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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
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 J9 Ewen (Rev. J.) India : sketches and 
 stories of Native Life, ii illustrations, cr. 
 8vo, cloth, 2S. 1890 
 

 INDIA; 
 
 SKETCHES AND STORIES OF NATIVE LIFE. 
 

SKETCHES AND STORIES OF NATIVE LIFE. 
 
 REV. J 
 
 ri^ 
 
 E WEN, 
 
 AUTHOR OK ‘the HANDBOOK TO BENARES.' 
 
 ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 1 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 ELLIOT STOCK, 62, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 
 1890. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 During my ten years’ residence in India I made it 
 part of my daily business to keep notes of the things 
 I saw and heard. Looking over them, I found I had 
 a mass of material illustrative of native life, which, so 
 far as I know, has not hitherto been touched. It has 
 been drawn upon for this volume. Some of the 
 stories are taken from native books ; the rest were 
 told me by members of the different castes; while 
 the majority of the incidents came under my own 
 observation. 
 
 My object has been to give the conclusions at 
 which I have arrived regarding the Mahometans and 
 Hindus of the North-West Provinces ; and, by means 
 of story and incident, to give the reasons for my 
 opinions. I have no theory to support, none to 
 
viii PREFACE. 
 
 controvert. The only merit the stories possess is 
 that they are native, and, I think, published for the 
 first time in English. My only hope is that they may 
 be found entertaining and instructive. 
 
 J. E. 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 The Jama Masjid, Delhi . . Frontispiece. 
 
 A Typical Mahomedan . . . . 
 
 A Hindu Temple . . . . 
 
 Stone Bull in the Temple of Biskshwaenat, Benares 
 Hindu Mendicants . . . . 
 
 The Sacred Tree in the Underground Temple 
 The Man who never Lies Down . 
 
 The Fakirs who cannot take their Arms Down 
 Interior of a Hindu Temple 
 
 Sacred Monkeys . . . . 
 
 A Hindu Holy Man and Image of God 
 
 Page 64 
 >» 79 
 
 „ 93 
 
 „ 108 
 „ 121 
 ,, 126 
 ,, 128 
 ,, 131 
 „ 134 
 ,, 145 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 MA HO MET A NS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PACE 
 
 First Impressions — The Prince and the Jeweller — The pos- 
 sessed Maulvi— Spirit-burial —The Visitation of Spirits — How 
 Spirits are repelled — The Spirits’ Holiday — The Evil Ej’e — 
 
 The Pedlar’s Bad Luck — A terrified Mussulmani — The Breath 
 of the Righteous — Fatalism — Rheumatic Ducks — The ‘Pro- 
 vidence’ of the Poultry-yard — How Fate is decided — The 
 Weaver who thought Gold was in his Fate - - - - 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Mahometan sobriety — The ‘Nabob’ who pulled a well into the 
 shade — Blackmail — Credulity of Tourists — How the only 
 honest Commissioner was bribed — The Contractor who burned 
 his fingers — An unfaithful Servant — The Servant who had his 
 palm greased — ‘ Who fell from the house-top, you or I ?’ — 
 Modes of consuming Opium. — Visit to an Opium-den — An 
 Opium-eater’s Dream — Preparations of Opium — Women and 
 Opium — Mahometans and Brandy — An advanced Mahometan 
 — Cheap Tobacco, and how to light it — Chewing - - - 21 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Women — Rouge — Polygamy — The Maulvi and his English Wife 
 — A Deceived Wife — Female Inferiority — -‘Not at home to 
 Gentlemen ’ — Zenana Life demoralizing — How an Anglicized 
 Mahometan guarded his Wife — Prison-like Homes — An irri- 
 tated Polygamist — Experience in a Hindu Zenana — Minister- 
 ing Angels — Mahometan Sects — Religion in Daily Life — The 
 Servant and the Poultry — The Lady and the Stewardess — 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Training a Child in the way he should go — Xo compromise 
 with Idolatry — Fasting — The gorgeous East — Goat Sacrifice — 
 Mahometan Clannishness — A meritorious Murder — A Ma- 
 hometan Saint and Hero — Godliness without Cleanliness — 
 Mahometan Houses — Hair-dyes — The Green Cat — A successful 
 Dye — Red Hair — ‘ English as she is wrote ’ - - - .47 
 
 HIND US. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Hinduism a Philosophic Religion — How a Hindu justifies 
 Idolatry — Are Hindus Idolaters? — Brahmin and Sudra — The 
 East awakening — Illusion — Great Thinkers — Adoption cannot 
 change Character — Transmigration — Hindu Funerals — Crema- 
 tion — The undefilable Ganges — Busy Ants — Wolfish Dogs — 
 How the Municipality is Outwitted — Why are Bulls sacred ? — 
 Sacred and Profane : Mahadeo’s Bulls in Dust-carts — A Run 
 for Life — How the Sacred Cattle leave the Mahometan 
 Slaughter-houses — Hindu Callousness to Suffering — The Crow 
 that lost its Breakfast — Killed by a Snake — What Decides a 
 Man’s Caste ? — The Heartlessness of Caste — Buried alive— 
 Knocked down — How high-caste Policemen treat low-caste 
 Women — Wonderful Escapes — A Perilous Race — European 
 Kindness — A degenerate Brahmin — Retribution — ‘ May he be 
 my Donkey !’ .......... 
 
 CHAPTER V; 
 
 Moral Survey of Hinduism — ‘ Lakh,’ Lac, or Rs. 100,000 ?- — A 
 Spurious Diamond — ‘ Plenty fool man come next time ’ — How 
 Pilgrims are Fleeced — How the ‘Gods’ make Revelations — 
 An ancient Tree — A Hindu Miracle — Fakirs’ Curses — Unbe- 
 lieving Europeans — Religion and Imposture — A Bed of Spikes 
 — A Man who never Lies Down ! — Dowerless Beauties — Un- 
 defined Humanity — Dry Arms — A Holy Man — Justifiable 
 Lying — How Sick Certificates are Manufactured — Temples 
 and their Inhabitants — Monkeys: Animal or God?— The 
 Danger of injuring them — The Brahmin and the Monkey — 
 A mischievous Monkey — Snakes : why Worshipped — Caste 
 among Snakes — The Serpent that paid dearly for Milk — ‘ The 
 World always returns Evil for Good’ — A Snake on Guard — 
 Attacked by a ‘ flying ’ Snake — ‘ Bruise its Head ’ — Why the 
 State went into Mourning 
 
 no 
 
INDIA. 
 
 MAHOMETANS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 First Impressions — The Prince and the Jeweller — The possessed 
 Maulvi— Spirit-burial — The Visitation of Spirits — How Spirits are 
 repelled — The Spirits’ Holidav — The Evil Eye — The Pedlar’s Bad 
 Luck — A terrified Mussulmani — The Breath of the Righteous — 
 Fatalism — Rheumatic Ducks — The ‘Providence’ of the Poultry-yard 
 — How Fate is decided— The Weaver who thought Gold was in his 
 Fate. 
 
 Where shall I begin, and how ? 
 
 This is not a new question with me. I found it 
 among my thoughts on my first journey from Calcutta 
 to Delhi. A more monotonous dreary country I had 
 never traversed, and I was rapidly coming to the con- 
 clusion there could be nothing to tell when the minars 
 of the Jama Musjid of the latter city, rising, as it 
 seemed, from a barren, dreary plain, began to gather 
 distinctness in the distance, come nearer and nearer, 
 and eventually mingle in a panorama of kiosks, capped 
 by glittering cupolas and guarded by stately minarets. 
 The prospect was bewildering : and the question which 
 originated in my inability to discover anything worthy 
 of record, remained to taunt me with my want of 
 capacity to describe a scene so novel and perplexing. 
 
 1 
 
2 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 But I have no intention of undertaking even now a 
 task which then appeared impossible. I am concerned 
 with men and their customs, and in my perplexity 
 shall allow that first glimpse of the ancient capital 
 of India to decide the question for me. 
 
 Every object there is Mahometan. The gloomy fort, 
 which, in its massive grandeur and solidity, has with- 
 stood the shock of battle, and survived the fall of 
 dynasties, is emblematic, in its proportions, of their 
 prolonged supremacy in arms; the majestic Musjid of 
 their supremacy in religion ; while Nadir Shah’s 
 mosque, with its gilded domes flashing back the blaze 
 of the Orient sun, reminds the visitor of their un- 
 enviable supremacy in barbarity and cruelty. 
 
 The Mahometans of India are a numerous and 
 influential race ; and carry themselves with a bearing 
 at once self-conscious and contemptuous. They live, 
 however, on the fame of the past: for at the present 
 day their fortunes are fallen so low, that only by a 
 revolution bordering on the miraculous can they 
 possibly hope to regain anything of their former great- 
 ness. Their religious creed and their moral code bar 
 the path of progress. 
 
 Mahometanism has undoubtedly had its history; 
 but the system must not be credited with the glory 
 which attended its early conquests and day of power. 
 All it ever did was to excite a passionate fanaticism, 
 which, like the ocean lashed into fury, cast forth wave 
 after wave of barbarism over the fairest fields and 
 most enlightened countries of the world. After its 
 conquests came its own subjection ; its brutal force 
 fell before the mightier powers of intellect and civiliza- 
 tion, and for a time a halo of borrowed glory hung 
 round the Arab name. It was like the light which 
 the moon sheds upon the earth — the reflection of a 
 system purer and more glorious than itself. There 
 were current ideas tending to progress which the 
 Saracens could no more change than the fiat of a 
 victorious king can suddenly change the current coin 
 
MAHOMETANS. 
 
 3 
 
 of a conquered country. These continued to live, and 
 circulate, long after the systems to which they owed 
 their origin had been obliged to court safety in 
 obscurity; and thus a religion, which could only com- 
 mend itself by the sword, was credited with in- 
 tellectual efforts and achievements alien to its nature. 
 While these early and extraneous forces continued to 
 operate, Muslim glory shone resplendent: but when 
 time had rooted them out of the minds and hearts of 
 the succeeding generations, Mahometanism, destitute 
 of any moral incentive capable of supplying their 
 place, sank rapidly to its own true level. 
 
 That level it has now reached. 
 
 There are a few enlightened Muslims ; men who are 
 painfully conscious of the degradation of the com- 
 munity, and who are anxious to introduce an era of 
 progress. 
 
 There is behind them, however, a dense mass of 
 ignorance which disbelieves in modern progress, and 
 neutralizes every attempt they make to raise the 
 position of their eo-religionists. But that is not the 
 worst. They are not only the enemies of progress : 
 they are decided retrogressionists. Their ambition 
 is to push back this nineteenth century to the state of 
 Arabia as Mahomet found it. Such are the Wahabis 
 and Mahdiites ; sects with thousands of adherents and 
 sympathizers in every part of our Indian Empire. 
 W’hat, they ask, do they want with tables ? Mahomet 
 never used a table. What do they want with chairs ? 
 Mahomet never sat on chairs. What do they want with 
 the luxuries of modern civilization ? Mahomet knew 
 nothing of them, nor need they. They tell us plainly 
 they are no admirers of Western civilization. Ignorant 
 they are : ignorant they desire to remain. 
 
 Ignorance has a twin brother — superstition : a com- 
 panion as constant as a shadow. We always find them 
 in company. To assert, then, that the Indian Mussul- 
 man is distinguished at the present day from his 
 fellow-countrymen by his pre-eminence in igonrance 
 
 1—2 
 
4 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 is to assert him equally superstitious. And this is 
 true of every class : of the noble and plebeian, the rich 
 and poor, the educated and ignorant, as the following 
 stories and incidents will indicate. 
 
 A reference to the map of India will show those un- 
 acquainted with its political history that there are a 
 number of tributary states, subject to their own 
 princes and governed by their own laws, in what we 
 call our Indian Empire. A few of these are Mahometan 
 states. The ruler of one of them was famous, far and 
 near, for the number of his wives and the richness of 
 his revenue ; circumstances which involved him in an 
 extravagant expenditure. The expenses of his estab- 
 lishment were enormous ; but the merchants, not 
 satisfied with legitimate profits, charged him extor- 
 tionately for everything they supplied, and divided 
 the spoils with the various court officers. 
 
 A native firm of jewellers determined to profit by 
 the notorious corruption of the court. They selected 
 jewellery to the value of 2,00,000 rupees, and deputed 
 the senior partner of the firm to visit the prince’s 
 capital and dispose of it in the harem. 
 
 On arrival he waited upon the Wazir, regaled him 
 with the extravagant flattery so dear to every native 
 official, and asked his acceptance of a princely present. 
 Then, and not till then, did he reveal his business and 
 unfold his plan of operations. He had brought, he 
 said, jewellery valued at 2,00,000 rupees for disposal 
 to the prince ; but he was a very poor man, had come 
 a long way, run great risks, and was anxious to secure 
 a slight advance upon their market value. This, he 
 averred, he could only do by his assistance, and for 
 that he Avas prepared to pay him handsomely. The 
 jeAvels w'ere worth 2,00,000 rupees ; he Avished to secure 
 10,00,000 rupees ; two of which he was prepared to 
 pay him in consideration of his services. No deed 
 Avas signed, but they understood each other. The 
 merchant made his salaam and retired. 
 
 Next day the Wazir informed the Prince that a 
 
MAHOMETANS. 
 
 5 
 
 jeweller had arrived in his capital with priceless 
 gems ; and, as he expected, he received orders to 
 command his presence. The jeweller, who was in 
 waiting in the outer court, instantly presented himself 
 with his richly-laden casket, and laid it at the feet of 
 His Highness, who ordered a eunuch to convey it to 
 the harem. The ladies were beside themselves with 
 delight. Unmindful of their dignity, they crowded 
 round him, and seized each the piece that attracted 
 her. The casket was speedily emptied, and the eunuch 
 retraced his steps to the Hall of Audience. The 
 delighted merchant made a profound salaam, and 
 asked permission to retire without offending the royal 
 ears with the mention of money. 
 
 Months passed, when one day a piece of the jewellery 
 was sent to a resident jeweller for repairs. Then he 
 wrote out his bill and handed it to the Wazir, who 
 asked his Highness’s permission to settle the account. 
 When he heard the amount he flatly refused to con- 
 sider it, and ordered the presence of the jeweller. 
 When he appeared the Prince informed him that the 
 amount was far in excess of their true value, and that 
 until he made a large reduction he would not pass an 
 order for payment. This the Hindu most solemnly 
 asserted he could not possibly do ; the figures were 
 the lowest he could accept in justice to himself. 
 
 ‘ But,’ he said, ‘ let your Highness take only one piece 
 to clear my expenses while waiting for your orders ; 
 the others I shall take back, provided they have not 
 been used and are still in the same condition as when 
 I delivered them.’ His Highness was delighted with 
 the proposal and ordered them to be collected at once 
 and brought into the royal presence. Then it was 
 found, as the Hindu very well knew, that every piece 
 was more or less inj ured. The prince refused to pay, 
 the merchant to abate his demand ; and in this state 
 of tension permission was given him to retire. 
 
 Weeks passed ; the bill appeared to be forgotten. 
 The merchant, anxious to be gone, feigned sickness. 
 
6 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 ami wrote to his firm to send him a Bombay physician. 
 A heavy fee was given, in exchange for which a 
 certificate was furnished in which it was stated that 
 the jeweller’s health had been seriously impaired by 
 his prolonged residence in the Prince’s capital, and 
 that, to save his life, he must return home at once. 
 This the jeweller forwarded with the intimation that 
 the money might be paid into the bank, and forthwith 
 took his departure. 
 
 The Prince was furious, and turning to the Wazir, 
 asked his advice. He replied, ‘ Your Highness has 
 read the letter and the doctor’s certificate. All men 
 must die. This infidel ma}'^ die, leaving you indebted 
 to him. You, too, must die ; and your next meeting 
 may be before the judgment seat of the Great King. 
 There all are equal. In that great darbar he 
 will point you out and say, “ This was the Prince of 
 
 . I was a poor Hindu merchant. 1 went to his 
 
 capital with my stock. He called me ; bought my 
 all, but refused to pay me the money. I — I was sick 
 and ill ; but robbed of all I possessed, I was unable to 
 procure the necessaries of life, and returned home to 
 die.’ ‘ Stop ! stoj) !’ shouted the prince, ‘ pay him 
 whatever he asked, even to the half of m}’^ kingdom, 
 only do not allow him to bring such a charge against 
 me in the dread hereafter.’ 
 
 I numbered among my acquaintances a Maulvi, who 
 prided himself upon his enlightenment. It was his 
 constant boast that he had no prejudices except one ; 
 and that was in favour of astrology, a subject on which 
 he had written to the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone and 
 received a most gracious reply. 
 
 He was a Suni in belief, a radical in politics ; a 
 devout admirer and ardent well-wisher of the Right 
 Hon. John Bright, Lord Ripon, and the Hahdi, all of 
 whom he placed in the same category. He had long 
 since ceased to read everything, with the exception of 
 the Calcutta Statesman and Friend of India, the 
 Kuran, and the Mahometan traditions, all of which he 
 
MAHOMETANS. 
 
 7 
 
 held in equal esteem. He was sure of Russia’s triumph, 
 England’s defeat ; and rejoiced in spirit at the thought 
 of the dreadful retribution which would then overtake 
 the tyrannical commissioners, magistrates, and col- 
 lectors, who represent the British Raj : officers whom 
 he hated with the most bitter hatred. Still, he insisted, 
 he was an enlightened gentleman, and was highly 
 indignant whenever I ventured to assert that he had 
 more than the ordinary share of human prejudices. 
 
 He was withal a very devout Mussulman. He never 
 entered upon any duty, however trivial, without 
 audibly uttering the words ‘ bis-millah,’ i.e., ‘in the 
 name of God nor did he ever allow the duties of life 
 to prevent him ‘ performing his prayers.’ This 
 necessitated his rising very early, for at 4 a.m. he 
 used to visit a dirty, dingy Musjid, so shut in by the 
 lofty houses of the Mahalla, and overshadowed by 
 sickly neem trees that even by day it wore a melan- 
 choly, repulsive appearance. One dark, cold morning 
 in January he had just entered its narrow gateway 
 when he fancied he saw someone kneeling in prayer 
 a few paces distant. He hastened to join the supposed 
 worshipper ; but, as he approached, the phantom 
 disappeared. He was alone in the Musjid, and alone 
 with thoughts which filled him with horror. There 
 was certainly a form there : it had not left the Musjid 
 by the door : no, it had disappeared without moving. 
 It portended evil. It was Shaitfin* himself, who, 
 instead of quitting the Musjid like a serious worshipper, 
 had entered his body, and possession could only mean 
 sickness, perhaps death. He must be relieved at 
 once if he would escape fatal consequences. 
 
 In the immediate neighbourhood of his house there 
 was a large colony of Chamars,t one of whom was a 
 celebrated exorcist. At dawn he sent for him, told 
 him his story, and enlisted his assistance against his 
 enemy. The Chamar employed every charm known 
 
 Satan. 
 
 t Shoemakers. 
 
8 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 to the professional exorcist, but to no purpose ; the 
 Maulvi was sick, and his vast dimensions decreased 
 daily. I called to see him and found him very weak 
 and ill. The cause of his sickness was only too obvious. 
 About six feet from where he was lying there was a 
 dirty drain vitiating the close atmosphere of his room, 
 but when I suggested it as the cause he languidly 
 replied, ‘ I don’t smell it.’ I ventured, despite his 
 scepticism, to suggest a change of air and scene, but 
 he had already delayed too long. Three days later 
 his remains were borne, amid every expression of 
 lamentation and grief, to the solitary graveyard beyond 
 the city wall — a victim, as everyone thought, to 
 demoniacal possession.* 
 
 There is no unnecessary delay in the burial of the 
 dead in the East. The heat is so intense that it is 
 impossible to defer the interment for many hours. 
 As soon as the quivering heart ceases to pulsate the 
 arrangements are carried forward with an expedition 
 which would create suspicion in Europe. The case 
 of the Maulvi will show how rapidly everything is 
 accomplished. He died at 8 p.m. ; he was at rest 
 within the tomb at midnight. 
 
 This unseemly hurry is an absolute necessity, not 
 the expression of indifference to the loss the family 
 has sustained nor any want of respect to the departed. 
 They cannot detain the body ; but love compensates 
 itself for the sudden withdrawal by the belief that the 
 spirit is still present, and to it, after the third and 
 before the expiration of the fortieth day, they accord 
 a form of funeral. The ceremony is called Rooh E ikalna, 
 i.e., the turning out of the spirit. The third day is 
 generally chosen. Then the bereaved family call a 
 barber and request him to secure the disembodied 
 spirit. 
 
 * The belief in demoniacal possession is unquestioned in the East. I 
 have seen a woman, said to be possessed, tear herself in a manner too 
 revolting to be described. Luke might have had her before him when 
 he wrote chapter ix. 39. 
 
MAHOMETANS. 
 
 9 
 
 In the evening this functionaiy enters the room in 
 which the deceased expired and places a dish of water on 
 the floor. He covers it carefully over, and on the cover 
 places a lighted lamp with sufficient oil to burn all 
 night. In the morning he re-enters and walks round 
 the room, shouting, ‘ Come ! Come ! Come !’ and 
 approaching the lamp, says to the spirit, ‘ Enter this.’ 
 The ceremony ended, he calls the relations and friends, 
 and greets them with the information that the spirit has 
 entered the lamp and may now be borne away. They 
 at once form in procession and march to the graveyard, 
 carrying the dish and lamp with them, both of which 
 are laid upon the grave which contains the spirit’s 
 former habitation, and there it is left. 
 
 But the spirit does not always remain. There are 
 some that prefer the old home and wander back again. 
 Besides these, there are many which continue to cherish 
 undying enmity. They are the most troublesome ; for 
 they return only to revenge themselves upon the living : 
 and it is found that they have a wonderfully correct 
 recollection of the addresses of all their former 
 acquaintances, neighbours, and friends. Spirits all the 
 world over, if we are to believe those who have been 
 blessed with visions of the departed, invariably select 
 the hour when they may make their presence known 
 with the greatest effect. The Mahometan spirit is no 
 exception to the rule. When the noise and bustle of 
 the day have given place to the stillness of night, 
 and nothing is heard but the barking of hungry dogs, 
 the blood-freezing, unearthly yell of jackals, and the 
 weird screech of the owl, it loves to force its company 
 upon terrified mortals. The lamp flickers as if a faint 
 breeze stirred the atmosphere : in the dim uncertain 
 light visions, neither of heaven nor earth, flit to and 
 fro, till the spirit, sure of ics surroundings, emerges into 
 bold relief. Like Poe’s raven, 
 
 ‘ Not the least obeisance makes he.’ 
 
 Calm and motionless it stands ; pale and ghastly as 
 
10 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 from the world of the dead, its fiery eyes the while 
 exercising the fascination of terror upon its mortal 
 enemy, 
 
 ‘ Only this and nothing more.’ 
 
 This power of self-revelation is, happily for mortal 
 Mahometans, limited. It is confined to five swiftly- 
 fleeting months ; and even this period may be greatly 
 curtailed by a very simple but very disgusting cere- 
 mony. When the sunlight overpowers the spirit’s 
 inherent power of self-illumination, the spell is broken, 
 till night and silence favour its reappearance. The 
 second visit, however, depends entirely upon the living. 
 He may decline the honour by entertaining his self- 
 invited guest when light and men inspire him with 
 sufficient courage. This he does by baking a cake of 
 inurhwa and covering it with cooked chaulai,* crowned 
 by a whole radish. Part he eats, the remainder is for 
 the now invisible guest. Its portion is placed in the 
 drain outside the house, beside which the host stands 
 and presses his hospitality upon his unwelcome visitor 
 by an urgent invitation to eat. ‘ Eat,’ he cries at the 
 pitch of his voice, as if the spirit were dull of hearing ; 
 ‘ come, eat !’ Patiently he stands, for it would be in the 
 highest degree unbecoming to exhibit any sign of 
 impatience, but when sufficient time has elapsed for a 
 hungry spirit to make a good meal he pitches the 
 remainder to the cadaverous dogs that have witnessed 
 the ceremony with wistful, expectant gaze. The 
 spirit’s power is broken. From henceforth it must 
 rest satisfied with the company of ghouls in the silence 
 of Hades till special permission is given it to revisit 
 its old earthly home. 
 
 This privilege it may enjoy in the middle of May of 
 each year. Then all spirits are allowed a holiday. 
 As the Shabirat approaches, the condition of Ma- 
 hometan houses indicates that guests are expected. 
 
 * Native dishes. 
 
 / 
 
MAHOMETANS. 
 
 II 
 
 There is a general cleaning. The walls are freshly 
 plastered, rubbish carried out, brass dishes refurbished, 
 coppers retinned, while all the old pottery is broken 
 and replaced by other pieces fresh from the kiln. All 
 day long the several members of the family are busy, 
 some preparing a sweetmeat called ‘ Halwa ki roti,’ 
 composed of sugar, clarified butter, and the kernels of 
 sundry nuts, while others are busy preparing an 
 amazing number of tiny lamps. 
 
 In the evening the house is a blaze of light. All 
 the lamps are lit and placed wherever there is a recess 
 capable of holding them. The transformation is 
 complete ; instead of a dirty, dingy house with greasy, 
 filthy walls, we can imagine ourselves in one upon 
 which the various trades have just applied the finish- 
 ing touches of their art, lit up in honour of its first 
 occupation. The scene upon which they throw their 
 combined light is no less brilliant. The floor is 
 occupied by the members of the family, who, clad in 
 costumes of every variety of colour, sit round a cloth 
 covered with sweetmeats. It is evident from the over- 
 flowing abundance that the expected guests must 
 have excellent appetites : but this need not excite 
 surprise, when we are solemnly assured that this is 
 the only day in 365 in which spirits are permitted to 
 break their fast. We may examine, without touching, 
 the several dishes. Some are very full, others have 
 a very dainty little portion. On inquiry we learn the 
 reason. The amounts are graded to suit the varying 
 capacity of the expected guests. The spirit of the 
 man of mature years gets, it may be, six cakes ; the 
 spirit of the woman, four ; of the child, the dainty 
 portions in which children delight. None are forgotten ; 
 and, if spirits have still the capacity of gratitude left 
 them, they must be delighted with the warmth and 
 sincerity of their reception. 
 
 The elaborate prepai’ations completed, the family, 
 in the attitude of expectancy, commence the recital of 
 a mystic verse called the ‘ Char Khiil,’ which no spirit 
 
12 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 can resist. Their attendance is thus compelled and 
 the feast may be proceeded with. Addressing Allah, 
 they point to a cake or heap of cakes and say, ‘ This is 
 for my departed father ; this for my departed mother ; 
 this for my departed son ; this for my departed sister,’ 
 and so on till they have exhausted the entire list of 
 those whom they have loved and lost. 
 
