanasius Nikitin, a Russian, between 1468 and 1474 ; Hieronimo di Santo Stefano, a Genoese, between 1494 and 1499 ; Ludovico di Varthema between 1503 and 1508 1. The Portuguese navigator, Bartholomew Diaz, suc- ceeded in rounding the southern promontory of Africa, called by him the Cape of Storms, and was the first real ])ioneer of the ocean route to India, about the year 1487. Ten years later his countyman, Vaseo da Gama — whose tomb or cenotaph I saw in a large Protestant church at Cochin — sailed round the Cape and reached Calicut on the I itli May, 1498. The Portuguese found India torn asunder by internal dissensions, and «ere the first to take advantage of its condition of chronic disunion and so gain a footing on the western coast. But the Portuguese were not mere tniders as we originally were — mere commercial speculators ' Dr. George Birdwood is my authority here. I had not had the .advaji- tage of reading his valuable Report on the Miscellaneous Old Records of the India Office when I wrote this and the succeeding jjaper for the Con- teittpoi ary Review. PROGRESS OF OUR INDIAN EMPIRE. 265 who went to India to make money, and to return home with it when made. They aimed from the first at settling in the country, at establishing- themselves there as a conquering nation, and achieving political dominion. Their first Indian viceroy was Almeyda. The second, Albuquerque, landed in 1508, took Goa from the kingdom of Bijapur, and made it the capital of the Portuguese possessions. The Portuguese, however, never possessed any considerable territory in India beyond the limits of their factories. Their progress was too rapid and their career too adventuresome to be lasting. In less than a century their power began to decline, and by 1 640 nearly all their ports and forts were wrested from them. Bassein was taken from them by the Marathas in 1765, and only Goa, Diu, and Daman, on the western coast, now remain. Yet the Portuguese have left their mark on India — a more abiding mark, in the opinion of some persons, than the impression we should leave if our rule were to cease to- morrow. The Dutch succeeded the Portuguese in the maritime supremacy of the Eastern seas. Their chief settlement was in Bengal, at Chinsurah, near Hugli, which remained in their hands till 1824, when it was ceded to the English in exchange for our possessions in Sumatra. All their other settlements have gradually been made over to us. The Danes never possessed more than two settlements in India — to wit, Tranquebar and Serampur (Sri-rama- pur), on the Hugli, which our Government bought in 1845. The English soon became rivals of the Dutch. The first Englishman known to have reached India via the Cape of Good Hope was a man named Thomas Stevens, or Stephens (also called Stephen de Buston, or Bubston, in Dodd's Church History, ii. 133)- He belonged to the diocese of Salisbury, and, having given proof of ability, was sent as a student to Rome, where he became a Jesuit. It is stated that he was once a member of New College, Oxford, but no 266 MODERN INDIA. such name is on the books ^. His superiors despatched him as a missionary to the East Indies in one of five ships which left Lisbon on April 4th, 1579, and reached Goa in the following' October. Thence he wrote a letter to his father, which is preserved in Hakluyt's collection of voyages (ist edition, p. 160). He resided at Goa about forty years, during five of which he was rector of a Jesuit college there. The inhabitants respected him as a kind of apostle. His familiarity with the dialects of the country is proved by his having published three works — a KonkanT Grammar, an Account of Christian Doctrine, and a History of Christ, which he called a Purana. I have seen an edition of his Grammar in the India Office library, but have never met with his other two works. In 1583, a merchant of London, named Ralph Fitch, ' being desirous to see the countries of the East Indies, shipped himself in a ship of London, called the Ti/gre, for Tripolis, in Syria.' He was accompanied by another English merchant, ' Mr. John Newberie," who was the bearer of a lettiT of recommendation from Queen Elizabeth to ' Echebar (Akbar), King of Caml>ay ' (Hakluyt's Voyages, ii. 245). Messrs. Fitch and Newbury journeyed through Syria and by the Euphrates to Basora, whence they took ship to Goa. There the Portuguese authorities, jealous of the intrusion of two rich English merchants, found some pretext for throwing them into prison. Happily, the English Jesuit, Father Stevens, was already a man ot influence, and procured their reltase. They fled from Goa to Bisapor (IBijapur), where they saw ' idols standing in the woods, some like a cow, some like a monkey, some like buffaloes, some like peacocks, and some like the devil, with four arms and four hands.' The account they published of their travels (pre- served by Hakluyt) would well repay republication in a modern form, especially if illustrated and annotated like Colonel Yule's ' jNlarco Polo.' ' I find that one Thomas Stevyns took his degree at St. John's College, Oxtwi'd, in June, 1577. PJiOGR£SS OF OUR INDIAN EMPIRE. 367 On the 3 1st December, 1600, little more than two hundred and seventy-nine years ago, the East India Company was incorporated by Queen Elizabeth. Though a second company was formed in 1698, it was amalgamated with the first in 170a. As Queen Elizabeth gave Mr. Newbury a letter to Akbar, so James I sent Captain Hawkins to Surat, in 1608, with a letter to the Emperor Jahangir, who permitted the En- glish to establish four factories in his dominions. Our first settlement was at Siirat (improperly called Surat), near the mouth of the River TaptI, in 1611, and here the Portuguese, the Dutch, and subsequently the French, — who made their first expedition to India about 1604, — erected factories near to ours. As early as 1608 Surat is described as 'one of the most eminent cities for trade in all India.' It had been conquered by Akbar in 1573, and was then called a first-class port. I have twice visited this place — the first focal point of all our operations in the East, and the centre of all our commercial dealings with the people of India. Every part of the town is suggestive of interesting reminis- cences. The boundaries of the Portuguese, Dutch, English, and French factories may still be traced, and the fort built by the French is kept by us in good repair. The first name of the town is said to have been Suraj (Sanskrit, Surya), ' City of the Sun.' A Muhammadan ruler, wishing to change its Hindu name into one more significant of Muslim domination, converted Suraj into Surat, ' a chapter in the Kuran.' Another name given to it was Bab ul Makka, ' gate of Mecca/ and one part of the town is to this day called the Mecca quarter, because the Muhammadans of India made this western port their starting-point for the AaJJ or pilgrimage to Mecca. It is greatly to be regretted that the River Tapti, once deep and navigable, has been allowed to accumulate silt till large vessels can no longer enter. In 1 6 15 Jamer, I sent Sir Thomas Roe as his ambassador to the Moghul Court. It is not surprising that a man so 268 MODERN INDIA. distinguished for diplomatic ability and conciliatory manners should have secured the concession of many advantages to the British merchants. But he recommended the Company to be satisfied with quiet trade, and warned them against using force to promote their commercial objects. ' If the Emperor/ he wrote, ' were to offer me ten forts, I would not accept of one.' It is more remarkable that the extension of our commer- cial privileges on the western coast and in Bengal should have been due to the professional skill of an English doctor who lived at Surat. A certain Dr. Broughton cured the Emperor Shah Jahan's daughter in 1636, and rendered similar services to his Viceroy in Bengal. This good man must have been a model of unselfish patriotism, for he might have enriched himself, but preferred to secure commercial benefits for his country. Another generous doctor, named Hamilton, procured similar privileges for the Company in the same way in 1716. And here a point, too often forgotten, ought to be brought out conspicuously. The position of the English in India was at first merely that of a Company of com- mercial speculators, who had invested a large amount of hard cash in their speculation and wanted a good dividend. For a long period after their first settlement in Surat, they were simply a body of keen traders. They had no other thought than the improvement of their commerce, no other aim than the realization of good interest for their capital, no other policy than peaceful negotiation. They were willing to undergo toil, hardship, sufiering, perils by land and sea, if money x^as to be had. But they were not fighting men. It was only when absolutely compelled to take up arms for the defence of their property, that they built forts and factories side by side. Bather than threaten force they were willing to stoop to the employment of lan- guage which nothing but long familiarity with Eastern servility could justify. Even so lately as 1712, the President of the Bengal PROGJ^ESS OF OUR INDIAN EMPIRE. 369 settlements, Mr. Russell, is reported to have petitioned the Emperor of Delhi to the following effect: — ' The supplication of John Hussell, whose forehead is the top of the foot- stool of the absolute monarch and prop of the Universe. We Englishmen having traded hitherto in Bengal, Orissa, and Behar, custom-free, are your Majesty's most obedient slaves. We have readily observed your most sacred orders, and have found favour. We crave to have your Majesty's permission in the above-mentioned places as before, and to follow our business without molestation.' The first spark of England's military glory in India was kindled when the peace-loving, money-loving Com- pany of British traders nobly defended Surat in 1664 against the founder of the Maratha power, Sivaji, who attempted to wrest it from the Moghul Empire. Our gallant defence of the town when deserted by the other European traders was rewarded by the concession of further commercial privileges. It was then that military organization became a condi- tion of our very existence in India. To the Surat merchants belongs the honour of having quickened the first germ of our now gigantic Eastern Empire. Naturally, therefore, the right of presiding over British Indian interests first devolved on these Surat traders. The Presidency of Siirat was the first Indian Presidency, and with Surat the privi- lege of presiding over every other English factory remained till Bombay was given to Charles II by the Portuguese as part of the dowry of his Queen Catharine of Braganza in 1661. Bombay was delivered up in 1665 and made over to the East India Company in 1668. Its commanding position, and its magnificent natural harbour, gave it the superiority. It was then that the Presidency over British Indian commerce naturally passed from one town to the other, and Bombay became the chief centre of British trade on the western coast of India. But even then no dream of empire disturbed the purely mercantile spirit of our fellow-countrymen. Money was their motive, money was their guiding principle, money was their . end, intrigue and negotiation their modtts 370 MODERN INDIA. operand). In a paper of instructions issued by the Direc- tors of the Company in 1689 occurs the first hint that territorial jurisdiction might become necessary for the security of their property. Turning now to the Bengal side of India, we find that the first factory was established on the Hugll, in 1640-43. The first fortress was erected in 1656. It is noteworthy that the Company had to encounter far more opposition from the natives in this part of India than they had ex- perienced on the western coast. The site of Madras was obtained by Francis Day, then president of the mercantile community on the eastern coast, as a grant from the Hindu King of Vijayanagar, and a factory was founded there about the same year as the Hugh factory (1639). Only a few fishermen's huts were then to be seen on the spot. Soon afterwards Charles I built Fort St. George, round which clustered the nucleus oi the future Madras. At the same time he conferred on the fort the privilege of presiding over the factories of the Coromandel coast, the term ' presidency ' merely denoting, as before, superintendence over the other trading commu- nities in that part of India. It was not till about 1 700 that the germ of the future Calcutta {Kdll-kafaka, village of Kfill) was planted, not far from Hugli, and the celebrated temple of the goddess Kali. Here a collection of villages, originally obtained by the English settlers as a grant in return for a present to a son of the Emperor Aurangzib, was converted by the Com- pany's principal agent in Bengal, Mr. Charnock, into the nucleus of the great metropolis, whose population (794,645 according to the last census) now outnumbers that of every other city in the British Empire, London only excepted. A fort was commenced, but the ' Maratba ditch,' now almost obliterated, was not excavated till about 1742. Its object was to protect the Calcutta settlements from the at- tacks of the omnipresent Maratha armies which then overran the whole of India, demanding tribute (significnntly called PROGRESS OF OUR INDIAN EMPIRE. 271 chauth, ' a fourth '). Fort William was completed soon afterwards. The idea of founding an empire in India originated, not with the English, but with the French. The man on whose mind the conception first flashed was the French Governor, Dupleix. A French East India Company had been formed, under Louis XIV, in 1664, and a factoiy established near that of the English at Surat. Ten years afterwards Martin, to whom the French owe the foundation of the power they afterwards acquired in India, obtained Pondicherry from the King of Bijapur, and fourteen years later Chandarnagar (Chandernagore), on the Hugli, was received from Aurangzib. It was not till 1741 that Du- pleix was appointed Grovernor-General of the French Indian possessions. His aspiring genius not only conceived the idea of conquering India, but devised the expedient of making nse of the Indians themselves to aid in subjugating their own territory. He was the first to discover any soldier-like qualities latent beneath the mild, apathetic exterior of the Indian character. He beheld around him men, if not equal in muscular power to Europeans, yet naturally careless of life, temperate, faithful, docile, and submissive. Drilled and disciplined they might be turned into an efiiective army. This was the brilliant conception which, emanating from French intelligence, was developed and improved upon by English administrative energy. It was evident that the ability of Dupleix was equal to the task of carrying his bold design of founding a French Eastern Empire into execution. But no sooner had he developed his plan of acquiring territorial dominion, than the English perceived that they would have to fight or abandon their property to French cupidity. Instantly our troops of merchants were transformed from peaceful traders into resolute soldiers, determined on disputing every inch of ground with their European rivals. The history of India was now, for at least ten years, the history of the struggle between the French and English for 272 MODERN INDIA. political ascendency and territorial dominion. The Car- natie — a strip of country on the south-eastern coast from the river Kistna, north of Madras^ to Cape Comorin — was the theatre of the conflict. For some time successes and reverses balanced each other on either side. At one period it appeared as if the French were about to gain the upper hand. The days of the English in the Carnatie seemed to be numbered. But this was never really so, although once (on September 21st, 1746) the English governor, ]\Iorse, was compelled to surrender Madras to La Bourdonnais, the colleague, and, happily for us, the rival of Dupleix. Defeat to an Englishman is almost a necessity of victory; not indeed to the traditional John Bull, surly, corpulent, and combative, but rather to the more worthy representative of English energy, the typical Tom Brown, trained at our public schools, reared in an atmosphere of discipline, taught to subdue self and sacrifice ease to duty. Our fellow- countrymen gathered strength from opposition, disap- pointment, and repulse. They were wholly disinclined to unsheathe their swords ; but when their martial spirit was once roused, they were only beaten back to advance with more tenacity of purpose. Their blunders were their best teachers ; their failures were the steps by which they mounted to ultimate success. Tiie determination of the French to reign supreme and expel us from India was the princiftal factor among the various causes which resulted in the foundation of our Indian Empire. But many other circumstances combined at this time to force territorial dominion upon either the French or English. The vigour of the ^loghul conquerors of India was won- derfully shortlived. It commenced with Akbar's conquests in 1570, and endured barely as long as the career of the British conquerors of the IMoghnl conquerors has already lasted. It reached its culminating;' point under AurauLfzIb, and began to decay at his death, in 1707. The constituent elements of the empire rapidly disintegrated daring the first half of the eighteenth century. It was as if the im- PROGRESS OF OUR INDIAN EMPIRE. 273 perial crown, studded with the jewels of Goleonda, had suddenly fallen to the ground, and a scramble had taken place for the scattered gems. Those who took part in the struggle were first the emperor's own Muhammadan depu- ties, and secondly his own Hindu subjects. Among the former were the Nawab of Oudh, the Nawab of Bengal, the Nizam ul Mulk, or administrator of the Dekhan, and the Nawab of the Carnatic, nominally subject to the Nizam. Among the latter were the Marathas, a powerful tribe of marauding freebooters, who first acquired power in the west of India under Sivaji, about 1650, establishing themselves on isolated hills whose basaltic summits formed natural forts, and fixing the seat of their dominion at different central localities, first at Satara, then at Poona (under the Brahman Peshwa, or Prime Minister ^), and finally at Nag- pur, Gwalior, Indore, and Baroda. Each of these principal dependents of the Moghul Empire engaged in the struggle for dominion, and the more ambitious not only converted their own territories into independent sovereignties, but aimed at conquering the possessions of their neighbours. The French took advantage of the general disorder. They were not, like the English traders, averse from military operations. Contending chiefs sought their aid and solicited their alliance. Nothing could be more natural than that our Erench rivals, while intriguing with chiefs and ministers, and increasing by intervention the chaos of conflicting parties, should have thought more of constructing an empire of their own than of helping to build up that of any native potentate. In the middle of the eighteenth century (about the year 1750), the power of the French reached its climax, and Dupleix erected a column, with an inscription in four lan- ffuaffes, to commemorate his victories. It was then that a French army under Bussy utterly defeated our ally, Muhammad AlT, Nawab of the Carnatic. The fortunes of ' The first of these ministers was Balaji, and the second, his son Baji Eao I. T 274 MODERN INDIA. the English in India seemed hopelessly ruined. At this critical juncture, Clive's indomitable courage and extra- ordinary ability came to the rescue. A mere youth changed the whole aspect of affairs. With only 200 Europeans and 300 sepoys, he seized Arcot (in the year 17,51), defended it for seven weeks against overwhelming numbers, and added victory to victory till the power of the French was com- pletely broken. The final blow was given at the battle of Vandivash (Vandvas), in December, 1759, when Colonel Eyre Coote (Clive having been called to Calcutta to avenge the Black-Hole atrocity) completely routed the French armies under Lally and Bussy. The idea of a European Empire in India then, as it were, changed minds. It was abandoned by the French, to be taken up by the English. Not that any such conception had as yet really taken hold of the East India Company at home, whose sole aim continued to be money, and not war or political supremacy. Nor did the idea at once enter the minds of their daring representatives in India — Clive and AV'arren Hastings. It was forced upon them by the exigencies of the situation in which they found themselves. More than once they endeavoured to return to their stools and their desks ; but the irresistible course of events hurried them away. The East India Company made them clerks and book-keepers. Necessity transformed them into conquerors and rulers. What, in fact, was the state of affairs at this momentous period of Indian history ? Two of the com- petitors in the general scramble for the scattered ji'wels of the crumbling crown of Delhi were obliged for a time to retire from the field — the French disabled by Clive and Coote, the Marilthns paralyzed by their defeat at Panipat. There remained the Nawabs of Bengal, of Oudh, and of the C'arnatic, the powerful Nizam of Hyderabad in the Dekhan, the Muhammadan usurpers of Mysor — Hj^der Ali and his son Tippfi. Each of these aimed at expelling the English from India, hoping to clear the field for their own ambitious designs. The English had again to accept the alternative PROGRESS OF OUR INDIAN EMPIRE. 275 of defending themselves by sheer hard fighting- from the bitter hostility of the various competitors for empire, or abandoning the country altogether. They could not retire like covirards from the sphere of activity in which circum- stances had placed them. They were drawn into the melir. A peaceful policy was possible among the Directors of the trading company at home — impossible among the English on Indian soil. For example, what happened in Bengal, where the Nawab Allvardi Khan had been succeeded by the atrocious Siiraj- ud-Dowla ? This man seized the English factory near Murshidabad, taking the officers prisoners (Warren Hastings among the number), and marched on Calcutta. There tlie garrison capitulated, and the Black-Hole tragedy was enacted. Colonel Clive, then at Madras, came again to the rescue of the British arms. With a handful of Europeans and 3,100 sepoys he defeated Suraj-ud-Dowla on the cele- brated field of Plassey (so called because planted with groves of the Palasa tree), on the 23rd June, 1757. It was then that the Zammdari of the twenty-four Pargannahs round Calcutta was made over to the English, and the germ of our vast Indian Empire was first thrust upon us. What was to be done ? Were we to decline the gift, and hand it over to monsters of the Suraj-ud-DowIa type — to any of those unprincipled and unscrupulous adventurers who swarmed everywhere, eager for political power and intent on enriching themselves at the expense of the natives? True, we found ourselves strong enough to annihilate the Black-Hole miscreant, but the country gained nothing by the substitution of our creature, his successor, Mir Jafir. Mir Jafir's administration of Bengal was corruption worse corrupted. We dethroned him in 1760, and set up his son-in-law, Mir Kasim All. This man began well, but turned out as great a monster as Suraj-ud-Dowla ; for when we attacked him at Patna in 1763, with the intention of re- instating Mir Jafir, he had 148 English prisoners massacred by a German serving in his army, under the name of T 2 276 MODERN INDIA. Sumru (the native equivalent of Sombre)^. No one else would undertake the bloody task. Mir Kasim took refuge with Shuja-ud-Dowla, the powerful Nawab of Oudh, with whom was the then less powerful Shah Alam, emperor of Delhi. The three combined against us, but our victory, under Munro's generalship, at Buxar, in October, 1764, made us virtually masters of the whole country from Calcutta to Delhi. We were compelled, however, to clear Hindustan of certain troublesome Afghan tribes in the Rohilla war of 1775- Then other wars were forced upon us; for as we had either to fight the Nawabs of Bengal and Oudh, or basely abandon that part of India to their tender mercies, precisely so had we to fight the other unprincipled com- petitors for empire — the usurpers, Hyder Ali and Tippu of Mysor, and the Marathas. From the breaking-up of the Hindu kingdom of Vijaya-nagar a line of Hindu kings had reigned in Mysor till 1761, when HyJer Ali, a Muhammadan officer in the Hindu army, usurped the throne. The four Mysor wars followed, viz. those of 1767-9, 1780-4, 1790-2, and 1798-9. Finally we stormed Seringapatam, conquered Tippu, and brought part of his territory under our own jurisdiction in 1799. As to the Marathas, although their power had been broken at Panipat (7th January, 1761) by the Afghan chief, Ahmad Shah AbdaU, or Durrani, on his third invasion of India, yet in their ease also four wars- had to be under- taken by us before they were subjugated. The treaty of Bassein, by which the Peshwa (Baji Rao II) engaged to receive a British subsidiary force, and to pay for its main- tenance, ended the first war, and broke up the Maratha confederacy. The chiefs were then disunited. Sindia and Bhonsle would not accept the treaty, and prepared for the ^ His real name was ReiuharJ. He was a native of Salzburg, and first served under the French, who nicknamed him Sombre, from his melancholy cast of countenance. The well-known Dyce Sombre was his grandson. ^ These were the wars of i;So-S2, 1803, 1804-5, ^^d 1817-19. PROGIiESS OF OUR INDIAN EMPIRE. 277 second war, during whicli Wellington defeated the Maratha army on the renowned field of Assai (Septemher 23, 1 803). Two other wars followed. The Maratha chiefs did not venture on open hostility, but excited the Pindaris — wild, predatory tribes, the Bashi Bazouks of the Maratha armies — to attack us. All these marauding powers were put down during the administration, of Lord Hastings. The last Maratha hill-fort was taken in 1819. In the case of Hyderabad, we made a treaty with the then Nizam, in 1798, by which he was bound (and is still bound) to support a contingent of 6,000 troops, and dismiss all French or other European officers from his territory. In the case of Oudh, we made the then Nawab an inde- pendent king in 1818 ; but his country fell into such utter disorder that it had to be annexed under Lord Dalhousie's administration. Clive was appointed Governor of Bengal a second time in 1765, and on the 12th of August in the same year the Emperor of Delhi, Shah Alam, conferred on the East India Company the DlwanT, or right of collecting the revenue — equivalent to the whole sovereignty — of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa. Warren Hastings was our first Governor-General, from 1774 to 1785. With all his faults he was perhaps the greatest of our great Indian rulers. He was the parent of our whole civil administration. In England the mistake was made of judging him by European standards of poli- tical morality. In spite of occasional acts of injustice, op- pression, and extortion — the excusable result of bewildering difficulties and brain-disturbing complications — his conduct on the whole was marked by a high-minded integrity re- dounding greatly to his honour. He made all the servants of the Company sign a covenant not to accept presents or engage in any kind of private traffic. Thenceforward they were no longer merchants and traders, but administrators. At that time our possessions in India were (i) Bengal, Behar, Orissa, and Benares, (2) a jaglr of land round Madras, and the strip of country on the eastern coast, called Northern 27<^ MODERN INDIA. Civcars, (3) the island of Bombay. A few subsequent acquisitions may be here enumerated ; for instance, the Carnatic in 1801 ; the upper Doab in 1803; Assam in 1826; Sindh in 1843; the Jullunder Doab in 1845; the Panjab and Satara in 1849; Pegu in 1853; Nagpur and Jhansi in 1853-54; Oudh in 1856. Ceylon was taken from the Dutch in 1795-96. It was first annexed to Madras, but was made a Crown colony in 1803. We see then that by a concatenation of circumstances unparalleled in the world's history, the whole of India from Kasmir to Cape Comorin, from Karachi to Assam and Burmah, has gradually fallen under our rule. Let us next inquire what statistics exist which will enable us to institute a comparison between the state of the country when its administration was first made over to us and its condition in our own time. Every good Government is sensible of the duty of making statistical investigations — of collecting, classifying, registering, tabulating, and com- paring the facts of the everv-day existence of the people committed to its rule. The Ayln-i-Akbarl remains a monu- ment of the great Emperor Akbar's efforts in this direction. He was far in advance of his age, and his suceess^ors were not equal to the task of carrying on his investigations. The East India Company, however, was never unmindful of its duties in this respect. Returns have occasionally been called for by the House of Commons. In every district a vast mass of knowledge on every conceivable subject relating to the condition of the country and its inhabitants has been collected, digested, and committed to writing ; and from time to time the information thus gained has been carefully arranged and formulated. The first efTort of this kind in Bengal dates from 1769, four years after that province began to be administered by the East India Company. In 1807, Dr. Buchanan-Hamilton was formally appointed to carry out a statistical survey of the Bengal Presidency. This survey, which only embraced the northern districts, including Behar, extended over seven years, but PROGRESS OF OUR INDIAN EMPIRE. 