 This, it may be stated, is one of the superstitious 
 ceremonies observed by the several sects of Mahome- 
 tans ; one in which all participate, the rich and poor, 
 the ignorant and enlightened equally, for it is one by 
 which they keep alive the memory of departed friends. 
 
 There is another superstition common to all, which, 
 while well-known, may still be mentioned. They all 
 believe in the evil eye ; indeed, it is the omnipresent 
 evil of their life, and the belief in its power is carried 
 to lengths which those who have only a second-hand ac- 
 quaintance with Eastern nations can but faintly 
 realise. 
 
 I was sitting in the veranda of my bungalow about 
 10 a.m. one morning when a ‘ boxwalla,’ or Indian 
 pedlar, called and requested me to look at his goods. 
 He put down his box and commenced the display of 
 his wares by producing half-a-dozen quart bottles of 
 different syrups. While thus engaged, his assistant, 
 an unkempt dirty boy of twelve years, directed his 
 attention to the miscellaneous assortment of haber- 
 dashery, oilman’s stores, stationery, and the thousand 
 and one useful and ornamental articles which comprise 
 the pedlar’s stock-in-trade. He had to reach over the 
 bottles, and, in his anxiety to do business, forgot his 
 wide airy sleeves. Over went the nearest bottle, 
 smashed into a thousand pieces, while the syrup, 
 which represented, perhaps, the value of a shilling, 
 streamed off towards the gravel path. ‘ Oh, you wretch!’ 
 cried the hapless dealer, boxing the ears of his 
 unfortunate apprentice. Then turning to me, he said, 
 as if recalling the earlier scenes of the day, ‘ I wonder 
 whose face I could have seen first this morning that 
 
MAHOMETANS. 
 
 13 
 
 my business should have been attended by an 
 occurrence so unfortunate.’ 
 
 The evil eye is thus made to account for every mis- 
 adventure, as well as for every occurrence for which 
 they can assign no reasonable cause. It would be 
 amusinor, did it not indicate a decree of ignorance and 
 superstition degrading to a people who claim a history 
 of victory and enlightened empire. 
 
 Not far from my bungalow there lived a low caste 
 Hindu who had been blessed with a most liberal 
 helping of olive branches. He lived in a spacious 
 house, but found that, notwithstanding its airy dimen- 
 sions, it was none too large for the numbers who had 
 to occupy it. In time this ‘ family mansion ’ was 
 required for another, and the landlord, who was by no 
 means satisfied with his tenant, gave him notice to 
 quit. The would-be tenant was a Mahometan of 
 lowly station ; so far down, indeed, in the social scale, 
 that his wife, untrammelled by customs which confine 
 her more exalted sisters to the seclusion of the Zenana,* 
 ventured on a tour of inspection. She reached the 
 house and found the Hindu housekeeper at home. 
 The latter lady strongly refused to leave ; the house 
 suited her and she was determined to stay. The 
 Mussulmani, thus defied, was equally determined to 
 obtain possession, when the Hindu, finding her feelings 
 and her reasons treated with contempt, said, ‘ Very 
 Avell, do just what you like ; but I may as well tell you 
 that my husband knows magic, and can destroy man 
 or beast with a look of his eye. Be cautious ; you 
 have a son upon whom all your hopes depend ; I warn 
 you that the day you enter he will be taken ill, and no 
 one, however great his skill, will be able to restore him 
 to health.’ The Mussulmani laughed at the threat, or 
 rather she professed to do so, for inwardly she trembled 
 lest something serious might really befall the child. 
 
 On the day appointed the family arrived, and the 
 
 Harem. 
 
14 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 Hindus had to move into a small house near by. 
 That night it rained heavily. The bleak east wind 
 blew a perfect hurricane, and lowered the oppressive 
 temperature of the previous day nearly 10°. The 
 child caught cold and sneezed, a circumstance w'hich 
 set the mother off upon the most painful and perplex- 
 ing line of thought. He sneezed again ; she woke her 
 sleeping husband, and told him, in cautious suppressed 
 w'hispers, the Hindu woman’s threat. He coughed 
 slightly — believing the worst, she gave herself over to 
 a passion of tears ; — a little more strongly, — and then 
 her cries and wails rent the air and roused her still 
 sleeping neighbours. Just then the cock-crow an- 
 nounced the approach of morning : and in the gray 
 dawn the ejected family had the satisfaction of 
 witnessing the hurried and undisfnified exit of their 
 rivals, the father carrying the bed and cooking 
 utensils, the wife with her treasure clasped to her 
 heart. The mere act of quitting the house, however, 
 could not cure the child. The Hindu woman had said 
 that if once taken ill his sickness would defy the skill 
 of the physician. It was no use then to trouble the 
 doctors. Onward she hurried to the nearest mosque, 
 from wdrich the early worshippers were retiring, and, 
 holding up her child, asked them to breathe upon it 
 the breath of the righteous, that the spell might be 
 broken and her child restored to health. 
 
 This is a curious belief. Every evening groups of 
 women may be seen standing at the gates of the 
 various mosques, waiting for the worshippers, whose 
 breath is supposed to possess powerfully curative 
 properties. As they retire, the mothers hold up 
 their children, upon which they complacently breathe, 
 as if they were doing the mothers a favour, and the 
 children more good than all the physicians in the 
 universe are capable of efl'ecting. 
 
 They are thorough-going fatalists. I have fre- 
 quently had discussions with my Mahometan friends 
 as to the causes of their loss of emj)ire and present 
 
MAHOMETANS. 
 
 15 
 
 poverty. Many causes suggest themselves, some of 
 which they admit, others they fiercely endeavour to 
 refute. But when all has been said that can be said 
 on the subject, they end by urging a reason which 
 includes in itself and explains all the others, that is, 
 ‘ the will of God in other words, their fate. Nothing 
 is more annoying to an Englishman than to witness 
 the apathy with which they accept as final a situation 
 which might be altered, or, at least, considerably 
 modified by means within their power. They carry 
 it to absurd lengths, as the following ridiculous 
 incident will show ; 
 
 In India Europeans are compelled to keep up large 
 poultry yards. Eowls, guinea-fowls, and ducks may 
 be had in the bazaar at any time, but those who have 
 seen them scraping together a precarious living on 
 foul city heaps, and picking at offensive scraps 
 disdained by jackals and vultures, turn from them 
 with disgust ; besides which, they are generally so 
 ancient before the people consent to part with them 
 that mastication is rendered impossible. Much to the 
 detriment of our garden, we were obliged to keep a 
 large supply on hand, for deaths were numerous, and 
 the Indian weasel levied black mail unsparingly for 
 the service he rendered in clearing the compound of 
 dangerous reptiles. The ducks especially, notwith- 
 standing generous treatment, have a nasty habit of 
 contracting rheumatism. It seldom lasts long, gener- 
 ally terminating in premature death. 
 
 It was by no means an unknown visitor in our yard ; 
 and it happened once that a whole brood of ducklings 
 were more or less seriously affected. The servant in 
 charge was in despair as he saw them, one after 
 the other, sit down and refuse their food. That no 
 blame might be attached to him he reported each 
 case as it occurred, bringing the bird with him to 
 sho?/’ the gravity of the situation. While he was 
 standing with one of them in his hand, my wife 
 ventured to ask him if he thought it was likely to 
 
i6 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 recover, vlien she received the following reply ; ‘ I 
 cannot tell ; it is very ill. But all things are possible 
 to God ; He naay restore it. Who knows ? He disposes 
 of all living. If it is His will, it must live ; if not, 
 it must die. We are helpless.’ 
 
 Their life and death, as Ave have had only too 
 certain experience, depends, to a large extent, on 
 inferior powers. The sweeper himself is often the 
 providence that decrees their decease. 
 
 Our first brood were most orderly in their manner 
 of retiring. They took their departure one at a time, 
 following each other at the distance of a day. The 
 sweeper assured us he could cure them if Ave aa^ouM 
 only giA'O him two annas’ worth of garlic, black pepper 
 and chillies. The cure was certainly Avorth the 
 money and we determined to try ; but, alas ! it was 
 given in vain ; still they continued to die. 
 
 We were new to the country then, and as new to 
 the management of ducks. We had no suspicion of 
 the cause of the excessive mortality. While they 
 Avere still continuing their unsatisfactory course of 
 conduct Ave were favoured by a visit from a friend 
 Avho had had a much longer experience of India than 
 ourselves. In conA^ersation we mentioned the extra- 
 ordinar}^ fatality to Avhich our ducks were subject, and 
 asked him if he could suggest a cure. Our innocence 
 Avas greeted Avith a hearty peal of laughter. ‘ Yes,’ 
 he replied, ‘I can. Call the sweeper and tell him 
 that for each duck that dies from this date he will 
 have to pay four annas.’ We did so; not another 
 duck died. The cure was effectual. The fact was 
 that he killed them for his own use, and in the name 
 of medicine, asked, and got, the price of the stuffing. 
 
 The fate of the individual is one ; that of the com- 
 munity quite another. The two are differently 
 determined. That of the individual seven days after 
 birth ; that of the community annually. 
 
 For the first six days after the birth of a child, it, 
 together with its mother, is separated from the family. 
 
MAHOMETANS. 
 
 17 
 
 During that time they are unclean. On the seventh 
 day the child is bathed for the first time, and when 
 it is thus purified God writes the history of its life 
 upon its forehead. Its manner of life, with all its 
 brightness and sadness, is irrevocably determined. 
 Like a river hemmed in by its rock-bound banks it 
 must henceforth flow in a stated groove. 
 
 The fate of the community, as distinct from that of 
 the individual, is arranged annually. Fifteen days 
 after the appearance of the May moon, God descends 
 from heaven, accompanied, like a king on liis progress, 
 by all the angels, and in darbar decides the events of 
 the coming year. Everything is arranged. It is 
 determined how many shall die ; how many are to 
 be born to supply their places ; what plagues are to 
 happen ; what tempests are to sweep land and sea ; 
 how many houses are to be thrown down ; how many 
 trees are to be rooted up ; everything, indeed, to the 
 most trivial, is decided, so that they at least believe 
 
 ‘ There’s a Divinity that shapes our ends, 
 Rough-hew them how we will.’ 
 
 While this doctrine continues to exercise its present 
 power over the community, their chances of worldly 
 success are exceedingly limited. It strikes at the 
 root of enterprise, and is frequently attended by the 
 most pernicious effects. There are many cases in 
 which it takes the extreme form of Micawberism. 
 Not a few pass their life waiting for whatever may 
 turn up. They positively refuse to exert themselves, 
 while they excuse their natural indolence by saying, 
 ‘ Everything is determined ; what is to be, will be. 
 If God intends that we should become rich, rich we 
 shall become, without any personal exertion ; if He 
 intends that we shall be poor, poor we shall have to 
 remain, despite our labour.’ And poor it is quite 
 certain they do remain. Their life is a prolonged 
 misery, and a sufficient refutation to their belief. 
 
 2 
 
i8 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 The following story from the Tota Kahani is an 
 excellent reflex of the popular belief: 
 
 In a certain city there was a silk weaver who was 
 noted for his industry. He plied his craft so zealously 
 that he scarcely allowed himself rest. Still he was 
 ])Oor ; and, work as he would, he could not mend his 
 fortune. He had a neighbour and friend engaged in 
 ihe manufacture of a coarse, thick material. One 
 day he quitted his loom and started to pay him a 
 visit. What was his surprise on entering the house 
 to find it comfortably, almost luxuriously, furnished, 
 wdiile he and his family were adorned with jewels of 
 great value. He could not help contrasting their 
 trades and their respective conditions. ‘ I,’ he said 
 to himself, ‘ weave cloth fit for princes. What then 
 can be the reason that I can scarcely earn salt 
 sufficient for my food, while this weaver of coarse stuffs 
 has laid up such immense wealth ?’ For once he was 
 thoroughly dissatisfied with his lot. Home he w'ent, 
 smarting from a sense of injury, and said to his wdfe, 
 ‘ I leave this ungrateful city at once. Here I cannot 
 consent to remain, for the people neither understand 
 me nor value my labour. I must go elsewhere to seek 
 my fortune.’ 
 
 His wife listened to his complaint ; then said, ‘ It is 
 no use leaving home. Don’t go. Whatever is in your 
 fate you will realize here ; more you will not earn, go 
 where you will.'’ 
 
 It was in vain to advise him ; his resolution was 
 formed, and nothing she could say had the slightest 
 weight with him. A few days afterwards he set out 
 on his travels. 
 
 His journey brought him to a large city full of 
 wealthy inhabitants. In it he set up his loom and 
 found a ready sale for his silks. Success attended 
 his every effort ; wealth literally flowed in upon him ; 
 and, in time, his circumstances were so easy that he 
 resolved to retire from trade and return home. 
 Accordingly he packed up his effects and started off. 
 
MAHOMETANS. 
 
 19 
 
 elated with the thought of having falsified his wife’s 
 fears. 
 
 His way lay through a long lonely jungle, and night 
 overtook him w’hile he was still exerting himself to 
 reach the village which oflered security at the extreme 
 end. He was obliged, therefore, to remain exposed to 
 all its dangers till morning. Lest thieves should carry 
 otf his treasure, he resolved to remain on guard all 
 night ; but the oppressive stillness which reigned 
 around lulled him into a sense of security ; sleep, too, 
 began to assert its dominion over his wearied frame, 
 and, despite his elforts and anxiety, he dozed off into 
 a deep sleep. 
 
 Meanwhile, a thief, out on a foraging expedition, 
 reached the place where he slept, and noticing the 
 care he had exercised to hide his cloth, concluded 
 that it contained something worth stealing. Indifferent 
 to danger, and trusting to the density of the jungle, 
 he seized the cloth and hurried oft'. His roughness 
 roused the sleeping weaver, who, without quite know- 
 ing what he did, set off in pursuit. The thief had every 
 advantage, and, before the weaver had time to realize 
 the situation, had disappeared into a glade, where he 
 sought him in vain. 
 
 The labour of months was gone. Empty-handed he 
 could not possibly return home. With the return of 
 morning he retraced his steps and re-established his 
 business. Prosperity again attended him. He earned 
 more than ever, and concluded that Providence was 
 compensating him for all his tolls and losses. Before 
 many months he was again in a position to retire on 
 what was to him a sufficient competency. 
 
 This time he used every expedition, and succeeded 
 in passing the jungle before nightfall; reached what 
 he had every reason to believe was a place of safety, 
 and gave himself up to slumber. His bundle, however, 
 had excited the cupidity of a thief early in the day. 
 No opportunity of possessing himself of it had occurred 
 during the journey, but he kept on his track at a 
 
 2—2 
 
20 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 sufficient distance to allay suspicion. At night he 
 stole up close to him, and, finding him in a deep sleep, 
 quietly carried off the hard-earned fortune. 
 
 The unfortunate weaver woke to find his treasure 
 gone, and fell into a soliloquy on his fate. ‘ There is,' 
 he mused, ‘ no gold in my fate ; this is why each time 
 thieves have carried off my earnings.’ 
 
 It was no use, he considered, to retrace his steps : he 
 must risk laughter and return as poor as when he 
 started. The most humiliating experience was to tell 
 his wife all that had befallen him. When he had 
 finished, she said : ‘ Did I not tell you before you set 
 out that you cannot reap moi’e nor less than your 
 fate, go where you will ? You would not listen to me, 
 but started off on this unfortunate journey. Pray 
 tell me what benefit you have derived from it ?’ 
 
 But the weaver was dumb. Covered with shame, 
 he had neither word of explanation, nor defence to 
 offer. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 Mahometan sobriety — The ‘ Nabnb ’ who pulled a well into the shade 
 Blackmail — Credulity of Tourists — How the only honest Com- 
 missioner was bribed — The Contractor who burned his fingers — An 
 Unfaithful Servant — The Servant who had his palm greased — Who 
 fell from the house-top, you or I ?’ — Modes of consuming Opium — 
 Visit to an Opium-den — An Opium-eater’s Dream — Preparations of 
 Opium — Women and Opium — Mahometans and Brandy — An ad- 
 vanced Mahometan — Cheap Tobacco, and how to light it — Chewing. 
 
 The Kuran forbids the use of intoxicating liquors, 
 and, for the most part, it must be said of the faithful 
 tliat they entirely abstain from their use. In some 
 cases they carry their aversion so far that they refuse, 
 even when seriously ill, to use any medicinal prepara- 
 tion into which spirit enters. 
 
 In this matter they are fond of contrasting them- 
 selves with Christians ; always, I need hardly say, to 
 their own advantage. The distinguishing charac- 
 teristic of the Mahometan, they assert, is sobriety, of 
 the Christian, drunkenness ; and now when a Muslim 
 abjures the faith of his race and accepts Christianity — 
 which is becoming increasingly frequent — they say he 
 has become a drunkard, and that altogether irre- 
 spective of his feelings regarding liquors. They wish 
 to imply that all Christians are drunkards, that it is 
 part of the Christian creed to indulge in intoxicating 
 drinks. This is wilful ignorance, or else a wilful per- 
 version of the truth. They ought to know, and do 
 know, that drunkenness is a vice condemned by 
 Christianity, and one which it endeavours to correct. 
 Ignoring its teachings, they point to the iniquitous 
 
22 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 action of Government, or judge it by those who are 
 designated Christians ; and it is an unfortunate fact, 
 that in this respect a great many of our countrymen 
 in India set them a most pernicious example. Drink- 
 ing — not drunkenness — is universal ; so wide-spread 
 that someone has said that when the distant ages 
 search for relics of British occupation and supremacy, 
 they will find them only in the ubiquitous beer and 
 brandy bottle. In some circles it has become an 
 accepted doctrine that without stimulating liquors it 
 is impossible for Englishmen to exist in India. This 
 explanation of Anglo-Indian drinking customs is a 
 mere cover for a wide-spread fondness ; for, instead of 
 preserving health, it ruins the constitution as well as 
 the character of thousands of our countrymen. 
 
 If, then, we have an evil reputation among our 
 Mahometan fellow-subjects for drunkenness, we have 
 earned it for ourselves, and shall continue to deserve 
 it as long as gentlemen forget themselves in private 
 and at public banquets lose their self-respect so far as 
 to earn the censure of the entire community, European 
 as well as Native. 
 
 I am not, however, disposed to assent to the 
 Mahometan claim. Beer and brandy are not tbe 
 only intoxicants known among men ; nor need they 
 drink distilled liquids to produce intoxication. Ma- 
 hometans have others equally powerful, and quite as 
 destructive. If they abhor wine, they love opium ; 
 and that for reasons which would suffuse the European 
 wine-bibber’s face with shame. 
 
 There is a hypocritical inconsistency in their conduct 
 when they condemn Europeans for their drinking 
 customs. At such times they forget all about the 
 huge beam in their own eye, while they point out, with 
 all the embellishments of an unfriendly criticism, the 
 mote that is in their brother’s. It may be wilful for- 
 getfulness ; or it may be that they are credulous 
 enough to believe, that because Englishmen live in 
 cantonments, they know nothing of their social 
 
MAHOMETANS 
 
 23 
 
 failings. Englishmen live in public : their homes are 
 overrun by Hindu and Mahometan servants, who 
 delight their neighbours by relating all that transpires 
 in the domestic life of their employers ; every vice is 
 magnified to preposterous dimensions, and the Euro- 
 pean race is thus represented as the very incarnation 
 of all that Easterns hold in greatest disrepute. The 
 Mahometan lives in seclusion ; he avoids publicity ; 
 no one witnesses his domestic vices, and he is much 
 too common for the Hindu, or indeed, for his Ma- 
 hometan neighbours to discuss. His failings are 
 buried in the seclusion of a quiet circle or uninquiring 
 neighbourhood. Hence they conclude that the 
 Western strangers are ignorant of their mode of life, 
 and that they may attack them without fear of dis- 
 agreeable reprisals. This position is, however, some- 
 what difficult to maintain when a European is in a 
 position to confront them with the statements of their 
 writers and the condemnatory reflections of their own 
 current sayings. What follows will, I think, show that 
 theirs is a position not altogether unassailable. 
 
 Among the Mahometan inhabitants of Benares there 
 was a nawab who had attained to the pinnacle of fame 
 as an opium-eater. He inherited a considerable estate 
 from his father, and might have ended his career in 
 comfort, if not luxury, had he not given way to his 
 passion for opium. Thoroughly enslaved, he neglected 
 his interests ; and discovered at last that instead of 
 being courted and flattered, he was forsaken by his 
 whilom friends and refused the smallest credit by 
 tradesmen who had formerly solicited his custom. 
 Money he had none ; and his family were on the verge 
 of starvation, when his ^vife said to him : ‘ Once you 
 were rich and had no need to labour ; now you are 
 poor, and must earn your daily bread. Instead o 
 lounging about in the house all day in idleness you 
 would do well to go in quest of work, lest you and 
 your family die of hunger.’ 
 
 ‘Very weU,’ he replied, ‘I shall do as you advise. 
 
24 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 Make up a number of opium pills and a few cakes ; 
 to-morrow I shall start for Patna in search of em- 
 ployment.’ 
 
 On the morrow he set out and walked for a short 
 time, the tierce sun tl,irowing the whole power of its 
 light and heat into his face as he journeyed eastward. 
 Tired with such unusual exertions he sat down to 
 refresh himself at a road-side well. A goblet of water 
 and a feAv pills comprised his repast ; but they Avere 
 amply sufficient. Dreams full of wonder flitted oA'er 
 his mind. The dreary depressing thought of poA’erty 
 vanished before the charmer. He thought no more of 
 his starving Avife and children, but he AV'as seriously 
 concerned about the comfort of the Avell at Avhich he 
 had just refreshed himself. There it Avas out in the 
 full blaze of the sun, Avhile, immediately to the west 
 of it there Avas a large, shady pipul tree. Why Avas it 
 not built to the Avest, Avhere, sheltered by the dense 
 foliage, it might enjoy life in comfort ? His hazy 
 brain Avas sadly agitated, and at last he determined to 
 attach a rope to the structure and pull it into the 
 shade. All day long he pulled, ever with increasing 
 evidences of success. At first the shadoAv drew nearer; 
 then it touched the platform ; and, at last, the sun, 
 having nearly finished its day’s journey, sank behind 
 the pipul, Avhich noAv threAV its grateful shade like a 
 dense curtain over the entire structure, ^\’ith a sigh 
 of relief he Avithdrew the rope, satisfied that for once 
 he had done a good deed and deserved Avell of the 
 invisible poAvers. 
 
 Musing thus he prepared to proceed. Had he not 
 started Avith his face to the sun ? Facing it again he 
 strode boldly foi’Avard. Before long the lofty houses 
 of a city could be seen through the openings in the 
 foliage, a sight Avhich afforded him infinite relief. 
 
 ‘ What city is this ?’ he asked of a villager he en- 
 countered driving home his team. 
 
 ‘ This ? Why, this is Benares,’ responded the plough- 
 man. 
 
MAHOMETANS. 
 
 25 
 
 ‘ Benares ! Well, that is wonderful !’ he exclaimed. 
 " But then it is the reward of virtue. I left a city of 
 that name only this morning, and Allah has already 
 led me to one like it and of the very same name, 
 because 1 did a virtuous action by the way.’ 
 
 Exchanging salutations with the astonished labourer 
 he proceeded on his journey. A few miles brought 
 him to a well-known musjid in which the devout were 
 assembled for evening prayer. 
 
 ‘What musjid is this?’ he demanded of a by- 
 stander. 
 
 ‘This is musjid.’ 
 
 ‘ ^^’ell, well !’ he exclaimed, ‘ this is astonishing. 
 My fate is at last propitious. I left home this morning 
 for Batna, but for a good deed done by the way Allah 
 has brought me to a city of the same name and exactly 
 like the one I left. This musjid is like one in my 
 native city, and of the very same name ; but then, it 
 is the reward of virtue.’ 
 
 He entered the city: the illusion was complete. 
 Since everything corresponded with his own, might it 
 not have an opium-eater as famous as himself. Ac- 
 costing a shopman, he asked : 
 
 ‘ Is there any famous opium-eater in this city ?’ 
 
 ‘ Yes,’ replied the man. 
 
 ‘ Can you give me his name and address ?’ he asked. 
 His astonishment knew no bounds when the shop- 
 man gave his own name and address, and naively 
 added, ‘ He is just like you.’ 
 
 ‘ Well, well !’ he exclaimed, ‘ this is more marvellous 
 than ever: however, it all comes of being virtuous. 
 No doubt he will be delighted to entertain me.’ 
 
 He had no difficulty in finding the house. The way 
 thither looked like a well-known picture ; but when he 
 stood before the crumbling mansion he was more 
 utterly bevvildered than ever. ‘ Why,’ he exclaimed. 
 
 ‘ it is exactly like my own in every respect : quite as 
 large and quite as ruinous.’ While musing at the 
 seeming coincidence, the female slave appeared at the 
 
26 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 door, holding a child by the hand. They, too, were 
 like his own slave and youngest child. If he was 
 astonished, they were equally so to see him there, when 
 they thought he was many miles on his way to Patna. 
 The child ran into the house to tell his mother ; the 
 slave stood fixed to the spot in astonishment. 
 
 ‘ Is the nawab at home V he asked. 
 
 The slave could not find words to answer his 
 question, and did not find her tongue till he asked, 
 
 ‘ May I enter ?’ a question to which she could only 
 say, ‘ Certainly.’ 
 
 His wife had been prepared for his entrance, and 
 appeared in the dalan to receive him. He was amazed 
 at seeing her ; the more so as she bore such a very 
 striking resemblance to his own wife. He owed an 
 explanation of his entrance, and commenced by a 
 recital of his adventures, at every fresh point express- 
 ing his astonishment, when a blow from a slipper made 
 him spring from his seat. Turning round, there was 
 the lady, the wife, as he supposed, of his new-found 
 friend, yet so like his own, flushed with anger, about 
 to repeat the blow. 
 
 ‘ Stop, good lady !’ he cried, ‘ pray stop ! This is just 
 what my wife does. I suppose I must be like your 
 husband, since you are like my wife, but I assure you 
 it is no more than a likeness. Pray stay your hand 
 till his return.’ 
 
 Travellers in the East, who have favoured the public 
 with an account of their experiences, invariably notice 
 the wide diffusion of the word ‘ bakhshish.’ Heard 
 first at Alexandria or Port Said, they meet it wherever 
 Mahometanism has penetrated or the Arabic language 
 spread. It is in everybody’s mouth, and all classes 
 seem to demand it. In India, side by side with it, we 
 encounter another word of evil omen called ‘ dasturi,’ 
 which lexicographers have rendered in English, ‘ per- 
 quisites paid to servants by one who sells to their 
 masters,’ instead of by the less elegant but more exact 
 rendering, ‘ blackmail.’ Everybody preys upon the 
 
MAHOMETANS. 
 
 27 
 
 foreigner. The coachmen who drive you to the bazaar 
 insist on receiving their dastiiri from the merchants 
 with whom you have dealt. Nor will they move till 
 they get it. It is their right, they warmly assert, and 
 they insist upon getting it, even though they should 
 delay their fare for an hour. Time is no object to 
 them. When the stranger pays for it, why should it 
 be ? When a lady has been so unkind as to purchase 
 anything from the draper in the absence of her ayah, 
 she is called to account at once on that lady’s return, 
 and asked whether she has kept back the dasturi for 
 her, and if not, why not ? seeing it is her right. The 
 cook gets from a halfpenny to threepence on every two 
 shillings worth of the necessaries of life he purchases 
 for his master ; this in addition to the exorbitant price 
 demanded by the dealers because it is for a European. 
 If anyone, ignorant of Hindustani and the ways of the 
 country, ventures into the bazaar by himself, he is 
 picked up by a dalal,* who discovers what he requires 
 and leads him to the shop where it is sold. If he is 
 certain of the customer’s ignorance, he tells the shop- 
 man what is required, adding the word, ‘kona,’ a 
 corner, or 25 per cent. It means, ‘ Charge well, for I 
 must have 25 per cent, of the price.’ 
 
 Servants, too, prey upon each other. The syce, i.e., 
 groom, if allowed, will always ask to pay the grass- 
 cutter, because, when allowed to do so, he is able to 
 deduct a little for himself in consideration of his kind- 
 ness in having called him. Servants value the appoint- 
 " ' ■’ ’ ' )n account of what they are 
 
 intending applicants inquire from those who know 
 something about it, how much it is worth in ‘ darmaha,’ 
 i.e., fixed salary, and in ‘yaft,’ i.e., perquisites and 
 bribes. They will take an appointment at 4 rupees 
 per mensem as a chaprassi, or messenger, with the 
 greatest alacrity, because it puts them in a position 
 
 appointment falls vacant 
 
 Commission agent. 
 
28 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 sometimes to make 40 rupees in yaft. Indeed, I have 
 heard of men on 4 rupees who were making over 100 
 rupees per mensem in this way. They are sometimes 
 bold enough to demand a fee from Europeans. In 
 1885 the Deputy Settlement Officer sent me a 
 summons to appear in his court with the trust deeds 
 of the bungalow in which I was living. The Govern- 
 ment chaprassi who brought it demanded a douceur 
 tor bringing it; and, when I asked why it should be paid, 
 he replied, ‘ I get it from everyone to whom I deliver 
 a summons,’ which of course meant that he compelled 
 the helpless Hindu to pay it under terror of a threat. 
 I told him 1 should report him ; a threat to which he 
 replied, ‘ You can do so,’ as if he were not in the least 
 afraid of consequences. When I reached the Deputy’s 
 camp I did report it ; but nothing whatever was done 
 to the man. It is useless for the Government to ex- 
 pect secrecy for any measure, however important, if 
 there are native clerks in the office. Copies of all the 
 papers can always be had for a trifle. Every appoint- 
 ment, however trivial, is made to pay. 'khe petty 
 officer can see nothing wrong in his conduct. If you 
 point out the impropriety, his instant rejoinder is that 
 he is in good and honourable company ; his superiors 
 do it, why should not be ? You cannot, however, bring 
 it home to them. Xo one will admit it; no one will 
 give evidence against another when the practice en- 
 riches all the way round. Higher officers are, of 
 course, very careful that proof shall be impossible. I 
 heard of a Tahsildar, i.e., joint magistrate, on 300 
 rupees per mensem, who retired, while still young, 
 worth twenty or thirty lakhs of rupees ; but it would 
 have been impossible to convict him of malpractices, 
 because, while everybody in his district knew of them, 
 no one would dare to give evidence. 
 
 Why should they ? they ask. Do not Europeans 
 make hay while the sun shines ? It is unfortunately 
 the prevalent belief that all our countrymen in Govern- 
 ment service accept bribes. It need not be said that 
 
MAHOMETANS. 
 
 29 
 
 the Statement refutes itself by its very comprehensive- 
 ness, even if the high character of most of the picked 
 men who compose the services did not brand it as one 
 of thosemalicious statements made by designing natives 
 to screen themselves, and bring their rulers into con- 
 tempt among the people, by whom, as a rule, they are 
 deservedly respected. Their brilliant administration 
 of a great empire bespeaks a standard of character to 
 which such venality, on an extensive scale, is im- 
 possible ; it is at least a suspicious circumstance that 
 while they will give you name, date, amount, no one 
 can be found possessed of sufficient moral courage to 
 prefer the charge. 
 
 Tourists in India are much too credulous. They 
 would do well to receive with caution the sweeping 
 statements so often brought against their countrymen. 
 For the most part they are the vapourings of jealousy, 
 disappointment, or ungratified ambition ; sometimes of 
 the bitter race antagonism stirred up by Lord Ripon’s 
 well intended, but unfortunate legislation. Strangers 
 are carried away by fluency : they think it is the ex- 
 pression of a real grievance, when those who best know 
 the conditions of the people are well aware that if the 
 desired boon were granted it would become, under 
 present conditions, a positive evil. Let it be remem- 
 liered that education, widely as it has spread, has not 
 altered the moral tone of the different races that people 
 the great peninsula. They are still adherents of a 
 system brimming over with impurity, and pass much 
 of their time, not in intellectual pursuits, but in 
 pleasures, the nature of which is too repulsive for de- 
 scription. Men do not shake themselves free from old- 
 established customs, however disgusting, in the life- 
 time of a generation ; and though I gladly admit that 
 education has done much to raise the intelligence of 
 the people, I am bound to remark that their moral 
 consciousness has yet to be educated. But as I have 
 no intention of saying anything which would be offen- 
 sive to men who are, notwithstanding, fighting against 
 
30 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 inherited tendencies, I pursue this subject no 
 further. 
 
 A commissioner, an officer of her Majesty’s army, 
 enjoyed amonw natives the enviable distinction of 
 being regarded as the only English officer who was 
 above taking bribes. One evening a number of very 
 rich bankers were discussing the members of the Civil 
 Service, when someone mentioned the commissioner 
 and ventured to praise his integrity. 
 
 ‘ Nonsense !’ said another, ‘every man has his price. 
 Everything depends upon the amount. He has never 
 been guilty, because he has never been tempted by any 
 sum worthy of his acceptance. If you will bear part 
 of the expense I shall prove that even he suffers from 
 the common failing.’ They all agreed. 
 
 Next morning a carriage drove up to the 
 commissioner’s bungalow. The only occupant was a 
 boy about eight years of age. He was dressed in a 
 loose flowing robe of finest silk embroidered with gold. 
 His cap seemed one mass of gold, so richly w'as it over- 
 laid with gold embroidery, while a necklet of precious 
 stones circled his unprotected neck. The officer was 
 sitting in the veranda and wished him good morn- 
 ing. 
 
 ‘ I have come to play with your son,’ said the boy, 
 stepping out. 
 
 ‘ He has gone out for his morning ride,’ replied the 
 commissioner, ‘ and I expect it will be some time before 
 he returns.’ 
 
 The lad looked downcast, and was about to retreat 
 to his carriage again, when, turning suddenly round, 
 he said abruptly : 
 
 ‘ Give him these, please saying which he opened a 
 handsomely worked bag, and poured on a teapoy a 
 handful of diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and pearls. 
 
 The commissioner coloured deeply, gave a hasty 
 look round, laid the paper he had been reading over 
 them, and returned the low salaam of the retreating 
 visitor. 
 
MAHOMETANS. 
 
 31 
 
 Thus, they say, they disposed of the only honest 
 official in the service of the Government of India. 
 Fortunately the maligned officers can afford to laugh 
 at such stories ; and have their revenge too sometimes, 
 for even the Hindu occasionally misjudges the man 
 with whom he has to deal. 
 
 There was an engineer in the N.W.P., who had to 
 advertise for tenders for the construction of a small 
 bridge over one of the public roads. In the city where 
 he was stationed there was a contractor to whom, 
 for some reason, he had taken a dislike. He had always 
 avoided him as much as possible, but was obliged 
 occasionally to meet him on business. A few days 
 after the advertisement appeared the tenders began to 
 come in. While looking them over, his bearer entered 
 the room carrying a basket full of fruits and vegetables. 
 He, scarcely looking up, remarked, ‘ Take them away.’ 
 
 ‘ But ’ said the servant. 
 
 ‘ But what ?’ hastily interrupted the busy engineer. 
 
 ‘ It is very heavy, sir.’ 
 
 ‘ Heavy ! Let me see it,’ said the officer ; and lift- 
 ing the fruit, he found it contained a large sum of 
 money. 
 
 ‘ Who did it come from ?’ he demanded. 
 
 But before the bearer had time to reply, the 
 contractor was announced, and a moment afterwards 
 entered the room. 
 
 ‘ You have sent me this V said the engineer, -when 
 the servant had retired. 
 
 ‘ Yes,’ said the contractor, with a show of secrecy ; 
 ‘ I am anxious to get the contract, and have sent this 
 money in part payment of your commission.’ 
 
 ‘ Thank you,’ said the engineer, dismissing his 
 visitor. 
 
 An hour afterwards he ordered his cart, put the 
 money in a black bag, and set off for the Government 
 treasury, where, without remark, he deposited the 
 amount and received a receipt. 
 
 A few days sufficed to come to a decision upon the 
 
32 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 various tenders, which w'ere duly forwarded to 
 Government with his recommendation. His superior 
 officers accepted his decision, and it was soon announced 
 that the contract had been given to a contractor 
 belonging to another part of the country. 
 
 The contractor who had prepaid the commission 
 was furious, and determined to have his revenge. He 
 set about it by insinuating dishonest practices. The 
 rumour reached official quarters, and the engineer 
 was called upon to defend himself. 
 
 He at once admitted receiving the money ; en- 
 closed the receipt, which showed it had been placed 
 to the credit of Government, and gave the name of 
 the would-be corrupter of Government officers. 
 Government determined to prosecute. But the wily 
 Hindu had fled ; leaving, however, a good round sum. 
 which was appropriated by way of fine. 
 
 This is a very long preface to a very short story. 
 I commenced about servants levying blackmail upon 
 their foreign masters ; but they are by no means 
 particular ; failing foreigners they prey upon each 
 other. 
 
 There was another opium-eater whose passion was 
 dahi, i.e., thick, sour milk. At a stated time every 
 day he indulged in an anna’s worth. His invariable 
 custom was to give his servant the money, swallow 
 his pill, and doze off into the opium-eater’s paradise. 
 When he awoke he called for, and ate the dahi. 
 
 Annoyed with the ancient servant who had served 
 him long and faithfully, and who knew his habits as 
 well as himself, he dismissed him and engaged in his 
 place one who had been many months out of 
 employment. This man was deeply in debt, and made 
 a point of helping himself as liberally as possible from 
 his master’s effects to pay his creditors. Before he 
 had been many days in his new appointment, it 
 occurred to him that he might make a little off the 
 drdii. The plan was simple in the extreme. Inste-id 
 of buying four-pice worth, he would only buy two ; 
 
MAHOMETANS. 
 
 33 
 
 the other two he should regard as his own legitimate 
 j)erquisite. The day after he settled his plan, he pro- 
 ceeded to act upon it. When his master was sound 
 asleep, he went to the bazaar and bought half the 
 usual quantity. Returning as rapidly as possible, he 
 entered the room, touched the sleeper’s moustache 
 with the dahi, placed the remainder beside him and 
 retired to await his summons. 
 
 Shortly afterwards the master awoke, and shouted 
 for his attendant, who, bounding in, asked his pleasure. 
 ‘ Bring the dahi,’ said the master. 
 
 ‘ The dahi, sir ; why, here it is by your side.’ 
 
 The opium eater stared at the smallness of the 
 quantity and remarked, ‘ This is very little ; only 
 half the usual quantity. How is this ?’ 
 
 ‘Your honour,’ replied the guilty servant, without 
 the least misgiving, ‘ ate half the amount between 
 taking your opium and falling asleep. It is even now 
 on your lordship’s moustache. If you will be good 
 enough to touch it with your tongue, you will find 
 that what your slave says is true.’ 
 
 The master, thus urged, put out his tongue and drew 
 it slowly along his moustachios as if enjoying the 
 sensation. There could be no doubt they tasted of 
 dahi ; like one, therefore, who had thrown suspicion 
 upon an innocent man, he said, ‘True, I must have 
 eaten it before falling asleep.’ 
 
 Success in wickedness is a direct encouragement to 
 its continuance. The servant was much too sharp 
 not to improve the opportunity his master’s failing 
 afforded him. If he had succeeded once, why not 
 again ; if he had successfully deducted a half, might 
 he not with equal success deduct half of what he 
 had thus far allowed him ? At least he could but 
 try. 
 
 At the usual hour his master dozed off after giving 
 him the four pice. He went to the bazaar and bought 
 the smallest quantity procurable. On his return he 
 repeated the operation of the previous day ; but it was 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
34 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 less even than he thought; before he had applied it 
 as liberally as he desired, the whole was exhausted. 
 He determined, however, to risk the detection. Lay- 
 ing down the empty leaf in which he had brought it, 
 he retired. 
 
 The opium-eater awoke and called him. He 
 bounded in and went straight for the empty leaf, say- 
 ing, ‘ Here it is, your highness but when he reached 
 it, he stopped in well-feigned surprise. 
 
 ‘ Why, sir !’ he exclaimed, ‘ you have already eaten 
 it. Yes! yes! it is even now on your moustachios. Do 
 touch them with jmur tongue, and }’ou will find that 
 Avhat your slave says is true.’ 
 
 There was no denying such proof. The victim 
 could only sa3^ ‘ I had delightful dreams. I dreamed 
 I was in an ocean of dahi ; thoughts which must have 
 come while I was eating my poor allowance. Alas ! 
 alas ! that it was onl}' a dream.’ 
 
 Servants will have their dasturi, however small the 
 amount the}' have to spend. A story is told of a 
 gentleman who wished to prove whether the report 
 was correct, or merely a slander on the domestic 
 servant class. Calling one, he gave him an anna and 
 told him to bring him its value in grain. On his 
 return he asked : 
 
 ‘ Did you get your dasturi on that purchase ?’ 
 
 ‘ Yes,’ was the reply, ‘ I got a pice.’ 
 
 Giving him a pice, he told him to go and fetch its 
 value in salt. On his return he said : 
 
 ‘You did not get dasturi on that!’ 
 
 ‘Yes, I did,’ said the servant, ‘ I got just a little for 
 myself.’ 
 
 Giving him the smallest Indian coin, a pie, he told 
 him to go and fetch its value in oil. On his return 
 he asked, laughingly : 
 
 ‘ What dasturi, did you get off that ?’ 
 
 The servant had been obliged to bring it in the 
 palm of his hand, the quantity was so small ; rubbing 
 it over his head, he said : 
 
MAHOMETANS. 
 
 35 
 
 ‘ What adhered to my hands ; enough to anoint my 
 hair, sir.’ 
 
 If the stories regarding opium-eaters have any 
 basis in fact, they must, as a class, be easily imposed 
 upon. They are of course very highly coloured when 
 served up for public amusement; but when every 
 allowance has been made for what might be called 
 legitimate exaggeration, a strong foundation of fact 
 will generally be found underlying them. There is a 
 story told of an opium-eater, who, rich and powerful, 
 lived in a large mansion surrounded by all the pomp 
 of wealth and luxury in which an Eastern delights. 
 The top of the ancestral mansion was flat, and 
 afforded him absolute privacy, together with the ad- 
 vantages of fresh air and abundant sunshine. But 
 for some reason the builders had neglected to protect 
 it with parapets ; a circumstance of very rare 
 occurrence in the East However low, there is always 
 a wall which gives you a sense of security. This 
 unprotected terrace was the one place he loved, for 
 here he was in the habit of dreaming away his hours 
 of intoxication. To one who lay still there was 
 comparatively little danger, and this he generally 
 succeeded in doing. One day, however, being more 
 unsteady than usual, he stumbled toward the edge and 
 tumbled over into the lane beneath. In a moment 
 the whole household was alarmed by his cry of distress, 
 and there was a general run to his aid. When they 
 reached him, they found him in a sitting posture, with 
 an expression of wonder on his face. ‘ What’s the 
 matter,’ he asked, ‘ did anyone fall from the housetop ? 
 Who was it ? You or I ?’ 
 
 ‘ We fell,’ was the unanimous response; an announce- 
 ment which he greeted with the most hilarious 
 laughter. Up he started and accompanied them into 
 the house, stopping by the way to enjoy his amuse- 
 ment. ‘You fell off the housetop, did you? Well 1 
 well ! that was a tamasha.’* Thinking him uninjured 
 
 * Play. 
 
 . 3—2 
 
;6 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 they thought they might at last be candid and tell 
 him the true state of affairs. 
 
 ‘ Your honour,’ said the spokesman, ‘ we did not 
 fall ; you did, but since you have sustained no injury 
 there can be no harm in undeceiving you.’ 
 
 In an instant his laughter and merriment changed 
 to shrieks and agonizing cries. ‘ I am dying ! I am 
 dying !’ he shouted, ‘ I am sore all over ; my bones are 
 broken. Call the doctor ; quick, call the doctor.’ 
 
 But his wails were soon silenced. The servants 
 shouted in chorus, ‘ It isn’t true. You did not fall, we 
 did ;’ and again he gave way to a renewed paroxysm 
 of laughter. 
 
 It must not be concluded from the above that eating 
 — or rather swallowing — opium pills is the only mode 
 of consumption. Many smoke it. There is, however, 
 a difference between the eater and smoker ; it is this, 
 that while the eater is addicted to the vice in the 
 privacy of his home, the smoker is thoroughly sociable. 
 He smokes in company : and to do this he has to 
 frequent one of the all-too-numerous dens established 
 for his convenience. 
 
 Let us visit one. 
 
 We leave the main thoroughfare, and strike off into 
 a perfect labyrinth of lanes, so narrow that the flanking 
 houses appear to lean towards each other above our 
 heads. It is a fiercely hot morning in June, but pro- 
 tection is unnecessary ; the shadow of the houses is 
 amply sufficient. What houses ! Decay is everywhere 
 present, and, but for the few passengers we meet, it 
 would require little stretch of imagination to fancy 
 ourselves in some long forsaken, ruined city. Yet 
 behind these gloom}^, windowless, crumbling walls 
 there are thousands of women pent up like prisoners ; 
 with this difference, that they prefer their prison 
 to the gaze of men whose idea of woman is so 
 degraded. 
 
 In this labyrinth we at last halt before a closed 
 door. There is nothing about the house to distinguish 
 
MAHOMETANS. 
 
 37 
 
 it from the numerous residences around. All is quiet. 
 Perhaps our business is guessed, for a man, with a 
 jhece of moist opium as large as a pigeon’s egg in his 
 hand, approaches and makes a profound salaam. Can 
 he be of any service? From his look it seems ex- 
 ceedingly probable ; perhaps he is there to allure the 
 unwary into the den. Whatever he is we accept his 
 offer, and are pointed to the door before which we 
 stand. The sound of voices has, meanwhile, reached 
 the doorkeeper, and as we go forward to knock, the 
 door is cautiously opened by a young man with a very 
 sallow complexion, who, while he holds the door ajar, 
 bars the way. His drawn features and the peculiar 
 expression of the eye arrests our attention. He, alas ! 
 is one of the victims. 
 
 ‘ Ho you come here often V 
 
 ‘ Often ? Every day. Opium-smoking is a habit 
 which, when once formed, never leaves you. It is use- 
 less trying to give it up ; it cannot be done.’ 
 
 ‘ No, it cannot be given up,’ says an old, decrepit 
 man who has taken his position behind the younger 
 victim. ‘ It cannot be done. I have smoked for over 
 forty years. During that time it has been my master ; 
 I its very humble and obedient slave.’ 
 
 ‘ Why do you smoke it ? Does it afford you any 
 pleasure ? 
 
 ‘ The pleasure of intoxication,’ is the answer. 
 
 ‘ How much will intoxicate a man ?’ 
 
 ‘ That depends entirely upon how long he has used 
 it,’ replies a new-comer, more respectably dressed than 
 the others. ‘ Some smoke one pice worth, some two ; 
 many smoke as much as eight annas worth a day, if 
 they can afford it, but all cannot.’ 
 
 The house is by no means inviting, but now that 
 we have come so far and secured their good will we 
 may as well see the interior. 
 
 ‘ May we go inside ?’ 
 
 ‘ Come in,’ is the unanimous invitation from a whole 
 chorus of voices. Our tirst impulse on entering is to 
 
INDIA. 
 
 rush out into the impure air of the narrow street 
 again, for it is sweet compared with the smoky 
 atmosphere within. The odour is indescribable, beyond 
 this, that it is painfully sickly. We must bear it, 
 however, if we wish to survey the interior. There are 
 two rooms, both full to the door, although it is only 
 seven a.m. ; a fact which at once excites our surprise. 
 They are ready with an answer. ‘ We cannot work 
 till we have smoked. The hand shakes so much that 
 it is impossible to hold anything steadily, or to do 
 work requiring exactness. The smoking steadies the 
 body for a time.’ 
 
 ‘How much do you smoke at a time ?’ 
 
 ‘ One pice worth. Each of these costs one pice,’ 
 says the young man who opened the door, taking up 
 and showing us a small paper, shaped like a colour 
 saucer, full of semi-liquid opium. 
 
 ‘ How do you smoke it ?’ 
 
 ‘ Do you see these pipes ?’ he asks, pointing to two 
 articles which might have been mistaken for very 
 primitive hammers. ‘ We smoke it in these.’ The 
 pipes indicated consist of a straight piece of bamboo 
 about a foot in length, to which is attached a round, 
 hollow earthenware ball pierced by a small hole at the 
 side. In this hole a little of the semi-liquid opium is 
 placed by an attendant. The smoker reclines near a 
 dirty lamp, over the dame of which he holds the hole, 
 and inhales the smoke by a rapid succession of 
 seemingly painful inspirations. Not the least sign of 
 smoke is seen till the opium is exhausted. Then he 
 stops, and blows out a huge cloud from mouth and 
 nostrils. More is quickly applied, and the smoking 
 repeated till the amount contained in the paper is ex- 
 hausted. Intoxication ensues, and the miserable 
 victim drops ott' into a heavy sleep, described as a suc- 
 cession of dreams weird and foolish, which may or 
 may not afford him pleasure. I give the following 
 from a native book called ‘ The Story of the Cat, the 
 Rat, and the Opium-Eater,’ as an illustration of the 
 
MAHOMETANS. 
 
 39 
 
 absurd fancies possible to the muddled brain of the 
 opium-smoker : 
 
 ‘ I opened the opium box, took out a portion, 
 smoked it in my hukka, and fell forward into the 
 mud. In my dream I saw a city called Shakrabad* 
 surrounded by walls. What was my surprise when 
 I discovered they were composed of Khoya ! They 
 had massive gates, the frames of which were com- 
 posed of dar bhest ; within, the bazars were made of 
 barji, besides which they were all carpeted with 
 Laazdd. The soil was til shakri ; the thatch on the 
 houses was made of jelabis ; the doors were made of 
 batash-pheni ; the hasps were made of ghewar ; the 
 musjid domes were hriglchand; the brushes with 
 which the streets were swept were seo ; it had rivers 
 of milk ; canals of sherbet ; the sand on the banks 
 was composed of shakrtari ; the quagmires were 
 halloa ; it had drains of honey ; hills of khaja ; while 
 the roads were made of shakrpara. The king named 
 Shekh Xabat was in residence, protected by squadrons 
 of ant cavalry ; an army of bees, the officers of wliich 
 were wasps ; there were besides companies of mos- 
 quitoes, all of which were in constant attendance. 
 Ever ready for action, they were always under arms. 
 Their helmets were cucumbers ; their shields kira ; 
 their guns kakara. I looked upon this delightful 
 scene, and while pondering upon so much that was 
 strange, regaled myself with food and sweetmeats. 
 I then made a large air bag, upon which to ride, of 
 black opium, a saddle of cream, stirrups of Batasha, 
 a bridle of Btirhuja ka Kata, ornaments of ildchi- 
 dcina, a crupper of Batash-pheni, a whip of a habul- 
 habul, a spear of sugar-cane, a shield of Rewri, a 
 sword of Tilshakri, and a quiver of sugar- candy. 
 Thus armed I mounted my steed and set off, pitching 
 sand into its mouth as I rode forward. I came to 
 
 * City of sugar. The names following in italics for which there is 
 no English rendei'ing, are those of Indian sweetmeats, cakes, etc. 
 
40 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 the banks of the river of milk, and there I saw a 
 boat of Halwa-sohan. The sailor in charge was made of 
 sugared ddl, the mast of Bark-sala. Seeing it sailing 
 about, I shouted to the boatman, “0 sailor, come here 
 and take me over in your boat.” He stared at me, but 
 gave no response. 1 thought, surely he will attend to 
 hard words if he will not comply with my request, 
 so I shouted, “You infidel, if I get hold of you i will 
 tie your hands, break all the teeth in your head, and 
 make you swallow them.” When he heard this, he 
 was afraid, for he thought, “ If this opium-eater gets 
 hold of me he will break my head and eat it ; he is 
 not a man but a demon.” He therefore hastened to 
 obey, and I went for a sail on the lake of Halwdi. 
 But when they told me both banks were of ghee I got 
 frightened, and catching hold of my steed, got away 
 from the lake. I turned away from it and landed on 
 the other side of the ditch of honey, where I broke 
 and ate some of the shukrpara stones. After this I 
 went towards the city. This was the signal for war. 
 With an army I reached the door of the palace of 
 the Princess Shekh Nabat. She was seated on a bed 
 made of cocoanut, upon a carpet of Halwa. The 
 pillows were pistachio nuts, the frills dndrddna, and 
 the curtains of amras. When she heard the terrible 
 news that I was come to fight, she commanded her 
 army — here comes a long list of names — to arm them- 
 selves with spears of bdjra, and shouted, “ Catch this 
 opium-eater and drink him up like a beverage.” 
 The war raged till noon, but it was against them, and 
 at last they fled. Just as I caught the Princess 
 Shekh Nabat I awoke from all the pleasures of my 
 dream. Alas ! where was I ? lying where I fell, — in 
 the mud, an unclean dog licking my face, while a 
 swarm of flies were re^alinw themselves on the nectar 
 of my lips. It was all a dream after all. I had been 
 lying in the dirt all the time, instead of enjoying the 
 good things which presented themselves to my imagi- 
 nation.’ The story loses much even in this free traus- 
 
MAHOMETANS. 
 