379 was never completed, though twenty-one thick volumes of manuscript were produced. In fact, great difficulties have always impeded the progress of statistical investigation. Even to this day the natives of India are not sufficiently enlightened to under- stand our real motive. They have heen so long accustomed to exactions, that, to their minds, government is only another name for oppression. They persist in expecting our little finger to be thicker than the loins of our prede- cessors. They are haunted by suspicions that every unusual inquiry is the precursor of a fresh assessment. During the taking of the census in 1871-73, a man detected in the act of hiding his babies gave as his excuse that they v.'ere too young to be taxed. Besides, designing agitators are always at hand to thwart the good intentions of our Government by exciting the superstitious fears of a credulous peasantry. In Murshidabad, the surplus population, accord- ing to popular report, was to be blown away from guns ; in other places it was to be drafted to the hills, where coolies were wanted. Sir William Muirj in his Report on Indigenous Schools, mentions that at the beginning of the inquiry a rumour spread among the natives of the North- West Provinces that four Christian missionaries, whom the Oriental imagina- tion of the inhabitants converted into magicians, had come from Benares. One of them, it was alleged, was about to visit their houses in the garb of a mendicant ; he would stretch a magic wand over the heads of their children, compel them to follow him, and turn them into Christians by witchcraft. Notwithstanding these difficulties, the collection and registering of accurate information has proceeded with a certain degree of continuity, though in an unsystematic manner. The energy and wisdom of Mr. Thomason, who was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the North- West Provinces in 1843, devised the first organised scheme. Every magistrate and collector was required to throw 28o MODERN INDIA. together and arrange all the information — historical, geo- graphical, economical, educational — he could obtain regard- ing his own jurisdiction. These compilations were to serve as guides and companions for every district. One of them, bj' A. Shakespear, published in 1848, gives the result of a first census of the whole province, and the most minute information as to the area of revenues of each pargannah. A second census was made under Mr. Thomason's instruc- tions on the night of December 31st, 1852. The results were published, and no such valuable returns were ever before obtained. The year 1847 saw the first formation of a regular statistical department at the India-house, and the merit of constantly stimulating its activity belongs to one of the old Company's directors, the late Colonel Sykes. In 1853 tin's statistical office published the first series of statistical papers relating to India, illustrated by useful maps. A great deal of fairly accurate information was given under various heads, in sixty-seven folio pages. The latest orders of the Court of Directors on the subject of statistics were issued in 1855, three years before the government of India passed from the Company to the Crown. In 1867 the Governor-General in Council, in obedience to orders received from Her Majesty's Secretary of State, directed the prepara- tion of a statistical account of each of the twelve great provinces of India. In 1 87 1 a department of revenue, agriculture, and com- merce was established at Calcutta, having under its charge various statistical surveys — geological, ethnological, lin- Ljuistic, archajological , industrial, and literary. Dr. W. "\V. Hunter w;is appointed Director-General of Statistics in India. He became the central guiding authority to all the local collectors of information ; and great praise is due to him for the effective plan of operations he inaugurated. In 1873 there issued from the India Office the first of a new series of statistical statements. It exhibited the moral and material progress and condition of India from 1871- PROGJiESS OF OUR INDIAN EMPIRE. 281 72. This was a great advance on all previous Blue-books. A volume for 1873-73 followed. This was a revised and improved edition of that for the previous year. Since then supplementary statements have been published annually; but that for 1872-73 — by Mr. Clements R. Markham — is incomparably the best work of the kind that the Home Government of India has ever produced. Its pages, though by no means free from inaccuracies and inconsistencies, are full of valuable information on every subject connected with our Eastern Empire — even including missionary pro- gress — and the carefully-drawn maps with which it is illustrated are a highly instructive study in themselves. Its purely literary excellence is not the least of its merits. Every decennial period will, I believe, be marked by the publication of a similar volume. Perhaps still greater praise, in respect of scientific com- pleteness and accuracy, is due to Sir George Campbell's exhaustive report on his own administration of Bengal during 1872—73. This forms a thick octavo volume of about nine hundred pages. It is a perfect mine of valuable information. Dr. Hunter's Statistical Account of Bengal in twenty volumes^ is the crowning production. Considering the diffi- culties with which the editor has had to contend, and, not- withstanding a few errors, omissions, inconsistencies, and repetitions, unavoidable in statistical returns comprising a record of the condition of countries and populations more numerous and varied in character than those of Great Britain, Norway, Holland, Switzerland, and Italy put together, we must pronounce this work to be a monument of scientific skill and patient elaboration. It shows the extent to which a desire for correct information has been diffused through all grades of the executive service. It represents the first effective advance towards a complete knowledge of the country. When Dr. Hunter commenced his labours, no ' A Statistical Account of Bengal. By W. W. Hunter, BA., LL.D. London : Triibner & Co. 1877. a82 MODERN INDIA. regular census of the population had been taken ; and the enumeration of 1873-73, which gave the enormous result of 240 millions for the whole of India, inclusive of the native States, disclosed that the official estimates had been wrong as regards Lower Bengal alone, by more than 35 millions of souls. The estimate had stood at 40 millions for that province, whereas the total by the census amounted to 66f millions. The population of British India alone was about 190 millions, and the whole of India contained twice as many Muhammadans as the whole Turkish Em- pire. The result revolutionized our ideas in regard to the amount of the population, its distribution in different dis- tricts, its classification according to races, occupations, and religions. It quite altered our calculations in respect to the incidence of taxation, the consumption of salt, and many other matters. When it is borne in mind that Dr. Hunter's twenty volumes represent the statistical account of the Province of Bengal alone, and that the materials for an Imperial Gazetteer of the whole of India, whose population exceeds that of all Europe exclusive of Russia, have already been collected, it must be admitted that our Government is doing its duty to the full in endeavouring to acquire a correct knowledge of the vast country committed to its rule. But now comes the question : Are we availing ourselves of that knowledge for the benefit of the people ? Having made ourselves thoroughly acquainted with what India was and is, do we make it our first endeavour to improve her own ancient institutions, to stimulate her own inherent energies, to utilize and develop her own existing resources, to direct and extend her own inherited civilization, to guide, mould, and expand her own deep-seated religious instincts, feelings, and convictions ? Do the statistics we have collected furnish sufficient data on which to ground a &' fair opinion as to whether our government is advaucin; stationary, or retrograde ? Do they bear witness to the &' PROGRESS OF OUR INDIAN EMPIRE. 383 justicGj the disinterestedness, the wisdom of our rule ? Do they tell of order, organization, and progress in every de- partment of our administration ? For example, do we find in India a thoroughly efficient system of education ascending from the lowest strata of society, pervading every corner of the social fabric, and supported by the State, the municipalities, the landhold- ers, and the parents of the children ? Is the education imparted something more than mere information ? Does it have regard to forming the character as well as inform- ing the mind ? Is there adequate machinery for training qualified teachers, for supplying good class-books, and for testing the value of all instruction given ? Are there good schools of science and art, equipped with effective labora- tories, libraries, and museums ? Is the press free ? Are the native newspapers, for the most part, loyal in tone, and generally engines of good rather than of evil ? Is there entire toleration by the State, and by the people, of every form of public worship, so long as such wor- ship does not ofiend against police regulations and public morals? Is the welfare and contentment of the people secured by a wise adjustment of the sources and incidence of taxation ? Is the State assessment on land fairly and judiciously fixed, either in perpetuity or for the average lifetime of a generation? Is the revenue collected by honest and efficient officers ? Does the collection cause sales, ejectments, or imprisonments? Are there courts of civil and criminal justice presided over by independent and properly qualified officers, not afraid to decree against the powerful, using the vernaculars of the people, and guided by laws of procedure fixed and published ? Are all men equal before the law? Is any class precluded from giving testimony, from conducting suits, or demanding justice, on account of religion or civil status ? Is there any form of disguised or open slavery, helotry, serfage, unlawful apprenticing, &c. ? Is there unlimited license of petition from the poorest to the highest official? Are 284 MODERN INDIA. State officers bound to receive and dispose of all petitions and record an order upon each several petition, a copy of which can be claimed by the petitioner with a grant of appeal to the officer of higher grade ? Are the civil and executive officers constantly moving about in suitable weather from village to village, and living unarmed among the people ? Are odious and abominable practices^ such as female infanticide, burying alive, burning widows, human sacrifices, self-immolation, sitting in Dharna, hook-swing- ing, allowed or winked at, in any class from raja to pea- sant ? Are capital executions rare ? When they take place, are they conducted with decency ? Are the gaols strictly supervised ? Is it possible to imprison without a legal warrant ? Is the formation of good roads, bridges, canals, irrigation-works, railways, telegraphs, postal com- munication, sedulously promoted in every province ? Is travelling safe by night and by day ? Are all bands of robbers, Thugs, and poisoners extirpated ? Are measures taken to prevent or alleviate famines ? Are sanitary ar- rangements promoted everywhere ? In time of pestilence and scarcity are the sick and starving properly cared for? Are there abundant hospituls and dispensaries? Is there any military conscription ? Have the military authorities any power whatever beyond the limits of the cantonments? Do the people show confidence in the honour and integrity of the State? Do they avail themselves of the post-office, the money-order offices, the savings banks, the State loans? Are the public officials paid regularly by a fixed salary, and rendered absolutely incapable of all corrupt practices, bribery, malversation, and oppression ? It is not too much to say that the most cursory ex- amination of the India Office Statistical Returns must convince even a hostile critic that a favourable reply may be given to nearly all of these questions. Tried by these tests in 1879, the Government of India may hold up its head, and look its enemies in the face. Tried b}- some of these tests fifty years ago the Government of India must PHOGRESS OF OUR INDIAN EMPIRE. 285 have sunk humiliated to the dust, with almost as much ignominy as the Turkish Government does now. In proof of this assertion let me next give a more particular account of the progress of India under two or three principal heads, commencing with education. No one now disputes the proposition that one of the most sacred duties of every government is to promote and superintend the education of its subjects. We rulers of India are at length fully sensible of the obligation under which we lie to deliver the masses from the ignorance and superstition which have for centuries enslaved them. We are at length bestirring ourselves to bring the blessings of sound and useful European instruction within reach of the poorest and most insignificant member of the Indian body politic. Yet fifty or sixty years ago the very reverse was the case. Our rule was believed to be accepted by the people as a boon after the oppression of their own masters. They longed for rest, and our supremacy secured it. They needed tranquillity, and our government enforced it. They had no desire for knowledge, and we had no desire to impart it. Quieta non movere was thought to be a maxim even more suited to Asiatics than to Europeans. To educate the masses was to sow the seeds of disquietude. To give them knowledge was to give them power, or at least to puff them up with a conceit of their own ability to govern themselves. Our security in India was believed to be bound up with the continuance of a blissful condition of crass ignorance in two hundred millions of living souls. Hence, when at the renewal of the Company's Charter in 1813, an agitation was set on foot (chiefly I believe at the instance of a party inspired by William Wilberforce) for the promotion of education among our Indian subjects, very little effect was produced. Yet the House of Com- mons resolved at that time that a sum of ^10,000 a year was to be set apart out of the Indian revenue for ' the en- couragement of the learned natives of India, and for the 286 MODERN INDIA. introduction of a knowledge of European sciences amona;' the people.' It is noteworthy that two distinct objects — the revival of Eastern learning and the introduction of European science — -were clearly set forth in that resolution. It was not forgotten, in fact, that all Hindus of the Aryan stock were already literary people. At a time when our ancestors were clothed in skins, and could neither read nor write, the Hindus had made great advances in science and art. They were the first cultivators of the science of language. They fashioned for themselves one of the most complete alphabets, they constructed for themselves one of the most perfect grammatical systems, they elaborated for tliemselves by a process of analysis {ryaJiaranci) and syn- thesis [sanskarana) one of the most finished languages that the world has ever seen. They were the original inventors of the ten arithmetical figures and invaluable decimal nota- tion, which have done such good service in Europe. Thej^ devised their own processes of arithmetic and algebra. They calculated eclipses and made many shrewd astrono- mical guesses centuries before the existence of Copernicus and Kepler. They investigated for themselves the laws of thought, and contrived a logical method, which, if not equal to that of Aristotle, has peculiar merits of its own. They excogitated for themselves six most subtle systems of philosophy, of which all European systems are mere repetitions and rej)roductions. They wrote learned trea- tises on theology, long before any European thinker had bestowed a thought on the nature of God, or the relation- ship of spirit to matter. They cultivated the imaginative til oul ties more diligently, if not more successfully, than European nations, and composed long epic poems very little inferior, and in some respects — for instance, in the portrayal of domestic life — superior, to those of Greece and Rome. It was thought that a people so acute in intellect, so remarkable for erudition, so successful in industrial arts, and the actual po-sessors of vast literary treasures, ought PJiOGJiESS OF OUR INDIAN EMPIRE. 387 first to be encouraged to develop their own resources, to make use of the immense literary capital inherited from their ancestors, and then to make good their own de- ficiencies and extend their own acquirements by cultivating the more fruitful fields of European lore, and drawing fresh life from the fountain of European scientific truth. But three main hindrances have always impeded the advance of education among the people of India. The first has arisen from the pride and selfishness of those who in ancient times secured the monopoly of all learning. The Brahmans, having obtained possession of the temple of knowledge, resolved to keep the key in their own hands. They soon discovered that the maintenance of their intel- lectual supremacy, no less than the promotion of their ma- terial interests, depended on their excluding the profanum vulgus from access to the interior shrine. They never, it is true, discouraged the communication of mere rudimen- tary instruction to the people in the vulgar tongue, but instruction in their sacred Sanskrit — the repository of their literature, religion, science, and law — has ever been reserved for their own sacred order. A second hindrance has arisen from the utter narrow- mindedness of Indian Pandits. They have believed the whole circle of human knowledge to be contained in San- skrit writings. To this very day, the most bigoted are fully persuaded that to learn anything beyond the Sastras is quite useless. A third hindrance has arisen from the peculiar organi- zation of Indian society. The Hindus have always been great believers in division of labour as a divine institution. Learning, with them, has ever been regarded as the pro- vince of learned men. Pandits, writers, and accountants have formed, like agriculturists, soldiers, and merchants, separate divisions of the community. Each has belonged to a distinct caste, and each caste has been expected to confine itself to its own business. A fourth hindrance, to whieh^I propose recuriing hereafter, has been caused by 2 88 MODERN INDIA. the difficulty of teaching the complicated Indian alpha- bets. Under such circumstances it was not surprising that the promulg'ation of the House of Commons' resolution of 1 8 13 was received in India with apathy and indifference. The rulers feared the evil consequences of education for the ruled, and the ruled anticipated no good results for them- selves. It was not till the 17th July, 1823, that action of any kind was taken by either one side or the other. This date marks the commencement of what may be called the first educational epoch in India. On that day it was resolved by the Governor- General in Council that a General Committee of Public Instruction should be constituted for the purpose of ascertaining the state of public education, for the introduction of useful knowledge, and for the en- couragement of native literature. Of this committee Sir Charles Trevelyan. who, when a member of the Bengal Civil Service, published a valuable little volume on Indian Education, was one of the most active members. Two institutions were already in existence for the en- couragement of Oriental learning — the Madrassa or Arabic College established by Warren Hastings at Calcutta in 1 78 1; the Sanskrit College founded by Mr. Jonathan Duncan at Benares in 1 79 1, 'with a view to endear our Government to the Hindus by exceeding, in our attention to them and their sj-stems, the care ever shown by their own native princes.' A third college was founded in 18 16 by the voluntary contributions of the natives themselves. This latter semi- nary was called the Hindu Maha-vidyalaya, 'great Hindu seat of learning,' but its principal aim was to instruct young Indians in English literature and the sciences of Europe. It owed its origin to the exertions of Sir E. H. East, Mr. David Hare, and Raja Ram Mohun Roy, but was taken in hand and improved by the new committee of public instruction. The committee also opened a Sanskrit College at Cal- PROGRESS OF OUR INDIAN EMPIRE. 289 eutta, in 1834, and another College at Delhi in 1835, for instruction in the three classical languages of India, acting no doubt under the inspiration of the then cele- brated Orientalist, and future Boden Professor, H. H. Wilson. There were also a few schools, and notably those founded at Chinsurah in 18 14 by a worthy dissenting minister, Mr. May. Here, then, we have the two distinct educational lines indicated in the House of Commons' resolution of 18 13, definitely laid down. The one line led to the desired goal through the classical languages of India — Sanskrit, Arabic, and Persian ; the other through English. Both were recognized as media for the communication of Eu- ropean knowledge. Nevertheless, for the greater part of what I call the first or Orientalizing educational epoch. Oriental learning was in the ascendant. In the com- mittee there was internecine war. Orientalists and Angli- cists were irreconcilable. Each party contended for the exclusive application of its own instrument of education. Neither was tolerant of the other. In 1833 the committee consisted of only ten members. Five were for educating by means of Oriental learning. These were Messrs. Thoby Prinsep, James Prinsep, H. Shakespear, Macnaghten, and Sutherland. Five were Anglicists, viz. Messrs. C. E. Trevelyan, J. R. Colvin, Bird, Saunders, and Bushby. The latter were not only for imparting an European edu- cation through the medium of English ; they were for cutting down the sum annually lavished on the support of Oriental students, and on the printing of Sanskrit and Arabic translations. The fundamental difference of opinion between the two halves of the committee ended in a dead lock. No movement either forward or backward could be effected, because of the perfect balance between the two parties. At this juncture (about the close of 1834) Macaulay arrived in India. The conflicting opinions of Orientalists and Anglicists were laid before him in his capacity of u 290 MODERN INDIA. legislative member of the Supreme Council, and called forth his celebrated Minute of February 2nd, 1835. 'All parties,' he wrote in that Minute, ' seem to be agreed on one point, that the dialects commonly spoken among the natives of this part of India contain neither literary nor scientific information, and are, moreover, so poor and rude that, until they are enriched from some other quarter, it will not be easy to translate any valuable work into them. It seems to be admitted on all sides, that the intellectual improvement of those classes of the people who have the means of pursuing higher studies can at present be effected only by means of some language not vernacular amongst them.' He then decides in favour of English, and goes on to say : — ' The question before us is simply whether, when it is in our power to teach English, we shall teach languages in which, by universal confession, there are no books on any subject which deserve to be compared to our own; whether, when we can teach European science, we shall teach systems, which, by universal confession, whenever they differ from those of Europe, differ for the worse ; and whether, when we can patronize sound Philosophy and true History, we shall countenance, at the public expense, medical doctrines, which would disgrace £^n English farrier, — astronomy, which would move laughter in girls at an English boarding school, — history, abounding with kings thirty feet high, and reigns thirty thousand years long, — and geography, made up of seas of treacle and seas of butter.' This Minute — all the more misleading because penned by the most effective writer of his time — was followed by Lord W. Beiitinek's equally celebrated Resolution of the yth March, 1835, in the second clause of which his Lordship in Cuuncil expresses his opinion, 'that the great object of the British Government ought to be the pro- motion of European literature and science amongst the natives of India.' The concluding paragraph directs that ' all the funds at the disposal of the committee be hence- forth employed in imparting to the native population a knowledge of English literature and science, through the medium of the English language.' The date of this Re- PROGRESS OF OUR INDIAN EMPIRE. ay I solution marks the commencement of what I venture to call the second or Anglicizing' educational epoch. Of course the Governor-General's decision was final. The Anglicists were triumphant, and, to clinch the whole matter, Macaulay was made President of the Committee. Then followed the establishment of twelve new Seminaries, and a series of corresponding measures for the promotion of English studies. Dr. Duff sided with the Anglicists. A sudden passion for European literature, and its cul- tivation through the acquisition of English, sprung up among the higher classes of Bengalis. English became an object of ambition, as the only avenue to good ap- pointments, and to an improved position in society. Nor need it excite surprise that our Government should have encouraged the upper classes in their desire to become good English scholars. What strikes one as extraordinary is, that such a man as Macaulay should have set himself against vernacular education. To force English on the unlettered millions of India was, of course, impossible. Though we English-speakers in Great Britain are by far the majority, we have not yet succeeded, after more than a thousand years of close contact with the Welsh people, in inducing them to adopt our own language. Is it likely that in a vast and remote country, a few thousand Eng- lishmen, who, although conquerors and rulers, are every year less disposed to treat India as their home, will ever succeed in imposing English on two hundred and forty- one millions of Asiatics, who possess about two hundred different dialects of their own, and whose organs of arti- culation and habits of thought, framed under opposite climatic and social conditions, are generally incapable of adapting themselves to European peculiarities of utterance, idiom, and syntax ? In Henry VIII's time there was scarcely anything to read for an Englishman who could not read Latin. So in India, in Lord Macaulay 's time, there was scarcely anything worth reading for a native of Bengal who could u a 293 MODERN INDIA. not read Sanskrit. Indeed, Sanskrit was to all India - more than what Latin was to all Europe. And what happened in England ? The vernacular of the people, instead of decaying, drew vitality and vigour from the very language whose influence for a long time kept it in abasement. Strengthened and enriched by Latin, and recruited from other sources, English has grown into the most sturdy, copious, and efl^ective of all languages. It has produced a literature more valuable than that of Rome or Greece. Lord Macaulay did not seem to see that the same process had been going on in India. The vernaculars of India were quite as capable of being invigorated by Sanskrit and Arabic as European vernaculars were by Latin and Greek. In point of fact, this had been par- tially effected long before Macaulay's time. A lingua franca, like French in Europe, had existed in India since the invasion of Timur, a.d. 1400. Hindijstani, a language formed by engrafting the Persian and Arabic of the Musalman conquerors on a Sanskrit- Hindi stock, had already been generally adopted by the natives of India as a common medium of communication. It was a thoroughly composite and eclectic language, which, like English, had a peculiar power of extracting from other languages the materials for its own expansion and de- velopment. It had naturalized Turkish and Portuguese words, and was assimilating English. It was a living and a growing language — so instinct, indeed, with life and growth, that the Hindastani of the early part of this century, as represented by the Bagh Bahar, may be said to be already obsolescent. What Lord Macaulay and the Committee ought to have aimed at was first the improvement and enrichment of Hindustani by the in- troduction and assimilation of more words and expressions from Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, English, and other modern European languages, and secondly the composition of good HiudQstuni class-books, and the formation of a pure mo- PROGI?ESS OF OUR INDIAN EMPIRE. 