 41 
 
 lation ; but it will give, I hope, an idea of the absurd 
 fancies that come to the muddled brain of the opium- 
 smoker. 
 
 The semi-liquid opium used in smoking is thus pre- 
 pared. A large quantity of opium is put into a spacious 
 earthenware pot and covered over with cold water ; 
 the pot is then put upon the fire and the contents 
 boiled till they are thick and glutinous. When 
 sutiiciently boiled it is carefully strained, the dregs 
 pitched away, and the preparation, now called Ckandu 
 or Kiindni, dished for use. The pot in which it is 
 prepared becomes, during the boiling, thoroughly 
 impregnated with the intoxicating qualities of the 
 drug, hence it is too precious to pitch away ; sufiicient 
 power to intoxicate may still be got from it. To get 
 It they put a little cold water in the vessel and wash 
 it well. The water absorbs whatever is left, and 
 becomes a powerful intoxicant. It would, however, 
 be inconvenient to keep the liquid, or, perhaps, it 
 would get bad before they could use it ; to avoid this 
 inconvenience and possibility of loss, cotton cloth is 
 dipped in it till the whole is absorbed. A few 
 minutes in the sun suflices to dry it, after which it 
 is folded up and put away till required. When it is 
 called for, a portion is torn off and washed in a cup 
 of water, to which, by the process, is imparted all the 
 intoxicating powers of the opium. This they call Kafa. 
 Chandu is not always smoked alone. It is used to 
 form the basis of another intoxicant known as Madak. 
 This is considered a very choice preparation. It is 
 composed of pdiri, finely ground on a stone, attar of 
 roses, thick boiled milk, or other ingredients, mixed 
 with Ckandu. It may be superfluous to say that they 
 suffer greatly from the use of all the preparations. I 
 was once asked to call upon a Mahometan gentleman 
 who was sufl'ering from an extraordinary disease, one, 
 I was informed, which had defied the skill of the 
 Yuani* doctors. I had never seen anything like it, 
 
 * Greek doctors. They still practise the Greek system of medicine. 
 
42 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 and was at a loss to imagine what it could be. He 
 looked strong and healthy, hut every three or live 
 minutes his features underwent the most ridiculous 
 contortions, which were accompanied by a succession 
 of short but rapid snorts, exactly like the sound 
 emitted by an engine starting a heavy train on a foggy 
 day, when the rails are so greasy that the wheels run 
 round without any equivalent progress. It was pain- 
 ful to himself and all related to him. I concluded it 
 was occasioned by the use of opium, and asked him if 
 he indulged in the drug. He answered my question 
 by producing a small box of pills each about the size 
 of an ordinary scammony pill, and told me he took 
 six or seven three times a day and had done so for 
 some years. I suggested that perhaps the best cure 
 would be to leave off the use of opium by reducing the 
 quantity graduaUy. This seemed a new idea, but one 
 which, when once suggested, commended itself to him. 
 He took my advice ; curtailed the amount daily, mean- 
 while taking a powder which had been prepared for 
 him. The result was most gratifying. The paroxysms 
 decreased in severity while the interval between them 
 became longer and longer, till at last, having 
 abandoned the use of the drug altogether, he enjoyed 
 comjjlete immunity from his painful and distressing 
 complaint. 
 
 It falls to a missionary’s lot, among his other duties, 
 to use what little knowledge he may have of medicine 
 to alleviate the bodily ailments of the people among 
 whom he is called to labour. This circumstance 
 brought me into contact with a large number of women 
 who were otherwise in strict seclusion, and nothing 
 pained me more than to tind that many of them were 
 addicted to this vice. They fly to it in their troubles 
 as, unfortunately, too many cf their European sisters 
 fly to drink, the panacea, as they fondly imagine, of 
 
 ‘ The heart ache, and the thou.sand natural shocks 
 That tiesh is heir to,' 
 
MAHOMETANS. 
 
 4S 
 
 and stubbornly maintain their opinion that while it 
 does them no harm they derive a vast amount of 
 benefit from its use. The Ramzan fast is, I believe, 
 greatly to blame for its use among the more respectable 
 class of Mahometan women. Those who know any- 
 thing of Mahometanism as a system are aware that the 
 fast is kept up for forty days. In India it is enforced 
 merely by public opinion, but such is its tyranny that 
 few dare neglect it. During these forty days, while 
 the thermometer stands at 96° in European houses, 
 closed all round and kept cool by the constant action 
 of the punkah and the damp kaslcas, these poor wretches 
 rigorously abstain from every refreshment. Not a 
 morsel of bread, not a drop of water is allowed to cross 
 their lips from sunrise to sunset. The agony is in- 
 tense ; and many succumb to its severity long before 
 the fast is finished, while all are exceedingly stupid 
 and dreamy. The folly of this practice will be evident 
 when it is stated that from sunset to sunrise they eat 
 and drink, turn night into day, and generally reverse 
 the order of things. They maintain a rigorous fast by 
 day, enjoy a sumptuous repast by night, and thus com- 
 pensate for the sufferings they have endured, besides 
 fortifying themselves against the long oppressive to- 
 morrow. Few are exempted, while many who might 
 be, prefer to endure the torture for the sake of the 
 accruing merit. Among these must be included the 
 great majority of women. I well remember one I had 
 occasion to see frequently during the fast ; she could 
 hardly stand, she was so exhausted and emaciated by 
 disease, yet when I ventured to suggest that under 
 the circumstances she ought to resume her ordinary 
 mode of life she replied, ‘ There will be no need to do 
 that. I take opium freelj^ before sunrise, and, if you 
 will give me liquid medicine, I shall be able to dilute 
 it and thus refresh myself several times during the 
 day. We are allowed to take medicine ; it does not 
 impair the merit of the fast.' 
 
 Though the Kuran forbids the use of intoxicating 
 
 O O 
 
44 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 liquors, and Mahometans for the most part follow its 
 injunctions, still there are many, and their number is 
 unfortunately increasing, who disregard every con- 
 sideration to gratify their passion for brandy. These 
 are not mostly, nor even generally, members of the 
 lower grades of society, but men who have enjoyed all 
 the advantages of a collegiate education and occupy 
 positions of trust and responsibility. It would, of 
 course, be absurd to charge their failing against their 
 English education, except in so far as it breaks all 
 their old world ideas to pieces, and introduces them 
 into a sphere of intellectual activity and freedom. 
 The first moments of a too hastily imparted or acquired 
 freedom generally lead to excess in some direction ; and 
 among the Mahometans, as among the Hindus, it 
 too often takes the form of drinking to excess. An 
 English education starts their ideas off on the same 
 lines as an Englishman’s, and when they have got thus 
 far, imitation is not difficult. They have taken to 
 cricket, badminton, and tennis, somewhat clumsily, it 
 is true ; but they have made a beginning, and perhaps 
 that is as much as ought fairly to be said of their 
 imitation of our drinking customs. May it never 
 become more ! 
 
 On one occasion I had as my travelling companion on 
 a railway journey a Mahometan gentleman of position, 
 an ex-student, as I afterwards discovered, of the 
 Mahometan College at Aligurh, who was so drunk as 
 to be utterly incapable of taking care of himself. In 
 one of the lunatic asylums of the Punjab I saw, some 
 years ago, a Mahometan who had lost his reason 
 through the excessive use of brandy. He had filled at 
 different times excellent situations, but had sacrificed 
 them one after the other to his new craving. Of 
 course, two cases do not prove even a limited number 
 of the people drunkards, any more than two stray 
 swallows make a summer; nor do I wish to imply 
 that they do ; my only intention in quoting them is to 
 show that the evil has begun ; that a people long 
 
MAHOMETANS. 
 
 45 
 
 noted for their sobriety have begun to worship the 
 Moloch of the West. 
 
 While on the subject of intoxicants I may refer to 
 the use of tobacco. By many good Mahometans the 
 use of the weed is regarded as ‘haram,’ he., forbidden ; 
 but on the whole they must be classed among the 
 very large section of humanity labelled ‘ smokers.' 
 At the present time there are very few Indian Ma- 
 hometans who do not use the hukka, while many pay 
 very high prices for the perfumed tobacco they love ; 
 indeed, I have heard of wealthy nawabs paying as 
 much as from 80 to 120 rupees for 21b. The tobacco 
 used in India is very differently prepared from that con- 
 sumed in Europe ; and the stranger fails to recognise 
 in the dirty, brownish black mass any resemblance 
 to bird’s-eye, shag, cavendish, and the numerous fancy 
 varieties that adorn the London tobacconist’s shop- 
 window. Repulsive as it appears, it is nevertheless 
 superior to much of the tobacco imposed upon the 
 English smoker under a variety of fancy names, for it 
 has the merit of being composed of the true Tabaci 
 folia. It is prepared thus : the dried leaf is beaten 
 into a fine powder, sifted and put into a mortar, where 
 it is mixed with coarse treacle till it forms a stiff ]>aste. 
 While in the mortar it is perfumed by the addition of 
 camphor, attar of roses, jasmine, and various other 
 ingredients. It is sold and smoked in this damp 
 state. 
 
 It is, of course, impossible to light it with a match. 
 The difficulty is overcome by placing a slow burning 
 tablet of charcoal above the tobacco, which gradually 
 dries and ignites. The preparation of these tablets is 
 an industry by itself, and is, perhaps, exclusively in 
 the hands of the Mahometans. It is extremely im- 
 probable that the Hindus will ever interfere with 
 their monopoly, for it is not sufficiently profitable to 
 tempt even the meanest capitalist. The wonder is 
 that anyone succeeds in earning a livelihood by it. 
 We hear much of the poverty of match-box makers. 
 
46 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 but their case, I imas;ine, is even worse They have 
 to collect the charcoal, pound it into a coarse powder, 
 work it into a paste by the aid of thick rice water, 
 prepare the tablets, and sell them at the rate of ten 
 for a pice ! One would be interested in knowing the 
 margin of profit. 
 
 Chewing is not confined to Yankees ; it is, perhaps, 
 even more common among Hindustanis. When the 
 tobacco mass is ready they make up tiny pills which 
 are sold at the rate of from ten to thirty-two rupees 
 per seer* or in small boxes at from four annas to two 
 rupees, according to the quality of the tobacco. These 
 are consumed only by the rich ; the poor chew a very 
 much commoner article. It is simply a powder com- 
 posed of dry pulverized tobacco, mixed with a certain 
 proportion of lime ; but this, repulsive as it appears, 
 affords them every gratification. 
 
 Two pounds. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 Women — Rouge— Polj’gamy — The Maulvi and his English Wife — A 
 Deceived Wife — Female Inferiority — ‘Not at home to Gentlemen ’ — 
 Zenana Life demoralizing — How an Anglicized Mahometan guarded 
 his Wife — Prison-like Homes — An irritated Polygamist — Experience 
 in a Hindu Zenana — Ministering Angels — Mahometan Sects — 
 Religion in Daily Life — The Servant and the Poultry — The Lady and 
 the Stewardess — Training a Child in the way he should go — No 
 compromise with Idolatry — Fasting — The gorgeous East — Goat 
 Sacrifice — Mahometan Clannishness — A meritorious Murder — A 
 Mahometan Saint and Hero — Godliness without Cleanliness — 
 Mahometan Houses — Hair-dyes — The Green Cat — A successful Dye 
 — Red Hair — ‘ English as she is wrote.’ 
 
 The women use menddhi* very plentifully, applying 
 it to the palms of their hands, the soles of their feet, 
 and the toe and finger nails ; besides which they use 
 collyrium to touch the eyelids and eyebrows, so as to 
 give additional lustre to their black eyes. They are 
 fond, too, of rouge, and I have seen the cheeks of a 
 young Mahometan bride, who had never breathed any 
 other atmosphere than that of the zenana, as highly 
 coloured as if she had spent her days in unrestrained 
 freedom on the mountains. 
 
 Poor creatures, who can blame them ! For what is 
 there to occupy their attention from day to day within 
 the compass of four walls, but jewels, dress, appearance, 
 and babies ? We pity them at a distance, but when 
 we know they accept their lot with cheerfulness, 
 because ignorant of what they lose by their captivity, 
 we pity them all the more. Yet, that they accept 
 their lot cheerfully is undeniable, for they have 
 
 * Lawsonia inermis. 
 
48 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 become used to it, and use is second nature. They 
 think it immodest to be seen in public. 
 
 How long does it take to get used to their life of 
 seclusion ? Not very long. Several English ladies 
 Avere carried into the zenanas of wealthy and \A'ell-to- 
 do Mahometans during the mutin}% who have become 
 so used to their life that they refuse to quit their 
 seclusion. But perhaps in these cases a sense of 
 degradation acts as powerfully as a love for the zenana, 
 to keep them Avhere they are. 
 
 Most Mahometans are polygamists. The system 
 they profess sanctions polygamy and several other 
 sexual relations, so that a Mahometan has no scruple 
 in espousing a plurality of wives. This is all right 
 AA’hen he marries Mahometan Avomen ; but, like other 
 Hindustanis of the day, he frequently comes to 
 England and takes to himself another Avife from our 
 English daughters. English ladies, beAvare ! With 
 veiy rare exceptions no umcedded Mahometan is e\^er 
 met Avith in England, and Avhen one of this community 
 marries in this country, he generally contracts what 
 he regards as a temporary marriage, a union which 
 has the sanction of his religion. They do this Avhen 
 from home, and give the temporary wife a divorce on 
 returning. Their OAvn Avomen understand the custom ; 
 English Avomen do not, and commit a mistake in 
 marrying them, AA'hich is more frequently than not 
 folloAved by painful and humiliating results. I speak 
 from cases coming Avuthin my knowledge, and informa- 
 tion I have received from Mahometans themselves. 
 Let me give one or tAvo. 
 
 Several years ago one of them came to England to 
 teach Arabic. While living in England he made the 
 acquaintance of a lady Avho, charmed by his manner 
 ("for Mahometans have a great deal of suaviter in 
 modo), encouraged his attentions, and responded in 
 all good faith to his proposals. They were united in 
 matrimony; she of course believing herself to be his 
 laAvfully Avedded Avife. Several years passed away, 
 
MAHOMETANS. 
 
 49 
 
 when at length the husband left our shores, ostensibly 
 to revisit his native land, in reality to forsake his 
 English wife and rejoin those whom he had left 
 behind him in India. As he did not return she 
 became uneasy ; all the more so, that while her letters 
 were not returned to her, she received no answer to 
 them. In a fatal moment she resolved to go to him ; 
 left her home and sailed eastward ; but when she 
 reached his door, she was rudely repulsed and loaded 
 with the most vituperative abuse. What was she to 
 do ? Alone ; friendless ; despised ; forsaken ; penniless, 
 in a strange land — what a position ! Smarting under 
 the cruel wrong inflicted upon her, she sought the aid 
 of the authorities. They were helpless ; for, being a 
 Mahometan, he could not be charged with bigamy ; 
 and it being, according to Ids view, only a tem- 
 porary marriage, she had no permanent claim upon 
 him. 
 
 Do you ask what became of her ? Perhaps the veil 
 had better not be lifted too far. Driven to desperation, 
 she sought refuge in drink. Shame kept her from 
 returning to her native land. Lost at length in the 
 labyrinths of an Eastern city, she fell a prey to the 
 worst of all vices, and died a few years ago an outcast 
 from pure society. If ever requiescat in pace deserved 
 to be said of anyone, it ought to be of one so deeply 
 injured, so falsely betrayed. 
 
 In 1880-81 I was in charge of the Medical Mission 
 in Delhi, and had to arrange for its conduct during 
 the absence of the doctor on leave. Being in need of 
 a qualified native doctor to manage it, I advertised for 
 one. The day following the appearance of the 
 advertisement, a very dark man rushed into my room 
 in a great state of excitement and applied for the 
 vacant post. To my astonishment he introduced 
 
 himself as Dr. D , M.R.C.S., etc., etc., London. I 
 
 replied that I could not afford one with his qualifi- 
 cations, even if I found his representations to be true 
 and his character satisfactory. But he was not to be 
 
 4 
 
50 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 put off. He Avould do anything, and take anything, 
 however humble, as a makeshift. His earnestness 
 attracted me, and finding me interested he poured 
 into my ear the following account of himself. 
 
 He was a compounder in one of the military 
 hospitals for several years, and while serving in that 
 capacity conceived the idea of taking his degree in 
 medicine in England. By strict economy he saved a 
 little money, which he transferred to this country, 
 and followed it as an extra steward on board one of 
 the P. and 0. steamers. In England he was received 
 everywhere, and soon found himself moving in good 
 society and courted by everybody. During his resi- 
 dence he made the acquaintance of a lady whom he 
 made his wife before returning home. On reaching 
 India he found a large army serving in Afghanistan, 
 and secured an acting appointment. But wai’, like 
 everything else, comes to an end in time. The 
 Gladstonian Government came into po-wer ; the army 
 was recalled ; and his services being no longer required 
 he received his discharge. The story seemed im- 
 probable, but I continued to listen. His means were 
 soon exhausted ; he was without a home, wandering 
 hither and thither with his wife in quest of employ- 
 ment. Her state was pitiable. About to become a 
 mother, she had no home in which to rest, nor money 
 to buy necessaries for the coming stranger. All my 
 sympathy went out to her, although I had never seen 
 her, my indignation against her husband keeping 
 exact proportion. Something had to be done, and I 
 invited him to bring her over to dinner. Never shall 
 I forget the ladylike woman who was sharing his 
 fortunes. His story was only too true. Alone with 
 an English sister she poured out the recital of her 
 wrongs ; and sad wrongs they were. He had gone to 
 England and pla 3 ’ed le grand seigneur, and easily 
 found people who took him at his own valuation ; 
 among them his unfortunate wife, who had been 
 cruelly deceived by his pretensions. She married 
 
MAHOMETANS. 
 
 SI 
 
 under the impression that she was making a brilliant 
 match ; she reached India to find her hopes 
 
 ‘ Vanish like the baseless fabric of a dream 
 
 him, whom she trusted, a deceiver ; herself a deceived, 
 homeless wife. 
 
 All Thackeray’s sarcasm has not yet taught English- 
 men and women that every Indian is not a ‘ nabob.’ 
 There are people still living as foolish as the New- 
 comes, who take the uncorroborated word of a house- 
 hold menial, when he ventures to pass himself off as a 
 prince in this country. 
 
 Mahometans are firm believers in the inferiority and 
 infirmity of women. They have no respect for the sex, 
 mourn their birth, and take every conceivable pre- 
 caution to keep them out of sight while they live. 
 This idea becomes amusing w^hen they think English 
 womanhood requires to be equally guarded. 
 
 A friend of ours took to himself a bride from 
 England. In India the ‘ Station ’ call on brides, and 
 offer their felicitations while making her acquaintance. 
 Several days after her arrival we called upon the 
 newly- wedded couple. The house appeared quiet, and 
 in answer to our summons an old Mahometan servant 
 of the bridegroom’s hurried out and salaamed. We 
 offered our cards, which he took with perfect polite- 
 ness; but informed us they had gone out for a drive. 
 When they returned the call, they expressed their 
 regret that we left before the servant brought in the 
 cards. 
 
 ‘ Why,’ we replied, ‘ the bearer told us you had gone 
 for a drive.’ 
 
 ‘ My husband had gone out on business,’ answered 
 the bride, ‘ but I was at home, and wondered why you 
 left as soon as you gave the servant your cards.’ 
 
 Several days subsequently I met the bridegroom, 
 who, brimming over with mirth, told me that on re- 
 turning home he questioned the man as to his reply 
 to us. 
 
 4—2 
 
52 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 With delicious naivete he answered, ‘ I said you 
 had both gone for a drive.’ 
 
 ‘ But why ?’ urged the husband ; ‘ you knew your 
 mistress was at home.’ 
 
 ‘ Certainly I did, sir ; but then a gentleman called 
 as well as a lady, and I did not think you would like 
 your wife to see gentlemen as well as ladies !’ 
 
 The high- caste Hindus also keep their women in 
 seclusion ; but with them the zenana system is an im- 
 portation, adopted in self-defence subsequently to the 
 establishment of Mahometan supremacy in India. It 
 is a Mahometan institution, and more than anything 
 else reflects on the moral conceptions as well as the 
 actual conduct of the followers of the Prophet. 
 
 Life under such conditions must necessarily be 
 monotonous and demoralizing, but if we can believe 
 the sex that enjoys the free air of heaven and the 
 pleasures of unrestrained social intercourse, the women 
 are parties to the arrangement by which their hus- 
 bands, fathers, and brothers become their gaolers. If 
 this is true, they must have fallen very low indeed, 
 and exemplify in their persons the degrading, unholy 
 influences of a religion that settles down like a moral 
 blight on every land to which it penetrates. 
 
 Of course there are zenanas and zenanas. It would 
 be unjust to class them together ; but where is the 
 liberal, Anglicized Mahometan to be found ? and when 
 found, how is his zenana regulated ? I have met 
 several ; I have discussed the question with them ; 
 but while they clamour for increased political freedom, 
 they refuse to abate one whit from the whole-heart 
 submission they exact from the weaker sex. In 
 political questions it might be well to take this into 
 account ; for surely no class of men who treat Avomen 
 as the Muslims do, are lit to enjoy any large measure 
 of political power.* I was in the habit of calling weekly 
 
 * Readers must not think I refer to the National Congress demands, 
 for it has a social as well as a political side, and the members are 
 earnestlj' striving to brighten the lot of women in general, and widows 
 
MAHOMETANS. 
 
 53 
 
 upon one of the advanced class, and was always re- 
 ceived in a small room that communicated with the 
 female apartments. This much I learned during my 
 earlier visits ; but I had no idea of the number of 
 interposing barriers, till one day, contrasting the 
 freedom enjoyed by English ladies with the im- 
 prisonment of Muslim women, a subject on which we 
 invariably took opposite sides, he informed me that 
 so rigorously did he insist upon the national custom, 
 that there was a series of doors between his audience 
 room and the apartments occupied by his wife, so 
 arranged that it was impossible for the faintest 
 whisper of a male voice to find its way to her ears ! 
 This was an Anglicized Mahometan ! 
 
 On one occasion my wife went to visit the family of 
 a Mahometan nobleman who mourned the paternity 
 of several daughters, all of whom, however, were en- 
 gaged to be married to the princes of a royal house 
 enjo}dng the luxury of banishment and Government 
 surveillance in the neighbourhood of Calcutta. The 
 daughters met her covered with wems and — dirt, 
 though rich and occupying one of the most stately 
 residences in the city. The family mansion was not 
 only stately ; it stood high, and commanded a magni- 
 ficent prospect of the city. They suggested that my 
 wife should go on the housetop and see it ; but no one 
 ofiered to accompany her. Naturally she wished to 
 know their reason for allowing her to go alone. With 
 the naivete of women who have never known freedom 
 they replied ; ‘ We never go up without orders ; and 
 we never get the order, except it is dark !’ 
 
 Where the house is well enclosed the women are 
 allowed the use of the courtyard : but even this slight 
 concession is attended with danger. On one occasion 
 I found myself the innocent cause of irritation. We 
 
 in particular. They may be listened to with respect, as calmly ex- 
 pressing the needs of their native land. They have my fullest sympathy 
 and support. The question affects Anglo-Indians as much as natives, 
 for they have no voice in political affairs. 
 
54 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 were extending our work in the city of Benares, and 
 I hired a flat-roofed, substantial house overlooking the 
 ghats and some part of the town. On the first day of 
 our occupancy I stood for some time by the parapet 
 enjoying the panorama that spread out before me, 
 little thinking that while I was gratifying myself I 
 was causing others pain. But this I had actually 
 been doing ; for I was shortly afterwards waited upon 
 by an indignant Mahometan, who told me I had been 
 overlooking his zenana, and that the terrified ladies 
 had to forego the pleasures of the court}^ard. Poor 
 creatures ! I was all unconscious of their existence ; 
 but I learned afterwards that my neighbour was the 
 unhappy possessor of no less than three wives, all of 
 whom objected as much to being looked at as they 
 disliked each other’s company. I am convinced this 
 was after all only the statement of a jealous husband, 
 not the feeling of the women themselves. I reach 
 this conclusion from their behaviour Avhen freed from 
 the controlling influence of their male relations. 
 While in charge of the Medical Mission in Delhi I 
 came officially in contact with about a dozen of them 
 daily. Closely veiled, with only two bright eyes 
 shining out through the perforations in their hurkas, 
 they would steal in quietly as shadows and take their 
 seats ; but when their turn came to be attended 
 to, the veil was lifted, and while no one could see 
 them from behind, they stood face to face Avith 
 the attendant and answered his questions without 
 reserve. 
 
 When male relations are present they are different 
 beings. Then they evidently think more of conse- 
 quences than of their personal feelings. The efforts 
 they make to secure privacy are extremely absurd. 
 
 I was asked by a Hindu, occuping a good position 
 in the Station Staff Office of a town in which I Avas 
 stationed, to see his wife, Avho was ill. When I 
 reached the house the male members were busy at 
 their morning worship of the household gods. The 
 whole house was filled with dense clouds of incense. 
 
MAHOMETANS. 
 
 55 
 
 and I was obliged to endure it till all was arranged 
 upstairs. The preparations for my reception had been 
 delayed till the last moment, and as I arrived before 
 they were complete, the worship was prolonged till I 
 began to get weary. Rising at length, one of the semi- 
 nude worshippers went to inquire whether I might 
 with safety be asked to ascend. All was ready, and he 
 returned to lead the way. 
 
 At the top of a flight of stairs we entered a long 
 room like a dormitory. What was my surprise to see 
 a line of beds from one end to the other, and on each 
 a figure wrapped up like a corpse and reclining as 
 stiffly as a knightly statue in a parish church. We 
 passed them one by one till we came to the last bed. 
 Stopping, my guide said, ‘ Here is the patient.’ A 
 hand somewhat shrivelled and not too clean came from 
 under the coverlet ; but not a word was spoken. I 
 was expected to feel the pulse, tell the disease and 
 prescribe the medicine without seeing the patient or 
 hearing a word from her lips. The farce was getting 
 too much for me, so I addressed the husband, and 
 drew from him a description of the complaint, in 
 her hearing. The stratagem answered excellently. 
 He did not describe it to her satisfaction, for soon a 
 muffled voice chimed in. The ice was broken. W^e 
 attempted to converse ; but not very successfully. At 
 length the fax’ce got too much for the patient also ; 
 for starting up, she cast the covering aside and looked 
 me full in the face without any indication of outraged 
 modesty. 
 
 Experiences like these might be prolonged ad in- 
 finitum, but for this there is no need. An illustration 
 speaks volumes, and what has been said will give 
 English readers some idea of what the zenana system 
 means. 
 