293 dern Hindustani literature. And if the natives of Bengal and of other parts of India were incapable of being in- structed in European science through the medium of Hin- dustani class-books, their o\vn vernaculars, Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, and Telugu were capable of being am- plified, improved, and made the vehicle of scientific truth. And here it is to be observed, that although the Oriental- ists on the one side, and the Governor- Generals Resolution of March 7thj 1835, on the other, very unaccountably omitted all mention of the vernaculars, a majority of the Education Committee seem in the end to have come to the conclusion that the exclusive encouragement of English could only be a temporary expedient, and ' that the for- mation of a vernacular literature was the ultimate object to which all their efforts ought to be directed.' Even Mr. (now Sir Charles) Trevelyan, the most enthusiastic and energetic of all the Anglicists, to whose educational labours India is deeply indebted, was of the same opinion. He looked through a vista of English to a time when Hindustani and Bengali would become well fitted for every purpose of literature and science. Lord William Bentinck, too, was far too wise, clear- sighted, and sagacious, not to have discerned the only possible method of reaching the mass of the people. A great impulse was given to the cultivation and development of the spoken dialects under his administration. Act XXIX of December ist, 1837, abolished Persian and substituted the vernaculars as the language of all revenue and judicial proceedings in our Courts. 'The extraordinary ease,' wrote Mr. Trevelyan, ' with which this change was effected proves that it took place in the fulness of time. In Bengal the Persian language had disappeared from the Collectors' offices at the end of a month. It melted away like snow.' Perhaps a still more important step had been taken pre- viously. It was thought that before the Government did anything for the country, steps should be taken to ascertain what the country had done and was doing for itself. In a 394 MODERN INDIA. Minute, written as far back as January 20th, 1835, Eord W. Bentinck pointed out that at a time when the establish- ment of education upon the largest basis had become an object of solicitude, it was essential to ascertain the number of indigenous village-schools already existing in India, the nature and amount of instruction imparted in themj with all the particulars of their foundation and support. And he expressed his belief that the ' important end might be attainable, of making these institutions subsidiary and con- ducive to any improved general system which it might be hereafter thought proper to establish.' Accordingly an experienced, painstaking missionary, Mr. W. Adam, versed in the spoken dialects, was appointed to conduct an edu- cational survey of Bengal. The investigation extended over three years, and a report was published containing valuable statistics and important information in regard to the intellectual condition of the peasantry. What that condition must have been in 1835 may be inferred from the fact that in 1873 (according to Sir George CampbellV statistics) only %\ per cent, of the population of Bengal could read and write. The proportion for all India was only I in 400, while in England it was i in 7^. Nevertheless, it is remarkable that the number of Hindu indigenous schools, and of Maktabs orMuliammadan schools attached to mosques, was found to exceed all expectations. They were ascertained to be most numerous in secluded parts of the country remote from European influence, and from the disturbing effects of wars and invasions. The Hindu indigenous schools arc of two kinds— schools of Sanskrit learning, called in Bengal Tols, and vernacular schools for instruction in reading, writing, and arithmetic, conducted by village schoolmasters, and called Patha-salas. These two kinds ot schools jiave no interconnection. Pupils never pass from one to the other. I made a point of visiting the well-known Sanskrit Tols at Nuddca, and found them frequented by students from all parts of India, some learning grammar, which may occupy PROGRESS OF OUR INDIAN EMPIRE. 295 from seven to twelve years; some law, which may require a ten years' course ; and a large number studying the Nyaya. system of logic, which may necessitate from thirteen to twenty-two years' curriculum. Both teachers and stu- dents in these schools of learning are of course Brahmans. The Pandits, so far from receiving money from their pupilsj not unfrequently contribute towards their support, being themselves supported by rich patrons. When the students have finished their course of instruction they receive from their masters an honorary title, which they retain for life. I also visited schools of native learning in other parts of India, and arrived at the conclusion that the old type of Pandit, trained to repeat whole departments of Sanskrit literature by heart, is dying out. On the other hand, it seemed to me that Sanskrit learning, as encouraged by us and learnt on principles of European philology, is decidedly on the increase. Again, in traversing the country I often came across village vernacular schools, conducted in the open air or under trees. And here I may remark that no people in the world have been so long accustomed to self-government as the inhabitants of India. The whole country is studded with little independent republics. Every village has its head- man, its council of five [Panchdi/at) , its regularly organized society, its complete assortment of servants, functionaries, and officials necessary to the corporate existence and well- being of the whole community. Among them is a school- master [ffuru), from whom the children of the leading vil- lagers receive a rude kind of education. We have elsewhere noticed a proverb current among the natives— PancA men parawesvarah, ' the voice of God is in the council of five ; ' and the village school, no less than the village council, is in its way regarded as a kind of divine institution. Wars, revolutions, rebellions have desolated the land ; famines and pestilences have decimated the population ; but the school system has survived all convulsions — not, however, everywhere equally, and not always in its entirety. In 296 MODERN INDIA. some parts of the country vernacular scliools have been swept away, while Sanskrit schools have survived. In other districts rural schools abound, while schools of learn- ing- are unknown. Of course, nothing is learnt in the village vernacular schools but the merest elements of reading, writing, and arithmetic. No books are employed. The children are taught to read and write on the sand or on palm-leaves. What struck me as a remarkable feature of the teaching was the skill attained in multiplication. The multiplicand generally ascends to forty and often higher. The whole class of, perhaps, a hundred children repeat their tables together as if with one voice, the accumulated force of which rises to a deafening scream. They can all multiply by fractions, particularly by |, ij, \\, and i\, and they can multiply ai, 3I, and 4I, by the fraction \. Many of the punishments employed would probably be considered peculiar from a European schoolmaster's point of view. For instance : A boy is condemned to stand for half-an-hour or an hour on one foot. A boy is made to sit on the floor with one leg turned up behind his neck. A boy is made to hang for a few minutes with his head downwards, from the branch of a neighbouring tree. A boy is put up in a sack along with nettles, or a cat, or a noisome creature of some kind, and then rolled along the ground. A boy is made to measure so many cubits on the ground, by marking it with the tip of his nose. A boy is made to pull his own ears, and dilate them to a given point on pain of worse chastisement. Two naughty boys are made to knock their heads several times against each other. Some of these punishments are now discontinued. The sug'g'estion for basing' all schemes of Indian edu- cation on existing indigenous institutions seems to have originated with Mr. W. Adam, in 1835. The idea was taken up, as we have seen, by Lord William Bentinck, but the merit of first carrying it into execution belongs to Mr. ThomasoU; who, ten years later, when he was Lieutenant- PROGRESS OF OUR INDIAN EMPIRE. 2^J Governor of the North-west Provinces, organized a plan for utilizing the existing village schools, and training the native fchoolraasters. He was the first to start what is called the Halka-bandi system, about the year 1845. A number of villages were linked together in a Halka or circle, iind a central school under a trained native teacher was established within reach of each village, the expense being met by a local cess of i per cent, on the land-revenue, nominally voluntary. Unhappily, the efforts made to train the village Gurus did not always succeed, and the whole indigenous system had to be rehabilitated. But one great merit of Mr. Thomason's scheme of popular education was that it contained in itself great aptitude for internal deve- lopment and improvement. His method was adopted as a model by other Governments, and led in the end to the celebrated educational Despatch from the Court of Directors to the Governor-General of India (Lord Dalhousie), dated July 19th, 1854. This remarkable document — on which the whole system of education at present in force throughout India is founded — was really written by Sir Charles Wood (Lord Halifax), when President of the Board of Control, assisted by the late Viceroy, Lord Northbrook, when acting as his secretary. It commenced what I venture to call the third or Anglo-vernacular educational epoch. As the main principle of the first educational epoch (com- mencing in 1823) was the prominence given to the learned languages of India, and of the second (commencing in 1839) the stress laid on English as an exclusive medium of edu- cation, so the special characteristic of the third was the importance assigned to the vernaculars. In fact, the first object of the great Despatch of 1854 was to insist on the communication of correct European knowledge to the mass of the people through the medium of their own spoken dialects. The second object was to lay down a complete scheme of higher education in which, without neglecting the vernaculars, English and the Indian classical languages, 398 MODERN INDIA. but especially English, were to be made the principal in- struments of education. And here it may be observed that as there is really as yet no considerable middle class in India, so there can be really only two principal kind- of education, higher and lower. It is true that what are called middle-class (Zillah) schools have been established, but the distinguishing feature of these seems to be that they combine the superior lower with the inferior higher kind of education. With regard to the higher, the Despatch declared that the time had arrived for the founding of universities at Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras, not as places of education, but to test the value of the knowledge received in colleges and schools, and to confer degrees. All the principal colleges, collegiate institutions, and schools already existing throughout the country, whether founded or aided by Government or independent, and con- ducted by persons of every variety of religious persuasion, Christians, Hindus, Muhammadans, Parsis, Sikhs, Bud- dhists, and Jains, were to he affiliated to the universities, and to lead up to them. The indigenous schools were to be improved by Government aid and superintendence^ and were to supply suitable education to the villages and rural population. The so-called middle-class Zillah schools (an- swering to the Tashili schools of the North-west Provinces), established at the chief towns of each district, were to educate the townspeople and prepare them for the high schools. The high schools, established at the larger towns and attached to every college, were to educate the higher classes up to the university matriculation examinationj English being in that case the medium of instruction. The colleges were to admit matriculated students, and educate them up to examination for Bachelor degrees. The whole system was to be tied together by means of seholarshipSj which were to lead selected pupils from the Zillah to the high schools, and from the high schools to the colleges. The first university examination after matri- PROGRESS OF OUR INDIAN EMPIRE. 399 culation was to be called First Arts (F.A.) examination, and to take place after a two years' course at the colleges, and the examination for the Bachelor's degree was to follow after a further interval of two years. The final university examination was to be for the Master of Arts degree, which was to be a real distinction, only attainable by a select few who could give proof of high intellectual cul- ture. All these provisions and arrangements were gradually carried into execution. The three Universities of Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras were incorporated in 1857. Thej^ were quietly founded during the worst troubles and most appalling terrors of the Sepoy insurrection. A great stimulus was given to education everywhere. New colleges were founded and old ones improved. The Calcutta and Madras Presidency Colleges, the Bombay Elphinstone College, the Poona Deccan College, the Thomason Engineer- ing College at Roorkee, and a large number of other colleges and schools were quickened into vigorous vitality. In short, a vast moral and intellectual revolution was inaugurated, and that, too, at a time when the downfall of our power was confidently predicted, and the very founda- tions of the Indian social system appeared likely to be upheaved. The undisturbed progress of Sir Charles Wood's great scheme of education is a valuable evidence that the agitation caused by the Sepoy revolt never spread among the masses of the people. And what are the results ? At the commencement of 1833 only two Government colleges existed in India, the pupils in which might possibly have numbered 300. In 1834, soon after the establishment of several new seminaries by the Committee of Public Instruction, the number of pupils in Government institutions rose to rather more than 3,000. In 1854 there were about 12,000 pupils. In 1859 educational institutions of different kinds had increased to such an extent that the pupils amounted to more than 180,000. The latest statistical returns from all India in 1875 showed that the number of 300 MODERN INDIA. pupils in colleges and schools of all kinds — Government, missionary, aided, and unaided — amounted to 1,689,138. Yet we have hitherto made little or no impression on the countless millions reachable only through the vernaculars. The chief end aimed at by Sir Charles Wood's Despatch of 1854 has as yet been very imperfectly attained. Too much importance is assigned to English, and too little encourage- ment given to the native dialects. English is made a sine qua noil at the matriculation examinations. I saw 1,263 candidates being examined for matriculation at Bombay in 1875, and among them some young native princes. But not more than 12, or at most 15 per cent, of those who matriculate proceed to prepare for the degree examination. The great object is to gain a knowledge of English, and through that knowledge employment under Government. Lord Lytton, in an eloquent address delivered the other day before the pupils of the Martiniere College, Calcutta, very significantly reminded his youthful audience that the object of education was not the improvement of their positions, but the improvement of their characters. I fear we too often wean boys from the plough, the chisel, and the loom, to make them ambitious of Government appointments, which they cannot all obtain. PROGRESS OF OUR INDIAN EMPIRE. Paet II. It is related of the Moghul Emperor Baber, that when the idea of conquering India first took possession of his mind, he resolved not to embark on so vast an enterprise till he had made himself thoroughly acquainted with the country and its people. The better to effect this object, he is said to have disguised himself as a religious mendicant, and to have traversed the Panjab and Hindustan, noting the best approaches, marking the strongest positions, collecting the most minute information, and planning the whole scheme of his future military operations. The result of his circumspection and forethought is well known. It cannot be said of our great generals that they were equally wise in their generation. They conquered by dint of dash and daring, combined, it may be, with occa- sional master-strokes of strategic skill and astute policy. They were aided by a strong tide of concurrent and co- operating circumstances. But they were innocent of long antecedent explorations of the enemy's ground. They were guiltless of deep-laid plots and tedious predeliberations. Yet the present Empress of India is more securely seated on the throne of Delhi^ than the most successful of the Mogul invaders. English pluck and prowess have effected more than Baber's forethought and energy, Akbar's wisdom and vigilance, AurangzJb's cleverness and cunning. We have surpassed all other conquerors in the completeness of 303 MODERN INDIA. our material conquest. No power disputes our supremacy over a range of territory extending 2,000 miles from the Himalaya mountains to Adam's Peak. Are we inclined to be puffed up with the conceit of what we have effected ? Let the knowledge of what remains to be done dissipate every thought of self-complacency. Let the sense of our failures neutralize all tendency to pride in our successes. True, we are entitled to some credit. We are able, with a mere handful of our fellow-countrymen, to control two hundred and forty-one millions of Asiatics, to make laws, to administer justice, to preserve the peace. We have changed the whole face of the country by our railways, roads, canals, telegraphs, and public buildings. We have done more than any other Raj to promote the physical prosperity and welfare of the people. We have even laboured success- fully to stimulate the intellects and instruct the minds of the upper classes. We have founded Universities, established colleges, built schools, trained teachers, appointed directors of public instruction, and spent large sums on educational institutions, old and new. All this we have done. Yet infinitely more has been left undone. We have yet to take in hand the poor benighted ryots ; to elevate, to enlighten the myriads upon myriads of those who till the ground in the veritable sweat of their brow ; to deliver the masses of the population from the tyranny of caste, custom, ignorance, and superstition. The moral conquest of India remains to be achieved. And to efl'ect this second conquest we are wisely discarding all the dash and daring by which our first conquest was secured. We are advancing with careful predeliberation. We are even perhaps a little too tardy in our preliminary investi- gations. We have only recently instituted a thoroughly organised system of statistical inquiry, of which Dr. Flunter's twenty volumes of Bengal statistics are the first-fruits. I closed my last paper with a summary of the present educational status in ludia, and I pointed out that Sir Charles Wood's despatch of 1854 is the basis on which the PJiOGJ?ESS OF OUR INDIAN EMPIRE. 303 whole system rests. Excellent and carefully worded as tlie whole tenor of that despatch undoubtedly is, it makes one cardinal mistake. It encourages the false idea that instruc- tion is a co-extensive term with education. The despatch had, as we have seen, two main objects. Oue was to promote the instruction of the higher classes in European science through the medium of English. The other was to provide proper teaching for the lower classes by means of the vernaculars. Its words are : ' We look to the English language and to the vernacular languages of India together as the media for the diffusion of European knowledge.' And if our whole educational responsibility is bounded by the instruction of the upper classes of the people in European knowledge, we may perhaps take credit to our- selves for a fairly respectable fulfilment of our obligations. But if our mission be to educate as well as instruct, to draw out as well as put in^ to form the mind as well as inform it, to teach our pupils how to become their future self-teachers, to develop symmetrically their physical as well as mental, moral, and religious faculties, then I fear we have left undone much that we ought to have done, and acquitted ourselves imperfectly of the duties our position in India imposes upon us. Let me first glance at our so- called higher education. In traversing India from north to south, from east to west, I visited many High Schools, examined many classes, conversed with many young Indians under education at our colleges, and was brought into contact with a large num- ber who had passed the University matriculation examina- tion, as well as with a few who had taken their degrees, and earned distinction for high proficiency. I certainl}' met some really well-educated men — like Rao Bahadur Gopal Hari Deshmukh, lately appointed a joint-judge — who, by their character and acquirements, were fitted to fill any ofiice or shine in any society. But in plain truth, I was not always favourably impressed with the general results of our higher educational efforts. I came across a 304 MODERN INDIA. few well-informed men, many half-informed men, and a great many ill-informed and ill-formed men — men, I mean, without true strength of character, and with ill-balanced minds. Such men may have read a good deal, but if they think at all, think loosely. Many are great talkers. They may be said to suffer from attacks of verbal diarrhoea, and generally talk plausibly, but write inaccurately. They are not given to much sustained exertion. Or if such men act at allj they act as if guided by no settled principles, and as if wholly irresponsible for their spoken and written words. They know nothing of the motive power, restraining force, or comforting efficacy of steadfast faith in any religious system whatever, whether false or true. They neglect their own languages, disregard their own literatures, abjure their own religions, despise their own philosophies, break their own caste-rules, and deride their own time-honoured customs, without becoming good English scholars, honest sceptics, wise thinkers, earnest Christians, or loyal subjects of the British Empire. Yet it cannot be said that we make higher education consist in the mere imparting of information, and nothing more. We really effect a mighty transformation in the character of our pupils. We teach a native to believe in himself. We deprecate his not desiring to be better than his fathers. We bid him beware of merging his per- sonality in his caste. We imbue him with an intense con- sciousness of individual existence. We puff him up with an overweening opinion of his own sufficiency. We inflate him with a sublime sense of his own importance as a dis- tinct unit in the body politic. We reveal to him the meaning- of ' I am,' ' I can,' ' I will/ ' I shall/ and ' I know,' without inculcating an}' lesson of ' I ought,' and ' I ought not,' without implanting any sense of responsibility to and dependence on an Eternal, Almighty, and All-wise Being for lifcj for strength, and for knowledge — without, in short, imparting real self-knowledge, or teaching true self-mas- tery, or instilling high principles and Iiigh motives. Such PROGRjESS of our INDIAN EMPIRE. 305 a system carries with it its own nemesis. After much labour we rulers of India turn out what we call an edu- cated native. Whereupon he turns round upon us, and, instead of thanking us for the trouble we have taken in his behalf, revenges himself upon us for the injury we have inflicted on his character by applying the im- perfect education he has received to the injury of his teachers. The spitefully seditious writing which our Government has lately found it necessary to repress by summary mea- sures is due to this cause. And how have we discharged the debt we owe to the lower classes? Let the truth here also be told with all plainness. In their case we have not yet matured any eflfective scheme — not even for the proper informing of their minds, much less for the proper forming of their characters. Mr. Thomason, as we have seen, started a system of careful statistical inquiry. He ascertained the generally benighted condition of the masses within the area of his own administration. He was also the first to conceive the idea of stimulating the people to co-operate in educating themselves. It occurred to him that the necessity for registering land under the revenue settlement of the North-western Provinces might be turned to good ac- count. He determined to use it as an incentive to the acquisition of so much knowledge of reading, writing, arithmetic, and measurement as would qualify each man to look after his own rights. Thereupon he organized a scheme of primary education based on the utilization of indigenous village schools. His method was held up as a model to other local governments. It was wisely followed and improved upon by other administrators, and notably by Sir George Campbell in Bengal. A good beginning has been made in some parts of India. But I fear we have as yet barely stirred the outer surface of the vast inert mass of popular ignorance and superstition. 306 MODERN INDIA. Where, then, lies our I'ault? Are we carrying into execution the admirable views expressed in Sir Charles Wood's despatch ? Are we doing our best to encourage the improvement and enrichment of those vulgar dialects through which alone the masses can be instructed ? I think not. What says the desjjatch ? *It has hitherto been necessary, owing to the want of translations or adaptations of European works in the vernacular languages of India, and to the very imperfect shape in which European knowledge is to be found in any works in the learned languages of the East, for those who desired to obtain a Hberal education, to begin by the mastery of the English lan- guage as a key to the literature of Europe ; and a knowledge of English will always be essential to those natives of India who aspire to a high order of education. But it is neither our aim nor desire to substitute the Enghsh language for the vernacular dialects of the country. And any acquaintance with improved European knowledge which is to be communicated to the great mass of the people, — whose circumstances prevent them from acquir- ing a high order of education, and who cannot be expected to overcome the difficulties of a foreign language, — can only be conveyed to them through one or other of these vernacular languages.' If, then, the Government of India were true to its own principles it would give more encouragement to the culti- vation of the vernacular dialects. It would not expose them to the danger of degenerating into jargons— of be- coming unfit to be converted into vehicles of European knowledge. It would not appoint any one to superintend educational work as a Director of public instruction, or as a principal or head master, without requiring him to give evidence of complete familiarity with at least two spoken languages — Hindustani and one other. It would not make proficiency in English an indispensable condition of ma- triculation examinations. It would be satisfied with pro- ficiency in general knowledge displayed through the medium of any one or two of the principal vernaculars, Hindustani, Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, and Tamil — especially through Hindustani, which should be encouraged to be- come the common medium of conamunication lor the lower classes throughout all India, just as Sanskrit is for the learned. PROGRESS OF OUR INDIAN EMPIRE. 