 The mention of this system affords me an oppor- 
 tunity of paying a passing tribute to the English 
 ladies, who, as zenana teachers and lady doctors, are 
 doing so much to enlighten the minds of the enslaved 
 and to alleviate sufferings that are never witnessed by 
 
56 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 I 
 
 the outside world. They are the sunbeams that pierce 
 through the barriers from the bright world without to 
 illuminate the prevailing darkness within. No wonder 
 they are so eagerly welcomed — certainly they deserve 
 to be ; no wonder they are so successful in inspiring 
 confidence and compelling love, for in this grand work 
 they are, in the most literal sense, ministering angels. 
 Their work is bound to be effective. Where men are 
 obliged to work through the intellect, for a conscience 
 has to be created in India, they are quietly working on 
 the heart and storming the affections. They are winning 
 the women, and when they are won the unborn gene- 
 rations are already conquered, and English missionary 
 campaigns in India are at an end. 
 
 I have already remarked that Mahometans are 
 religious in their way. It is needful to say this, 
 because most people who know them only at a distance 
 think them very religious in our sense of the word, 
 and laud them for their fearless observance of times 
 and seasons of prayer. Those who think thus generally 
 imagine, too, that they all believe the same thing and 
 worship together in the same mosque. I am sorry 
 if the truth compels me to demolish anybody’s 
 pleasant theories ; but the fact is Christians are not 
 the only people who have divisions and sub-divisions. 
 The Mahometan world can dispute supremacy Avith an 
 easy grace, 
 
 There are three great sections : Suni, Shia, Wahabi.* 
 
 These have their sub-divisions. The great Suni sect 
 claims to be the orthodox party. It is divided into 
 five different camps : Hanafi, Shafi, Malaki, Hamhali, 
 and Sufi. 
 
 Hoav do they differ ? 
 
 The Hanafi differ from the others in holding that 
 in ablution before prayer, the arms ought to be washed 
 to within three fingers’ breadth of the elbow ; the Shafi 
 Malaki, and Hamhali maintain a contrary opinion. 
 
 It is their belief that the arms ought to be washed 
 
 * Corresponding to the Roman Catholic, Greek, and Protestant 
 Churches, the three great divisions of Christendom. 
 
MAHOMETANS. 
 
 57 
 
 till three fingers breadth above the elbow ! They also 
 maintain that all things living in the waters are clean 
 and fit for food. Here the Hanafi join issue with theon, 
 for they hold that only fish are fit for man to eat. 
 They have some differences, too, as to the correct 
 posture during prayer. In ove thing they agree, and 
 as far as I know, only in one, — that is, in the belief 
 that Shias are heretics and ought to be opposed by 
 force. 
 
 The Sufis, the last of the five divisions, are sub- 
 divided into four parties : Kadariya, Chistiya, Naksh- 
 bandiya, and Saharwardiya. They are, perhaps, the 
 most emotional of the various sects, and are passion- 
 ately fond of dancing. It is an article of their creed 
 that it forms part of the pastime of heaven, and con- 
 sequently ought to be enjoyed here. It is indulged 
 in, however, not merely for the physical enjoyment it 
 affords, but for purposes of religion. They dance that 
 they may have ecstatic visions and pass a brief interval 
 of their earthly existence in realms of bliss. 
 
 When they are assembled, dancing girls, and men 
 who personate women, enter the room and commence 
 the slow, stupid motion of an Indian nach. Every 
 feeling is played upon, till, in a delirium of excitement, 
 they rise one after the other, as moved, and join the 
 hired performers, casting aside their garments to give 
 greater play to their limbs. Intoxicated with delights 
 they shout : ‘ Heaven ! Oh, heaven ! We are in 
 heaven! We see God!’ — and continue to dance till, 
 exhausted with their efforts, they fall about like 
 drunken men. 
 
 The Xakshbandiya are very fond of magic. I 
 believe, too, they practise spiritualism ; but unfor- 
 tunately for the members of the sterner sex, those 
 who practise it say that men cannot hold communica- 
 tions with their dead relations. That privilege is, 
 according to them, reserved for women. 
 
 It is done in this way. The palm of the hand is 
 covered with collyrium, and the dupe told to look 
 steadily on it till a vast plain appears. When she gets 
 
58 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 thus far, the rest is easy. Imagination now comes into 
 play, and she is readily persuaded to believe that she 
 actually beholds the person she longs to see, and 
 mentally converses with the shades of the departed. 
 No one else can see the vision nor hear what the 
 spirit says. Should anyone want to qualify as a pro- 
 fessor of the black science, he may do so by following 
 these directions. He must not eat beef, mutton, nor 
 fish. He must say, ‘ Azam to AUaikim ya masharab 
 jin nawalinse is tellang su’adan istatran fathun 
 havivak,’* with a clear distinct Arabic pronunciation a 
 hundred times each day he lives. When he has repeated 
 it, his desires will be fulfilled : but yet only conditionally ; 
 for when he wishes to summon anyone he must burn 
 incense till the room is filled with smoke, in addition 
 to liberally anointing himself with otto of roses. 
 
 The Shias are divided into two sections : Rasuli 
 and Ihbari. The only difference between them is that 
 the Ihbari appoint someone to lead them in prayer. 
 The Rasuli have no leader. They hold that the leader 
 has still to come. The Sunis or ‘ orthodox ’ select one 
 of their number to lead them in prayer. They follow 
 him in action, but remain silent while he prays audibly. 
 The Wahabis, the third division, select a leader but do 
 not depend upon him. They all pra}" inaudibly, but to- 
 gether say ‘ Amen ’ aloud. The Hanafi, or first sub- 
 division of the Sunis, hold this is wrong, and oppose 
 the Wahabi practice in a very determined manner ; 
 indeed, so serious has the question become that the 
 Suni and Shia forget their hostility while watching 
 their bitter conflicts. 
 
 The Wahabis are the Mahometan Puritans. Fierce 
 and fanatical, they are increasing in numbers, and may 
 in time become dangerous factors in social and political 
 problems. They believe in open warfare as well as in 
 assassination, whether by the dagger or the poisoned 
 cup. They are, perhaps, the only section that would 
 readily proclaim a Jihad, or religious war, and con- 
 sequently have to be closely watched. They will take 
 
 * This is a mystic formula and has no meaning, as far as I know. 
 
MAHOMETANS. 
 
 59 
 
 the most solemn oath, but cannot be trusted to keep 
 faith, and are as bitter enemies of the other sects of 
 Mahometans as they are of Christians. They are not 
 allowed to enter the mosques of the other sects, and 
 are consequently obliged to have their own. 
 
 Fanaticism, however, is not peculiar to the Wahabi : 
 every Mahometan is touched with it. No Mahometan 
 ever apologises for his religion. Devoid of the critical 
 faculty, or at least never exercising it upon his faith, 
 he is ever steadfast and immovable. Their social life 
 is tied up with the religious. They cannot be separated ; 
 and no Muslim ever thinks of neglecting religious 
 duties, so strong is the force brought to bear upon 
 him from without. In early morning, when nature 
 begins to hail the approach of the rising sun, the clear, 
 sonorous tones of the muezzin’s call to prayers — 
 ‘ Allah akbar ’ — rings over the city, re-echoed from a 
 hundred minars. At the various hours of prayer 
 throughout the day, his cry pierces the din of traffic, 
 rises higher than its clamour, and summons the faith- 
 ful to prayer. Like true formalists, they kneel down 
 where they may happen to be, in careless indifference 
 to their surroundings, and, as Dr. Buck ley aptly remarks, 
 
 ‘ perform their prayers.’ They are never absorbed by 
 their devotions. They can look about as much as they 
 like; the one thing to which they object while thus 
 engaged, is to anyone passing in front of them, lest 
 they should unwittingly bow to their fellow mortal, 
 and become idolaters. 
 
 I had a Mahometan servant whose duty it was to 
 care for the poultry. He was a most devout man from 
 a Mahometan point of view, and never failed to say his 
 prayers at sunset while driving in the fowls, in tones so 
 loud that the whole neighbourhood had the advan- 
 tage of them. There was no pretence at devotion ; for 
 as he ran after the fowls you could hear him say, 
 ‘Allah! Allah! — you wretched fowl — Allah! — you 
 base-born wretch! — ul rahman — come back there — 
 Allah, Allah, Allah — there now, my dear, go in,’ and 
 so on, with frequent variations. 
 
6o 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 But after all, I fear %ve cannot throw stones without 
 danger to ourselves. I recollect a young lady on board 
 ship, delicate, refined, and religious, ostentatiously so, 
 as far as times, seasons, and postures were concerned. 
 One morning she mislaid some article of attire, and was 
 too indolent to look for it. It was so much easier to 
 raise her voice or climb stairs in search of the 
 stewardess. Failing to find her, she returned to her 
 cabin and engaged in her devotions with what seemed 
 to her hushed cabin companions earnestness of spirit. 
 Meanwhile the stewardess found time to attend her, 
 but finding her engaged in prayer, was about to retreat. 
 She looked up, however, though still on her knees, 
 gave her orders, and resumed after the brief interlude 
 during which worldly things demanded a share of her 
 attention. Perhaps she was not peculiar after all ; and 
 if not, while laughing at Mahometan formalism we may 
 be condemning ourselves. 
 
 From earliest childhood every Mahometan who 
 aspires after knowledge is taught the Kuran,* nor is 
 he allowed to study any secular subject whatever till 
 he has mastered it in Arabic. They memorize it from 
 beginning to end. Men called Hiifiz, with good memo- 
 ries, repeat it yearly during the Ramzan festival. 
 Night after night they assemble in the mosques, and 
 in presence of umpires the competitors recite it from 
 beginning to end. Prizes are awarded according to 
 merit ; and in this way some earn sufficient money to 
 maintain them throughout the year, without indulging 
 in the luxury of honest labour. 
 
 Everything possible is done by Mahometans to 
 saturate the minds of their children with the doctrines 
 of Mahometanism, and to keep alive the vividness of 
 every impression from year to year. For this reason 
 it is very much more difficult to work among Mahome- 
 tans than any other class. 
 
 The Mahometan is a bitter opponent of idolatry ; 
 indeed, his religion is a protest against it. He is a 
 
 The Mahometan .scriptures. 
 
MAHOMETANS. 
 
 6i 
 
 thorough-going iconoclast, when he has power to work 
 his will ; but in India this is curbed by the strong hand 
 of a strong Government. 
 
 He is not allowed to make the image of an}’thing ; 
 but where the love of sculpture and painting is re- 
 strained in one direction, the love of the beautiful and 
 fanciful finds an outlet in other directions. He may 
 not carve nor set up an image, but he cultivates the 
 most delicate tracery of roses and other flowers in the 
 marble of his palaces, or works them out in flashing 
 clusters of gems. He may not paint the most innocent 
 device on the inner walls of his place of worship, but 
 he illuminates the outside with extracts from the 
 Kuran in the most dazzling letters. It is a system 
 of compromises and compensations, without which 
 Mahometanism would be the most dreary, mentally de- 
 pressing system ever known among men. 
 
 Their festivities they keep as the Jews kept theirs. 
 They are national occasions. Everybody joins and 
 shares in the festivity or restraint. 
 
 The Ramzan fast occurs during the hottest part of 
 the year, and lasts for forty days. Very few are exempt 
 from its observance ; but it must not be thought that 
 it is a fast as we understand fasting. They abstain from 
 both food and water from sunrise to sunset, but from 
 sunset till sunrise they may eat and drink to satiety ; 
 in fact, they only reverse the ordinary course of nature 
 by turning night into day. The privation must be the 
 want of water when the heat is so oppressive. Need- 
 less to say, it is not to spiritual profit ; for a more dis- 
 agreeable set of people while the fast lasts cannot well 
 be imagined. 
 
 At the expiration of the fast they array themselves 
 in their finest and gayest apparel, and prepare for the 
 bakri’id, or goat festival. What a brilliant, animated 
 appearance the streets present ! Their dress is of 
 every possible hue — white, red, blue, scarlet, crimson, 
 purple, etc., while their caps, made of tinsel, sparkle 
 and glitter in the dazzling sunshine. Here is a rough 
 note made in the street, with the scene passing around 
 
62 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 me : ‘ Little boys in red silk pantaloons, through which 
 there runs a golden stripe ; white robe and cap glitter- 
 ing with golden tinsel ; others with coat of many 
 colours — yellow, red, pink and blue lines. The um- 
 brellas defy description. Here is one — maroon with 
 a band of golden embroidery about two inches deep ; 
 others, blue, green, black, white, yellow, mauve, pink, 
 and even a “Dolly Varden.” ’ As they pass, it is seen 
 that one in each group carries a small black kid. 
 These are intended for sacrifice. Mahometans always 
 take life by cutting the throat, and as they slay the 
 victim they say, ‘ Its blood for my blood, its flesh for 
 my flesh, its bone for my bone.’ f he grand finale is 
 the gathering in the musjids. On one occasion I was 
 invited to witness the scene from the Emperor’s 
 balcony in the Jama Musjid in Delhi. The mosque 
 has praying stones for, I have heard, 25,000 wor- 
 shippers, and on this occasion about two- thirds were 
 occupied. The congregation moved like a regiment 
 of soldiers, and the rustle of their well-starched gar- 
 ments sounded like the rumble of distant thunder, as 
 they went through the various postures of worship. 
 Not a voice was heard but that of the leader, who, at 
 the end of every prayer, shouted ^ Allah akbar.’* 
 
 After this ceremony, life resumes its usual tenor till 
 the ^loharram, when the Shias work themselves up to a 
 dangerous pitch of excitement. This festival I need not 
 describe, as it is so well known : my purpose is to limit 
 my descriptions to habits and customs which have 
 escaped observation or been but insufficiently noticed. 
 
 ^lahometans are generally true to each other, espe- 
 cially in cases of differences with Hindus or Christians; 
 indeed, they never go against a co-religionist in such 
 cases. Though they may dislike each other personally, 
 they will shelve personal dislike to help a Mussulman. 
 A Mahometan, now deceased, told me that his uncle, 
 on one occasion, sent his chaprassi, or messenger, out 
 to his estate to inquire into some trouble with one 
 of the tenant-farmers. The latter becoming imperti- 
 
 * God is great. 
 
MAHOMETANS. 
 
 63 
 
 nent, the chaprassi struck him with his loaded stick 
 and killed him. He was arrested and sent up for trial. 
 Everything appeared to be against him, for some of 
 the other tenants had seen him strike the blow. A 
 plea was put in for the defence that he could not be 
 guilty of the murder, since, on the day in question, he 
 never left Benares. It was put to the proof, and every- 
 thing in India has to be decided upon the volume of 
 the evidence. The Mahometans, well aware of this 
 weakness of European law, gathered up, not merely in 
 numbers, but influence, and stated on oath that the 
 accused never left the city, and consequently could 
 not have killed the murdered man. Among them was 
 ray informant — a man of position, w^ealth, and in- 
 fluence, whose word was far more potent in a court of 
 law than that of a crowd of rustics. Yet he kneiv the 
 chaprassi had committed the deed, and when I charged 
 him with perjury, and being accessory after the fact, 
 he readily replied, ‘ That is quite true ; but then, why 
 throw good blood after bad ? By taking another life 
 you cannot restore that which has been taken ; besides, 
 he was only a Hindu.’ 
 
 The culprit was discharged ; and, for aught I know, 
 may still be living and prospering, besides rejoicing 
 that he has rid the world of an inhdel. 
 
 This latter exploit is one which, in religious wars, 
 merits Paradise, and accounts for the fierce fanaticism 
 of tlie Ghazis when our troops have met them in 
 deadly conflict in Afghanistan. They have a whole 
 calendar of saints, and a martyrology of their own, for 
 many have sacrificed their lives to the cause, lured on 
 by the promise of a sensualist’s Paradise in reward for 
 present sacrifice. Measured by our moral standard, 
 they would be found lamentably wanting ; but then, 
 no Mahometan measures his corn by our bushel : they 
 come up to his standard, and we have no right to 
 object. We must be content to take them as they are ; 
 for religion and morality have no necessary connection 
 in their system. The life of one may suffice as a 
 pretty fair sample of the others. 
 
64 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 His Story takes us to the city of Benares before the 
 country passed under the dominion of the Moghul 
 Emperors. There lived and reigned at that distant 
 date a king named Banar, who was a bigoted Hindu 
 and a violent persecutor of the few Mahometans living 
 in his city. All powerful in his own territory, he 
 made it a practice to offer the blood of a Mahometan 
 daily on the altar of his god, an expedient by which 
 he supposed he could rid himself of hated subjects. 
 
 and, at the same time, allay the anger of his god — 
 certainly one by which he effectually roused the ire 
 of the Mahometans, led up to his own death and the 
 overthrow of his dynasty. The story of his ruthless 
 butchery reached Delhi, and was listened to in 
 speechless amazement by a fanatic named GhazI 
 Mia, who swore a terrible oath of vengeance. Allying 
 with himself several men of like temperament, he set 
 
MAHOMETANS. 
 
 65 
 
 out on his bold expedition, which had for its object no 
 less a purpose than the chastisement of a king who 
 had the command of an army. 
 
 When they reached Benares they learned that the 
 victim chosen for the following day was the son of a 
 widow. Going to her, GhazI Mia said he wished to 
 take her son’s place on the morrow. The woman, 
 afraid of consequences, refused to comply, on which 
 the redoubtable champion of Islam and the oppressed, 
 together with his companions, marched to the fort 
 and demanded an audience of the king. They were 
 met by a flat refusal. The guards refused to allow 
 them to pass. Drawing their swords, they made a 
 way for themselves, cutting down and slaying all who 
 opposed them. The noise of the fray reached the 
 ears of Raja Banar, who hurried out to inquire into a 
 circumstance so unusual. On emerging, he stood 
 face to face with Ghazi Mia, who asked him whether 
 it was true, as reported, that his god required the 
 blood of a Mahometan daily. ‘ Yes,’ said the king. 
 
 ‘ Can you prove it V asked Ghazi Mia. 
 
 ‘ Certainly.’ 
 
 ‘ Then let us go to the temple and inquire.’ 
 
 They both entered and stood in the presence of the 
 
 ‘ Do you require the blood of a Mahometan daily ?’ 
 demanded Ghazi Mia. 
 
 ‘ Oh no !’ exclaimed the god, trembling all over, 
 ‘ the king gives it of his own accord.’ 
 
 The answer was damnatory. Turning round, he 
 smote the king, so that he died, smashed the hideous, 
 bloodthirsty idol, and put the garrison to the sword. 
 
 Such is the story as told to me hy a Mahometan. I 
 never had the pleasure of hearing the Hindu version. 
 Perhaps they accept the same account, for they both 
 join in a festival held in his honour. 
 
 The hero married the daughter of a Hindu oil- 
 seller, and then set out to conquer the enemies of 
 Islam all along the North of India. In battle near 
 
 5 
 
66 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 ijacliraich he fell mortally wounded, but such was his 
 fame, that from that time to this the memory of his 
 first exploit has been commemorated annually by both 
 Hindus and Mahometans. On each occasion they go 
 through the marriage ceremony. A flag does duty for 
 the hero, while a young girl, daughter of an oil-seller, 
 has the honour of being espoused by it ! 
 
 The Mahometan is easily distinguished from the 
 Hindu both by his carriage and physiognomy; for 
 Mahometanism appears to develop a type of features 
 peculiar to those who profess it. His habits, too, are 
 peculiar. In his own way he is religious, but he is not 
 clean. I know no people, not even the aboriginal 
 tribes I have come in contact with, who are so utterly 
 indifferent to personal and domestic cleanliness. My 
 recollections of their houses are distinctly unfavour- 
 able ; and I say this, not of the houses of the poor, 
 but of the affluent as well. For reasons that will be 
 obvious, I suppress the names of those to whom I refer 
 while inspecting, thus publicly, the houses they in- 
 habit. The first is in Delhi. We pass down a narrow 
 lane with high windowless walls on either side, down 
 which the sewage flows into the festering, disease- 
 propagating ditch beneath ; for Mahometan houses are 
 devoid of sanitary appliances and drain connections. 
 We halt before a small door opening into anL-shaped 
 passage, that communicates with a square court-yard 
 around which the dwelling-rooms are ranged. On 
 three sides there is a veranda, cut up into small 
 sitting-rooms protected by ample curtains, while on 
 the other side is the dwelling-house proper. 
 
 At the outer door we halt till the ancient door- 
 keeper arranges for the privacy of the ladies. When 
 they have secured a position from which they may 
 see without being seen, we are conducted over the 
 court-yard into one of the small veranda rooms, 
 where we are received by the gentlemen of the house. 
 It is simply furnished ; indeed, it contains only two 
 large wooden platforms on which small carpets are 
 
MAHOMETANS. 
 
 67 
 
 spread. On these the native squats cross-legged with 
 all the ease and comfort of one accustomed to this 
 method of sitting ; the European feels it very awkward 
 and becomes painfully conscious that his legs require 
 to be educated to the seat. The walls are bespattered 
 all over with what looks like faded red ink. What is 
 it ? We need only look at the mouths of the natives 
 to discover its origin. Constantly chewing pan they 
 have got into the vile habit of spitting out the juice 
 with the same indifference to surroundings as the 
 tobacco-chewing American. Let us visit another. 
 This is even dirtier than the last. The arrangement 
 of the room is different. The floor is covered with a 
 large thick Persian rug, upon which the owner reclines, 
 supported at the shoulders by a large pillow-shaped 
 cushion, not unlike a sack of wool. The case is of 
 American cotton, and was once white; now it is so 
 offensively dirty, we hesitate to come in contact with it. 
 
 These are samples of good houses, the residences of 
 men of means ; the poorer houses are, of course, in- 
 finitely worse. They must be imagined, for it would 
 be almost offensive to refined taste to have them de- 
 scribed. 
 
 It is impossible to visit a Mahometan of the 
 orthodox school who is getting on in years without 
 being struck by the colour of his hair. It is always 
 a dull, brick red, an effect produced by the application 
 of menddhi (Lawsonia inermis), a plant from the 
 leaves of which a red dye is prepared. They are very 
 partial to the colour ; using it to dye not only the hair 
 and beard when turning grey, but also the palms 
 of the hands, the soles of the feet, and the toe and 
 finger nails. It is used by both sexes, and by every 
 grade of society. The practice of dyeing has given 
 rise to many amusing and laughable experiences. 
 Witness the following : 
 
 In the South of India there was a certain princess 
 whose hair had begun to feel the bleaching effects of 
 age. Wishing to renew her youth, and retain her 
 
 .5—2 
 
68 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 hold upon the affections of her lord, she determined 
 to dye. Menddhi was out of favour in this instance, 
 because its colour was a constant reminder that she 
 was only fighting an unequal battle with decay. She 
 resolved on the use of one of our European dyes, and 
 applied to an English druggist for some preparation 
 that would produce the desired effect. It reached 
 her in due course ; but she was too wise to be precipi- 
 tate. True, she did not delay the application ; but 
 then she did not apply it to her own hair. Among 
 her pets she had a beautiful white Persian cat, and 
 commenced her amateur attempts at hair restoration 
 upon it. The effect was all that could be desired 
 from an artistic point of view, but it was one the 
 princess could not look upon with unmixed feelings, 
 nor congratulate herself too much upon having escaped. 
 The unfortunate cat became a wonder to the animal 
 creation — it turned pea-green. 
 
 The Government have a rule by which their servants 
 are compulsorily retired at the age of fifty-five. Many 
 of their native employes cannot tell their exact ages, 
 and their ignorance frequently places them in a ver}^ 
 awkward position. Age has to be judged by the ap- 
 pearance, and if a man should unfortunately turn pre- 
 maturely grey, he is in danger of being placed on the 
 retired list. Many are the methods adopted to avoid 
 this issue. I select one. 
 
 I was sitting alone in the garden one hot night in May, 
 1884, when I received a visit from a gentleman occupy- 
 ing a good position under Government. His pay was 
 high, his perquisites vastly higher ; but he was in 
 danger of being retired upon a pension that was only 
 an insignificant fraction of his salary. The danger 
 arose, not from any want of capacity or negligence on 
 his part, but from the fading lustre of his black hair. 
 Dangerous whispers were heard. Rivals who hoped 
 to secure his appointment began to attract the atten- 
 tion of his superior officer to the signs of decay, which 
 even he could not deny. But he was not nearly fifty- 
 
MAHOMETANS. 
 
 69 
 
 five, and must take steps to bring his appearance into 
 harmony with his real age. He had come to solicit 
 my help. Could I give him a recipe for a hair-dye ? 
 I admitted my ignorance, hut told him I possessed a 
 copy of Besley’s ‘ Druggist’s Receipt Book,’ which con- 
 tained several recipes of the kind he desired, an an- 
 nouncement he hailed with delight. Would I write 
 one ? Of course I readily assented, and passed it over 
 with the warning that I could not hold myself respon- 
 sible for consequences ; that in applying it, he did so 
 at his own risk. I did what most others would have 
 done under like circumstances — wrote out the first on 
 the list ; but with what excellent results ! 
 
 A year elapsed ; and as he had been absent from the 
 city, we had not had an opportunity of meeting, nor had 
 I had an opportunity of seeing the effect of the hair- 
 dye. It came at last. A grandson was born to him, 
 and in honour of the event he gave a grand enter- 
 tainment to his friends. I was the only European 
 honoured with an invitation. On my arrival at the 
 house, I was ushered into a room lit up with innumer- 
 able lamps. The floor was covered with a clean white 
 drugget, but there was only one chair in the room. 
 To this I was escorted. When seated, the company 
 squatted around, my host immediately in front of me. 
 His behaviour was singular. All the time he kept 
 pushing his fingers through his hair and smoothing 
 his bushy black beard. At last he said : 
 
 ‘ Do you know me ?’ 
 
 ‘ Yes,’ I replied, not seeing the cause of his query. 
 
 ‘ Are you quite sure you do ?’ 
 
 ‘ Certain.’ 
 
 ‘ Well, who am I ?’ 
 
 I gave him his name and official designation, enough 
 to satisfy most men that I really knew to whom I was 
 speaking ; but it did not satisfy him. 
 
 ‘ Do you see any change in me ?’ 
 
 ‘No,’ I replied, ‘not much.’ 
 
 ‘ But,’ and here he attended to his beard and hair 
 
70 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 more vigorously than ever, ‘ do you see tio change in 
 me ?’ 
 
 ‘ Not much,’ I again replied. 
 
 Finding me insensible to the change of which he 
 was himself so conscious, for I had forgotten the recipe, 
 he recalled the visit and subject of conversation twelve 
 months before, and drew my attention to the striking 
 effect the dye had produced. Not a grey hair was to 
 be seen. Head and beard were jet black. He had 
 the appearance of a man of forty, and all suggestions 
 as to retirement had been silenced by the change 
 effected ! 
 
 The old isolation of Indian life is fast disappearing 
 before the necessities of the nineteenth century. The 
 Hindustani now visits England to study law and me- 
 dicine ; native troops fight our battles in Africa, and 
 grace the pageants of royalty in England. This leads 
 them into situations in which they are unable to obtain 
 what they regard as luxuries ; menddhi among others. 
 Unable to obtain it, they are obliged to regard the 
 deepening white of approaching age with whatever 
 stoicism they can command. Some years ago, a friend 
 of mine, whose hair approaches perilously near the 
 popular colour of India, was sailing down the Red 
 Sea on board an outward bound steamer, that had 
 called en route at Suez to pick up several of the late 
 Khedive’s horses, purchased by the Government of 
 India for stud purposes. The authorities, instead of 
 engaging Egyptian grooms to bring them over, sent 
 several men and a non-commissioned officer from the 
 detachment of Bombay cavalry stationed at Aden. 
 The N.C.O. w'as getting on in years ; the grey was 
 plentifully mixed with the black, a state of things he 
 was obliged to endure, but could not appreciate, for 
 he had been separated from the refinements of India 
 for nearly a year. My friend and he conversed to- 
 gether daily, always in Hindustani, and for the most 
 part understood each other. But a day came at last, 
 when, emboldened by their intercourse, the N.C.O. 
 
MAHOMETANS. 
 
 71 
 
 asked a favour, and in doing so used a word his fellow- 
 traveller did not understand. Anxious to oblige, how- 
 ever, he called a gentleman more familiar with the lan- 
 guage than himself, and asked him to translate the 
 puzzling expression. The soldier’s request was received 
 with a hearty peal of laughter by those standing around. 
 Turning to my friend, the translator said: ‘He is 
 under the impression you are an old man from the 
 colour of your hair, and wishes to know whether you 
 will oblige him with some of the dye you use with so 
 much success !’ 
 
 I have mentioned the invitation I received to attend 
 the entertainment given on the birth of a son. It may 
 not be out of place to close this chapter with the copy 
 of an invitation to a wedding, as well as to give other 
 specimens of native compositions in English. The 
 following speaks for itself ; I merely alter names to 
 prevent recognition : 
 
 ‘ The J. L. Edwards, Esquire, and Company, 
 Bombay. 
 
 ‘ Honoured and Respected Sir, — I most humbly 
 and respectfully beg to inform your high honour 
 that there is marriage of my grandson, Hurga Sing, 
 
 with the daughter of the Baboo of , who is 
 
 of the royal family of the Rajah of the same place. 
 I will understand it my good luck if your honour will 
 
 favour me with your coming to go to , and to be 
 
 as one of the greatest Leader of mine. I hope your 
 kindness and love towards me and my family will 
 never deny in coming to us for the purpose of partici- 
 pating the pleasure of our company which is to be held 
 in the mentioned place. 
 
 ‘ We remain, sir, 
 
 ‘ Your most humble Servants, 
 
 < > 
 
 Of course, it must not be supposed all invitations are 
 like this. I have had them lithographed in gold, in 
 
72 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 purest English, their only fault being that they seemed 
 to ape Anglican manners too closely. 
 
 Here is another composition on a very different 
 subject, emanating, by-the-bye, from the master of a 
 normal school : 
 
 ‘ Dated F^abad, 13.2.85. 
 
 ‘Sir, — I have got some disease, therefore please 
 write me its price per bottle, including postage. Please 
 send the letter by the following address. 
 
 i 
 
 j 
 
 ‘ Normal School.’ 
 
 While in Delhi I received the following from a 
 village some four miles distant from the city : 
 
 ‘ Sir, — W ill you step over five minutes and see two 
 siks. One hath hot in his body, the other hath green 
 eyes by reason of his inner sikness. 
 
 ‘ I am. Your humble Servant, 
 
 Not long ago an enterprising firm of natives set up 
 an ice factory. They sent out a sample to the Euro- 
 pean residents, with this advertisement : 
 
 ‘ Sir, — I herewith beg to send you two seers of ice ; 
 but as this ice is only our first trial trip so it is not 
 to perfection. 
 
 ‘ Yours faithfully, 
 
 ( 
 
 ‘ Manager, Ice Company.’ 
 
 The English on signboards is no less amusing. 
 Here is one to exercise ingenuity on : 
 
 Dd Bkx Mkr 
 
 To help readers to decipher it, I had better say it 
 
MAHOMETANS. 
 
 73 
 
 was over the station undertaker’s door, and meant 
 ‘ dead box maker ’ ! 
 
 The English on the si^n-boards in that bazar was 
 decidedly peculiar, but I can only give one more illus- 
 tration, that of the baker’s, who styled himself 
 ■“ European loafer.’ 
 
 The begging petitions are curiosities of literature; 
 but how anyone can be imposed upon by them is a 
 mystery. I have met two like the following : 
 
 ‘ To the Charitable Gentlemen and Ladies. 
 
 ‘ The humble petitioner is a native of Bombay. He 
 left his own country to make pilgrimage to Kashi. On 
 the way thieves stole his property, and now he is in a 
 strange country, with his four brothers and five sisters, 
 without money. His sisters have no tongues nor feet ; 
 the brothers have no eyes nor hands ; and the poor 
 petitioner, ivho has no tongue and cannot speak, is 
 starving. Please, charitable gentlemen and ladies, help 
 the poor petitioner, and I will ever pray, etc., etc.’ 
 
 The missionaries meet a class of beggars and impos- 
 tors none others come in contact -with; or rather, I 
 ought to say, since they change their tactics in dealing 
 with the different classes, they try to impose upon 
 missionaries by professing an interest in Christianity 
 and desire for instruction. But missionaries are far 
 too wary to be imposed upon easily. New-comers 
 may be duped occasionally; but no one with any 
 length of experience is caught by such glaring im- 
 postures as the following, brought me by a Mahome- 
 tan : 
 
 ‘ To Rev. J. Eiuen, Benares. 
 
 ‘ Rev. Sir, — I most humbly beg to state that 
 I am an inhabitant of East Bengal Dacca, and the son 
 ■of one of the respectable fathers, who was the Zemin- 
 dar of Bhowal, Burmie, and Salteah. 
 
 ‘ But somehow or another, having lost my father’s 
 
74 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 estate, have been reduced to a most unspeakable sort of 
 distress. And there are several other causes too, such 
 as I have lost my wife, who died in Dacca, on the 6th of 
 October, 1878 ; have lost two boy sons also out of the 
 number of three ; have no emplo 3 ’ment nor an}'^ means 
 whatever for my support from the year that my wife 
 died. And besides these, wishing to become a Christian 
 from many years,I could not because of a disagreeable- 
 ness arising, and dispute and quarrel among our kins- 
 folk taking the land and properties, etc., of our prede- 
 cessors ; and hearing of my thinking of professing the 
 Christianity, etc. Some of the members of our kindred 
 have been following after me from place to place, and 
 had persecuted me very much, and had given me much 
 trouble ; and have been taking awa}’ all my rights too 
 by force, and in a riotous manner. Thus however 
 getting much trouble by them, I was obliged to come 
 and reside in Moorshedabad for many a year, where 
 my two sons were laid under ground, and after that 
 again when with my wife I had gone to my country to 
 see the state of my country’, and to be informed with 
 the results of my enemies, etc. : during this time I have 
 had induced my wife also to profess the Christianity, 
 instructing her in man}’ ways. She was agreed no 
 doubt, and with much pleasure she was ready ; but 
 cannot say what was the will of God towards us that 
 after her delivering another child there, Avhen the 
 child had become of ten or eleven months’, she had 
 departed to next life, and had caused my life to be 
 hanged down and broke through much gi’ief and 
 sorrow because of her and the two children death who 
 had died long before her ; and had remained as a 
 madman for feAv years, and under much difficulties 
 and danger with this little or the youngest child, 
 Avho by the grace of God has become now of seven 
 years and is alive, and is with me here also. 
 
 ‘ And again, desiring to see the tombs of those two 
 sons who had died long before their mother, had 
 come up to Moorshedabad and did stop there for a 
 
MAHOMETANS. 
 
 75 
 
 year more. And on the 20th of March, 1885, a 
 native gentleman of Lucknow, having engaged me as a 
 ]n-ivate tutor to his sons, had taken me up there from 
 Moorshedabad, on a salary of 15 rupees per month, 
 besides my feeding and clothing, and promising to 
 give for me and my child train hire as third class fare 
 from Lucknow to Moorshedabad, when he would dis- 
 miss me. But instead of his doing so, he dealed with 
 me very unjustly, owing to a very serious secret 
 devilish tricks of his ; he has been dismissing me with- 
 out paying me my due wages, etc., and without fault. 
 And was so much after me and against me, that 
 wherever I use to take shelter in the house of any 
 person, he used to teach his servants to go and 
 instruct everyone not to keep me, mentioning this 
 and that. At last I was obliged to come away from 
 there, selling off my sitar (a kind of musical in- 
 strument), and my umbrella, etc., to this place 
 Benares. 
 
 ‘ And getting down ourselves here, have taken 
 shelter in one of the Sarais over at Rajghat where I 
 have to pay 2 annas a day for a room having 
 occupied, besides our daily fooding expenses. How- 
 ever, I now do not know what arrangements to make 
 for more expenses to be carried on with, and to pay 
 the rent for our future more staying. I have now no 
 more of anything to dispose off to be carried on with 
 having no employment, nor any means for our 
 support ; and that as I am thinking of being con- 
 verted to Christianity with my only one child as I have 
 and nobody else, I do not know what to say. 
 
 ‘ It is more than a month, I believe, that we have 
 come down from Lucknow, and somehow or another 
 selling off a few books and clothes I paid to the 
 Bhatiarah for 20 days at the rate of 2 annas a day, 
 rupees 2/8/- ; and up to-day 13 days over passing, but 
 cannot say what I shall do now. 
 
 ‘ I do not care so much for getting to eat anything, 
 and may perhaps be able to pass a couple of days or 
 
76 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 SO, if such would be the will of God towards us. He 
 is gracious, and will supply me with something any- 
 how. But fearing very much to be insulted by the 
 Bhatiarahs when I shall not be able to pay him on 
 his making a request to me for the rent, and may 
 perhaps be the loser of whatever I have at present 
 with me belonging to me for the sake of a couple of 
 rupees more being due to him on me. 
 
 ‘ F urther, if I think to take any other house any- 
 where on a cheaper rate of 1 or 2 rupees, then again 
 I am thinking that before my occupying that I shall 
 have to pay him one month in advance, and shall 
 have to make an agreement paper and submit to him 
 when I am not sure of my staying or not staying here 
 without any hope at aU. So unless I am settled some- 
 where steadily, my proposed intentions seems to me 
 unavailing sort. 
 
 ‘If your honour therefore be good enough to admit 
 of such a request of mine as to give me a place some- 
 where in your compound, or be pleased to give the 
 rent of a house which I would take near your honour’s 
 Bungalow, or not very far from it to enable me to 
 come to your honour to get some instructions from the 
 Bible and be converted by your honour. And after 
 that as it would be in my fate, so it may be. And as 
 it may now come into your judgment, your honour 
 may so take it for consideration. 
 
 ‘ I am, sir, 
 
 ‘ Your most obedient servant, 
 
 ‘ Mer Hasan Ali Shah.’ 
 
 I kept it as a curiosity, docketed with the handsome 
 offer made me by a native doctor to become a 
 Christian, with all his family and relations, some 
 20 or 30 persons in all, for the modest sum of 40 
 rupees, or, at the present rate of exchange, £2 8s. ! 
 
HIND US. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Hinduism a Philosophic Religion — How a Hindu justifies Idolatry — 
 Are Hindus Idolaters ? — Brahmin and Sudra — The East awakening 
 — Illusion — Great Thinkers — Adoption cannot change Character — ■ 
 Transmigration — Hindu Funerals — Cremation — The undefilable 
 Ganges — Busy Ants — Wolfish Dogs — How the Municipality is Out- 
 witted — Why are Bulls sacred ? — Sacred and Profane : Mahadeo’s 
 Bulls in Dust-carts — A Run for Life — How the Sacred Cattle leave 
 the Mahometan Slaughter-houses — Hindu Callousness to Suffering 
 — The Crow that lost its Breakfast — Killed by a Snake — What 
 Decides a Man’s Caste? — The Heartlessness of Caste — Buried alive — 
 Knocked down — How high-caste Policemen treat low-caste Women 
 — Wonderful Escapes — A Perilous Race — European Kindness — A 
 Degenerate Brahmin — Retribution — ‘ May he be my Donkey !’ 
 
 I LEFT what I had to say about the Mahometan 
 religion as a system to the last. I must needs preface 
 my experiences of the Hindus with a brief outline of 
 their religion ; for it will be impossible to understand 
 much that follows, without at least a slight acquaint- 
 ance with their beliefs. 
 
 Perhaps there is no subject less understood than 
 the religion professed by the Hindus. Most people 
 imagine they are idolaters pure and simple ; they can 
 see the outward manifestations of belief in gold, silver, 
 brass, iron, stone, and clay, but it is a much more 
 difficult thing to get behind all these grosser forms 
 and study the spirit that reigns within. Hinduism is 
 a well-reasoned philosophy. It is a calm, subtle 
 pantheism, of which Spinoza’s system is but a dis- 
 tant echo ; and when we have reached the stage of 
 
78 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 inquiry in which we can thus regard it, we see a 
 well-ordered harmony instead of a mass of contra- 
 dictions and absurdities. We can understand it only 
 as w'e start from its own standpoint ; for if we start 
 along one of the many collateral branches into which 
 it divides itself and work backwards, we are sure to 
 miss its meaning, 
 
 Hinduism, then, starts from Brahm. Brahm is all, 
 the only self-existent, and all else that is, is only the 
 expression of Brahm. Readers will often have found 
 their thoughts going back beyond the point in 
 universal history when God created the heavens and 
 the earth, and asking themselves in what state He, a 
 pure Spirit, existed before the creation of the material 
 universe. The Bible gives no hint : Hinduism, in the 
 fearlessness of its speculations, says that before 
 the ereation of matter Brahm was like a man asleep. 
 You look upon him in his repose, and see that the 
 chest rises and falls ; you touch him, and feel the 
 pulsations that record the activity of the system. He 
 lives, but does not act. He is endowed with all the 
 attributes of manhood, but for the present they are 
 quiescent. The time comes at length when the body, 
 refreshed by slumber, feels rest a pain, and rises to 
 put into active operation the powers with which it is 
 endowed. The sleeper is a pieture of Brahm before 
 he roused himself to a state of activity. He was 
 endowed with all the attributes of divinity, but did 
 not use them. While he slumbered they were 
 quiescent. But this state is not life. Life means 
 activity, and at last in the flight of ages, Brahm 
 begins his active existence. His first operations are 
 necessarily creative ; and, as ereator, he is known by 
 the name Brahma. The created and the creator 
 however, are one and the same ; for the physical 
 sphere is only one of the forms in which the self- 
 existent chooses to express himself. The creation 
 has no separate, distinct existence. Creation is only 
 the initial act. The universe does not continue to 
 

 
 
 
 SHkB 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 A HINDC T8MPLE. 
 
HINDUS. 
 
 8i 
 
 exist without any further interference on the part of 
 Brahm. It has to be upheld ; and he continues to 
 uphold it in his second character, under the name of 
 Vishnu. As such he upholds the universe and 
 nourishes life up to the period of maturity. 
 
 AVhen maturity is attained he begins to recall the 
 effete life. He now assumes his third name and 
 character, and becomes Mahesh, the destroyer. As 
 such, he calls back all life that has answered its end, 
 to give it new being and endow it with fresh virility. 
 
 Hinduism is not a revealed religion. It is the pro- 
 duct of the reasoning faculty of an intellectual race 
 brought to bear upon the various phenomena of 
 existence. Three things powerfully arrest our atten- 
 tion — birth, growth, death ; and Brahma, Vishnu, and 
 Mahesh are simply the personification and deification 
 of these phenomena. 
 
 As Brahma, Brahm has, of course, a place in the 
 pantheon ; but he is not worshipped. He has created 
 and can do no more, and hence merits no praises. 
 
 As Vishnu, he is worshipped in the various incarna- 
 tions to which he has condescended to mankind. The 
 idea of his second manifestation is that of Brahma 
 coming down to fill humanity with himself ; hence it 
 is only in it incarnations are possible. They are nine 
 in number : (i.) the Fish avatar ; (ii.) the Tortoise ; 
 (iii.) the Boar; (iv.) the Man-lion; (v.) the Dwarf; 
 (vi.) Rama ; (vii.) the threefold incarnation of Ram, 
 Bachman, Sita ; (viii.) Krishna. The ninth has still to 
 come. It is to be a sivless incarnation ! 
 
 As Mahesh the destroyer, he is worshipped as 
 Mrdiadeo, Shiv, and many other appellations. Here 
 there is a female principle of destruction as well ; the 
 consort of Mahadeo, called Parbatti ; but she has, 
 perhaps, a thousand other appellations according to 
 the character she chooses to assume. As the goddess 
 of small-pox, for instance, she is called Sitfda ; as the 
 destroyer and consort of Mahadeo, under his appella- 
 tion of Shiv, she is called Durga ; and as the goddess 
 
 6 
 
82 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 of death she is known by the name of Kali. The 
 idea behind this manifestation is that of gathering 
 hack ; of humanity passing hack again to Brahm, the 
 author and source of its life, till, in the roll and sweep 
 of ages, he becomes all in all once more. 
 
 I have contracted much into a very few lines, and 
 I shall be glad if I have not sacrificed clearness to 
 brevity. Lest I should have done so, I give the 
 following diagram as an additional help : 
 
 BRAHM. 
 
 Brahma, 
 
 Vishnu, 
 
 Mahesh, 
 
 The Creator. 
 
 The Preserver. 
 
 The Destroyer. 
 
 He is not 
 
 He is worshipped in his 9 
 
 He is worshipped 
 
 much 
 
 incarnations. 
 
 under a great 
 
 worshipped. 
 
 They are 
 
 variety of appella- 
 
 
 — 1. The Fish. 
 
 tions. The con- 
 
 
 — 2. The Tortoise. 
 
 ception in this 
 
 
 — 3. The Boar. 
 
 instance is that of 
 
 
 — 4. The Man-lion. 
 
 humanity render- 
 
 
 —5. The Dwarf. 
 
 ing themselves 
 
 
 — 6 . Rama. 
 
 back to Brahm 5 
 
 
 — 7. Ram, Lachman, Sita. 
 
 of death sweeping 
 
 
 — 8 . Krishna. 
 
 up all effete frag- 
 
 
 — 9. To come. 
 
 ments to be re- 
 
 
 The conception of this 
 
 fertilized and 
 
 
 manifestation is that of 
 Brahm condescending to 
 humanity. 
 
 purified. 
 
 If this system of pure pantheism is Hindu philo- 
 sophy, how is it that they are such notorious idolaters ? 
 There is at first sight a contradiction between them. 
 We would naturally reason thus : if Brahm is all, and 
 all is Brahm, there can be no worship, unless egotism 
 inspires him to worship himself. This indeed is the 
 case. The fragments of the °:reat whole we call men 
 and women, thrown off for the time from the central 
 mass, find their religious centre of gravity in it, and 
 gravitate to it in religious rites and ceremonies. 
 
 But how is this done ? The philosophic Hindu 
 justifies his physiolatry by saying : ‘ I cannot think of 
 the unthinkable. I am finite ; Brahm is infinite ; and 
 
HINDUS. 
 
 83 
 
 I, the finite one, can never grasp the infinite ; a part, I 
 can never comprehend the whole. In my difficulty I 
 take a piece of gold, silver, stone, brass, or wood, and 
 give it a form. The form is immaterial ; however 
 grotesque, it must have an existence somewhere, as my 
 mind cannot go beyond Brahm’s, and call into exist- 
 ence what he has not imagined. This imaffe comes 
 Within the range of my powers. My eye can take it 
 in at a glance, my mind receive it. It is a part of the 
 whole, and through it I offer my worship to the 
 whole.’ 
 
 The question has frequently been agitated in India 
 among the European residents whether or not Hindus 
 are idolaters in the sense of believing that the idol 
 tliey worship is very god. It might be answered, ‘Yes 
 and No.’ The cultured classes do not believe they are 
 very God ; the ignorant, ill-informed, who accept what 
 they are told, believe, for the reason above indicated, 
 that they are. For this belief the educated classes are 
 responsible. While repudiating any interest in or 
 regard for idols, they have frequently said to me ; 
 ‘ Idols are the alphabet of religion. You teach the 
 human mind by a system of symbols that represent 
 sounds. They have little connection with abstract 
 ideas, but before you can convey complex thoughts 
 to others at a distance you must acquire these symbols. 
 You get beyond them in knowledge, but you cannot 
 do without them. All thought requires words in 
 which to frame itself, and these words are composed 
 of letters. In the same way we give the ignorant, 
 who cannot grasp abstract truths, nor rise to the 
 realization of the spirituality of God, elementary 
 symbols. Idolatry is for them.-’ 
 
 There is the assumption in this argument that 
 either the lower classes should be kept in perpetual 
 tutelage, or that they are incapable of refined thought 
 The Brahmin has taught that the Sudra has no birth- 
 right in the domain of religion, and has no claim to 
 anything but the crumbs he allows to drop while 
 
 6—2 
 
84 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 regaling himself with the rich bounties the servile 
 credulity of the Sudra constrains him to lay at his 
 feet. To retain their hold over the Sudra mind, they 
 have taught them that religion is not their conceru ; 
 that they are incapable of it, and must rely entirely 
 upon the Brahmins. 
 
 The awakening has come at last. An impartial 
 Government, one that dares hang a Brahmin, or release 
 a Sudra, reigns supreme. It recognises no semi-gods ; 
 sees man in Brahmin and Sudra alike ; treats them 
 with an equal justice as subjects, and offers them the 
 same educational advantages. The proud, haughty 
 Brahmin has suffered ; the Sudra has benefited. The 
 Brahmin raises an outcry that low-caste men are being- 
 elevated, high-caste men depressed. The Sudra now 
 serves the Government in positions of trust and re- 
 sponsibility, while many of the more ignorant Brahmins 
 have sunk to the grade of coolie, and may be seen 
 carrying sacks of grain or bales of cotton. Facts 
 and new social conditions are giving the lie to -ft'hat 
 has been haughtily taught and meekly received through 
 long ages. It is beginning to be seen in India for the 
 first time 
 
 ‘ That man is man for a’ that.’ 
 
 I must not omit to sa}' that there is a school opposed 
 to the Materialistic. Many teach that there is nothing 
 but spirit, that there can be no material universe ; 
 that all w’e see is illusion. This is Bishop Berkeley’s 
 theor}". Without, of course, placing the Bishop’s 
 theory in the category of modern thought, the mention 
 of it in this connection leads me to say that -n’hat we 
 call modern thought is really, for the most part, but 
 old Hindu ideas percolating from their Sanscrit source 
 through the German mind, and somewhat too readily 
 gulped down by English readers. If I am right, and 
 I think I could prove to some extent that I am, we 
 are surely paying a very handsome tribute to the 
 mighty intellects that pondered the problems of 
 Divine existence and human being in the dawn of the 
 
HINDUS. 
 
 85 
 
 world’s history. Great thinkers they were ; gigantic 
 ancestors of a pigmy race. Their Vedic system must 
 not be confounded with Brahminism. Brahminism 
 claims their glory without having their merit. The 
 position of the latter is fairly well illustrated by 
 one of their own stories, which I culled, if I re- 
 member rightly, from the ‘ Tota Kahani ; or, Tales of 
 a Parrot 
 
 ‘ A lion and lioness had a litter of cubs, and while 
 the lion went foraging for food the lioness stayed at 
 home to tend her promising family. All night long he 
 roamed the forest without so much as sighting game. 
 Returning disconsolate in the morning he chanced on 
 a baby jackal, which he picked up without hurting, 
 and hurried home. He told the lioness he was very 
 sorry he could find nothing better, but, small as it was, 
 it was better than nothing. Her maternal instincts 
 rose in revolt. “Why,” she said, “it is not even a 
 mouthful; instead of killing it I feel disposed to 
 cherish it and bring it up with my own family. Poor 
 little thing !” It was straightway adopted, and she 
 nursed it along with her own. They grew together, 
 played together, and when older organized a hunting 
 expedition together. Roaming about, they saw an 
 elephant, which caught sight of them at the same 
 instant, and began trumpeting. The jackal no sooner 
 heard the noise than it turned tail and fled. The 
 young lions had always regarded it as an elder brother 
 and fled with it. When they got home the lioness 
 asked for an account of their adventures. This was 
 given by her own offspring, who added, “ We don’t 
 know why we ran away ; we were not a bit afraid, but 
 when our elder brother ran we ran also.” “Ah!” 
 said the lioness, “ he is not your brother. I have 
 fed him on lion’s milk, but he has still the nature 
 of a jackal. He is not fit to hunt, only to pick up 
 scraps.” ’ 
 
 The Brahmins have been fed on the thoughts of 
 great minds, but delight themselves now in puerilities 
 
86 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 instead of following up great themes. I say this 
 without disrespect to them, for I recognise as much 
 as anyone the high average ability of this caste, 
 but they have little community with their gigantic 
 ancestors. 
 
 The doctrine of transmigration is the logical out- 
 come of pantheism, since, strange to say, that portion 
 of Brahm called humanity is subject to a pollution 
 from which it must be purified before it can be re- 
 absorbed by him. Its progress upward is through an 
 infinity of births, the character of which is regulated 
 by the life last ended. If it has been ceremonially 
 pure the course is upward, and the Sudra may be born 
 a Brahmin ; if impure, the Brahmin may change places 
 with the Sudra or pass into the body of some animal 
 or reptile. 
 
 The funeral of a Hindu lacks the solemnity which 
 attends burial among Christians. The Christian in 
 India is borne to the grave slowly and respectfully, 
 upon, it may be, a gun-carriage or some conveyance 
 adapted to the purpose, and the coffin is covered with 
 a pall. The Mahometan, embalmed with the sweetest 
 and most fragrant spices, is carried, hurriedly but re- 
 spectfully, in a covered bier to the place of interment. 
 The Hindu, unlike either, is wrapped in a thin cotton 
 garment, red if a man, white if a wmman, tied upon, or 
 rather slung between, a couple of bamboos, and hurried 
 off to the very primitive crematorium on which the 
 body is to be reduced to ashes. As they go, the 
 swinging gait of the carriers often loosens the cloth, 
 and a foot or hand may be seen shaking as they hurry 
 past with their warning cry : 
 
 ‘ Ram is the self-existent One ; 
 
 He that lived has passed on ’ — 
 
 a declaration of the mutability of man and the immor- 
 tality of Ram. 
 