307 And here I must advert to a point which, in my opin- ion, has an important bearing on the spread of European knowledge among the masses of our Indian subjects, I mean the application of the plain and practical Roman alphabet to the Indian vernaculars, especially to Hin- dustani. I have elsewhere striven to show that the Indo-Avyans probably derived their alphabets from foreign sources. The first Indian idea of grammar was not that of a col- lection of written rules (ypdju^a). It consisted simply in the analysis (yi/dJcarana) of language and the solution of etymological problems by means of brief memorial aphor- isms so contrived as to be transmitted orally. In time, however, a growing literature defied even the prodigious memories of indefatigable Brahman Pandits. Suitable graphic symbols had to be employed, and in all probability particular symbols were introduced into India by those trading nations whose commercial necessities led to the invention of writing. The first notion of representing ideas and language by pictorial signs seems to have origi- nated in Egypt. Thence it passed into Phoenicia where a syllabic system was developed. This led to the phonetic alphabet afterwards adopted by the Greeks, and subse- quently improved upon by the Romans. Doubtless some forms of writing found their way into India, but, like the acute Greeks, the subtle-minded Hindus felt the imperfec- tion of the consonantal systems current among Semitic peoples. If they received some symbols from foreign sources, they altered their forms and developed them in their own way. Moreover they invented for themselves their own system of vocalization, just as they worked out their own theory of grammar. Nor did any ordinary standard of completeness satisfy the requirements of Indian scholars. With their usual love of elaboration they excogitated a philosophically exact system. But they overloaded it with symbols. They over- did the true theory of the necessary vocalization of con- X 2 3o8 MODERN INDIA. sonants. They declared it impossible for any single consonant to stand alone without its inherent or associated vowel. Hence, we have an immense assortment of simple and conjunct letters, necessitating the employment of five hundred distinct types in the printing of the most ordi- nary Sanskrit book. Such an overstraining of alphabetical precision was to the learned Hindus a great recommenda- tion. The perfection of its structure made the Deva-nagarl alphabet a fit medium for the visible embodiment of their divine Sanskrit. Even the very letters themselves came to be regarded as divine. Now this superstitious adoration and quasi-deification of an intricate alphabet as the medium for the expression of a sacred language like Sanskrit, was perhaps natural and excusable. But when it led to the employment of compli- cated symbols for the ordinary work-day spoken dialects, it placed a serious obstruction in the path of advancing education. And what is the actual fact at present in India ? The process of learning to read is surrounded by a kind of thorn fence, bristling with a dense array of crooked strokes and tortuous lines. Difiieulties unknown to an English child have to be surmounted at the very outset, and make every step painful. I am only now speaking of the Indian printed alphabets. What shall be said of the written characters ? The worst English hand- writings are no measure of their illegibility. The difficult)' of deciphering them increases in a kind of compound ratio. Who, except grey-bearded scholars, can penetrate the mys- teries of the inscrutable Shikasta? Who but veteran ex- perts can unravel the intricacies of the Kaithi, or Hindi running-hand employed by the writer caste ? of the Modi, or written scratches in use among the Marathas ? of the hopelessly illegible Marwarl and equally indecipherable handwriting prevalent in Sindh ? of the twists, twirls, and convolutions current in Southern India ? If any one thinks I am here exaggerating, let him turn to a volume of speci- mens of different written characters which daily pass PROGRESS OF OUR INDIAN EMPIRE. 309 through the Indian Post Office, publislied by the Post Office authorities. For this reason many eminent Indian administrators and scholars — at the head of whom must be placed Sir Charles E. Trevelyan, a true friend to Indian educational progress — have long felt that the application of the simple Roman alphabet to the Indian vernaculars would greatly facilitate the diffusion of knowledge among the unlettered millions of our Indian Empire. The recent formation of ' T/ie Roman- Urdu Society ' by educated Indians at Lahore, and the pub- lication of an able Journal by that Society in support of the Romanizing movement, is a significant fact. I may mention, too, that successful employment of what may be termed an Indo-Romanic alphabet — that is, the Roman letters adapted to Indian requirements by the use of dots and accents — in the printing of Sanskrit books, is an evi- dence of its applicability to the Aryan languages of India with as much suitability as to the Aryan languages of Europe. But inveterate custom, early association, and in- herited bias, are forces too strong to be easily overcome by the most beneficent and energetic of reformers. Changes, however manifestly advantageous, have no hope of general acceptance. Here in England we continue to resist the introduction of a decimal system ; we adhere with obsti- nacy to all our worst spelling-anomalies, and we ridicule such convenient astronomical expressions as thirteen or fourteen o'clock, which correctly mark the rotation of our earth, and which, if adopted, would be an invaluable boon to the students of Bradshaw. In the same manner, with- out doubt, many generations must pass away before the superstitious veneration for existing alphabetical symbols is abandoned in India, and the simple Roman alphabet adopted for the expression of the more ancient Aryan veinacnlars, Hindi, Marathi, and Bengali. With regard to the more modern Hindustani, which ought to be taught as a lingua franca in every school of India, the case is different. It has really no alphabet of its own, and the 3 to MODERN INDIA. Directors of Public Instruction might reasonably, in my opinion, insist on its being expressed by the Indo-Romanic letters. I come now to a subject which is perhaps the most momentous of all, in its relation to the progress of India and the promotion of Indian civilization. In England it has been said that the working people are our masters, and that we must educate our masters. There is another saying — equally true in India and England — that * She who rocks the cradle sways the world.* In plainer language, it may be said, that if the working men rule the world, the women rule, or at least influence the working men, and so become the world's mistresses. Clearly, then, it is important that the world should take the most direct and decided interest in the education of its own mistresses. And here I must recall attention to a point to which I have before adverted, that, in all our schemes for edu- cating and elevating the teeming millions of our Eastern Empire, we have to deal with a people who were among the earliest civilized nations of the earth, who in the best periods of their history were active promoters of social and intellectual progress, who have a literature abounding with lofty moral and religious maxims, who still preserve a pro- found veneration for learning, and who still maintain two lines of educational institutions, suited to the upper and lower classes of the male population, and distinct from the systems introduced by us. Manifestly, therefore, before propounding any scheme of our own for the education of the women of India, we have to ask the question, Is India herself doing anything, or has she ever done any- thing herself, for the promotion of female education ? To answer this question properly, it will be necessary to glance first at the condition of women in ancient times, as depicted in early Indiaa literature ; and, secondly, at their present condition, as shown by the statistics prepared under Government authority. PJiOGJ^ESS OF OUR INDIAN EMPIRE. 311 In regard to the first point, no one can read the Vedic hymns without coming to the conclusion that, when the songs of the Rishis were current in Northern India (four- teen or fifteen centuries B.C.), women enjoyed considerable independence. Monogamy was probably the rule, though polygamy existed and even polyandry was not unknown. In Rig-veda i. 6a. 11, it is said, ' Our hymns touch thee, O strong god, as loving wives a loving husband.' The Asvins had only one wife between them (i. 119. 5). Women were allowed to marry a second time (Atharva- veda ix. 5. 37). Widows might marry their deceased husband's brother (Rig-veda x. 40. 3). There were even allusions to a woman's choosing her own husband (svayam- vara), which was a common practice among the daughters of Kshatriyas in the heroic period. One hymn reveals a low estimate of feminine capacity, declaring that women have minds incapable of instruction [aidsi/a) and fickle tempers (viii. 33. 17). The condition of women, as represented in the laws of Manu several centuries later (perhaps about 500 B.C.), was one of less liberty. But the contradictions in the code show that no settled social organization unfavourable to women prevailed at that epoch. True, a woman is said to owe her condition of inferiority to sins committed in former births. She is declared to be unfit for indepen- dence. She belongs to her father first, who gives her away in childhood to a husband, to whom she belongs for ever. Marriage is the final cause of her existence — to bear children the sum of her duty and the great end of her being. Women, says Manu (ix. 96), were created to be mothers. As a mother, he declares, a woman is entitled to more respect than a thousand fathers (ii. 145). And, to this day, marriage and the hope of giving birth to a family of sons form the sole object of ambition — the one all-absorbing subject which engrosses every Indian woman's mind. On the other hand, in one place Manu alludes to circumstances under which a maiden might be 313 MODERN INDIA. allowed to choose her own husband, although he visits her with penalties for doing so (ix. 92). He makes no men- tion of SatI {suttee), and permits — as the Mosaic law did (Deut. XXV. 5, St. Matt. xxii. 24) — a widow, under certain circumstances, to marry a deceased husband's brother. As time went on, the jealousy of the opposite sex imposed various restraints, restrictions, and prohibitions. A more settled conviction as to some inherent inferiority and weakness in the constitution of women took posses- sion of men's minds. Yet through the whole heroic period of Indian history, and up to the commencement of the Christian era, women had many rights and im- munities from which they were subsequently debarred. It cannot, indeed, be said that any Eastern nation has ever been free from a tendency to treat women as in- feriors. Even the Greeks and Romans were wanting in that reverence for the female sex which marked the Teu- tonic races, and was the result of their believing ' inesse feminis sanctum aliquid.' Nevertheless, in India, mothers have always been treated with the greatest reverence. We may note, too, that something of the spirit of chivalry was displayed in the tournaments of Indian warriors, who contended for the possession of the heroine of the Sva- 3'amvara. Women were certainly not yet incarcerated. They were not yet shut out from the light of heaven behind the Pardah or within the four walls of the Zanana. It is even clear from the dramas that the better classes had received some sort of education, or could at least read and write ; and it is noteworthy, that although they spoke the provincial dialects, they understood the learned lan- guage, Sanskrit. They often appeared unveiled in public. They were not confined to intercourse with their own families. Sita showed herself to the army. Sakuntala appeared in the court of King Dushyanta. Damayanti travelled about by herself. The mother of Rama came to the hermitage, of Valmiki. Rama says in reference to his wife, ' Neither houses, nor vestments, nor enclosing PROGRESS OF OUR INDIAN EMPIRE. 313 walls are the screen of a woman. Her own virtue alone protects her.' All these characters may be more mythical and ideal than historical, but they are true reflections of social and domestic life in the heroic age of India. Nothing can be more beautiful than the pictures of the devoted wife in the two great Indian epics. Sita's noble pleadings (in the Ramayana) to be allowed to accompany her husband into banishment are well known. Addressing him, she says : — ' Thou art my king, my guide, my only refuge, my divinity. It is my fixed resolve to foUow thee. If thou must wander forth Through thorny trackless forests, I will go before thee, treading down The prickly brambles to make smooth thy path. Walking before thee, I Shall feel no weariness ; the forest thorns will seem like silken robes ; The bed of leaves, a couch of down. To me the shelter of thy presence Is better far than stately palaces, and paradise itself. Protected by thy arm, gods, demons, men shall have no power to harm me. Koaming with thee in desert wastes, a thousand years will be a day ; Dwelling with thee, e'en hell itself would be to me a heaven of bliss.' Many other examples of noble language expressive of conjugal fidelity might be adduced from Indian literature, and notably that of Savitri, whose story is told in the other great epic (the Maha-bharata). When the god of death appears to summon her husband Satyavan, who was doomed to die a year after his marriage, she pleads pas- sionately for a reprieve : ' Let my husband live ! Without him, I desire not happiness, not even heaven itself.' Yet obviously such sublime devotion to a husband as to a god, was incompatible with independence of character. It is evident that any such useful domestic institution as a sternly critical wife was very unlikely to be common in a nation which made Sita its paragon of female ex- cellence. Nor is there any evidence that the women of the heroic period had received much systematic education, They were certainly not thought capable of as high a form of religion as men, and seclusion must have been more or less practised by the upper classes, as indicated by 314 MODERN INDIA. Panini's epithet for a king's wife, asuryam-pahja, one who never sees the sun. Marriages were generally arranged without reference to the wishes of either bridegroom or bride. Polygamy prevailed among the richer classes, and polyandry, though a non-Aryan custom, to a certain ex- tent counterbalanced it. Dasaratha had three wives. One of Pandu's wives became a Sati. Draupadi married five brothers together. All this shows that woman's downward course of de- gradation commenced in the earliest times. Step by step the decline went on, and every century added to her de- basement. The introduction of Muhammadan customs after the first Muslim invasion of India (about a.d. iooo) greatly hastened the deteriorating process. And what has been the condition of women under our own rule ? In Warren Hastings' time a number of the best Pandits were invited to Calcutta from all parts of India. They were directed to draw up an authoritative summary of Hindu law as laid down in their sacred works. A com- pilation was carefully made by these learned men from the code of Manu, and from all the best legal authorities of later date. A certain Mr. Halhed was directed to translate it for Government. The introduction is curiously characteristic of Hindu toleration. ' The truly intelligent well know that the differences of createil things are a ray of the glorious essence of the Supreme Being. He appointed to each race its own faith, and to every sect its own religion ; and having introduced a, multiplicity of different customs, he views in each place the mode of worship respectively appointed to it. Sometimes he is with the attendants upon the mosque; sometimes he is in the temple at the adoration of idols — the intimate of the Musalmiin, the friend of the Hindu, the companion of the Christian, the confidant of the Jew.' Here are some specimens from the chapter on women : 'A man both night and day must keep his wife so much in subjection that she by no means be mistress of her own actions. If the wife have her own free will, she will behave amiss. A woman must never go out of the house without the consent of her husband. She must never hold converse PROGRESS OF OUR INDIAN EMPIRE. 315 with a strange man. She must not stand at the door. She must never look out at the window. She must not eat till she has served her husband and his guests with food. She may, however, take physio before they eat. It is proper for a woman after her husband's death to burn herself in the fire with his corpse.' Warren Hastings wrote a letter to the Court of Di- rectors in 1775, commending this compilation to their attention. We must hear in mind that law, according to Hindu ideas, is part and parcel of divine revelation. It is promulgated by human lawgivers ; hut they are divinely inspired. Smriti rests on Sruti. These ideas had acquired the greatest intensity when Warren Hastings was laying the foundation of our Empire. All the utter- ances of Manu and the later lawyers were accepted as echoes of the voice of God. They were held to be in- fallible guides. They represented women as created inferior to men ; as born with evil dispositions ; as incapable of education ; as made worse by knowledge. Wives were divinely ordained to be the servants of their husbands. Their natures were too weak to stand upright, unsup- ported by the strongest safeguards. There was no security for their virtue but the absence of temptation. They were the absolute property of their husbands in death as well as life. Hence for a long time our Government felt that it would be dangerous to prohibit the practice of SatT. The Hindus believed it to be enjoined by inspired authority. Nor was it discovered till quite recently that modern Hindu lawyers, to obtain the highest sanction for their deliverances, had fraudulently substituted the word a^nek, ' of fire,' for offre, ' first,' at the end of a well-known Rig- veda text (x. 18. 7. See p. 73). In one year the number of widows burnt in Bengal alone was 839. In other years the average was 500. This after all is no very large num- ber when considered in relation to the density of the popu- lation. It proves, at any rate, that the custom was not universal. And what is the present position of women in India? 31 6 MODERN INDIA. A little study of the India Office Statistics reveals a condition of prostration which even the most sanguine might pronounce hopelessly irremediable. One hundred millions of women, supposed to be actual subjects of the British Empire, are, with few exceptions, sunk in absolute ignorance. They are unable to read a syllable of their mother-tongue, they are never taught the rules of life and health, the laws of God, or the most rudimentary truths of science. In fact a feeling exists in most Hindu families that a girl who has learnt to read and write, has committed a sin which is sure to bring down a judgment upon herself and her husband. She will probably have to atone for her crime by early widowhood. And to be a young widow is believed to be the greatest misfortune that can possibly befall her. Not indeed that an Indian woman's married life can be described as a blissful elysium. The women of India are victims of the worst form of social tyranny. They are allowed no voice in the selection of their own husbands. According to Dr. Hunter's Statistics (i. 56), infants are sometimes betrothed when but two or three months old. 'As soon as a daughter (of a particular tribe of Brahnians) is born, the father immediately looks out for a male child belon^'ing to a family equal in rank with himself. When he has succeeded in his search, and obtained the consent of its parents, he returns to his house, summons his relatives and neighbours to a feast, and solemnly afiErms before them that his daugh- ter is betrothed to such and such a man's babe. Nothing will induce him to break the oath which he thus takes.' This is exceptional. As a rule, girls are betrothed at three or four (a barber being sometimes the match-maker) and married at six or seven to boys of whom they know nothing. They are taken to their boy-husbands' homes at the age of ten or eleven. From that moment they lose their freedom and even their personality. They merge their individuality in the persons of their husbands. They may be loved, and they are rarely ill-used, as they too frequently are in Christian countries, but they are ignored PROGRESS OF OUR INDIAN EMPIRE, 317 as separate units in society. They never pronounce their husbands' names, and they are never directly alluded to by their husbands in conversation. For another person to mention their names or inquire after their health would be a gross breach of etiquette. They never appear unveiled before their husbands in the presence of a third person. They often become mothers at eleven or twelve. Their life is then spent in petty household duties, in cooking for their familiesj in gossiping with female friends, in arranging the marriages of their children, in domestic jealousies and envyings, in a thousand foolish frivolities, in a wearisome round of burdensome religious ceremonies imposed by exacting priests. Add to this that the upper classes are cooped up behind Pardahs or in the stagnant atmosphere of Zananas. There they are prisoners in apartments set apart for their exclusive occupation. They have no opportunity of listening to the intellectual conversation of educated men. They are shut out from every wholesome influence, and debarred from every healthy occupation likely to con- duce to the improvement of their physical condition, or to their social, moral, and intellectual elevation. They be- come enfeebled in mind and worn out in body at a period of life when European women have barely reached their prime. They are neither fit for independence, nor have they any desire for it. And what of the young widows ? If a young wife has no individuality apart from her husband, a young widow has practically no existence. It is true that our law has prohibited a widow from being burnt with her dead hus- band. It is true, too, that an old widow is cared for by her children if she has remained a wife long enough to have a large family. She is even more than cared for. Every mother in India is an object of veneration to her offspring. As a wife she may be nothing. But as a mother, even though a widow, she is all in all to her children. It is only a young widow or a childless widow who is regarded as worse than dead. But nearly every 3 1 8 MO DERN INDIA . household possesses a widow of this kind. Such a widow belongs for ever to her dead husband. A widower may marry again, but a widow never. She is made a household drudge. She is expected to get up at four a.m. before the servants of the family. No one will supply her with water. She must go to the well and fetch water for herself. It is unlucky to meet her. She is supposed to be in eternal mourning for her deceased lord, though she may never have seen him except at her child- wedding. She must practise a perpetual fast, and only eat one meal a day. If her young husband had acquired property of his own before his death and the household is still undivided, all such pro- perty is taken by her brothers-in-law. She retains nothing but her ornaments, which she must on no account wear. She is told that she cannot have food given to her till she has ' eaten her jewels.' In other words, she is expected to sell her ornaments to prevent herself from starving. In short, she suffers a living death, and would often cheeriully give herself up to be burnt, if the law would allow her. Of course, there are exceptions to all this. In some parts of India— as for instance in the Maratha country — women of all classes are more independent, and assert themselves with more boldness. There is also a bright side to the picture of female life and character. Hindu women must be allowed full credit for their strict discharge of household duties, for their per- sonal cleanliness, thrift, activity, and practical fidelity to the doctrines and precepts of their religion. They are generally loved by their husbands, and are never brutally treated. A wife-beating drunkard is unknown in India. In return, Indian wives and mothers are devoted to their families. I have often seen wives in the act of circum- ambulating the sacred Tulsl plant 1 08 times, with the sole object of bringing down a blessing on their husband and children. In no other country in the world are iamily affection and reverence for parents so conspicuously ope- rative as in India. In many households the first morning PROGRESS OF OUR INDIAN EMPIRE. 319 duty of a child on rising from sleep is to lay his head on his mother's feet in token of filial obedience. Nor could there be a greater mistake than to suppose that Indian women are without influence. If there is any one thing that would lead a thoughtful person to despair of the regeneration of India, it is that female influence is as strong there as in other countries. For it must not be forgotten that the word family in India means much more than in England. An Indian family does not merely consist of husband, wife, and children. The universal prevalence of early marriages leads to an indefinite en- largement of the family circle. It is said that a Hindu family sometimes consists of a hundred members, including great-grandfather and great-grandchildren. Anarchy is prevented and harmony maintained by vesting supreme authority in the hands of the oldest member, whether male or female. A father often has no voice in the management of his own children. A grandmother or great-grandmother may be omnipotent. Unhappily her infiuence is generally exerted on the side of ignorance and error. Even in small families the women are powerful for harm. They mould the character of the younger children. They are often adepts in artifice and stratagem. They know how to hide their power over husbands and brothers under the guise of a simulated submission. To them is mainly due the main- tenance of superstition and idolatry. The men would willingly emancipate themselves from the tyranny of caste, from the despotism of Brahman priests, and from the bondage of senseless religious forms and absurd religious creeds, but they are prevented by female influence. Many an educated Indian is as bold as Luther in his public character, but sinks to the condition of a timid, priest- ridden, caste-ridden, wife-ridden imbecile in private life. He is a lion out of doors, but a lamb at home. He is cowed and crestfallen in the presence of the women of his family. In some Native States women secretly pull all the wires 320 MODERN INDIA. of Government with consummate craftiness and ability. Great Britain itself is scarcely so opposed to a Saliqne regime as some Indian Principalities. 'Women not only reign, they are the real rulers and administrators. Even comparatively young widows have often great authority, if, at least, they have gained much previous influence as mothers. In the same manner ordinary families are often practically subject to feminine jurisdiction. A single old widow will sometimes keep order among a number of sons and daughters-in-law all living together under one roof. Her household is like a magazine filled with the most in- flammable materials ; yet she knows how to allay outbreaks of jealousy, keep down rivalries, and calm down explosions of temper. Nor must it be supposed that the women of India are generally unhappy; that they regard themselves as slaves ; that they long for independence ; that they protest against seclusion; that they hanker after knowledge. They are too feeble-minded and apathetic to be conscious of de- gradation, too wedded to ancient customs to repine under absence of freedom or want of education. They esteem it an honour to wait on their husbands. The necessity for privacy, and the undesirability of a woman's learning let- ters, are ideas so intermingled with their earliest feelings — so interwoven with the whole texture of their moral being — that they have become cherished customs with the women themselves. They are more than customs : they are sacred religious obligations. So far from submitting to these restrictions from compulsion, no respectable woman would, as a rule, show herself freely in public, or allow herself to be taught reading and writing or any feminine accomplish- ment, even if permission were accorded to her. She has no conception of any benefit to be derived from a knowledge of letters, except for the promotion of female intrigue ; and she would prefer to be accused of murder than of learning to dance, sing, or play on any musical instrument. She loves ornaments, but she regards ignorance as her truest PJiOGR£SS OF OUR INDIAN EMPIRE. 321 decoration. She considers herself disgraced by sterility of body, but glories in sterility of mind. Education, music, and dancing are supposed to go together, and are to her badges of a life of infamy. When a sister is observed imitating a brother's first childish attempts at penman- ship, she is peremptorily ordered to desist, and that too by the women of the household. Is there, then, no remedy for this great social evil? Are we Englishmen, who are responsible for the welfare of our Indian Empire, and who derive so much of our own welfare from the purifying and elevating influence of our own home-life, chargeable with indifference to the condition of the women of India ? We have made, and are still making, strenuous efforts to bring some sort of education within reach of certain classes of the male population. What are we doing, and what have we ah-eady done, to supply India with its greatest need — good wives, good mothers, and well-ordered homes ? All that can be affirmed is that we have been engaged for more than half a century in feeling our way towards the desired end. In the case of male education the natives themselves have always, as we have seen, been ready to co-operate with us. Nay, they have eagerly seconded our efforts. Their own indigenous institutions have furnished a common stand- point for concerted action. The ground has been prepared and the way smoothed for the introduction of European knowledge. The same men who would have wasted their powers in elaborating ingenious word-puzzles in Sanskrit verse, or in trying to comprehend the incomprehensible abstractions of Sanskrit philosophy, have devoted them- selves to the acquisition of scientific truth, through the medium of English. But in the case of female education all the conditions have been reversed. No basis of common action has been found, no ground has been cleared, no open door has invited us to enter. Every avenue of approach has been barred and barricaded. The natives have been Y 322 MODERN INDIA. more than content to leave their women engulphed in the depths of profound ignorance. They have opposed every attempt at raising or enlightening them as an offence against religion and morality. Without doubt, any scheme of direct Government interference for the education of Indian women would have threatened the people with vast social changes. It would have contravened the sacred usages of the most obstinately conservative nation in the world. Wisely, then, has our Government proceeded in this matter with caution and circumspection. Something, indeed, has been effected by private efforts, by missionary operations, and even by indirect Government assistance. The first attempt to teach native girls in a regular school was made, I believe, by the worthy Dissenting missionary, Mr. May. He was the pioneer of lower female education, as he had already been of male. He opened a girls' school at Chinsurah, shortly before his own death in 1818, but it had so little success that its continuance was discoun- tenanced by our Government. In April, 18 19, other Baptist missionaries, wishing to commence an organized scheme of female education, circulated an appeal for help, in which it was stated that ' in the province of Bengal alone, at least ten thousand widows were annually sacri- ficed ; and thirty times a day a deed was repeated, which ought to call forth our tenderest pity.' Such an ex- aggeration was rather inexcusable, but it had the effect of rousing the .sympathies of a number of English ladies, who thereupon founded the Calcutta Female Juvenile So- ciety, for tlie education of native females. At the end of the first year the number of its scholars amounted to only eight. At the end of five years it reckoned a hundred and sixty pupils io six schools. In 1818, an institution called the ' School Society^ was founded at Calcutta. Its object was male education. But in the course of its preliminary inquiries into the educa- tional status of the people generally, it ascertained that PROGJiESS OF OUR INDIAN EMPIRE. 333 out of forty millions of Hindu females, not four hundred could read or write. When the appalling fact was known in England, the British and Foreign School Society se- lected Miss Cooke, afterwards Mrs. Wilson, and sent her to Calcutta in i8ai to prepare herself for the delicate task of opening a girls' school. She commenced opera- tions under the auspices of the Church Missionary Society in 1832, and on the 28th of January in that year, seven pupils assembled round her in one of the rooms of the School Society. In 1825, the number of scholars in various little day schools had increased to four hundred. But to bring the girls together it was necessary to employ a female messenger, who received a small gratuity from the Society for each child, and a breakfast of rice had to be given to each pupil, which the mother accepted as an equivalent for the loss of her child's services. In 1826, a wealthy Babu (Raja Baidanath Roy) came forward and gave .^''2,000 to promote female education by tlie erection of a central school in the heart of the native city, with a residence for the European female superintendent. Mrs. Wilson took possession of this building in i8a8, and here all her subsequent labours were concentrated. She was a noble -hearted, energetic woman, and her exertions were rewarded for a time with considerable success. Similar efforts were attended with partial success in other parts of India, notably in the Bombay Presidency, and in Bombay itself, where the ParsTs, who number about fifty thousand, were among the first to set an example of promoting female education. Their schools are to this day a model of good management, and are attended by nearly as many girls as boys, seven hundred and seventy girls being at this moment under instruction in three schools in the town of Bombay. As a rule, however, female education has not hitherto extended beyond the lowest of the population, while male education has not extended beyond the higher classes. None of the female children of respectable or high-caste Y 2 324 MODERN INDIA. natives are permitted to leave their houses. It has not hitherto been possible to reach the Zananas, or female apartments, of the better classes, except by a system of house to house visitation. This plan has been tried with some success in Benijal, and has been carried on here and there in the Bombay Presidency, and in other parts of India. But competent lady visitors are greatly needed. No lady is fit to undertake the arduous and delicate task, who is not thoroughly conversant, not only with the vernaculars, but with female miinners, female habits of thought, female phraseology, and even female 'slang' (zanana-boli). Something, too, has been done in the way of training native school-mistresses, especially under the auspices of the Church ^Missionary Society at the Sarah Tucker In- stitution, Palamcottah. I visited tliis institution in the beginning of 1877, and can testify to the reality of the work effected by its managers, Mr. and Mrs. Lash. They have successfully trained a large number of native female teachers, and established them at various centres in the Tinnevelly district. They have even succeeded in attracting high-caste girls to some of their best schools. It is clear, then, that a few energetic missionaries and a few philanthropic private individuals have been the pioneers of female education in India. It is clear, too, that the British Government for a long time purposely abstained from acting towards its female subjects as it acted towards the male. It refrained from any systematic establishment of girls' schools. It doubted the wisdom of direct interference with long-cherished social usages, and deep-seated religious prejudices. Lord Dalhousie was the first to commit the Government to a more active interest in the instruction of Indian women. In 1849 he ventured to announce that the British Government would encourage female education by its ' frank and cordial support.' And he was not a man of mere words. This great ruler boldly aided ex- PROGRESS OF OUR INDIAN EMPIRE. 335 isting girls' schools by considerable grants of money from tbe revenues of India, and took care to bestow honours on all founders of such schools. It was during his ad- ministration that the Bethune schools were established for the education of the daughters of the respectable citizens of Calcutta, and when the founder died, Lord Dalhoiisie himself defrayed the cost of supporting them out of his own pocket. Sir Charles Wood's great Education Despatch of 1854 only devoted one paragraph out of one hundred to the important subject of female education ; but it expressed concurrence in Lord Dalhousie's declaration. Paragraph 83 begins as follows: — * The importance of female education in India cannot be over-rated, and we have observed with pleasure the evidence which is now afforded of an increased desire on the part of many of the natives of India to give a good education to their daughters. By this means a far greater proportional impulse is imparted to the educational and moral tone of the people than by the education of men. We have already observed that schools for females are included among those to which grants in aid may be given, and we cannot refrain from expressing our cordial sympathy with the effoiis which are being made in this direction.' Here there is a clear promise of sympathy and of indirect support, but no allusion to direct Government action or interpositiou. Soon after the mutiny Lord Canning's Government declared that unless female schools were really supported by voluntary aid they had better not be established at all. In 1867 a circular was issued which practically admitted that Government had no desire to take the initiative in the case of girls' schools as it had done in that of boys, but was ready to encourage existing schools by grants in aid. Nevertheless it cannot be denied that some direct action was taken. In 1870 out of .^316,509 of public money spent on education in the whole Bengal Presidency a sum of ^1,173 was assigned to Government girls' schools, and .^4,462 to aided schools, chiefly in the North-west and 326 MODERN INDIA. Panjab. In Bombay out of ,^198,182 a sum of about ^4,000 was allotted to Government female scbools. In Madras not a single girls' school was directly maintained by our Government. In the year 1872 out of about 1, 100,000 children in Government and non-Government schools of all kinds, only fifty thousand were girls, and only tvvent5'-two thousand in Government schools. In 1873 there were only one thousand six hundred and forty girls' schools of all kinds in British India ; but an American lady had organized a system in Calcutta by which forty or fifty governesses taught native girls in their own homes. In 1875 there were about one thousand Government female schools, with about thirty-four thousand pupils, in all the eight Provinces under Governors, Lieutenant- Governors, and Commissioners. In some places and in some years there appears to have been a falling off rather than an increase. Thus, in 187a the Government female normal school at Cal- cutta was abandoned as a failure, and the Lieutenant- Governor was inclined to think it ' dangerous to give native women education and a certain freedom of action without the sanction of some religion.' In short, there is clearly as yet no constantly-increasing demand for either female teachers or female pupils. What demand really exists is generally confined to the low-caste population. Even those girls who are placed at schools are only half instructed, because they are removed to become wives at the age of ten or eleven. The gieat question then is : Ought our Government to make direct efibrts for female education in the same way as for male ? And is this a mere question of supply and demand ? And if there is no demand among the people of India, ought its rulers to create a demand? Ought they to force into existence what does not exist voluntarily ? In my opinion the demand ought to be created. But PROGRESS OF OUR INDIAN EMPIRE. 337 we ought to create it in the right way, and begin at the right end. We require to elevate and enlighten the men of India, before we can hope to elevate and enlighten the women. We require to raise up a whole generation — perhaps two or three generations — of really educated men — men, not only well instructed in scientific truth, but well imbued with moral and religious truth — with the spirit, if not with the letter of Christian teach- ing — and with European views on all social subjects. And to this end, we have not to denationalize the men of India : we have to strengthen and consolidate their own nationality. We have not to extinguish their own civilization : we have to refine and elevate it. We have not to sweep away their social institutions : we have to shape and mould them according to a higher pattern. We have not to erase every feature of their moral code : we have to expunge the bad and retain the good. We have not even to exterminate their religions : we have only to lay the axe to every root and fibre of error, and, after eradicating the false, to engraft the essential doc- trines of Christianity on pre-existing germs of truth. When we have thus elevated the condition of the men, the elevation of the women will follow as a matter of course. The men will themselves raise their own women. They will throw down the barriers which at present surround their homes. They will tear down their Par- dahs, pull down the shutters of their Zananas, throw open the doors of their inner apartments, invite us to enter in — entreat us to do for their wives and daughters what we have done for themselves. But how is this previous process of elevating and Chris- tianizing the men to be efiected? We must begin with the schools. Our Government has wisely decided to be neutral in religious teaching. We have abstained from imitating the conquering Musalman — from enforcing our religion by Government influence and authority. It would, indeed, be doubtful morality on our part to take money 328 MODERN INDIA. out of the pockets of native parents, and with it to pay teachers to teach the children of those parents a religion which they believe to be false. Nor under any circum- stances could a sufficient number of Christian teachers be found. But our neutrality need not, and should not, imply indifference and inaction in regard to moral teach- ing; nor even in regard to instruction in certain funda- mental truths common to all religions. The principles of true morality, be it remembered, are not confined to Christianity. They are to be found in Hinduism, in Buddhism, in Islam. Nay, I do not hesitate to affirm, that certain lines of rudimentary religion are discoverable in the texture of two of these false systems. I contend that a warp-like basis of truth is traceable in both Hinduism and Islam, though concealed by a thick woof of error and delusion. The fundamental threads of God's attri- butes and perfections, of His wisdom, goodness, omni- ]iotence, and love for His creatures — of His indwelling as a guide and monitor in the human conscience — of man's duty towards Him as his ]Maker, and of man's duty towards his fellow-creatures — are all there, and ought to be carefully preserved. Even some essential threads of Christian doctrine (such as the Unity and separate per- sonality of God, man's original corruption, the need of purity of heart, the uselessness of external forms) are there, and ought to be thankfully made use of, while every cross-thread of falsehood, superstition, and fatuous delusion is ruthlessly torn away. Nor are the sacred scrip- tures of India \\ holly destitute of true teaching in regard to the principles of domestic economy and social science. My conviction is that we are bound to search for, and utilize educationally, every true idea in Hinduism, Buddh- ism, and Islam. And just as we have endeavoured to ground our system of literary instruction on inherent literary tendencies, and inherited literary knowledge already ex- isting among Hindus and Muslims, so we should ground our moral and religious teaching on their inherent moral PJiOGRESS OF OUR INDIAN EMPIRE. 329 and religions tendencies, and such inherited rudimentary truth as their own scriptures contain. We should collect their best moral, social, and religious precepts, separating them from everything false. We should teach them in conjunction with scientific truth in our Government schools. In this way we shall best prepare our Indian school-boys for a voluntary acceptance of Christian truth when their judgments are matured. And more than this. We should strive to develop our youthful Indian physically as well as mentally, morally, and religiously. We should endeavour to introduce some- thing of our public-school manliness of tone into Indian seminaries. We should aim at educating the whole man in his quadruple constitution of body, mind, soul, and spirit. In a word, we should convert our ' Directors of public instruction,' who are generally able and efficient officers, into ' Directors of public education.' And when we have formed our real man, whether Hindu or Muhammadan, we should admit him to our homes. Having destroyed his caste-feelings, we should give up our own caste-feelings. We should receive our educated Hindu and Muhammadan on terms of social equality. In no other way, and by no other process, can we hope to reach the women of India. The really educated and enlightened native who has been freely admitted to an English home, will return to his Indian home penetrated by the conviction that, if he would assist in raising his country, he must begin by raising his own household. He will accept the Chris- tian truth that woman was created to be a help-meet for man. He will enter into the meaning of the Christian allegory that, when God formed woman, she was taken out of man's side to be his coadjutor ; not out of his head, to be his intellectual rival ; not out of his feet, to be trodden down and kept in subjection. He will educate his daughters, and keep them under education till they are eighteen years of age. He will on no account allow 2^o MODERN INDIA. them to become wives and mothers till their bodily and mental powers are matured. He will aim at educating them up to the English poet's standard of an ideal wife — ' A perfect woman, nobly planned, To warn, to comfort, and command.* He will permit them to choose their own husbands. He will open his house-doors to every refined and educated guest of whatever caste. He will expose the inner life of his own family to the fresh air of God's day. He will endeavour to mould his household after the fashion of a pure, healthy, well-ordered Christian home, whose in- fluences leven the life of each of its members from the cradle to the grave. I have left myself little space for two other tests of national progress to which I ought to advert, however briefly. One of these is the improvement in means of communication. I can bear testimony to the present ex- cellence of the roads in various parts of India. I travelled over some which were as smooth and hard as a billiard- table, and unequalled by anything I have seen in Europe. On the other hand, my whole frame seems still to ache at the bare recollection of the joltings I endured in less frequented places. One of my contemporaries at Hailey- bury, Mr. Cust, has favoured me with a few notes of his journey from Calcutta to Delhi in 1843. He hired a palanquin in Calcutta, and set out in the cool of a January evening. Borne on the shoulders of coolies, and travelling all night and for a greater part of each day, he was five daj's in reaching Benares. The journey thence to Alla- habad took another whole day. At Allahabad his palan- quin was placed on a truck, and drawn by horses to Cawnpore. Thence to Agra and Delhi the palanquin was borne in the usual way by coolies. Travelling in this manner without a single day's rest, he was a month in reaching Delhi from Calcutta. The only line of car- riage-road was between Allahabad and Cawnpore, and in no other part of the route were the streams bridged. PROGRESS OF OUR INDIAN EMPIRE. 331 The year 1845 witnessed the introduction of what was called an equirotal carriage. A palanquin was fitted to four equal wheels^ and pushed by coolies. This was a proof of a great advance in the metalling of roads. Then followed the comparative luxury of the Dak ghari. These carriages wei'e drawn by relays of Government post-horses, on what became at last the great trunk road traversing the entire country between Calcutta and Delhi. The jaded and dust- smothered traveller emerged half-stupefied at the end of his journey with the rattle of a ten days' continuous roll concentrated in the orifice of his ears. The Dak system of travelling was not perfected till about the year 1852. The turning of the first sod of the first railway line in India took place in 185 1. In that year the East India Railway was commenced, and in September, 1854, a dis- tance of thirty-seven miles was opened for traffic. In February, 1855, the line was opened as far as RanTganj, a distance of 121 miles, and about ten years later as far as Delhi. The line between Bombay and Madras was com- pleted on the 1st of May, 1871. The total mileage open on all Indian railways in 1866 was 3,472, and the number of passengers carried in the year was nearly thirteen mil- lions. Ten years later, in 1875, the mileage open was 6,352, and the number of passengers carried nearly twenty- seven millions. The late Lord Lawrence once told me that when he first went out to India he was allowed six months to find his way from Calcutta to Delhi. The journey may now be performed in forty-four hours. One of the most remark- able sights in India is afforded by the throng of natives of all castes, and conditions at the principal railway sta- tions. The popularity of this mode of travelling, with people who are supposed to dread indiscriminate contact with each other, is astonishing. About thirty years ago, when the expediency of introducing railroads into India was first talked about, a great authority, Professor H. H. Wilson, expressed an opinion that they were quite unsuited 333 MODERN INDIA. to the liabits of the natives, and that the rules of caste would prevent their being much used. What is the fact? To every solitary European lolling' at full length amid rugs and cushions in a first-class compartment, hundreds of natives will be found jammed together in the third-class carriages. Crowds alight at every small town, and crowds are ready to take their place. No one can doubt that rail- ways are among the greatest boons our rule has conferred on the country. Next to railways come canals. But in ladia, as in Europe, the day of canals as effective lines of way and transit is over. No canals can ever be as effective as rail- ways in Conveying passengers or merchandise, or in trans- porting the surplus produce of a fertile province to remote districts whose crops are liable to fail in regularly recur- ring seasons. Besides, Indian canals have not sufficient water to serve for both navigation and irrigation. It is for purposes of irrigation that they are of inealculalile im- portance. In times of severe drought, tanks and wells Vjecome dry, while canals are supplied with a perpetual stream of running water from mountain springs. Where- ever it is physically and geographically possible to con- struct canals without ruinous outlay, and with some prospect of a return for the capital expended, there, with- out doubt, no amount of public money is likely to be thrown away in their construction. Nor has our Govern- ment been as unmindful of its duty in this matter as some critics have lately alleged. The Ganges canal — the greatest irrigation work ever constructed — is entirely the creation of British engineers. It was commenced in 1846, and opened by Lord Dalhousie in 1854. I heard natives complain that this canal has brought fever to previously healthy localities ; and I believe that whenever a canal is constructed, drainage should be carried on simultaneously, to prevent the adjacent soil from becoming swampy and waterlogged. Other gigantic works have been undertaken in the basin PHOGJiSSS OF OUR INDIAN EMPIRE. 333 of the Ganges, as well as in that of the Indus, and in the portion of Orissa watered by the deltas of the Maha-nadi, BrahmanT, and Baitarani rivers. While I was traversing the famine districts in 1876 and 1877, I witnessed a mar- vellous contrast in the regions fertilized by the grand system of irrigation which stretches between the Godavari, Kistna, and Kaveri rivers, and the vast tracts of arid wastes where no streams penetrate. Let no one doubt the good effected by the energetic and enthusiastic Sir Arthur Cotton. No country in the world is so rich in running water as India. Any one who has observed with his own eyes what the country owes to its rivers, will not be surprised at their being deified by a people who connect every advant- age they enjoy with direct divine agency. No wonder that the rain-god Indra — for ever battling with the demon of drought and darkness — is the chief god of the Rig-veda. No wonder that the Ganges is believed to have its source in the foot of Vishnu ; that its waters are believed to de- scend from heaven, cleansing from all sin ; that its very sight is supposed to confer beatitude ; and that every river of India is personified and worshipped by those who derive their wealth, their food, their health, their life from the beneficent influences of flowing streams. No wonder, too, that the people of England are asking with some impatience : why is a single drop of this precious liquid allowed to find its way into the ocean ? Without doubt, more might be done in storing up these fertilizing waters. Tanks and wells ought not to be suf- fered to fall into decay. It might even be possible, say some, by means of anicuts to intercept the onward flow of streams, and diffuse every particle of liquid by a network of small channels and feeders over every tract of arid country. But such admirable theorists forget that the dry regions of India are often on table-land, and that no engineer can make water flow up hill. Nor can even the most skilful cope with the vagaries of mighty unmanage- 334 MODERN INDIA. able rivers, which at one season roll down millions of tons of water with ungovernable fury, at another shift their channels, and shrink to tiny rills at the bottom of immense beds of burning' sands. Happily, the prevention of famines does not depend on anicuts and canals alone. Eailroads have already done much, and will hereafter do more. After all, perhaps, the best remedy lies in the improvement of the condition of the people. One important result of improved means of communi- cation is an increase in postal facilities. Letters are now delivered in every village of India. In 1866, sixty-one millions of letti'rs, newspapers, and packets passed the various post-offices. In 1875 the number had risen to more than one hundred and sixteen millions. With regard to steam communication between England and India, most middle-aged people can remember that Mr. Waghorn was the pioneer of what was called the Overland Route. He was employed in this capacity by the Bengal Steam Committee between 1827 and 1835. No man ever deserved more credit, and ever received less, for successfully battling with every kind of difficulty and discouragement. A steamer called the Hugh Lindsay was the first to accomplish the voyage between Bombay and Suez. Every arrangement connected with its equipment and navigation was organized by Mr. Waghorn. She succeeded in passing up and down the Red Sea six times between 1830 and 1835 without encounleiing any accident, notwithstanding numerous dangers from unknown rocks and reefs. Her shortest run between Bombay and Suez was in thirty-one days and a half. The next steamer, called the Forbes, took sixty-nine days in the voyage from Calcutta to Suez. This vessel broke down after her first voyage. TLie first P. and O. steamer to reach India was the Ilindustdn. She sailed round the Cape towards the end of 1S42, landed passengers at Calcutta, and thence proceeded to Suez, whence she returned to Calcutta at the PROGRESS OF OUR INDIAN EMPIRE. 