 The bearers and mourners are frequently accom- 
 panied by a native band, consisting of drums, cymbals 
 and gongs. Latterly they have been able to secure 
 
HINDUS. 
 
 87 
 
 native ‘ German ’ bands — pray excuse the solecism — 
 and the music is never of a very solemn or appropriate 
 character. Turning to my notes I find this descrip- 
 tion of one, written down as the cortege passed : A 
 long way off was heard the roll of drums, the shrill, 
 piercing music of fifes, the drone of the conch, the 
 lusty heating of gongs and the clash of cymbals. 
 Nearer and nearer the procession came, till, at last, it 
 passed us. A motley, dirty crowd clustered round a 
 bier upon which lay a corpse wrapped in pink cloth, 
 which was spangled all over with tinsel. Before it 
 marched a German band playing 
 
 ‘When Johnnie comes marching home again, hurrah !’ 
 
 I have frequently heard them playing 
 
 ‘ We won’t go home till morning,’ 
 
 and 
 
 ‘ See, the conquering hero comes !’ 
 
 All Hindus, with the exception of lepers and a sect of 
 mendicants, I believe, are cremated. The lepers they 
 used to bury alive ; many of these mendicants I have 
 been told were buried alive at their own request. 
 
 The marghat or crematorium has a very black, sooty 
 look. In Benares it is a kind of creek on the banks 
 of the Ganges, at the end of a very fine ghat. The 
 bodies are taken down to the river and allowed to 
 remain some time in its cleansing waters, which by- 
 the-bye are very dirty just there, as a sewer discharges 
 itself immediately above ; but then Hindus believe 
 that it is impossible to defile the Ganges ! Sewage 
 and festering bodies sailing down stream are not sup- 
 posed to have any effect on it. I have actually seen 
 a man stoop down beside a corpse, push the surface- 
 water aside, fill his hand with it, and drink it ! This 
 en 'passant. After the body has been immersed some 
 time, it is taken out, stripped, and laid on the pyre, 
 which is lit with fire procured from a man of the 
 lowest caste, whose fees enable him to fare sump- 
 tuously every day. The high castes despise him most 
 
88 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 thoroughly, but cannot do without him. They cannot 
 keep fire themselves. I once heard a learned pundit 
 of the old orthodox school say in a lecture, ‘ While 
 converts to other religions may be saved, a Brahmin 
 who sells salt, beef, or lai (a kind of sweetmeat) — that 
 is, becomes a shopkeeper — must go to hell !’ He 
 might have included hre for the funeral pyre, for this 
 business is regarded with horror. Nevertheless the 
 man who supplies it runs no danger of contagion, as 
 he does not apply but only supplies the fire to relatives, 
 receives handsome fees, the clothes of the deceased — 
 which he does not touch — amasses a fortune, lives in 
 a fine house, and can well afford to laugh at their 
 abhorrence of him. 
 
 The bodies are sometimes entirely consumed. As 
 destruction advances a relative seizes a stout bamboo 
 and smashes the skull and pelvis. If fuel is insuffi- 
 cient, and the relatives are too poor to buy more, it is 
 pitched into the Ganges and allowed to float down 
 stream The effluvia is most disgusting; besides which, 
 they are a constant menace to health. I attended, in 
 his last illness, a youth seventeen years of age, who died 
 of typhoid fever. He was employed on the new bridge 
 that spans the river, and in going along the gangway 
 he, boy-like, contracted the bad habit of pushing the 
 bodies about. One day he had a stick in his hand and 
 tried to push one, very much swollen, under water. 
 It required considerable force ; the stick pierced the 
 body and gave vent to the gas. The lad sickened 
 almost immediately and died within a very few days. 
 Cremation, if properly carried out, is, without doubt, 
 the best and most effective mode of disposing of the 
 dead, but as done by many Hindus is utterly offensive. 
 The days of sati are passed and gone, but it is a sight 
 one can never look upon without a feeling of horror 
 to see the small stone tablets erected on the burning 
 ghats in memory of wives who have sacrified self, 
 rather than outlive honour. The scenes they conjure 
 up are terrible, but the cessation of the right has given 
 
HINDUS. 
 
 89 
 
 place to life-long suffering, shut off from our gaze, but 
 terribly real to those who have to endure it. This is 
 an incident merely, and one that could not have been 
 foreseen by the Government of India when it made 
 sati a criminal offence. Few reforms are unattended 
 with suffering at first ; but in time, when the disturbed 
 factors begin to settle down to their proper relation- 
 ship to each other, accidental circumstances are 
 eliminated by order. This, happily, is taking place 
 in India. The members of the Brahmo and kindred 
 Somajes assert tlaeir right to espouse widows, and of 
 widows to remarry; a position which will greatly 
 ameliorate the sufferings of Hindu widowhood. The 
 doctrine of transmigration makes Hindu life and 
 practice a strange contradiction. It makes them 
 cherish life and yet makes them callous to its suffer- 
 ings ; it makes them cherish birds and beasts while it 
 makes them despise low-caste men and worship those 
 of the higher castes. But I proceed to illustrations 
 that will make this assertion clear. Of the abounding 
 life of India there is perhaps nothing more prolific, 
 more interesting as a study, or more industrious than 
 the ant. The cricket may sing the live-long day, but 
 his is an existence without forethought. He is a 
 thorough spendthrift of time ; suns himself as if the 
 sun shone for his special benefit, and sips juices merely 
 to refresh his heated system. Nobody cares for him, 
 he thinks so little of himself. With him, ‘ Sufficient 
 unto the day is the evil thereof’ 
 
 With the ant it is different. He is always busy ; 
 always in a hurry. You would think he had the care 
 of the universe bn his mind ; and a care he un- 
 doubtedly has, as anyone may readily discover who 
 unearths his carefully-planned world. There we find 
 eggs and nurses, pupse and attendants, whose wants 
 have to be supplied, and from morning to night he is 
 the very incarnation of industry, foraging and garner- 
 ing for the wants of a community. 
 
 ►Solomon told the sluggai’d to observe and learn a 
 
90 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 lesson from him ; the Hindu evidently would not 
 advise anyone to do that. He considers he has far 
 too much work ; more, indeed, than his fair share ; 
 that he requires some kindly assistance to bring up 
 his too numerous progeny. Throughout the day sym- 
 pathetic souls, who are anxious to lay up much 
 treasure of righteous merit, and who forget the ex- 
 hilaration of honest toil, try to deprive him of excite- 
 ment and make his life an ennui, by anticipating 
 his requirements and laying an offering of coarsely- 
 ground flour at the entrance to his abode. With a 
 pound or two of this wrapped in a corner of their 
 garment, men and women may be seen roaming about 
 in search of their nests, fostering and cherishing in 
 the vicinity of houses creatures that, notwithstanding 
 many good points, are a positive nuisance to the 
 housekeeper. They go everywhere ; they contrive 
 somehow to get everywhere, but the science by which 
 they do so is as mysterious as that by which the 
 Pharaohs raised the pyramids or carved the sphinx. 
 You put a spoonful of sugar in your tea, and when 
 you have stopped stirring it, you And sundry legs, 
 broken heads, fragments of the thorax, etc., floating 
 about on the surface like drift on a miniature ocean. 
 You must educate your taste or go without sugar, 
 for, do what you may, they will get at it. You take 
 a spoonful of jam and find )’ou have entrapped one or 
 more, who were busy on the edge when you put in 
 the spoon, and before you can use it you must help 
 them out of their difficulty. Grain is never safe from 
 their attacks. On one occasion I had a small basketful 
 of bajra, a small, coarse grain on which poultry is 
 fed, in a room covered with matting made of strips 
 of bamboo interlaced. I could not discover how it went ; 
 but go it did, and that very rapidly. One night I 
 went in without a light to fetch a book I knew where 
 to find. I was startled by the noise in what was an 
 unoccupied room ; it was like the far, faint march of 
 an army. I hurried out to get a light, and on return- 
 
HINDUS. 
 
 91 
 
 ing found the floor black with ants, each busy carrying 
 oft' a grain. The sides of the basket inside were 
 covered with them ; outside there were none. I 
 stopped to watch their mode of operations, and it was 
 certainly cleverly planned. There were two parties. 
 One was engaged inside the basket. Their duty was 
 to bring the grain to the top and from there to drop it 
 to the carriers on the floor. These picked it up and 
 hurried it off to their nest. In this way they emptied 
 the basket in a very few days. 
 
 However, there is compensation in all things, and it 
 is satisfactory to know that only one nest can live in 
 a house at a time. The family may be numerous, 
 but how terrible it would be if several nests could live 
 in amity in the same building ! They never allow 
 invasion, except on the part of the white ant, which 
 burrows from beneath, carefully protecting itself 
 against attack from its enemies by throwing up a 
 covered way. When the black ants do discover an 
 opening to their nests, they attack them and bring them 
 out one after the other to feed their own families with. 
 
 The Indian dog, which must certainly be very near 
 of kin to the wolf, is a constant source of annoyance 
 and danger to the pedestrian. Fierce, ugly, mangy, 
 they swarm in every town and village, acting at once 
 the part of scavenger and watchman about — not in — 
 the houses to which they choose to attach themselves. 
 They belong to nobody, so no one drowns the super- 
 fluous puppies ; consequently the supply far exceeds the 
 demand. They are not fed regularly, but pick up the 
 scraps left over from meals, and are, as a result, half 
 starved. The food supply is so scant that they resent 
 the intrusion of strange dogs, even if they are only 
 making a passage through their quarter. As soon as 
 a stranger is sighted they gather up in force and start 
 off in pursuit. Bold they are when six to one, but the 
 moment the one stops and shows his teeth, they all 
 halt and bark till he starts off again, when they try to 
 bite him as he runs. 
 
92 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 They have become so numerous that the munici- 
 palities have had to deal with them as a pest, but 
 their well-meant efforts are counteracted to a very 
 large extent by the action of the Hindus. The 
 authorities have agreed to pay the Domes, one of the 
 lowest castes, two annas for each dog they catch and 
 kill. When a Dome gets hold of one, he puts a cord 
 about its neck, secured to the end of a stick, by which 
 he is able to keep it at a distance. Armed with a 
 long, stout, loaded bamboo, he starts off with his 
 victim through the bazaar, selecting the busiest streets 
 and the lanes in which the most compassionate of the 
 Hindus reside. He is nearly always successful in 
 exciting pity. Someone, touched by the fate of the 
 offensive brute, strikes a bargain for its release, paying 
 him, say, two and a half annas to let it go, whereas 
 the municipality would only pay two for its death. In 
 this way their arrangements are defeated, and the dog 
 nuisance is as great as ever. 
 
 At several of the temples in Benares, the sanydsis, 
 or monks, prepare cakes for them daily ; carry them 
 out on a large basket, and feed the brutes that live in 
 the vicinity. These are generally sleek and lazy, but 
 terribly dangerous to foreign pedestrians. They never 
 attack in front ; they rush up from behind, deliver the 
 attack, and run. 
 
 Rabies is very common. One suffering from it took 
 possession of the road in front of my house, and bit 
 eveiybody who came near. Six men, women, and 
 children came to me to have their wounds cauterized, 
 while others neglected the precaution. What became 
 of it, or of those who neglected their wounds, I have 
 no idea ; it was allowed to escape without so much as 
 anyone attempting to kill it. 
 
 It is well known that the cow and bull are sacred 
 animals in India. The so-called religious reason for 
 this will be found, I think, in the belief that Maha- 
 deo (Mahesh) rode about upon a bull while on earth. 
 In Benares, of which he is the tutelary deit}^ between 
 
STONE BULL IN THE TEMPLE OF BISESHWARNATH, BENARES. 
 
HINDUS. 
 
 95 
 
 the temples erected to him, there is a very large stone 
 bull, without which they evidently supposed their 
 worship would be incomplete. The secular reason for 
 their sanctity will be found, like many more Hindu 
 customs, to be purely utilitarian. Famines are very 
 common.* Failure of the monsoon brings terrible 
 calamity upon the country. In the far distant age 
 when their sanctity was first taught, they had no 
 doubt to face similar calamities v/ithout having the 
 means we have to combat the evil. If meat-eaters, 
 the existence of the stock upon which an agricultural 
 population so thoroughly depends would have been 
 imperilled ; the starving people would have eaten the 
 cattle and left themselves without their sustaining 
 produce and their labours. The only way to prevent 
 this that would appear to have suggested itself to the 
 Hindu mind, was to invest the stock with a religious 
 character and treat its destruction as sacrilege. The 
 utilitarian aspect of the question is now never thought 
 of by the natives, only the religious ; and when a rich 
 man is anxious to perform a work of considerable merit 
 he dedicates a bull or a cow to Mahadeo, and sets it loose 
 on the community. This is really what it eventually 
 amounts to ; for he bears only the expense of pur- 
 chase, not that of maintenance. Should it keep to the 
 vicinity of the temples it gets plenty of stale leaves, 
 garlands of marigolds, and other flowers offered by the 
 devotees; if it chooses to stray it must forage for 
 itself. Bulls invariably roam ; they prefer the open 
 country, green fields, and the company of herds, to 
 the close lanes and sickly fare obtainable in the city. 
 As they pass lazily through the streets they attack 
 the vegetable-stalls, push their snouts into grain- 
 baskets, or turn aside to regale themselves on rose- 
 bushes when they pass a garden. 
 
 Their numbers are so excessive, and their depreda- 
 
 * On an average there is one every seven years in some part of the 
 country : hence the need of the ‘ Famine Insurance Fund,’ an English 
 arrangement which had no counterpart under Native rule. 
 
<)6 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 tions so great, that the municipal authorities have 
 begun to take measures to suppress them. The long- 
 suflering Hindu would like to see them suppressed ; 
 but while he would like to see the streets cleared of 
 what is an undoubted nuisance, he dreads to do it 
 himself. He waits for the English rulers to relieve 
 him of his enemy, and would utter not one word of 
 protest if they took even more active measures than 
 they do at present to cope with the evil. 
 
 Now they may be seen yoked in municipal carts 
 patiently removing the city refuse or drawing Avater 
 to irrigate the public gardens, so wisely provided by a 
 Government Avhich studies the good of its subjects in 
 every possible way. OAAmers may not quite like it ; 
 but they can take no steps to prevent this wise use of 
 strong animals. By dedicating them to Mahadeo 
 their right in them has been transferred to him ; 
 should they maintain that they are still their property, 
 they may be called upon to pay very heavy bills for 
 the destruction they have Avrought to standing crops 
 and floAver-gardens. As a result of this dilemma 
 they are obliged to regard the desecration in silence. 
 But they are not merely destructive ; they are posi- 
 tively dangerous. Taa'Ico I have escaped only by 
 allowing a frightened horse the rein, and putting as 
 great a distance between the vicious brutes and my- 
 self as superior speed Avould alloAv. One of these races 
 had a ludicrous finale. During the rainy season of 
 1875, 1 had occasion to \usit a school tAvelve miles dis- 
 tant from headquarters, the Avay to AA’hich lay through a 
 rather thick, Avild jungle. Mounted on a sturdy gallo- 
 AA’ay, I reached my destination AA’ithout adventure. 
 Meanwhile great, heavy clouds banked themselves up 
 overhead, intercepting the powerful rays of the sun and 
 toning the temperature. As I set out on my return 
 journey the storm broke ; the lightning flashed, the 
 thunder pealed, the rain came doA\m like a solid sheet. 
 Pace seemed impossible, so drawing my hat Avell 
 doAA’n over my face, AA’e Avalked quietly along for about 
 
HINDUS. 
 
 97 
 
 live miles. We had got well abreast of a village when 
 my horse gave a spring that almost unseated me, and 
 galloped forward as if all the witches that chased 
 ‘ Tam O’Shanter ’ were after it. Righting myself 
 as best I could, I looked back and saw a line bull with 
 head set to the charge and tail erect, in hot pursuit. 
 I was not a little anxious, as we were approaching 
 the most difficult portion of the road, where it was cut 
 by a stream, the further bank of which had to be 
 ascended by a mere goat-path. However, on we 
 went, when to my dismay I saw a train of bullocks, 
 laden with skins of oil, slowly descending the slip- 
 pery path. To stop was out of the question, even 
 if I could have persuaded the horse to obey the rein. 
 Into the swollen stream we plunged, and reached the 
 bottom of the bank, when the bullocks, startled by 
 the rush, wheeled round and lied, relieving themselves 
 of their burdens as they ran. I could not halt, and 
 all the cries and entreaties of their owners were un- 
 availing to stop them, till, reaching the next village, 
 which happily was not far distant, they dispersed 
 along the lanes. There I imagine the bull gave up 
 the chase, as I saw it no more. 
 
 The Mahometans, if I dare venture to believe my in- 
 formant, himself a member of that community, have 
 devised a much more expeditious plan of clearing the 
 city of these pests. They place, according to his 
 account, a tempting bundle of grass at the slaughter- 
 house gates at night, and wait till a Brahmani cow 
 attacks it, when they make a rush, drive it in, close 
 the gates, and bring it out in the morning as beef! 
 
 The existence of these slaughter-houses in native 
 cities is a terrible scandal to the Hindu. Whether it 
 is they are aware that the Mahometans entrap and 
 slaughter the sacred cattle ; or the feeling of sacrilege ; 
 or the feeling they cherish of the sacredness of life, I 
 am unable to conjecture ; but it is an undoubted fact, 
 that within the last year numbers of Hindu monks 
 have been working upon the feelings of the community 
 
 7 
 
98 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 till the ‘ beef question ’ has taken a somewhat acute 
 form, and it has required a great deal of watchfulness 
 on the part of the authorities to prevent riots. They 
 are anxious that the Government should forbid the 
 slaughter of kine ; forgetful that some 70,000,000 of 
 Indian Mahometans eat beef ; and that they are the 
 strongest, the most dashing, and perhaps the bravest 
 of the population, if we except the Sikhs. Their right 
 to consideration cannot and will not be disregarded. 
 
 The degree of sanctity that attaches to kine may 
 be surmised from the fact that pilgrims and women 
 will stop them in the streets, raise their heads and 
 kiss their snouts, or rub their heads with their foul 
 tails, in the belief that an act so repulsive conveys 
 some degree of purity. 
 
 And yet no class of people anywhere is so heart- 
 lessly cruel, so callous to suft'ering, and to the agonies of 
 death as the Hindus who hold the doctrines of trans- 
 migration and the sacredness of life. They will not 
 slay for food ; but they will work the poor brutes 
 when covered with sores, caused by excessive labour ; 
 or even cause the sores, as they compel them to 
 exertions to which they are not equal. They will 
 twist their tails till they break ; goad them most 
 cruelly in the most sensitive parts of the body, and 
 leave them to all the agonies of a lingering death, 
 rather than release them from their sufferings, as w^e 
 would do, by a well-directed blow or shot. 
 
 One morning, in the hot season of 1880, I was 
 riding doAvn a village street, just outside the municipal 
 bounds of Delhi, but within a quarter of a mile of a 
 large police-station, when I saw a buffalo lying in the 
 middle of the road suffering terribly. Yoked in a 
 heavily-laden cart the day before, it stumbled, and 
 sustained a compound fracture of the thigh. The 
 ends of the bone protruded some distance, though they 
 could scarcely be seen for the clouds of flies. There 
 it had lain for eighteen hours, all through the burning 
 heat of the day, without any attempt at alleviation by 
 
HINDUS. 
 
 99 
 
 its owner, or a drop of water to quench its thirst. The 
 people looked, but rendered no help ; carts worked 
 carefully round it, their drivers offering no pity ; there 
 it lay, dogs waiting for its death that they might have 
 something to feast upon. I tried to engage help and 
 pity, but to no purpose. There it continued to lie till 
 the following day, when, at length, death released it 
 from further suffering. 
 
 All creatures are treated with an equal Avant of 
 mercy. I was coming through one of the bazaars in 
 Benares one day, when I passed a hackney-carriage 
 drawn by a pair of ponies so traced that their legs 
 crossed, and as they ran, urged on by whip and angry 
 shout, they rubbed each other so much that the ankle 
 bones were nearly exposed. It is useless to remon- 
 strate, for no one listens to complaints when it is only 
 a case of ‘ cruelty to animals.’ 
 
 Their conduct has often greatly puzzled me, it is so 
 very contradictory. They will not kill, but they will 
 allow suffering and look on it with stoical indifference ; 
 they will object to a man killing a cow and eating 
 beef, while they will regard with calm indifference the 
 attacks of animals upon each other. I witnessed a 
 very striking instance once. While preaching under 
 a large tree one morning, a sanydsl, or mendicant, 
 stood quietly listening. It was spring, and the 
 sparrows were busy tending their fledglings. They 
 had got them out of the nest, and Avere trying to 
 incite them, by means of much chirping, to bolder 
 flights. The noise attracted a crow that happened to 
 be passing, and flying into the tree it pursued one of 
 the young birds. The scene was being enacted a feAV 
 feet about our heads, so, snatching a stick from a man 
 standing by me, I pitched it at the crow and saved the 
 sparrow. As it flew away, the sanydsl asked me very 
 quietly, why I frightened the crow and saved the life 
 of the sparrow. 
 
 ‘ Because I did not like to see it killed,’ I answered. 
 
 ‘ But you kill coavs for food, don’t you ?’ 
 
 7—2 
 
100 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 ‘No; certainly not.’ 
 
 ‘But you eat their flesh when they are killed, don’t 
 you ?’ 
 
 ‘ Yes.’ 
 
 ‘ Why ?’ 
 
 ‘ Because God has given them to be our food.’ 
 
 ‘ Oh ! He has ! Well, if He has given you permission 
 to kill and eat the flesh of cattle, He has provided the 
 sparrow for the crow’s food in the same way. Why 
 did you deprive it of its meal V 
 
 ‘ Why ? Because I did not like to see that wretched 
 crow kill a poor little bird like that.’ 
 
 ‘ And yet your sympathy never compels you to 
 prevent the butcher killing creatures that supply us 
 with so many comforts !’ 
 
 On one occasion, many years ago, a friend of mine 
 was driving slowly along the Belhi-Agra section of 
 the Grand Trunk Road, not far from Delhi. For thirty 
 miles it runs through the ruins of former cities that 
 rose and declined according to the caprice of the 
 rei»nino- monarch. The ruins afford excellent cover 
 
 O O 
 
 for snakes, and they make the most of them. As my 
 friend passed one of the stately tombs that still give 
 definiteness to the view, he heard a pair of birds 
 twittering as if afraid of something. Going nearer, 
 he noticed they were trying to defend their nest 
 against a cobra that was quietly working its way 
 upwards. There was a gardener working immediately 
 below, whom he asked to take some steps to protect 
 the young birds. 
 
 ‘ Oh no !’ said the man. ‘ They were provided for 
 it, and I shall not interfere with the arrangements of 
 Providence,’ With that, he went on with his work, 
 and my friend drove off. 
 
 Towards evening he passed the spot again, driving 
 homewards. Afar oft’ he heard the wail of a woman, 
 and on coming to the place saw a crowd of men 
 surrounding some object lying prostrate on the 
 ground. 
 
HINDUS. 
 
 101 
 
 ‘ What is the matter ?’ he asked. 
 
 ‘ Nothin^, ’ said one of the crowd, ‘This man was 
 working here when a snake fell off that ledge on to his 
 back, and before he had time to escape it bit him, and 
 he is dead. That’s all.’ 
 
 Most people would have thought it something. 
 Had he taken the precautions ordinary prudence 
 would have suggested in the presence of a venomous 
 reptile like the cobra, he might have saved his life ; 
 but he would rather sacrifice it to a false conception 
 of the order and fitness of things. 
 
 The belief in transmigration and caste is very much 
 mixed up. They believe that originally the Brahmins 
 sprung from the head of Brahm ; the Sudras from his 
 loins ; the low castes from his feet. But a Brahmin, for 
 ceremonial offences, may be degraded to expiate his 
 wickedness in the form of a Sudra in the next life ; 
 while, as I remarked before, the ascetic Sudra may 
 become a Brahmin. What those now living may have 
 been is by no means clear, but the Brahmin can rejoice 
 in the conviction that he was pure ; the Sudra can only 
 cry ‘ Unclean,’ and suffer in meekness the humiliation 
 of his lot, and do all in his power to retrieve the failure 
 that brought him so low. 
 
 If, then, a Sudra is suffering for his past offences, 
 the castes higher than his own, and consequently not 
 so wicked, must do nothing to abate his punishment 
 by making his lot easy ; while all of them must try 
 and improve their position by laying up the merit 
 which is involved in relieving a Brahmin from all 
 mundane cares. It will be seen at once how beliefs 
 like these work, and the social fruits they bear. 
 They were good for the Brahmin at one time, though 
 the halcyon days are vanishing before the increasing 
 light of Western civilization, and the democratic 
 teaching which throws itself upon the shores of India 
 week after week in constantly increasing volume, I 
 recollect a Brahmin lamenting those days. Memory 
 was eloquent in its details. Going back forty years he 
 
102 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 said, ‘ In my younger days a Brahmin was a demi-god ; 
 everyone deemed it an honour to render him a service. 
 If he was invited to a wedding they never thought of 
 giving less than a cow ; or, if the present was in money, 
 less than a mohur 116 rupees) ; now they grudge a 
 two- anna piece, and the poor Brahmins have to work 
 for their daily bread. Alas ! alas ! we have fallen on 
 evil days when a Brahmin counts for no more than 
 any other man.’ 
 
 But even now caste distinctions hold sway to a vast 
 extent, and afford us some idea of what the system 
 meant before successive links of the chain were weak- 
 ened or broken. Though they would not admit it, the 
 various castes are practically callous to the sufferings 
 and sorrows of those lower than themselves. But I 
 must show how true this is by means of the following 
 experiences. 
 
 Our church in Delhi stands in the Chandi Chauk, 
 the main thoroughfare of the city, extending from the 
 Lahore Gate of the Fort to the Lahore Gate of the 
 City. In front of the church is the Khuni Darwaza, 
 or Gate of Blood, so named from the fact that it is the 
 entrance to the narrow street in which the worst bar- 
 barities perpetrated in the city, when sacked by the 
 Persians under Nadir Shah, took place. Adjoining it 
 to the right was a two-storied brick house, or what is 
 called in India ‘ Kachchha-Pakka,’ as the bricks are 
 laid in mud instead of mortar. 
 