335 beginning of 1843, taking about six weeks to accomplish the latter run. A mail service was also established be- tween Suez and Bombay, but was worked for some time by steamers of the Indian navy. Since then, facilities of steam transit between England and India have steadily advanced every year, and the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, has converted the dreaded voyage from Southampton to Bombay into a pleasurable trip of twenty-six and even sometimes twenty-five days, while that from London via Brindisi is often effected in nineteen days. I cannot conclude my sketch of Indian progress without touching on the important subject of finance. Of course the crucial test of a well-managed State, as of a well- ordered household, is its financial condition. Do those who administer its afl^airs make both ends meet ? Is the expense of governing the country covered by the revenue it can be made to yield ? Is there any surplus capable of being laid out either in clearing off" debt, or in diminishing the burdens of the people, or in public works of national utility ? or is there a deficit making it constantly neces- sary to borrow money ? The capital expended by the East India Company in establishing itself in India was nominally six millions sterling, the interest for which (^650,000) had to be paid out of its Indian income. It was agreed that in consider- ation of the successful issue of a great commercial specula- tion, the shareholders were to have their principal reckoned as if doubled, making .^13,000,000 of East India Stock. In addition to this, under Clive, the first conqueror of Indian territory, money had to be borrowed to the amount of about two millions. In the ten years from 1775 to 1785, we spent a great deal in extending our territory, and the debt increased to about eight millions sterling. War- ren Hastings left a considerable revenue and surplus. For Bengal alone the income was nearly five and a-half mil- lions ; expenditure, nearly four and a-half millions ; sur- plus, about one million sterling. Under Lords Cornwallis 336 MODERN INDIA. and Teignmouth the debt did not increase. Expensive wars were carried on by the Marquis Wellesley (1798- 1805), and with great extension of territory in 1805, came an augmentation of the debt to about twenty-five and a-half millions. Lord William Bentinck's administration (1828-35) was one of peace and prosperity. He conciliated the natives, abolished Sati, put down the Thugs, encouraged European education, and converted a deficit into a surplus of nearly one and a-half millions. Then came the Afghan war under Lord Auckland, the conquest of Sindh under Lord Ellenborough, the two Sikh wars, and of course a consequent augmentation of the debt. Lord Dalhousie's administration was marked by the greatest vigour and activity. He is said to have doubled the area of our Indian possessions. Besides conquering the Panjab, and establishing our supremacy from Cape Comorin to the Himalayas, he undertook a second Burmese war, and annexed Pegu (British Burmah). Then came the annexation of Nagpur and the Central Provinces in 1853, and that of Oudh and Tanjor in 1856. Our progress was too rapid. Our debt nearly doubled itself and reached about fi^fty millions. A reaction became inevitable. Lord Canning succeeded in 1856, and found much ex- citement prevailing among the native populations. Mali- cious agitators spread a rumour that all India was to be forcibly Anglicized. The English language was to be everywhere imposed on the country ; religious prejudices were no longer to be respected ; the Enfield cartridges were to be greased with the fat of cows and pigs ; caste was to be summarily put down, and the Bengal army to be en- listed for general service. This agitation led to the mutiny of 1857, but the stabilit)- of our Empire was never really endangered. The mass of the people were unaffected by the Sepoy rebellion, and, when it was suppressed, the PJiOGRESS OF OUR INDIAN EMPIRE. 337 country settled down into immediate tranquillity, as if nothing had occurred. As a matter of course, however, our debt and obligations went on increasing rather alarmingly. We have not space to follow out all the statistics. Let it suffice to note that repeated wars, annexations of terri- tory, and famines, have caused repeated borrowings, and the return for 1875 gives no less a sum for our Indian debt than .^''130,493,284. The gross revenue for that year is returned at .^^50,570,171 ; the expenditure at ^54,500,545 ; the deficit jf 3,930,3 74. Of that income .^21,296,793 came from land, .^6,227,301 from salt, and ^8,556,629 from opium. Nearly eight and a half mil- lions were produced by Excise, Customs, and Stamps. These are the six principal sources of Indian revenue. The income for the year ending on the 31st March, 1877, was ,^■'56,022,277 ; the expenditure .^'58,205,055 ; deficit i^2,i 82,778. For the year which closed at the end of March, 1878, the revenue was expected to be .^56,310,900. During the year 1876-77 about ten millions were spent on the moral and material improvement of the country — on education and public works of all kinds. No one can say that this sum, large as it is, was not well expended. Dr. Forbes Watson has shown that a gigantic trade has sprung up in articles formerly of small importance ; for example, in grain, cotton, jute, wool, tea, and coffee. The exports of tea in 1857 were equal to 121,000 lbs., in 1877 to 2,607,000 lbs. With these figures before us we may well ask ourselves the question : How is it that India — a country possessing unusual natural defences, vast internal resources, a perfect network of rivers, rich alluvial plains, a population easily governed because incapable of political combination, and, as a rule, singularly industrious, submissive, docile, peace- able, and law-abiding — is not able to pay the expense of its administration ? The Muhammadan Emperors were conquerors like our- z 338 MODERN INDIA. selves, yet under them the Empire generally had a full treasury, spent a good deal on public works, and never contracted debts. How is this remarkable fact to be ex- plained ? It is obvious that imperial crowns, military pomp, princely palaces, gilded halls, a full treasury, and even good roads, railways, telegraphs, and canals, may all consist with abject penury, wretchedness, and degradation in the mass of the people. The Emperor Akbar aimed at governing for the good of his subjects, but even under his administration the con- dition of the ryot was one of utter destitution. A yawning chasm separated the palace and the mud hovels of the cultivators. No intermediate links existed, by help of which the gulf might be bridged over. Under his suc- cessors the peasantry were ground down. The whole revenue system became corrupt. There was no idea of a reciprocity of duties between the governors and the go- verned. Nor did the Muhammadan Emperors permit, as we do, rich native states and principalities, possessing fertile tracts of soil, to enjoy the full revenue of their lands, and yet benefit by the general order and security maintained at the cost of the districts subject to imperial taxation. Perhaps, some may contend that the condition of the peasantry under our rule is not one whit better. For my own part, after travelling over a great part of India I arrived at the conviction that there is more general com- fort and happiness among the people than in any other country of the world. Certa,inly the peasantry are poor, but their condition under our administration has improved beyond all expectation during the last thirty j^ears. It must, of course, be borne in mind that the wants of the natives of India are few. They never require more than two good meals a day. But not a single person (except in times of famine) ever has less. Nor is any one without a hut to shelter him at night. A labourer may not earn more than threepence a day, but he may purchase two PROGRESS OF OUR INDIAN EMPIRE. 339 pounds of nourishing grain for about a halfpenny. In Orissa the family of a husbandman, consisting of six per- sons, would be considered in good circumstances if able to spend sixteen shillings a month in food, and would con- sume every day ten pounds of rice valued at fourpence, vegetables, split peas, and fish, to the value of three farthings, oil and spice to the value of three farthings — in all fivepence halfpenny (Hunter's Statistics, xix. 93). With wants so easily satisfied it is difficult to make out cases of destitution when the seasons are propitious. It is true that the cultivators of the soil, who constitute at least three-fourths of the whole population — instead of one-fourth as in Europe — are generally improvident. They live from hand to mouth. They have no reserve fund to fall back upon in times of scarcity, and, if able in any one year to save money, are prone to squander it in marriage- feasts, in caste entertainments, in jewelry, and personal decorations. It is true, too, that the financial condition of the country cannot at present be considered satisfactory. Famines are periodical. Deficits recur annually, and the public debt increases. What, then, is the remedy ? Is more to be extracted out of a people already taxed to the utmost limit of their capabilities ? Can more be wrung out of the three principal sources of revenue — land, salt, and opium ? The slight turn of the screw to which the salt-tiix has been recently subjected will weigh, like an additional incubus, on the poor, while the rich are left unaffected. As to opium, a feeling in England seems to be gaining ground — not that it ought to yield more — but that this source of revenue ought to be wholly abolished. The Government is constantly reproached for sending poison to the Chinese. Let the finances of India be ruined, say these conscientious critics, rather than prop them up by an in- iquitous traffic. Can it be right for our Government to degrade itself by dealing wholesale in a poisonous drug which it also produces and manufactures ? On the other z 2 340 MODERN TNDIA. hand, the defenders of opium have plenty to say for them- selves. Opium, in moderation, say they, is no more poisonous than spirituous liquor. In some parts of Assam, as well as in China, occasional doses are positively needed for the preservation of health. At any rate to abolish the distillation of spirits in Great Britain would be easier and involve a far less financial catastrophe. Besides, it is cer- tain thatj if our Government, yielding to the outcry, were to give up the opium monopoly, they would save their credit at the expense of both consumers and cultivators. The Chinese would certainly be more poisoned under a system of free trade, and the cultivators would probably be oppressed. At present we regulate both the strength and purity of the drug — we make advances to the ryots and treat them justly. I believe it is admitted on all hands that a system of excise in opium would be preferable to direct Government traffic. Excise has been already sub- stituted in the case of salt. But how should we provide for the interval of transition ? The revenue would collapse during the period needed for private companies ,to take up a vast concern involving complicated arrangements and an enormous outlay of capital. It is clear that the abolition of what is styled an ini- quitous traffic is easier to talk about than to carry into execution. It is equally clear, however, that our hungry Indian finance-ministers cannot expect to grow fatter on opium any more than on salt. There remains the piece cle resist- ance — land. One of the great questions of Indian admin- istration is : Do the rulers of India own the land ? High authorities, like Lord Lawrence and Sir Fitzjames Stephen, deny that they do. What the Government claims, say they, is what all previous Governments have claimed — not any proprietary right in the soil, but the first charge on the crops. The people are the real owners of the soil. It was the object of Lord Cornwallis' permanent settlement to protect and create private property in land, and en- PROGRESS OF OUR INDIAN EMPIRE. 341 courage the outlay of capital for its improvemeat by fixing the Government demand in perpetuity. That this policy was wise is as certain as that it was badly carried out in Bengal, where a number of persons called Zamindars or landholders, who were not the real landowners, were con- verted into proprietors and allowed to reap all the benefits of a far too liberal assessment. It is well known that the Zamlndai's show no pity to their tenants. The last anna is extorted from the impoverished ryot ; the Government is deprived of about half its due, and the money so gained is squandered. No part of it is spent on improvements. Unhappily the bad application of a good principle in Bengal has prevented its wise application elsewhere. On the annexation of new territories we have generally fixed the assessment for a term of thirty years, and as favour- ably as possible to the cultivators. At the end of the term the land has been revalued, and a fresh assessment made. At present (as I am told by Sir William Muir) the rule in the North-west is that, if the gross produce of a piece of land is worth, say, Rs. 104 or 105, four or five rupees are taken for what are called cesses — that is, extra charges on the land for road-making, police, education, &c. — and one-half of the remainder, or Rs. 50, for the Government demand. It is admitted that if a landholder by skill, industry, and the employment of capital, improves the productive qualities of his holding, the Government, which does not take part in the industry or improvements, has no right to share in the increased value of the pro- duce. The tax can only be justly augmented on general considerations, such as an advance in the prosperity of a country caused by roads, railroads, canals, and new mar- kets. As a matter of fact, however, the fear of fresh microscopic revaluations at the end of periods of thirty years paralyses the productive energies of the people. Wells are filled up, land is allowed to deteriorate, and various expedients for its depreciation are resorted to when a fresh assessment is impending. 342 MODERN INDIA. In the opinion of those who know India best, a more moderate Government charge on the produce of the soil — not necessarily uniform, but adjusted to suit the circum- stances of particular provinces — would in the end improve the financial condition of our Indian Empire. Our truest wisdom, it is thought, would be to encourage the outlay of capital on lands already under cultivation, and to attract capital towards those vast potential sources of revenue latent in lands not yet brought under culture, or not yet thoroughly cultivated. We can only effect this by securing fixity of tenure — by closing the account and fixing the assessment permanently when a district has been cultivated to the fullest extent. In this v^ay we shall create a class of well-to-do contented landed proprietors, whose increased wants will help to fill the State treasury, and whose in- terest in the soil wUl be the best guarantee for the main- tenance of our rule. Nothing will tend more to conciliate the people, to consolidate our empire, and make our revenue balance our expenditure. The extraordinary pro- gress of the country during the last thirty years proves that India, with all her supj)Osed immobility, is capable of rapid expansion, and responds instantaneously to the efforts of those who strive to develop her resources. Her potential income is beyond all calculation. If we educate the cultivators of the soil to be self-reliant and provident, to keep out of the clutches of the money-lender, to invest their savings wisely, and accumulate a reserve against times of scarcity, part of their growing wealth will as surely find its way into the coffers of the State, as run- ning water flows into the sea. This is the true remedy for our present financial difficulties. Nevertheless, in the ap- plication of this, as of all other Indian remedies, there is need of cautious progress, slow haste, and a wise consider- ation of varying cunditions, circumstances, and interests. PROMOTION OF GOODWILL AND SYMPATHY BETWEEN ENGLAND AND INDIA. Any remarks on the best method of promotmg goodwill between England and India may appear at the present moment 1 somewhat ill-timed. Two nations in the East of Europe have been locked together for the last few months in a deadly embrace. Their struggle has been marked by worse incidents of savagery than ever dis- graced the world's first periods of primeval barbarism. Raging passions have been let loose. A portion of this fair Europe of ours — the boasted home of true Christianity — has been converted into a scene of deplorable atrocities. We Englishmen, who have happily played no part in the dreadful tragedy, have nevertheless watched with a kind of fascination the ebb and flow of the blood-stained tide of war. We have allowed our minds to be en- grossed with graphic narratives of military evolutions ; — our thoughts to run on fortresses and sieges ; — our curiosity to be directed towards the effectiveness of terrible instru- ments of destruction, Krupp guns, breech-loaders and torpedoes ; — our imaginations to be excited by the horrors of the battle-field, by images of dead and dying soldiers, mangled bodies and stiffened corpses ; — our hearts to be torn by tales of inhuman cruelty, borne with superhuman resignation. ' This was delivered as an address at a Mepting of the National Indian Association, held, December 12th, 1877, at the Langham Hall, London, th? Earl of Northbrook in the Chair. Peace had not then been concluded between Eussia and Turkey. 344 MODERN INDIA. At such a time, I may be told, it would be more appro- priate to discuss the best means of restoring peace and promoting goodwill between the two nations engaged in mortal strife. Or supposing it to be admitted that the exciting tragedy of the present war ought not to en- gross our attention to the exclusion of other interests, still I may be confronted, at the outset of my remarks, with a very natural enquiry ; — Is this a suitable moment to plead for the display of more sympathy between the people of England and the people of India? England has just given a conspicuous proof of her pro- found sympathy with her Indian brethren. She has volun- tarily subscribed more than half a million sterling in a few months for the relief of the famine- stricken population, and in India itself every member of our Government — from the Viceroy downwards — has displayed the most self- sacrificing zeal and energy in efforts to prevent death and alleviate suffering. All this is of course true. And yet, I am persuaded, there is no one in this room with any experience derived from actual residence in India, who will regard an address on the subject which constitutes the very raison d'etre of the National Indian Association, as either out of place or out of time at a season like this. The sympathy of the English people has indeed been evoked by a terrible calamity. And deep down in the lowest depths of the great British heart there is always a spring of true sympathy ready to gush forth and flow at the cry of suffering, whether towards wounded Turksj mutilated Russians, or famine-driven, fever-stricken Indians. If it is a sad reflection that war and famine are never likely to cease out of the land, there is at least some comfort in the thought that the battle-fields of Europe and the famine-desolated fields of India are never likely to be cut off from the healing, quickening influences of the perennial stream of English sympathy and English charity. Let me, however, remind my hearers that there is yet PROMOTION OF GOODWILL. 345 another field, which, though it gives forth no hurtling sound of shot or shell, no piercing cry of wounded soldiers or famished peasantry, is not the less a field of conflict, of suffering, of loss and gain, of defeat and victory. I mean the battle-ground of daily life and daily work — with its fightings within and its fears without, its grap- plings with duties, its wrestlings with temptations, its struggles with opposing forces, wills and interests. It is on this arena that the people of England and the people of India are brought together, not as enemies fighting for the victory over each other, but as fellow-soldiers striving together for the mastery over every form of evil ; as fellow-subjects yielding allegiance to the same sovereign; as fellow-men and brethren, members of the great human family, owing love and sympathy and tender consideration towards each other. And is not mutual sympathy needed by all who meet together as fellow -labourers on this common working- ground of daily duties and monotonous occupations — needed all the more because too frequently believed to be uncalled for and superfluous? Is it not needed by mem- bers of the same household, however nearly drawn together by bonds of family relationship ? Is it not needed by people of the same country, however closely bound to- gether by ties of social union and interest? Much more then is it needed by two peoples of two widely different countries, thrown by the force of circumstances into in- timate political association, though separated from each other as far as the East is from the West by diversities of language, religion, customs, habits of thought, and social institutions. What then are the best means of promoting this much- to-be-desired goodwill and sympathy between the people of England and the people of India ? This is the question I have set myself to answer in the present lecture, and the answer is not difficult. I have nothing new to suggest, no special nostrum, no wonder-working panacea of my own 34<5 MODERN INDIA. to proclaim, no startling discovery to announce. I can only insist on principles well known to every one around me ; I can add nothing to the trite truisms already familiar to all of us. How are goodwill and sympathy promoted between any collection of individuals of widely different characters who have to live in daily intercourse with each other ? They must learn mutual forbearance, they must consider one another to provoke unto little acts of kind- ness — little abstinences and wise reticences — they must be charitable in judging of each other, in making allow- ance for each other's infirmities, in thinking no evil of each other, in bearing, believingj hoping and enduring all things. In a word, they must cultivate mutual charity. Are, then, the people of England and the people of India wanting in this most excellent gift of mutual charity ? Let Indians look into their own hearts, and examine their own consciences. My business as an Eng- lishman is to enquire particularly into our own short- comings. The question is one which cannot be lightly set aside. For if we are wanting in common charity, — including, of course, in that term the exercise of kindly feelings towards the people committed to our rule, — then it is clear that all our doing's in India are nothing worth. We may make laws, administer justice, preach the Gospel, educate the people, lay down railroads, telegraphs, and telephones, develope the resources of the country, tame and control the forces of Nature for the public weal, — nay, more, we may bestow all our goods to feed the famine-stricken poor, — but our rule will not be rooted in the hearts of the people, our legislation will be as hollow as sounding brass, our preaching and teaching as unmeaning as the tinkling of a cymbal, our Empire as insecure as a tower built on sand, which some great storm will suddenly sweep away. Now I am not here to look at the black side of any- thing, not even of my own character as an Englishman. PROMOTION OF GOODWILL. 347 I believe there is no nation in the world so abounding in true charity as the great British nation?" I appeal to obstinate facts. I appeal to stubborn statistics. Never- theless, without agreeing with those who consider it their privilege as Englishmen to be ever finding fault with themselves, I desire to face the plain truth. I am ready for my own part to confess that we are not all of us as charitable as we ought to be in our everyday ordinary relations with our Indian brethren, — not as fair as we ought to be in our judgment of their character, our es- timate of their capacities, our toleration of their idio- syneracies, our appreciation of what is excellent in their literature, customs, religions and philosophies. And I am persuaded that both our want of charity and our want of sympathy proceed from ^o innate incapacity for charitable and sympathetic feelings, which are always ready to show themselves on great occasions; nor from any real want of fairness, which is usually a conspicuous feature in our national character, but simply and solely from our in- sufficient knowledge of India, its people and its needs. To put the matter plainly, we are only unsympathetic and uncharitable when we are ignorant. Certain Hindu philosophers assert that all the pheno- mena of the universe are caused by ignorance. We can- not, however, quite go with the Vedantist to the length of affirming that this beautiful world, this wonderful city of London, this fine Hall ;md everything good in it owe their origin to ignorance. But thus much, I think, we may allow, that all sin and misery, all war and enmity, all evils great or small that mar the fairness of God's earth — doublings, difficulties, jealousies, misunderstand- ings, envyings, wrath, seditions, heresies, — all these are rooted in ignorance, and in ignorance alone. And is it not the case that we Englishmen often go to India with minds more ignorant than they ought to be of India's condition and India's needs ? Sometimes, I fear, we do not even know enough to know that we do not know. 348 MODERN INDIA. and when we commence work on Indian soil, the pressure of necessary duties makes the task of acquiring any thorough knowledge of the country and its people very difficult of accomplishment. Let me not be misunderstood. I am quite aware that many of the Queen's Indian officers, in spite of insufficient early training, become able Indian statesmen, and accom- plished Indologists. What I am speaking of is the general ignorance of India — of its moral, religious, and intellectual history and condition — which prevails among younger men on their first arrival, who nevertheless become in the end quite conversant with the afiairs of their own districts. As to the ignorance of India and its wants, which is nearly universal in this country, and even conspicuous in some of our most distinguished University men, — our first-class men and wranglers, our professors and writers, our ma- gistrates and legislators (happily, however, not in all), — I cannot do better than quote the words of a citizen of Bombay who came to England as an agent of one of the native States, and in a letter to the Timex wrote as fol- lows (December 21, 1874) : — ' In my own experience among Englishmen, I have found no general indifference to India, but rather an eager desire for information. But I have found a Cimmerian darkness about the manners and habits of my countrymen, an almost poetical description of our customs, and a conception no less wild and startling than the vagaries of Mandeville or Marco Polo concerning our religion.' I come, therefore, to what may be called the keynote of all I have to say in this lecture, namely, that if we wish to promote goodwill and sympathy between the people of England and the people of India, we must labour to promote mutual knowledge — that is — a correct knowledge of England in India, of India in England. And here, I may observe, that if want of sympathy is rooted in want of knowledge, it must not be assumed that the absence of knowledge is all on one side. The people of India are PROMOTION OF GOODWILL. 349 even more wanting in correct knowledge of England than we are in correct knowledge of India. Let Indians look to their own deficiencies. My present concern is to look at home and ask the questions : — What are our own short- comings ? What are our own needs ? Many they are, and of various kinds and in various de- grees. Even our ablest Indian statesmen have to confess ignorance about many things. Such men would be the first to tell us that if we wish to promote a better know- ledge of India among ourselves we ought to begin at the right end. We ought to introdnce Indian studies as an element of education at our Schools and Universities. I deeply regret that the study of Indian and Oriental subjects generally is practically under a ban at my own University, because Eastern acquirements are at present no avenue to a degree, but rather a hindrance. Any under- graduate who devotes himself to Oriental studies is likely to imperil his place in the class-list, and if he remains in England, his future prospects in life. That we English- men, with our enormous Indian and Colonial Empire, our vast Eastern commerce, our increasing interest in Egypt, Turkey, INIesopotamia, Burmah, Tibet, and China should show such indifference to studies which other nations, with little interest in the East, regard as important branches of education, seems, indeed, wholly unaccountable. For the most superficial observer must be convinced that the political interdependence, and, so to speak, solidarity of England and India, are becoming every day more com- plete, the affairs and interests, the loss and gain, th& honour and dishonour, of the two countries more and more interwoven. Witness the increasing space accorded to news from India in our leading journals. Witness the vacation speeches of our leading legislators. Witness the debates on India and the Eastern question in both our Houses of Parliament. In fact, the improvements in telegraphy are constantly causing increased centralization of authority, and India is at present more governed by 350 MODERN INDIA. mandates and influences emanating from the central ter- minus of Queen, Lords and Commons, than by orders and enactments issuing from the Council Chambers of Calcutta, Madras and Bombay. Surely, then, we are bound to ponder our heightened duties, our deepening responsibilities. We are bound se- riously to lay to heart the undoubted fact that our rule over two hundred and forty-one millions of the human race depends more than it has ever done before — not only for its excellence but for its very continuance — on the promotion of a better knowledge of the history and con- dition of India among the few hundred individuals con- stituting our two legislative assemblies, most of whom have been educated at our public schools and Universities. It may be very true that the old ignorance and apathy of Parliament have passed away, and that the commence- ment of an Indian debate no longer acts like a dinner- bell on hungry members. Yet, I venture to assert, that no little indifference and a good deal of sciolism still pre- vail, and that urgent need exists for securing by early training a more solid foundation of correct knowledge on all Eastern subjects among all classes of the community : in other words, — that the neglect of Oriental knowledge, as a department of education, calls for immediate attention at the hands of our educators. Let me substantiate my assertion by a few instances, beginning with the simple subject of Geography. An educated European may perhaps be pardoned for betraying ignorance of the exact position of Quetta, but is it not somewhat startling to be asked by men of rank and edu- cation in this country whether Lahore is near Benares, and whether Calcutta lies south of Bombay ? Even in India itself I have met with many able civilians who have con- fessed to me their inability to pass an examination in the geography of India outside their own Presidency. Much the same may be said of physical geography. India is blessed with numeious magnificent rivers, yet, even PROMOTION OF GOODWILL. 351 among Anglo-Indians, how many of those long resident in particular districts would be able to give an accurate account of India's marvellous network of running water, or the best method of utilizing it ? Then how little is generally known of the Zoology and Botany of India ! Doubtless there are scientific men to whom the fauna and flora of certain districts are familiar, but few Eng- lishmen have an adequate conception of the marvellous wealth of India's animal and plant life. Sportsmen in- deed abound everywhere by hundreds, but how many care for animals except to kill or eat them ? It may be very true that some forms of life are a little too ex- uberant. Yet what country affords such beautiful speci- mens of the insect world? And how is it that Indian Zoologists and Entomologists may be counted on the fingers ? Then as to the vegetable kingdom. Nowhere in the world are there such opportunities for the study of botany, and nowhere is a knowledge of botany less common. Even well-informed persons have to confess their ignorance of India's vast and varied agricultural capabilities. For ex- ample, much has yet to be learnt about India's capacity for developing the cultivation of cotton. Again, quite within living memory the remarkable discovery has been made that the tea-plant is indigenous on Indian soil. Much ignorance, too, remains to be dissipated about the culture and preparation of coffee, cinchona, ipecacuanha, and above all of tobacco. Who can tell how far the latter may one day supply the eight or nine millions of revenue which must be sought for somewhere, should the con- science of Great Britain become too sensitive to permit her Indian Government to continue its dealings in opium ? Who can tell, too, how far drought and famine may be averted when more is known about irrigation, the storing of water and the conservation of woods and forests ? As to geology and mineralogy, it is diflBcult to estimate how much has yet to be ascertained about India's mineral 352 MODERN INDIA. resources — the exploration of coal-fields, the production of salt and iron, the exploitation of gold, silver, copper, and lead. Archaeology, again, presents an unbounded field, not yet adequately investigated. We are scarcely yet alive to the duty of searching out and preserving India's valuable antiquities, and of copying important historical inscriptions, all traces of which the climate is rapidly obliterating. I will not enter on the boundless subject of ethnology, except to remark that some of the oldest amongst us can remember the time when the near re- lationship of Englishmen to Brahmans and Rajputs was barely suspected. I may mention, too, that no one in India could give me any clue to the ethnical classification of the Bhils, and that the existence of Negrito and Ne- groid races on the hills is a mystery. Perhaps I should scarcely be believed if I were to relate with richness of detail the story of an intelligent young person, supposed to be fully educated, who was present the other day at a lecture on Zanana work, and was heard to inquire with much naivete whether the Zananas were not a triVje of Afghans. As to Indian history, all that can be said, I fear, is that the minds of most men are a perfect blank — a complete tabula rasa. In regard to the languages and dialects of India, culti- vated and uncultivated, how many persons are aware that their number amounts to at least two hundred ? To know even two of these well is, of course, as much as can be expected of our administrators, and I willingly admit that they are generally well versed in at least one language. But I may be pardoned for bemoaning the almost universal ignorance of the classical languages of India, — Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian, with their respective literatures. I have often been asked by learned Europeans — Has Sanskrit any literature? The fact is that since the abolition of Haileybury in 1858 the study oi Sanskrit has remained voluntary. It is much to be regretted that few Indian PROMOTION OF GOODWILL. 353 probationers address themselves to this important lan- guage, and that those who begin learning it, rapidly drop all the knowledge they have gained in this country as soon as they commence their official duties. Still more to be regretted is the neglect of Sanskrit by missionaries. Happily there are signs of a better appre- ciation of its value in the future, and I even look forward to its eventual adoption in England as an element of linguistic training. Let us not forget that Sanskrit is as closely allied as Greek to our mother-tongue, that its symmetrical grammar is the key to all other grammars, that its system of synthesis is as useful to the mind as the study of geometry, and that its literature contains models of true poetry and some of the most remarkable treatises on philosophy, science and ethics that the world has ever produced. Above all, let those who are preparing for an Indian career bear in mind that Sanskrit is the only source of life, health and vigour to all the spoken languages of the Hindus, the only repository of Hindu religious creeds, customs and observances. ' The popular prejudices of the Hindus,' said my illustrious predecessor at Oxford, ' their daily observances, their occupations, their amusements, their domestic and social relations, their local legends, their traditions, their fables, their religious worship, all spring from and are perpetuated by the Sanskrit language.' Yes — to know a country, its people, its needs, and neces- sities, its mistakes and errors, all these things must be known and understood. Without such knowledge no re- spect can be felt for all that is good and true, no success- ful attempt made for the eradication of all that is evil, false and hurtful. Indeed, I am deeply convinced that the more we learn about the ideas, feelings, drift of thought, religious and intellectual development, eccentricities, and even errors of the people of India, the less ready shall we be to judge them by our own conventional European standards — the 354 MODERN INDIA. less disposed to regard ourselves as the sole depositories of all the true knowledge, learning, virtue and refinements of civilized life — the less prone to despise as an ignorant and inferior race the men who compiled the laws of Manu, one of the most remarkable literary productions of the world — who composed systems of ethics worthy of Chris- tianity — who imagined the Ramayana and Maha-bharata, poems in some respects outri vailing the Iliad and the Odyssey — who invented for themselves the science of grammar, arithmetic, astronomy, logic, and six most subtle systems of philosophy. Above all, the less inclined shall we be to stigmatize as benighted heathen the authors of two religions, however false, which are at this moment professed by about half the human race. And this leads me to express my sense of our remissness, whether as laymen or missionaries, in neglecting to study the sacred works on which the various religions of India rest. \Ve cannot, of course, sympathize with all that is false in the several creeds of Hindiis, Buddhists, Jains, ParsTs, Sikhs and Muslims. But we can consent to ex- amine them from their own point of view, we can study their sacred books in their own languages, Sanskrit, Pali, I'rakrit, Zand, Gurumukhl and Arabic, rather than iu imperfect translations of our own. We can pay as much deference to the interpretations of their own commentators as we expect to be accorded to our own interpretation of the difficulties of our own sacred Scriptures. We can avoid denouncing in strong language what we have never sufficiently investigated, and do not thoroughly under- stand. Yes, I must speak out. It seems to me that the general ignorance of our fellow-countrymen in regard to the re- ligions of India is really worse than a blank. A man, learned in European lore, asked me the other day whether the Hindiis were not all Buddhists. Of course ignorance is associated with indifference. I stayed in India with an eminent Indian civilian who had lived for years quite PROMOTION OF GOODWILL. 355 unconsciously within a few hundred yards of a celebrated shrine, endeared to the Hindus by the religious memories of centuries. Another had never heard of a perfectly unique temple not two miles from the gate of his own compound. Ignorance, too, is often associated with an attitude of unmitigated contempt. Another distinguished civilian, who observed that I was diligent in prosecuting my re- searches into the true nature of Hinduism, expressed sur- prise that I could waste my time in ' grubbing into such dirt.' The simple truth, I fear, is that we are all more o-x less ignorant. We are none of us as yet quite able to answer the question : — ' What is Hinduism ? ' We have none of us as yet suflSciently studied it under all its aspects, in its own vast sacred literature stretching over a period of more than two thousand years. We under-estimate its comprehensiveness, its super-subtlety, its recuperative hydra-like vitality ; and we are too much given to include the whole system under sweeping expressions such as ' heathenism' or ' idolatry,' as if every idea it contains was to be eradicated root and branch. Again I must speak out. I deeply regret that we are in the habit of using opprobrious terms to designate the religious tenets of our Indian brethren, however erroneous we believe those tenets to be. Unfortunately it is difR- cult to find any substitute for the convenient expression 'heathen,' but we ought to consider that the translators of our Bible only adopted this word as an equivalent for Gentile nations, and that the term is now frequently ap- plied to wicked, godless people. I have constantly heard it so applied by our clergy when speaking of the most degraded section of the population of our large cities, — atheists, thieves, lawless people and criminals of all kinds, such as, in former times, congregated on wild heaths, re- mote from civilized towns. We are surely untrue to our own principles when we associate all unbelievers in Chris- tianity with such people, by the use of a common term for both. Does not our own religion teach us that in every A a 2 356 MODERN INDIA. nation he that f'eareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted with Him ? I deplore, too, the ignorance displayed in regard to Indian religious usages. A recent book on India by an eminent Member of Parliament describes the mark on the forehead of the Southern Ramanujas as the trident of Siva, whereas it really represents the footprints of Vishnu. Errors of this kind swarm even in the works of mission- aries, and are generally caused by ignorance of Sanskrit. i^s to caste, its working is very imperfectly understood, and few are aware that the Hindus regard it as an im- perfect condition of life, and hold that to attain .supreme happiness caste must be abandoned. Again, we are apt to indulge in a wholesale condemnation of caste and to advo- cate its total abolition, forgetful that as a social institution it often operates most beneficially. Doubtless caste-rules are generally a great hindrance to progress, but their very connection with religious faith and practice may often furnish a salutary check where the mere belief in Vishnu and Siva is powerless to exercise any restraint at all. Then, how (jften do we offend caste prejudices simply from ignorance of their strength and of their connection with venerated religious usage and deep religious feeling ! I, for my part, can believe that an earnest-minded Englishman might well hesitate to eat the flesh of oxen, while resident in certain districts of India where Hindu religious prejudices continue strongest, and where cow- killing is regarded as nothing short of impious sacrilege, remembering the words of a high Christian authority, ' if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth.'' The Deputy-Commissioner at Rohtak was murdered the other day by a fanatical Hindu, who never spoke afterwards till the moment of his exe- cution, except to whisper that he had a call from heaven to destroy cow-killers. When I was at Jammu, one of the Maharaja's Ministers told me that the punishment in Kasmir for killing oxen PROMOTION OF GOODWILL. 357 was imprisonment for life, and that he himself had such a horror of eating the flesh of oxen that, if the alternative were submitted to him of tasting- beef or being beheaded, he would unhesitatingly choose decapitation. It is said that a holy Brahman who lived near Saugor determined to wrestle with the Deity till he should reveal to him the real cause of the general scarcity under which the land was groaning. After three days and nights of fasting and prayer, he saw a vision of some celestial being, who stood before him in a white mantle, and told him that all the calamities of the season arose from the slaughter of oxen by Englishmen and Muhammadans. Colonel Sleeman asserts that this actually occurred, and that it created a great sensation in the neighbourhood. At any rate, we may learn from such stories how deep-seated are the religious convictions on which the saeredness of the cow is based, and can understand how our practice of eating beef may generate bitter feelings of ill-will towards us. Let us sup- pose for a moment an imaginary case. Let us ask our- selves what our own feelings would be if a number of Chinese were to settle down in this country, and insist on constantly eating boiled rats with chop-sticks before our eyes. Yet our disgust would be as nothing compared with the revulsion in the mind of a pious Hindu caused by our devouring with avidity the flesh of animals which from his infancy he is taught to believe permeated with the essence of divinity. Of course, I am not advocating a general abandonment of beef-eating throughout India. I am aware that many consider it a duty to show openly their disapproval of what they consider the absurd prejudices of a weak-minded people, and I admit that when religious customs are degrading and do violence to nature and humanity, like the rite of Sati, they ought to be put down. All I maintain is, that the time-honoured usages of particular districts, when intimately bound up with religious feelings, ought, as far as possible, to be respected. Ought we not, too, without ^^8 MODERN LXDIA. making any concessions to wliat we believe utterly false in the religions of India, to be more diligent in searching for some common religious ground on which Europeans and Asiatics may take their stand together ? Is it not the case that, among ourselves, people of the most opposite opinions find their religious differences softened down and their sympathies evoked by meeting face to face on the common platform of Conference and Congress Hall ? Has England advanced with such gigantic strides beyond Eastern nations that no points of agreement in ideas, customs, usages, and religion can be found with an an- cient people who had a polished language, an extensive literature, and a developed civilization when our forefathers were clothed in skins and could neither read nor write ? Is so great a gulf now fixed between two races who once occupied the same home in Central Asia that no com- munity of thought, no interchange of ideas, no reciprocity of feeling is any longer possible between them ? I verily believe that an unfairly low estimate of the moral, social and religious condition of the people of India, and of their intellectual capacity, is really the principal obstacle to the promotion of sympathy between the two races. The great historian Mill, whose History of India is still a standard work, has done infinite harm by his unjustifi- able blackening of the Indian national character. He has declared (I quote various statements scattered through his work) that ' the superior castes in India are generally de- praved, and capable of every fraud and villany ; that they more than despise their inferiors, whom they kill with less scruple than we do a fowl ; that the inferior castes are profligate, guilty on the slightest occasion of the greatest crimes, and degraded infinitely below the brutes ; that the Hindus in general are devoid of every moral and religious principle ; cunning and deceitful, addicted to adulation, dissimulation, deception, dishonesty, falsehood and perjury; disposed to hatred, revenge, and cruelty ; indulging in furious and malignant passions, fostered by the gloomy PROMOTION OF GOODWILL. 359 and malignant principles of their religion; perpetrating villany with cool reflection ; indolent to the point of thinking death and extinction the happiest of all states ; avaricious, litigious, insensible to the sufferings of others, inhospitable, cowardly ; contemptuous and harsh to their women, whom they treat as slaves ; eminently devoid of filial, parental, and conjugal affection.' No wonder that young Englishmen, just imported from the ruling country, and fresh from the study of Mill's History, sometimes affect a supercilious air of superiority when first brought into contact with their Indiaii fellow- subjects. No wonder that Mr. Nowrozjee Furdoonjee should have delivered a lecture three or four years ago before this Association and attempted to prove that the natives of India are often treated by Europeans ' with incivility, harshness, and even contempt and personal violence — that they are frequently stigmatized as Niggers, a nation of liars, perjurers, forgers, devoid of gratitude, trust, good- nature, and every other virtue, as rude barbarians and inhuman savages.' Of course, we know that this Indian gentleman has overstated his case, and that his description applies to a condition of things which may have partially existed thirty years ago, but which has to a great extent passed away. Still, it cannot be questioned that, conscious of our own superiority in religion, science, morality, and general culture, we are too apt to under-estimate the character and acquirements of our Indian brethren. We may regret that they are not Christians, that they have not the moral stamina of Englishmen, that their social institutions are a source of weakness and an obstacle to all fusion be- tween European and Asiatic races, their caste-rules a bar to progress, and the low condition of their women fatal to their elevation. We may tell them plainly that we aim at raising them — men and women — socially, morally, intel- lectually, to our own standard. But we must bear in mind, all the while, that they are human beings like ourselves, 360 MODERN INDIA. with feelinsys and infirmities like our own. We must give them credit tor whatever is good, true, and lovely in their own national character ; we must even be ready to admit that in some points — such as patient perseverance in com- mon duties, courtesy, temperance, filial obedience, reverent demeanour towards their elders and betters, dutiful sub- mission to governurs, teachers, spiritual pastors and masters, faithfulness in service, tenderness towards animal life, toleration of religious diversities in foreigners and each other — they may possibly be our equals, if not our superiors. Contrast with Mr. Mill's estimate of the HindCi cha- racter the opinion of the great Aljul Fazl (well called 'the father of excellence'), Akbar's celebrated Minister, who, though a Muhammadan, wrote in his Ayin-i-Akbari — ' The Hindus are religious, affable, courteous to stran- gers, prone to inflict austerities on themselves, lovers of justice, given to retirement, able in business, grateful, admirers of truth, and of unbounded fidelity. Their cha- racter shines briL;htest in adversity. Their soldiers know not what it is to fly from the field of battle. When the success of the combat becomes doubtful they dismount from their horses and throw away their lives in payment of the debt of valour. They have great respect for their tutors ; and make no account of their lives when they can devote them to the service of their God. They believe in the unity of the Godhead, and although they hold images in high veneration, yet they are by no means idolaters, as the ignorant suppose.' I must admit that in another place he says that the Hindiis difi^er widely in different places, and that some have the disposition of angels, others of demons. If I may be allowed to speak of my own experiences, I confess that to me the Indian character has seemed neither angelic nor demoniacal. But if the best Chris- tian found a law in his members bringing him into cap- tivity to the law of sin, so that when he ' would do good. PROMOTION OF GOODWILL. 361 evil was present with him,' how much more must this be true of the best Hindu 1 Surely, then, on the common ground of conflict with evil, both Christian and Hindu, though equipped for the fight with armour of very dif- ferent temper, may meet and sympathize with each other. And if his own religion is to the one a power and to the other a weakness, surely the strong man armed may have some strength to spare for the encouragement and support of his more feeble brother. I will not enter into the question of how far the social gulf which is now separating the two races is capable of being bridged over. When I was at Calcutta I found all the highest State functionaries — Lord Northbrook him- self, our noble Chairman here, — the late high-minded Bishop Milman, and many others I could name, vying witb each other in their eSbrts to conciliate the natives, and bring about more social fusion between the rulers and the ruled. I found, too, many of our devoted fellow- countrywomen doing their best to work their way lovingly and tenderly into the interior of many an Indian family. The present Viceroy, Lord Lytton, is not a whit behind his predecessors in endeavouring to counteract, by his personal example, the estrangement caused by race-antipathies. But I fear that little success will be achieved till the im- penetrable barrier which now surrounds the homes of India is thrown down, till Hindus and Muhammedans consent to eat and drink with Europeans, and till Indian wives, mothers, and daughters are elevated to their proper posi- tion in the family circle. Nor will I now discuss the question of the duty of redressing so-called Indian grievances, because this is acknowledged on all hands. Traversing India as I have recently done from Kasmir to Cape Comorin, I have found all intelligent natives generally satisfied with our rule. It is useless, however, to conceal from ourselves the existence of much discontent, chiefly among the men we have educated above their stations. When I have inquired of 362 MODERN INDIA. such men : What are your grievances ? What does India want which India has not got? 'We want,' they have replied, ' complete social and political equality, ; we want admission to the highest executive offices; we want a more economical Government ; we want a more permanent and moderate settlement of the land-tax ; we want less tedious and costly litigation ; we want power of" sending a few representatives to the House of Commons ; we want a certain number of covenanted civil appointments to be competed for in this country.' These are a few specimens of alleged wants. If any of them are real wants which it is possible and proper to meet, the Government seems to me to be inclined to go even beyond its duty in endeavouring to meet them. Our Indian Governmeut, too, is now doing: its best (just as the Emperor Akbar did more than 300 years ago) to organize in India i}stematic efforts for the acquisition and dissemination of accurate information on all the points I have mentioned in this address, and in- deed on every minute particular bearing on the condition of the people committed to its rule. The best evidence of this is afforded by the statistical account of Bengal, in twenty volumes, just completed by Dr. W. W. Hunter, Director-General of Statistics, and published in London by Messrs. Triibner and Co. Yet in the preface of this great national work — a monu- ment of exemplary industry as well as of literary ability — Dr. Hunter owns that it represents the first organized advance towards a better knowledge of India. ' When I commenced,' he says, ' the survey, no regular census had been taken of India, and the enumeration of 1872 disclosed that the official estimates had been wrong as regards Lower Bengal alone by more than twenty-five million of souls. No book existed to which either the public or the administrative body could refer for the most essential facts concerning the rural population. Districts lying within half-a-day's journey of the capital were spoken of in the Calcutta Review as " unexplored." ' PROMOTION OF GOODWILL. 363 What I plead for, then, is a similar systematic organi- zation and concentration of eflTort in this country for instilling a better knowledge of India into the rising generation. Unless we bestir ourselves, England will rapidly lose its position as the proper centre and focus of Eastern learning in Europe. Germany, France, and Russia are doing their best to take our place. Even Holland and Italy are rivalling us. All these countries have established chairs of most of the Indian lanffuaffes, especially of Sanskrit, Arabic, and Persian. Even now we often have to go to Germany for our Indian Pro- fessors, Librarians, Secretaries, and Cataloguers of manu- scripts \ What are our requirements, then, with a view to more systematic organization for the promotion of Indian studies ? In my opinion principally four, namely: — I. Formal Uni- versity recognition by the establishment of an Indian School for obtaining degrees, a. The appointment of Professors and Teachers of Indian subjects at Colleges and Schools. 3. The encouragement of Indian students by the foundation of Indian scholarships and fellowships. 4. Local centrali- zation by the founding of Indian Institutes, containing libraries, museums, and lecture-rooms, at great educational centres — for example, here in London (according to the plan long advocated by my friend. Dr. Forbes Watson), and especially at Oxford. But why, it may be asked, es- pecially at Oxford ? I reply for two reasons : — 1st. It can be proved by statistics that a large proportion of our mem- bers of Parliament — the real rulers of India — are Oxford men. I believe the majority over Cambridge is at present represented by 136 over 100, and there are now eight Ox- ford first-class men in the Cabinet, including the Secretary of State for India himself, andly. Our Oxford system, ' I am told that there is not in England a single person who knows Tibetan, although teachers of this language are to be found in Germany, France, and Russia, and althougli it is spoken by numbers of our own subjects and by miUions inhabiting neighbouring countries. 364 MODERN INDIA. which lays great stress on languages, history, law, and po- litical economy, affords the best training for every kind of Indian career. At last, therefore, I come to the goal to which my remarks have been converging — the need of founding at Oxford an institution which shall be a centre of union, intercourse, inquiry and instruction for all engaged in Indian studies. The Indian Institute will, I hope, be equipped in the most effective possible manner — both materially and personally. It will have Lecture-rooms, Museum, Library, and Reading-room, all aiding and illus- trating each other, and closely connected with it an ample staff of University Professors and teachers, many of whom will have resided in India and have an intimate know- ledge of the country. It will 1 trust, adapt itself to the needs of young Indians, who often go astray in this vast metropolis from the want of proper supervision ; and who, as soon as our Oxford Indian School and Indian Institute are established, will probably frequent our University more than they have hitherto done. Oriental Fellowships, Indian Travelling Fellowships, Scholarships for Indians pursuing their studies at Oxford, Scholarships for Englishmen pur- suing Indian studies, will, I trust, in time be connected with the Institute. It will, I hope, give prizes for essays on Indian subjects, and will invite able natives to deliver lectures in its lecture -rooms, where meetings and con- ferences on various topics relating to the welfare of our Indian fellow-subjects will occasionally be held. In brief, Itx one aim will be to concentrate and diffuse accurate in- formation on every subject connected with the condition of our Indian Empire ; its one work will be to draw Eng- land and India closer together, by promoting mutual know- ledge, by furthering interchange of ideas, by encouraging reciprocity of feeling, by fostering goodwill and sympathy between the two countries. This great aim — this great work, cannot and must not rest with the University of Oxford alone. Every society. PROMOTION OF GOODWILL. 365 every individual interested in the well-being of our Eastern Empire, will, I trust, lend a helping hand. The National Indian Association, with whose operations both in England and India I have cherished the warmest sympathy ever since the late lamented Miss Carpenter and myself met together for the promotion of, similar aims in various parts of India, will, I am sure, co-operate with the Oxford Indian Institute, and both will direct their best endea- vours towards the same high objects. And need I add how much I believe the maintenance of goodwill and sympathy between England and India depends on the attitude and bearing of those who are highest in authority ? It is said that what distinguished the great Emperor Akbar from all previous rulers was his personal attention to all the minutias of government, and his deference to the opinions of his subjects, however con- flicting or opposed to his own. It would be impertinent in me to speak in praise of our noble Chairman on this occasion, but it seems to me that the success of Lord Northbrook's administration was not more due to his con- versancy with every detail of State affairs than to his tact in preserving harmony between the discordant elements of which the Queen's Indian Empire must always consist, and his unvarying kindness and courtesy of manner to- wards every individual, whether Englishman, Hindu, or Muhammadan, with whom, as the Queen's representative, he was brought into contact. The problem before us, then, has been — How can more cordial and sympathetic feeling be promoted between the people of England and the people of India ? The solution of this problem may have been demonstrated by words, but the desired end will not be effected till the people of both countries join heart and hand in united efforts for the conciliation of each other's goodwill, and for the verifica- tion of the sublime doctrine — for the establishment of the eternal truth — that ' God has made all nations of men of one blood.' INDEX Abftbakr, 165. AMI Fazl, 360. Abyla, 4. Adam, W., 294. Aden, 23. Adil Shah, 134. Adlsvara, 133. Administration, 1 20, 1 2 1, 168, 206. Afghanistan, 135, 136, 138. Afghanistan, British, 1 29. A%hans, 136, 276. Agamas, 159. Agglutinative languages, . '63- Agha Kh^n, 25. Aghrib, 20. Agriculturalists, 39. Ag-walas, 9. Ahmad-nagar, 134. Ahmad Shah Abd:tli, 276. Ahriman, 93. Ajmir, 137. Akbar, 136, 278, 301, 338. 362, 365- Akbar and Elizabeth, 266. Albuquerque, 265. Ali Masjid, 139. AUvardi Khan, 275. Allahabad, 131. Almeyda, 265. Alphabet, 227, 286, jot, joS. Al-Sirat. See 91. Amangala, 104. Amba, 53. Amita, 112. Ancestor- worship, 162. Andhra, 130, 134. Angas, 159. Angushtha-matra, 104. Anhalwara, 132. Animalli, 182. Animals, 30, 32, 34, 35, 184. Anna, 341. Annexations, 278, 336. Antyeshti, I04. Appearance of natives, 60. Ara, 141. Aravali, 140. Arcot, 274. Ardha-Ganga, 143. Areca, t86. Ariano-Pali, 129. Aristocracy, 42. Art, 56, 57. Asasya, 311. Asoka, 128. Asambhu, 182. Assai, 277. Assam, 140. Astronomy, 146. — and the weather, 211. Asilryam-pasya, 314 Athornan, 89. Athravan, 89. Attaka, 20. Attitude of the natives, 176, 221. Auckland, Lord, 336. Aurangzib, 136, 201, 301. Authority, evil of. See Revelation. Avali, 141. Avanti, 131. Awadhl, 150. Ayah, 2. Ayenar, 197. Ayln-i-Akbarl, 278, 360. Ayodhya, 131. Babar, 136, 301. Babfl, 323. Bab ul Makka, 267. Babu'I mandib, 22. Baghdad, 135. Eagh o Bahar, 292. Bahadur Shah, 1 36. Bahadur, Sir Jung, 78. Bahmani, 134. Baidanath Roy, 323. Baidhawi, 244. Baitarani, 143, 333. Bajl Rao I, 273. Bakhshish, 27. Baiajl, 273. ' In this Index — kindly compiled by Mr. Albert J. Edmunds, now Librarian at Philadelphia —the long vowels are marked thus, a instead of a ; and the dots belonging to some of the letters are omitted. Bb 368 INDEX. BalL'ila, 134. Bandela, 141. Bandelkhand, 140. Bann^alor, 182. Banijas, 147. Baniyahs, 25, 49, 147, 160, 204. Banyan, 1S6. Baoli, 37. Baptism, 95, 99. Barbers, 44. Barld Shah, 134. Baroda, 143, 273. Basava, 194. Basil, no. Basle Mission, 216, Basora, 266. Bassein, 265, 276. Baths, 30. Bazaar, 57. Beames, Mr., 150. Bedding, 30. Behadin, 89. BeriLTiil, 133. Bentinck, Lord W., 72, 290. 293, 33l5- Berar, 134, 213. Bethune school •<, 32 p. Bettiali, 130. Bhai-band, 162. Bhangl, 46, 49, 50. Bhavanl, 212. Bbawalpur, 139. Bhlls, 152, 352. Bhlinapil, 133. Bhlstl, 27. Bhojpurl, i.to. Bhonsle, 27(1. Bhopal, 1.19. BhoreGli/it, 182. Bhrigu-kacba, 142. Bhrigu-pata, 71. BhClpal, 139. Bbfttan, 153. Bhatas, 195. Bible, hS- Bid, 141. Bldar, 134. Bigotry, 287. Bihishtl, 45. Bija-nagar, 134. Bljapur, 134, 266. Billlchistan, 141. Bind, 141. Bird, Mr., 289. Birds, 32. Bird wood. Dr. G., 264. Bislianpad, 103. B'isniillaii arrahmiin ar- rahlni, 260. Bleeck, 91. Bodh-Gaya, 102. Bolan, 139. Boll, 324. Bombay, 27. 183, 188, Bo-tree. 102. Brahma and the Brah- mans, 194. Brahmani, 143, 333. Br.'ihmans, 37, 44, .^o, 59, 60, loi, 103, 106, III, 123. 287. 357- Brahma-putra, 142, 143. Brabiua S.imaj, 226, 236. Braj, 150. Erih, 135. Broach. 30, 142. Broughton, Dr., 268. Buchanan-Hamilton, Dr., 278. Buddha, images of, 158. Buddhism in Ceylon, 200. Buddhist kings. 130. Eukka, 135. Burnell, Dr., 197, 19S. Eusliby, Mr., 289. Buxar, 276. Calanus, 70. Calcutta, 183, -i-jo. Caldwell, Bishop, 216. Calicut, 264. Calpe, 4. Calvinists and Annitiiane. 192. Cama, Mr. Ste. Cui-set- jee. Campbell, Sir G., lij, iSS, 220, 281, 305. Cani]j life, 30. Canals, 332. Canning, Lord, 325. 336. Carnatic, 272, Carpenter, Mis^, 365. Caste, 10, 30, 123, 162. 202, 287, 331, 332 3S6. Ca^tf, 50, I^S — low, 49. C'avagnari. Major, i7,S. Census, 279. Ceuta, 4. (Vylon, 132. Chaitanya, 69. Chakra, 44. Chalukya, 133. Chamar, 46. Chambal, 141, 142. Cband, 132. Chandana, 100. Chandarnagar, 271. Chandra-gupta, 127. Character of the natives. 39. 33, 37, 45, 4^. 49- jo,^4y 60, 61, 66, 114, iiS, 122. 154, 173, 177, 1S9, 190, 205, 212, 213, 220, 271, 286, 295, 303, 304, 314, 316, 318, 339, 341, 356, 358- S^o Charmers, 47. Charnock, Mr., 270. Chaukidar, 45. Chaura, 132. INDEX. 369 Chauth, 271. Chenab, 173. Chera, 133. Children, 62. Chlnsurah, 265, 289, 322. Chinvat-peretum, 91. Chittftr, 141. Chola, 133. Cholera, 118, 124, 183. Chota hiizirl, 36. Chota Nagpur, 149. Christian lands and India, 226. Christian Parana, 266. Christianity and Hindu- ism, 165-167, 192. Cinchona, 187. Circars, 182. Cities, Indian, 52, 53, 56, 57- Civilisation, Indian and European, 225. Civil Service, 179, 223. Clerioocraoy, 209. Climate, 145, 180. Clive, 274. Cocoa-nut, l85. Cochin, 212, 264. Coffee, 186. Colebrooke, 72. Collectors, 33, 42. — work of, 119. Colleges, 299. Colvin, J. E., 289. Condition of the natives, 338. Conjeveram, 133, 216. Conjugal fidelity, 313. Conjurers, 47. Conti, Nicolo, 264. Cooke, Miss, 323. Coorg, 137. Cornwallis, 335, 340. Cossyra, 6. Cotton, 351. Cotton, Sir A., 143, 333- Croydon speech, 238. Cunningham, Col., 129. Cursetjee Eustamjee Cama, 84, 89, 91. Cust, E. N., 18, 129, 252, 330. Custom, 60. Dak ghari, 331. Dakhin, 140. Bakhmas, 81. Dakkin, 182. Dakshin, 182. Dai, II. Dalhousie, 297, 324, 325, 332, 336. Daman, 265. Damayant!, 312. Danes, 265. Da,r, 41. Dar4 Gushtasp, 127. Darbar, 119. Darjlling, 112, 1S7. Darzl, 45. DaSama-sraddha, 100. DaSaratha, 131. Dastflr, 89. Dasyus, 226. Date, 186. Dathavan^a, 256. Datura, 66. Daulatabad, 134. Day, Francis, 270. De Euston, 265. Deocan, 182. Decimal notation, 286. AetaiSaiiiovearepovs, 252. Dekhan, 140. De Lesseps, 15, 16. Delhi, ancient, 131. Deogarh, 134. Desa, 141. Desal, 41. Desmukh, 41. Desert, Indian, 140. Deshmukh, Mr., 207. Deva-nagarl, 1 29, 173, 308. Deva-sunl, 92. Devils, III, 195. Dhamma-pada, 248. Dharna, 77. Dhauli, 129. Dhed, 2, 46. Dher, 46, 49. Dhobl, 45. Diaz, E., 264. Didan, 91. Diet, 46, 52, 218, 338, 339- Digambaras, 159. Dtpa-mala, 58. Disease, 56. Distance in India, 181. Did, 265. Divisions, modem, 137. Dlwanl, 277. Doab, 213, 278. Dodd's Church History, 265. Dogra, 172. Dogs, 91. Dramas, 312. Dravidah, 149. Dravidians, 188. Dress, 28, 29, 60, 61. Dualism, 194. Duff, Dr., 291. Duncan, J., 288. Dupleix, 271, 273. Durrani, 276. Dushyanta, 312. Dutch, 265. DivSra Samudra, 134. Dyce Sombre, 276. Dynasties, 130. East India Company, 120, 335. East, Sir E. H., 288. B b 370 INDEX. Eating, 123. Echebar, 366. Edeyengoody, 316. Education, 174. — and instruction, 303. — beginning of, 28S. Educational Despatch, 297. 303. 306, 325. Educational epochs, 297. Egypt and England, 18. Elephanta, 158. Elichpur, 152. EUenborough, Lord, 33'j. Elphinstone, 299. Endogamy, 202, 203. English language in In- dia, 154. English servility, 269. Epics, 354. Erwad, 89. F. A., 299. Fa-hian, 126. Faith, 192. Families, 319. Famines, 116, 121. Farrukh-Siyar. 136. Fath- Allah, 134. Felucca, iS. Female education, 175, 322,^2;, 324. Filial love, 318. Finance, 335. Firoz Shah's Lat, 130. Fitch, Ralph, 266. Fo, 112. French, 273. French East India Com- pany, 271. Fuel, 52. Funerals, 97. Gadi, 59. Gaikwar, 138, 139. Gairsappa Falls, 1S2. Gajapati, 134. Galbargah, 134, 201. Gandakl, 142. Ganesa, 53, 112, Ganga, 142. Ganjam, 129. Gapurgari, 47. Gardabha, no. Gathas, 86. Gati, 105, 112. Gauda, 133. Gaur, 133. Gaya, loi. Giyatrl, III, 166. Gaywal, 106. Geography, 140. — Puranic, 144. Gliaenjo, 44. Ghanchi, 47. Ghats, 182. Gliatta, 182. Ghl, 98. Ghori, Muhammad, 132, 135- Ghosts, 104. Gibraltar, 3. Girls, 63, 78. Girnar, 71, 129. Goa, 266. Uod.Hindil conception of, 166, 230. Go-diivari, 143. Gogra, 131. Golkondah, 134. Gomukhl, in. Gond, 152. Gopal-rao, 207. Gor, 44. Govardhan, 78. Governors, 335, 336. Govinda, 152. Grama, 40, 66. Grammar, 227. Grantha, 151. Grievances, 17S, 362, Gujarilti, 80. Gulab Singh, 172. Gulal, 98. Guni, 48. Gupta, 132. Guru, 46. Gurus, 212, Gurumukhl, 354. Gwalior, 139, 273. Haidar, 134. Haileybury, 352. Hajj, 25. Hajjam, 44. Hajjls, 6. Hakluyt, 266. Jlaia, I41. Halhed, Mr., 314. Halifax, Lord, 297. Halka-bandi, 297. Halwal, 47. Hamada, 163. Hamilton, Dr., 268. HanClman, 58. Hare, D., 288. Harihara-putra, 197. Hastiuapur, 131. Hastings, Lord, 185. Hastings, W., 274, 277, 2SS, 314, 335. Hawfi Khanii, 36. Hawkins, Capt., 267, Haya, no. Heber, Bishop, 73, Hemeleia vastatrix, 1S6. Herbad, 89. Himalayas, 141, 145, 182. Hinduism, 355. — pre-Aryan, 161. Hindflstani, 153, 292, 309- Hiouen-Tlisang, 126. History, 126. History of India for schools, 131. Holkar, 139. INDEX. in Hos, 152. HflgU, 270. Human sacrifices, 65. HumSyfln, 136. Hunter, Dr. W. W., 65, 68, 280, 281, 362. Hyderabad, 134. Hyder All, 274, 276. Idolatry, 230. Ignorance as a cause of things, 347. Ignorance, native, 294, 320. Ignorance of India, our, . 348, 350. 352, 354, 363- Iliohpur, 134. lUeWhida Neina, igS. Imposture, 122. — pious, 74. Indian Institute, 364. Individuality, eternal, 192. Indore, 139, 273. Indra-prastha, 131. Infanticide, 67. InjU, 240. Inscriptions, 129. 5*66 also Rock. Insects, 146. Irrigation, 116. Iskander, 137. Islam, 162 etc., 238. Ismi'azlm, 115. Jabalpore, 182. Jabalu't tarik, 4. Jagan-nath, 67. Jaglr, 277. Jahandar Sbah, 136. Jahanglr, 136, 267. Jainas, 159. Jaipai, 133. Jalalu'd-dlns, 244. Jama-bandl, 43. Jambu, 173. Jammu, 172, 356. Jamsetjee, Sir, 81, 88 Jana, 41. Janagurh, 129. Janaka, 131. Jangadha, 129. Janglz Khan, 136. Jannat, 257. Japa-mala, ip8. jataka, 248. Jatjyus, 121. Jesuits, 266. Jewels, 61, 62. Jews, 212. Jbansi, 278. Jibal Tarik, 4. Jodhpur, 139, 150. John BuU, 272. Joshi, 46. JAangs, 149. JuUunder Doab, 27S. Jung, Sir SalSr, 213. Ka'ba, 163. Kachahri, 31. Kaohjr, 187. Kacheri, 31. Kafir, 226. Kaira, 55. Kalthl, 308. Kakabali, 92. Kalaliandl, 152. Kaiii pfuil, 10. Kalian, 134. Kalt-kataka, 270. Kaliya, 255. Kalki, 49. Kallurti, 200. Kallyftta, 198. Kanara, 152. Kanauj, 131. Kanauji, 150. KanchSpuram, 133, 195. Kandhs, 65. Kandy, 201. Kanjlvaram, 195. Kant^r^, 14. Kanwa, 130. Kanya-kubja, 131. KSiiyakubja Brahmans, 150. Kapurda-garhi, 139. Kasmlr, 138. — Maharaja of, 172. Kasmlrl Pandits, 151. Kasarl, 47. Kasim All, 275. Kasim, Muhammad, 135. Katak, 129, 134. Kataka, 270. Kathi, 140. Kathi-awad, 10. Kathiawar, 132. Kathiwdr, 10. Kaverl, 143. Kavert, Falls of, 183. Kayastha, 133. Kesari, 134. Kesliab Chandra Sen, 167. Khairpur, 139. Khaiasls, 10. Khalsi, 129. Khambata, Mr., 91. Khana, 34, 36. * Khana lao,' 34. Khandhias, 86, go. Khara pani, 10. Khasi, 252. Khaskhas, 100. Khatraj, 52. Kheda, 55. Khodiyar, 53. Khoja, 25. Khond, 152. Khuram, 139. Khwaja, 25. Kingdoms, 131. Kistna, 143. 372 INDEX. Kodagu, 152. ' Ko-l hai ! ' 34 Kol, 149, 152, 188. Kolapore, 194. KoU, 47. Konkanl, 151. Koorg, 153. Kosala, 131. Kota, 152. Kumarila, 191. Kumarin, 140. Kumbhar, 44. Kumbi, 40. Kuran, 248. Kunioul, 175. Kusa, 100. Kustl, 95. Kutb ud din, 136. Kutb-ul-Mulk, 134. Labour, division of, 27S. La Bourdonnais, 273. Labor, 132. Lakshml, 194. Lambardar, 41. Land, 340. Languages, 150, 252. — classical, of India, 289. Lash, Mr. and Mrs., 204, 324- Laskars, 10. Lat, 130. Lauriya, 130. Lavana, 143. Law, Hindd, 315. — of inheritance, Hinda and Muhammadan, 41. Lawyers, 211. Lawrence, Lord, 331, 340- Learning, Hindfi, 286. Legislation, 169. Lepers, 73, 78. Lethbridge, E., 131. Library, public, 59. Lies, 213, 214. Lingavats, 194. Locusts, 30. Lobar, 45. Lorfl, 143. Lota, 60. Lunl, 143. Lytton, Lord, 208, 300, 361. M. A., 299. Macaulay, 263, 2S9-292. Macnaghten, 222, 289. Madhvas, 192. Madhya, 141. Madhyawar, 139. Madras, 183, 270. — Presidenc}', 134. Madrassa, 288. Madura, 133, 195. Magadha, 128. Maga-pati, 89. Mahakala, 70. Maha-nadl, 143. Maharajadhiraja, 130. Maharashtra, 150. JIabatmyas, 103. Mah!, 143. Mahmdd-abad, 55. MahmM of Ghaznl, 133, 135- Mail steamer, 25. Maiwar, 139. Majan, 55. MajmUdar, 43. Maktabs, 294. jNIalabar, 133. Malava, 141. Malik Ahmad, 134. MaUeson, Col., 139, 171. Malta, 7. Maiwa, 131, 141. M^nasa-pftjS,, 231. Mandal, 41. Mandeville, Sir J., 264. Mangala, 104. Mangalor, 216. Mangoes, 186. Mani-karnikakund, 99. Manipur, 137. Manu, 40, 43, III, 311, 354- Marathas, 61, 188, 270. 273, 276, 318. Marathl, 150. Mar! Amman, ig6. Markham, C. R., 281. Marriage, 63, 316. — early, 202. Martin, 271. Marwar, 139. MSrwarl-s, 49, 150, 160, 308. Mata, 53, 66. Match-mnkers, 44 Matting, 122. Maurya, 127, 130. May, Mr., 289, 322. Maya, 254. Meade, Sir E., 212. Menials, 46. Mercy, 194. Methven, Capt., 13. Mewar, 132, 139. Mewari, 150. Mhar, 2, 46. Middle class, absence of, 298. Mill, James, 358. Miller, Mr., 216. Milman, Bisho]!, 361. Mir Jaflr, 275. Mil- Kasim All, 27f . Missionaries, 279, 353, 356. Mithila, 131. Mithra, 91. MleWha, 37. Mobed, 89. Mochi, 45. Modi, 84. Modi, 308. INDEX. 373 Moghuls, 272, 337, 338. See Mongol. Mon-Anam, 252. Mongols, 136. Monotheism, 55, 58, 230. Moor, Mr., 157. Morality. Sec Character. Morapant, 219. Morse, 272. Mothers, 317. Muhammad, 163. — story of, 19. — Shah, 136. Muir, Dr. John, 250. Muir, Sir W., 240, 279, 341- Mukaddam, 41. Mukti-kshetra, 99. Mulliga tanii', 123. Mundas, 152. Munro, 276. Murshidabad, 275. Muslim conquest, 135. Muslim influence on wo- men, 314. Muslim kingdoms, 1 34. Muslims, 18, 19, 41, 149, 164, 201, 282, 294. Mutiny, 336. Mysor, 133, 134. Mythology, 99, 103. Nadir Shah, 136. Nagar-sheth, 55. Nagpur, 152, 273. Nai, 44. Kama, 112. Names of Allah, 115. Napit, 44. Narbad^, 142. Narma-da, 142. Na^us, 92, NasarwSnjee Byramjee, 81. Kasa-salars, 86, 90. Nasik, 207. Native benevolence, 118. Native states, 170, 211. Natives. See Appearance; Attitude ; Character ; Condition ; Ignorance ; Learning. Navar, 89. Nawabs, 273. Negrito, 352. Nepali, 153. Newberie, John, 266. Nikitin, A., 264. NUgiri, 182. Nirakara-ptija, 231. Nishadas, 226. Nizam, 171. Nizam ul Mulk, 273. Non-Aryan beliefs, 49. Northbrook, Lord, 297, 361, 365- Northcote, Sir S., 138. Northern India, 125. Nowrozjee Furdoonjee, 359- Nuddea, 133, 294. Nudity, 60. Nyaya, 295. Omar, 165. Omito Fat, 112. ' Om mani padme hum I ' 112, 256. Ootacamund, 182. Opium, 337, 339. Oraon, 152. Orientalists and Angli- cists, 289. Oriental studies abroad, 363- Orissa, 134. Ormazd, 93. Osta, 89. Othman, 165. Oudh, 131. Oujein, 131. Outram, 222. Overland Route, 334. Ox, 57, 117, 356. Oxford, 363. — Oriental studies at, 349- Paohoappah, 216. Paharl, 45. Pahlavl, 129. Pakhali, 45. Pakhtu, 153. Pai, 133. Palamcottah, 324. Pala^a, loi, 275. Pali, 129, 158. Palladius, 108. Palms, 186. Palmyra, 186. Pamir, 148. Pano'ala, 131. Panchayat, 42, 53, 81. Panda, 106. Pandharpur, ig, 103. Pandits, 287, 295. Pandya, 133. Pant, 10. Panis, 92. Panini, 227, 314. Panipat, 274. Panjurli, 200, Pans, 65. Pantellaria, 6. Pardah, 312. Parganah, 40. ParsSs, 93, 161, 216 323- Parthians, 132. Pashtu, 153. Pata, 41. Patau, 132, 133. Patel, 41, 42. Pathan, 25. F^tha-salas, 294. Pati-dar, 41. 374 INDEX. Patti-walii, 33. Patwari, 4,^. Paymunt, 42, 45, 46. Payo-hnl, 143. Pazand, 89. Peaceable beginning of our Indian empiie, 268, 269, 274. Peiini, 22. Persian, 293. Persians, 132, 136. Peshin, 139. Peshwa, 273, 276. Plialgtt, loi. Phoenician, 129. Phrenology, 216, 217. Physical features, 181. Piety, 54, 55. 109. 35*5, 357- Pillars, 129. Pinda, 98, 105. Pindaris, 207, 277. Piyai, 53. 5S. 102, 185. Pirs, 165, 201. Pisacha, 104. Pitri, 105. Plantain, 186. Plants, 184, 185. Plassey, 275. Pogson, Mr., 211. Poisoning, 66. Polo, Marco, 264. Polygamy, 203, 311, 3M- Poona, 182, 273. Population, 55. Portuguese, 265. PosL-office, 334. Potter and clay, 44. Pradakshina, 54. Prajilpati, 44. Pramada - Das Mitra, 231- Piatishthiina, 131. Prayer, secret, iii, 112. Praying-wheels, 112. ' Presidency,' 270. Presidencies, 137. Preta, 104. Printep, T. and J., 222, 289. Prithivl Eaja, 132, 136. Piogress, 342. — of British justice, 284. 285. Proverb, 43. Pflja, 99, loi, 105, 161. Pulney, 182. Punnir, 143. Purana, Christian, 266. Pflrbl, 150. Pilrna-subhakava, 99. Purohita, 44. Quetta, 139, 350. Quietists, 114. ' Qui hai ' ' 34. Quinine, 187. Races, 147. Eae, Mr., 216. Eahtor, 132. Eaichor, 182. Railways, 62, 331, 332. Rainfall at Aden, 23. Rajmahal, 152. Rajputana, 132. Rajputs, 147, 352. Eakhewad, 45. Rama, 131, 312. Ramanujaa, 134, 356. Eamayana, 313. Eamazan, 19. Eamesvai'am, 189, 195. Earn Mohun Roy, 288. Eamnad, 189. Eampur, 139. Ranchi, 152. RangarJ, 47. Ranlganj, 331. Eao Bahadur, 207. EHo Bahadur Gopal Hari Deshmukh, 303. Eao, Sir T. Madhara, 213. Eatha-yatru, 67. Ratnagar, 86. Ravi, 173. Reinhard, 276. Religions, 155, 191, 246. Reva, 142. Revelation, 227, 287, 315- Revenue, sources of, 339. Revivalists, 191. Rewali, 142. Rhinoceros-hide, 45. Rig -Veda, corruption of, 71. 72, 3I5. Ritualism, 107. Rivers, 333. Eobson's ' Hindflism,' 239- Rock-inscriptions, 129. Roe, Sir Thos., 267. Eohilla War, 276. Rohtak, 356. Roman Catholicism, 212. Eoman Catholics, aoj. Roman - Urdu Society, 309- Eoorkee, 299. Rosaries, 108. Rozah, 201. Rudiakslia, no. Eudra-S'iva, 25-;, Eussell, Mr., 269. Eussia, 18, 138, 263. Eyot, 41, 302, 338. Eyotwary, 20S. Sakas, 131, 133. Sakunt.ila, 312. Sakyas, 158. S'ala, 58. Salagram, 104. S'alivahana, 133. Santi, 104. Saurasenl, 150. Siladitya, 132. Siva, 53, 195. Sona, 142. Sraddha, 104. Sringeri, 191. Svabhra, 143. Svetambaras, 159. Sabaktagln, 135. Sabharmatt, 143. Sadara, 95. Sadhu, 59. Sag-did, 91. Sago, 186. Sagrls, 81, go. Sah, 132. Salama, 240. Sale, Geo., 248. Salonkhyas, 132. Salt, 337, 339. Samadhi, 72. Samaj, 166. SamaranI, 108. Samudra-Gupta, 132. Sam vat, 131. Sanad, 207. Sanohl, 130. Sandstorm, 21. Sanga Rajas, 130. Sanskara, 228. Sanskarana, 2S6. Sanskrit, 37, 153, 287, 353- Santals, 149, 152. Santo, 264. Sarama, 92. Sarang, II. Sarasvata, 150. Sarasvatl, 227. Sarayu, 131. Sargent, Bishop, 216. Sargent, Bishop and Mrs., 204. Sarhang, 11. Sari, 61. JNDEX. Satara, 273, 278. Satl,/?, 71,315. Satpura, 70, 141, 152. Satyavan, 313. Satyendranath TagDre, 207. Saugor, 65, 357. Saunders, Trelawny, 137. Saunders, 289. Saurashtra, 140. Savitrl, 313. Sayanadarya, 135. Schoolmasters, 44. Schools, 62, 294, etc. Scythians, I3~[, 133. Seounderabad, 182. Sehore, 132. Self-government, 295. Self-immolation, 67-73. Self-reliance, 192. Sena, 133. Sepoys, 33. Seranipur, 265. Seringapatam, 276, Seton-Karr, Mr., 18. Shah Alani, 136, 277. Shahjahan, 136, 26S. Shakespear, H., 280, 289. Shamsa, 108. Sheppard, Mr., 74. Shl'as, 165. Shikasta, 308. Shir Shah Sftr, 136. Shops, 57. Shuja-ud-Dowla, 276. Sibi, 139. Sikandar, 127. Sikkim, 187. Simpl, 45. Sindia, 138, 139, 171, 276. Sinhalese, 153. Sinhas, 132. Sipl, 45. Slta, 131, 313. Sltala, 58. Sivajl, 273. Slang, 324. Sleeman, Col., 29, 70. 73, 185. 357- Smartas, 191, Somali, 24. Sombre, 276. SomnSth, 135. Southern India, 180. Spenta-mainyus, 93. Spiritualism, 197. Spirit-worship, 196. Sportsmen, 351. Srinagar, 172. Sri-ramapur, 265. Stanhope, Earl, 138. Statistics, 278. Stefano, H. di, 264. Stephen, Sir Ktzjames, 340- Stevens, Father Thomas, 265, 266. Students, 294, 295. Subanrekha, 143. Stichi, 45. Suez, 18. Suez Canal, 12. sat, 45. Suicide, 77. Sulaiman, 141, Sumbhulpur, 152. Sumru, 276. Sunnls, 165. Sun-power, 122. Sun-worship, 54. Slira, 240, 267. Stiraj, 267. Sflraj-ud-Dowla, 275. Sttras, 143, 267. Suspicion, native, 279. Stitar, 44. Sutherland, 289. Sdtras, no. Sutta-nipata, 248. Suvarna-rekha, 143. Svami-Narayan, III. 376 INDEX. Svayamvara, 311, 312. Swaheli, 25. Sykes, CoL, 280. Tai, 352. Taj, 182. Talati, 43. Talipot, 186. Tamarind, 186. Tamasha, 29. TSnga, 31. Tanjor, 133. Tap, 142. Tapantl, 142, Tapati, 142. Taptl, 267. Tartars, 135. 149. Tasblh, loS, no. Tashll!, 298. Tattoo, 2. Taurat, 240. Tavl, 173. Tawhid, 257. Taxes, 279, 340, 341. Tayaman Nale, 133. Tea, 187, 351. Teignmouth, Lord, 335. Tell, 46. Temple, Sir K., 220. Temples, Southern, 195. Temples v. public-liouses, 67- Tengalais, 152. Teutonic reverence for women, 312. Thags, 66. Thanesvar, 136. Theists, 166. Thomason, 279, 380, 296, 299. SOS- Tibetans, 149. Tila, 100. limes, Hindtt's letter to, 226, 236. Timsah, 15. Tlmftr, 136. Tindals, 11. Tinnevelly, 195. Tirhut, 131. Tobacco, 187, 351. Toda, 152. Tol, 294. Toleration, 98, 114, 314. Tonk, 139. Tooth-cleaning, 57. Toramana, 132. Town-hall, 53. Trades, 44. Transition stage in Hindll minds, 304. Travankor, Maharaja of, 174- Travellers, early, 264. Travelling, 330. Trees, 31. Trevelyan, SirC.E., 289, 293- Tucker, Sarah, 324. Tukaram, 219. Tulasl. SeeTulsi. Tulsl, 53, 58, no. Tungabhadra, 213. Turkey and India, 201. Turks, 135. Tuticorin, 189. Twice-born, in. Udaipur, 132, 139. Ujjayin!, 131. Universe, limit of, 144. Universities, 298. Unseetarian education, 327- Upingas, 159. tlrdhva-bahu, 77. tJrda, 154. Vadagalais, 192. Vaid, 46. Vaiga, 143. Vaisvadeva, 92. Vaisyas, 147, 148. Vaishnavas, 68. Vaitarant, 143. Vallabhl, 132. Valmlki, 312. Vandidad, 83. Vandvas, 274. Vapl, 100. Varasto, 95. Varthema, 264. Vata, 143. Vedantist, 347. Vedas, 311. Vedi, 100. Vegetation, 33, 185. Verbal diarrhoea, 30.;. Vermilion, 58. Vernaculars, 292, 293, 297. 300. 306. Videha, 131. Vidyalaya, 288. Vijaya-nagar, 134, 135, 276. Vikramaditya, 131. 133. Vindhya, 141. Visvesvara-nath, 100. Vishnu-pada, 101. Vision of a, Brahman, 357- Vithoba, 59. Vrishabba, 194. Vyakarana, 2 86. Waghorn, Mr., 334. Wakeels, 211. Waland, 44. WalidI, 135. Warand, 44. Warangal, 134. Waterfalls, 182. Water, holy, 100. Watson, Dr. Forbes, 337, 363- Wan, 37. Widows, 78, 317. Wilberforce, W., 2S3. Williams, Lieut.-Colonel Monier, 50. Wilson, Prof. H. H., 73, 289, SSI- Wilson, Mrs., 323. Women, 54, 60, 175, 176, 188, 203-205, jjj. Women, influence of, 319. Wood, Sir C, 297, 299. INDEX. Worship, 161. Writers, 133, 308. Writing, 296. Wynaad, 1S7. 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