 One Sunday morning during the rains of 1880 — 
 and it had rained steadily for three days — we were 
 engaged in the service when Ave were startled by the 
 crash of a falling house. I happened to be sitting by 
 the door, and turning round, saw the masonry and 
 beams coming down in a confused mass. Shortly 
 before I had looked at the building, but saw no reason 
 for supposing it was in danger ; and the shopman evi- 
 dently had no idea the Avails were being undermined, 
 for he Avas busy weighing out various commodities to 
 several customers Avho Av^ere equally unconscious of 
 
HINDUS. 
 
 103 
 
 danger. The service was brought to a close, and those 
 of us who were present went to work to dig out the 
 seven or eight persons who were reported buried under 
 the debris. And we were left to do it alone, although 
 hundreds of natives hurried up to look on. Not a 
 man would assist. We appealed in vain ; for the only 
 reply we got to our requests for assistance was, ‘ We 
 don’t know what caste they are of’ About half an 
 hour after the collapse of the building an army of 
 labourers came up, and with their aid we dug out 
 eight men who had been buried close on an hour. 
 One poor fellow had a heavy beam resting over his 
 chest ; all seemed terribly injured, and we thought, 
 as we placed them on the litters and sent them off to 
 the hospital, not one could survive. What was my 
 surprise, on inquiring after them next day, to find 
 they had all gone home not much the worse for their 
 experience of falling bricks and timber ! 
 
 One Sunday night in the cold season of 1885 I was 
 returning home about 8 p.m. The night was very 
 dark, the lamps were few, and, to get home, I had to 
 drive through a bazaar cursed with several liquor- 
 dens, frequented, for the most part, by men of low 
 caste. The horse I was driving was fresh, but 
 thoroughly under control, and my lamps were burn- 
 ing brightly. I saw nobody ahead, till of a sudden, 
 as we came abreast of one of these disreputable ‘ pubs,’ 
 a man staggered out on to the road and reeled against 
 my horse. He was thrown forward with considerable 
 force, but luckily he had on a thick turban, which 
 protected his head. I drew up and hurried back. 
 The man was lying face downwards, breathing heavily. 
 I called for help. Doors opened on both sides, and 
 perhaps fifty faces peered out into the darkness 
 asking in chorus, ‘ VVhat has happened ?’ I replied 
 by asking for water to revive the man ; but not a soul 
 would give it. Each pleaded, as an excuse for refusing, 
 that he did not know his caste, and that if the water 
 he could give was sprinkled upon him it might break 
 
104 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 it! All said, ‘Go home, sir, and leave him; he is drunk, 
 not hurt.’ 
 
 As a policeman had come up I handed him over to 
 his care, and hurried ofi' to get a hackney-carriage to 
 convey him to the hospital ; but on my return he was 
 gone. Fearful of consequences, the liquor-dealers 
 had hurried him away, and despite my inquiries I was 
 never able to learn whether he had sustained any 
 serious injury or not. 
 
 The extraordinary part of this affair was that low- 
 caste people refused to give the water, lest the injured 
 man should be of a higher caste than themselves, in 
 which case their kinilness would become a curse by 
 defiling him and destroying his caste ! 
 
 High-caste men are, of course, equally careful of 
 their purity. They will not readily touch a very 
 low-caste man ; and, as there is quite a number of 
 Brahmins in the police-force, it is amusing to observe 
 the expedients they adopt to take low-caste prisoners 
 into custody. 
 
 One evening, in 1883, 1 was riding home from work 
 in Benares when I passed through a quarter of the city 
 occupied by the lowest of all castes. At the time they 
 were preparing for a fight. Armed with bamboos, 
 they were divided into two lines waiting to deliver the 
 attack. Without a moment’s thought I dashed between 
 them, and stopped the fight between the men, who 
 seized the reins, stirrups, straps, my hands and my 
 legs, and asked me to decide which was right in the 
 matter under dispute. I was so thoroughly hemmed 
 in I could not get near the women, who, with loins 
 girt, were trying to pull each other’s hair out. Hearing 
 the cries, the high-caste policemen hurried up and 
 interposed. They were too pure to touch the com- 
 batants except with their sticks and shoes ; but with 
 these they belaboured them most shamefully. 1 
 expostulated, but to no purpose. I was told the 
 treatment that gave me offence was the recognised 
 mode of dealing with a caste so degraded ! 
 
HINDUS. 
 
 i°S 
 
 It has no doubt struck readers, as it struck me, 
 that none of the men were seriously hurt by the 
 falling of the house. I have since witnessed similar 
 wonderful escapes, and have commenced to think that 
 the Hindu has a fund of vitality far in excess of other 
 races. Out of several cases, 1 give the following, as 
 I again happened to be an eye-witness : 
 
 In 1882, the 13th Hussars, then under the command 
 of that ‘ born cavalry leader,^ anti most kindly of men. 
 Colonel Sir Baker Russell, K.C.M.G., etc., etc., were lying 
 at Muttra, where I was then stationed. They had just 
 come down from Candahar, where they had been 
 unable to arrange for the Balaclava games, an annual 
 institution since that famous charge in which the 
 regiment bore an honourable part. They were ar- 
 ranged for shortly after their arrival, and among 
 other amusements they had a ‘ grass-cutters’ race ’ 
 on their programme. The grass-cutters, attached to 
 cavalry regiments, keep ponies, as they have to go 
 long distances and bring in heavy loads. These hard- 
 worked, miserably-fed steeds were to run a given 
 distance and jump a ditch, dug, and filled with water 
 for the occasion. Some thoughtless fellow, thinking 
 to increase the fun, rolled in an empty barrel before 
 the signal was given to start ; everybody else was in 
 ignorance of its existence, so the signal was given and 
 off went the ponies in good style. The excitement 
 among the riders was very great. They knew about 
 the water, and were prepared for a wetting, but not 
 for obstacles that might imperil their life. The first 
 pony made an excellent jump, but failed to clear the 
 ditch. Unfortunately it came down on the barrel, 
 and before it recovered its footing, the others followed 
 it one after the other, until the ditch was full of ponies 
 and men piled up in a heap. The scene was heart- 
 rending, for it seemed impossible for any of the un- 
 fortunate riders to escape without serious' injury. 
 Able, willing hands set to work and lifted them out, 
 when it was found that only one man was hurt. 
 
INDIA. 
 
 io6 
 
 When taken out he was unconscious, and was carried 
 off to the hospital, which had then the advantage of 
 the services, as house-surgeon, of a most skilful native 
 doctor. He recovered consciousness shortly after 
 admission, and was discharged the following morning, 
 none the worse for his unpleasant experience. 
 
 Needless to say, the officers were in no wa}'’ to blame 
 for the occurrence. A more humane body of gentle- 
 men it would have been impossible to find, and I shall 
 not readily forget their many acts of kindness to us, 
 when for eight months we were so sick and ill that 
 ultimate recovery appeared impossible. Their kind- 
 ness, as well as that of the resident Europeans, stands 
 out clear and distinct against the dark colours in 
 which generalization, from a fairly wide experience, 
 has compelled me to represent the conduct of Hindus 
 under somewhat similar circumstances. My claims 
 on them were no stronger than those of the injured 
 Hindus on their fellow-countrymen ; but they could 
 respond to the impulse of humanity; and what they 
 did for me, thousands of Englishmen are doing in 
 India every day for their native fellow subjects. 
 Despite all adverse criticism, I am convinced no 
 Government nor people has ever done for a subject 
 race what England and Englishmen are now doing 
 for the enlightenment, the civilization, the secular and 
 religious advantage of the Hindus. 
 
 But while the low castes almost worship the 
 Brahmins, and every caste looks down with un- 
 disguised contempt on those beneath it, how do 
 those of the same caste treat each other? For the 
 most part, I fancy, much as Englishmen would treat 
 their equals. But in India every caste has its sub- 
 divisions. The Brahmins are not all equally respected : 
 there are Brahmins and Brahmins. Those that serve 
 as priests to low castes suffer in honour, and those who 
 have kept themselves pure would no more think of 
 intermarriage with them than they would with black- 
 smiths or sweepers. This distinction gave rise to the 
 
HINDUS. 
 
 107 
 
 following amusing experience, related to me by the 
 Brahmin who had the mortification to undergo it : 
 
 He was an accountant in a bank in Delhi when the 
 mutiny broke out. The building was attacked, the 
 manager cruelly murdered and the treasure looted. 
 Afraid to remain in the city, he packed a few articles 
 in a napkin, and passing out at one of the gates, took 
 the road for Meerut. The news of the revolt had 
 meanwhile spread far and near ; bands of dacoits were 
 scouring the country, pillaging the villages and murder- 
 ing any who were brave enough to offer resistance. 
 Of this our friend Avas ignorant, and was very much 
 hurt when he Avas surrounded by a band of armed 
 men and called upon to give up his bundle. Instantly 
 he shoAved his thread and asked what they meant by 
 stopping a Brahmin. When they heard his caste 
 they made him a profound but sarcastic salaam and 
 asked him to be kind enough to sit down. This he 
 did, all sitting round about him except one man, who 
 hurried off towards a village and brought a friend 
 back with him. The new comer salaamed and asked : 
 ‘ Are you a Brahmin ?’ 
 
 ‘ Yes.’ 
 
 ‘ Well met; so am I. Do me the favour of giving 
 me your bundle a request Avhich was met by a very 
 hearty peal of laughter from the thieves. 
 
 The old man finished his narrative Avith flashing 
 eyes and a cynical tAvist of his lips as he added : ‘ They 
 actually kept a Brahmin to rob Brahmins.’ 
 
 That old man had a kindly heart. He had as great 
 an affection for his manager as one of his caste could 
 be expected to cherish for anyone outside of it, and 
 never ceased to latnent that he had not the good 
 fortune to be born a Brahmin. ‘ Never mind,’ he 
 Avould say, ‘ he is a thoroughly good man and will be 
 all right in the next birth.’ But, alas ! for his good 
 wishes, they tell a story that shows progression is not 
 always upAvard. Here it is. 
 
 Years ago, just after the English Government made 
 
io8 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 it an offence at law for holy men to wander about in a 
 state of nature, a mendicant, wearing only a suit of 
 ash dust, appeared in the cantonments of, I think, 
 Lucknow. He was carried before the English 
 magistrate, who provided him with a waist cloth, and 
 warned him that a I’epetition of the offence would 
 entail a flogging. The mendicant went away, only to 
 
 HINDU MENDICANTS. 
 
 walk about on the following day in the same state. 
 Again he was arrested and brought before the magis- 
 trate, who forthwith ordered him ten stripes and 
 another piece of cloth. The news of the chastisement 
 spread far and wide with the rapidity of bazaar 
 ‘ gup.’* As he sauntered along to the city in his new 
 
 * Persian : talk, gossip. 
 
HINDUS. 
 
 109 
 
 cloth, they chaffed him about his flogging, for which he 
 assigned them this explanation : 
 
 ‘ In the last life I was a washerman and this 
 magistrate was my donkey. I used to treat him 
 abominably. I would load him up with two heavy 
 bundles till his legs were bending under him, then sit 
 on the top of them and whip him up. In this life 
 relations have changed. I have been born a mendi- 
 cant, he a magistrate, that he may pay me back in my 
 own coin the injury I did him.’ 
 
 This reminds me of a vei-y singular Jewish belief. 
 One evening, being at tea with several converts from 
 Judaism, I heard one of them remark : ‘ May he be my 
 donkey !’ at which they all burst into a merry peal 
 of laughter, which did not abate any the sooner that 
 I had no clue to the reference. At last one of them 
 enlightened me. He said the Jews have a belief that 
 when Messiah comes, the Gentiles will be turned into 
 donkeys for them to ride back upon. Now, in the 
 days of their humiliation, when a Jew is ofiended by 
 a Gentile, he says : ‘ May he be my donkey, that I may 
 have the satisfaction of paying him out !’ A devout 
 wish certainly ! 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Moral Survey of Hinduism — ‘ Lakh;’ Lac, or Rs. 100,000? — A Spurious 
 Diamond — ‘ Plenty fool man come next time’ — How Pilgrims are 
 Fleeced — How the ‘gods’ make Revelations — An Ancient Tree — A 
 Hindu Miracle — Fakirs’ Curses — ^Unbelieving Europeans — Religion 
 and Imposture — A Bed of Spikes — A Man who never Lies Down ! — 
 Dowerless Beauties — Undefined Humanity — Dry Arms — A Holy 
 Man — Justifiable Lying — How Sick Certificates are Manufactured — 
 Temples and their Inhabitants — Monkeys : Animal or God ? — The 
 Danger of injuring them — The Brahmin and the Monkey — A 
 Mischievous Monkey — Snakes : why worshipped — Caste among 
 Snakes — The Serpent that paid dearly for Milk — ‘ The World always 
 returns Evil for Good ’ — A Snake on Guard — Attacked by a ‘ flying ’ 
 Snake — ‘ Bruise its head’ — Why the State went into Mourning. 
 
 We may now enter upon a survey of the moral 
 aspects of Hinduism : and they are such as might be 
 expected from a system which virtually denies moral 
 obligation, and credits the author and substance of all 
 manifestations, whether they be animate or inanimate, 
 with the errors, the failings and sins, as well as with 
 the virtues of every sentient creature. This is the 
 logical outcome of Pantheism. If all is God, whatever 
 is, or transpires, is divine action, the mere sequence 
 of being, without any reference to morals. The 
 effects of this belief may be inferred : there is a want 
 of moral restraint which gives play to those phases 
 of character we call vicious, and a lack of shame in 
 the perpetration of unhallowed deeds. I am, of course, 
 well aware that they have a moral code, and that the 
 higher and more refined natures draw a distinction 
 between actions ; but with these I am not at present 
 concerned : the conduct of the people is the logical 
 
HINDUS. 
 
 Ill 
 
 sequence of belief, and their conduct is to engage our 
 attention. 
 
 Benares is the sacred city of the Hindus. Twelve 
 centuries before our era it was to them what it still 
 is. Everything about it is sacred. Its soil purifies 
 by the act of contact, even where intention is absent. 
 Its temples and tanks are rendered sacred by the 
 narratives of its mythology ; while the great purifier, 
 the river Ganges, rolls by its banks and sweeps away 
 in its forward rush any defilement possible to men 
 and women so greatly blessed as those who enjoy the 
 privilege of spending their days in it. Its priesthood 
 partakes, of necessity, of the general character : they 
 are the most sacred of the sacred. If we take their 
 life as exhibiting the highest range attained in 
 morals by the community, the result will be somewhat 
 startling. I shall allow them to criticise themselves, 
 and judge them out of their own mouths. This I10I3 
 priesthood, then, says of itself, ‘Kashi bashi, satya nashi, 
 i.e., ‘ Those who live in Benares are the destroyers of 
 truth !’ and there can be no doubt that from it, as 
 a centre, the most pestilential errors sweep out in 
 ever-enlarging circles all over India. Vicious, covetous, 
 deceptive, indolent, superstitious, haughty, a moral 
 malaria blows from them in a steady current all 
 round the Peninsula. When a stranger from the 
 Deccan visited the city, he ventured to make a pun 
 on its name, somewhat in the following words : 
 
 ‘ Jis men hdna hua hai ras 
 Sohi hai Bauaras,’ 
 
 i.e., ‘ The city in which all pleasures are found ready 
 made, is Benares.’ It W'as meant as a compliment ; but 
 when we remember that he referred to pleasures in 
 the Hindu sense of the word, he said the most damning 
 thing he could have uttered of any place. 
 
 I take another class, the braziers, who make the 
 brass idols we so frequently see in England, and the 
 other brass instruments and vessels used in temple 
 
112 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 worship. These say of themselves : ‘ Thatheri, 
 Thatheri nahin badla hoi,’ i.e., ‘No brazier ever deals 
 with a brazier,’ the implication being that all braziers 
 are such known cheats that one of the class never 
 deals with another. The Khaj^ast or Writer caste is 
 notoriously corrupt and deceitful. To the rich and 
 influential they are cringing and servile ; to the poor, 
 overbearing and contemptuous, while their main 
 business in life is to scheme and plan how they may 
 circumvent both. Of them it is said : 
 
 ‘ Khayat ka bachchha kabhi na sachchha, 
 
 Sacbchha to baraui ka bachchha,’ 
 
 i.e., ‘The offspring of a Writer is never truthful; if 
 one should happen to be truthful, he is illegitimate.’ 
 
 No class is open, straightforward, honest, though 
 individuals may be found whom you can trust 
 implicitly. I think I have only met with two such. 
 The system is, as T have already remarked, against 
 their production, and the surprise is rather that any 
 should rise above it than that the vast majority sink 
 to its level. The religious conscience, if I may be 
 allowed the expression, is ever the highest, and if 
 religion places no check on immorality we cannot 
 well be surprised at national debasement. Every 
 class has its stories of trickery and deceit in which it 
 revels. Take the jewellers, of whom and from whom 
 I had the following : 
 
 In one of the native states of Central India there 
 was a Rajah noted for his love of gems and display ; 
 and the patronage he was ever ready to extend to 
 jewellers as a class. One he appointed custodian 
 of the state jewels, and generally acted upon his 
 advice. But on one occasion a member of the caste 
 presented himself in the royal presence, during that 
 officer’s absence, with a ruby that sparkled so magnifi- 
 cently that he was all eagerness to secure it. Holding 
 it lovingly in his hand he asked the price, 
 
 ‘ Lakh, your Highness,’ replied the jeweller, playing 
 upon the word, which means equally wax and one 
 
HINDUS. 
 
 113 
 
 hundred thousand. He wished to say it was a com- 
 position of wax, the Rajah to believe it was worth 
 100,000 rupees ; and he succeeded to perfection. 
 
 ‘A lakh,’ cried the Rajah, ‘only a lakh! Oh, 
 treasurer, pay this jeweller a lakh.’ 
 
 The officer paid the money, and the jeweller departed 
 to enjoy the proceeds of deceit. For months the ring 
 sparkled and glittered on the Rajah’s finger, the 
 admiration and envy of all who saw it. The Persians 
 say there are two things that cannot be hid : love and 
 musk ; they might have added a few more and 
 included deceit: for, like murder, it will out. The 
 cold season came round after months of brilliant sun- 
 shine, and though the temperature was still high for 
 more northerly latitudes, it was bitterly cold con- 
 trasted with the heat of preceding months. Those 
 who could afford it were encased in quilted garments 
 well padded with cotton, and enjoyed the luxury of a 
 big fire indoors after sunset. Such a fire blazed in the 
 palace. The Rajah sat in front of it surrounded by the 
 usual crowd of sycophants who are ever in attendance 
 on Eastern sovereigns, when suddenly one of them 
 exclaimed, ‘Your Highness, the brilliant, unpurchas- 
 able ruby that sparkled in the light of your counte- 
 nance has fallen out of your ring 1’ It was gone ! 
 The setting was all right, except that its edges were 
 discoloured and greasy with molten wax. Looking on 
 the floor for the treasure they found a drop of wax ; 
 nothing else. This, however, excited suspicion. Could 
 the ruby have melted ? Impossible. If it had, it was 
 only a composition, and tliat drop of highly coloured 
 wax, so closely resembling the lustre of the lost gem, 
 looked suspicious. Suspicion gave place to certainty, 
 and messengers were despatched in hot haste to arrest 
 the deceiver. 
 
 When he appeared the Rajah was in an unkingly 
 tremor of passion. Loading him with all the deli- 
 cacies of Eastern abuse, he demanded : ‘ What was that 
 ruby ?’ 
 
 8 
 
INDIA. 
 
 114 
 
 ‘ Lakh,’ your Highness. 
 
 ‘Lakh!’ thundered the Rajah. ‘Lakh! How dare 
 you admit your deceit so calmly ?’ 
 
 ‘ Your Highness,’ replied the jeweller, ‘ will please re- 
 call what passed when I brought it. You asked what 
 it was, and I honestly replied lakh ; wheieupon your 
 Highness ordered me a lakh of rupees. You will see 
 the fault is not mine, for I had no intention of impos- 
 ing on your Highness!’ 
 
 I suppose all Indian Rajahs are fond of gems ; but 
 then that need not .surprise us, since the weakness is 
 of such extended geographical diffusion. The only 
 difference between them and some other people who 
 claim to be more civilized is, that they delight in 
 barbaric display, and have always had the means of 
 gratifying their passion. In all the stories about gems, 
 therefore, we have a Rajah as one of the actors. 
 This is another of them. 
 
 Somewhere in the vicinity of the Salt Mines in the 
 Punjab, a diamond-cutter discovered a piece of rock 
 salt as clear and almost as hard as a diamond. The 
 resemblance was so very close that none but an 
 expert could have told the difi'erence. He saw in the 
 crystal the prospect of easily-acquired wealth. 
 Laying it on his wheel, he cut it into so many angles 
 that it glittered and sparkled like a diamond of the 
 purest water. The imitation was so perfect that he 
 imagined it would be impossible for ordinary pur- 
 chasers to discover its true character. Presenting 
 himself in the presence of a Rajput Eajah, he requested 
 his acceptance of a ring, fit only to be worn by one of 
 his rank and nobility. The Rajah was charmed, and 
 passed it round his court to be examined by his suite, 
 who were asked what ought to be given to the man 
 who made an offering so precious. Round it went, 
 each in turn expressing surprise and pleasure, and 
 naming fabulous sums as the amount of the reward, 
 till it readied the old court jeweller. He had not a 
 single word of praise to offer. The Rajah, indignant 
 
HINDUS. 
 
 IIS 
 
 at his silence and seeming contempt, demanded an 
 explanation of conduct so disrespectful. 
 
 He replied by asking the Rajah to have a goblet of 
 water brought in. 
 
 The order was given, but very ungraciously; and the 
 Avhole court wondered what he intended doing. 
 
 When it was brought, he said, ‘ Will your Highness 
 please put the ring in it ?’ 
 
 With unfeigned reluctance he dropped it into 
 the water, wondering what he should be asked to do 
 next. 
 
 ‘ Will your Highness please stir it for a few 
 minutes,’ said the jeweller; and the Rajah commenced 
 to stir, all the more vigorously because of his 
 annoyance. 
 
 At last the jeweller quietly said, ‘ Now, drink it.’ 
 
 The Rajah raised the goblet, but quickly lowered it 
 with a horrible grimace. ‘ Salt !’ he cried. ‘ Oh, 
 how salt !’ 
 
 Everybody rushed to take the vessel from his hand 
 thinking he was poisoned ; all except the jeweller, 
 who sat quietly watching the scene, and the diamond- 
 cutter, who availed himself of the excitement to 
 escape. 
 
 When they resumed their seats after finding he was 
 safe, the jeweller continued the play by saying, ‘ Pour 
 out the water, and take out the ring.’ 
 
 The Rajah obe}'ed with greater alacrity than before; 
 but when the ring was taken out it was minus the gem 
 that had excited so much admiration. 
 
 ‘ Where is it ?’ cried the Rajah. 
 
 ‘ Melted, your Highness,’ said the jeweller. 
 
 ‘ Then, what was it ?’ 
 
 ‘ Only a crystal of rock salt !’ 
 
 Everybody looked for the diamond-cutter, but, like 
 the gem, he had disappeared, and was found no more. 
 The abrupt termination is characteristic of Hindoo 
 stories ; they always leave off just when we would hear 
 more. In the following we are carried further forward, 
 
 8—2 
 
ii6 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 and leave off with a different feeling — the desire to 
 know who the actors were. 
 
 All who have travelled to the east of Ceylon, and 
 have called at Colombo en voyage, will remember the 
 Mahometan jewellers who come on board with ‘ flash 
 jewellery.’ They are as cunning and deceitful a set of 
 men, though bearing a license, as can be found any- 
 where. The jewellery they offer looks very attractive, 
 and they ask a very attractive price for it to begin 
 with; but, since every article has to be bargained for, 
 they will eventually come down about 80 per cent., or 
 even more. Their wares are capital imitations of first- 
 rate jewellery. 
 
 There is a story to this effect : On board a home- 
 ward-bound steamer there was a large company who 
 had everyone been bitten on their way out. All 
 remembered their annoyance, and determined not to 
 look at the jewels, lest they should fall victims to 
 deceit once more. As the anchor was let go the 
 traders clambered on deck, and one of them, holding 
 in his hand an emerald ring, rushed to the place 
 where the passengers stood in a group. The ring was 
 so lovely they all forgot their good resolutions ; each 
 looked at it, and all asked the price. ‘ Three hundred 
 rupees,’* said the trader, without the slightest show of 
 misgiving. ‘ Three hundred rupees !’ was the general 
 exclamation ; ‘ three hundred rupees ! take it away at 
 once,’ and with that they turned their backs upon 
 him, and refused to respond to his persistent efforts 
 to secure a hearing. 
 
 Coaling done, the order ‘ heave away ’ was given ; 
 in a few minutes more the vessel would be steaming 
 out to sea, but the jeweller still stood on the deck, 
 hoping they might patronise his wares at the last 
 moment. At length one of the gentlemen said, ‘ Before 
 we go I shall have a little fun at his expense ; I shall 
 offer him one rupee (2s.) for it.’ Accordingly he rose, 
 
 Then £30. 
 
HINDUS. 
 
 117 
 
 walked over to him, and said, ‘ I tell you what, before 
 we leave I should like to make just a little purchase. 
 I shall give you a rupee for that emerald ring.’ To 
 his amazement the jeweller replied, ‘ Take, sir !’ and 
 put the ring into his hand. The gentleman looked at 
 it, paid the money, and then said, ‘ I know this is 
 worth a great deal more than I have given you for it, 
 though it is not worth anything like so much as you 
 asked at first. Tell me how you can afford to sell it 
 at the price.’ 
 
 ‘ Oh !’ said the trader, ‘ that is easily explained. 
 “ Plenty fool man come next time.” ’ 
 
 No comments are needed. He was about right. 
 People on shipboard pay absurd prices, and know it, 
 for whatever is pleasing to the eye. But I must give 
 the end of the story. On reaching London the gentle- 
 man took the ring to a high-class firm and asked their 
 opinion on it. At first they were thoroughly puzzled. 
 They thought the stone was good, though they saw at 
 once the ring was only gold washed. Then they were 
 doubtful, and ended by asking the gentleman to leave 
 it for a few days till they could apply some test. On 
 calling for it, their decision was against it ; but they 
 admitted that it was such a clever imitation that it 
 was very difficult to detect. 
 
 We pass to another class, the priests of a large 
 heathen city, which is visited every year by many 
 thousands of pilgrims ; indeed, I have seen the roads 
 so crowded that it was impossible to go against the 
 stream. I refrain from public mention of its name. I 
 may, however, say that a more debauched class of men 
 it would be difficult to find even in India. They revel 
 in wickedness, and make a practice of consuming 
 large quantities of Indian hemp to stimulate all the 
 lowest passions. But need this surprise us in the 
 professors of a religion which finds its expression in 
 nature worship ? 
 
 It is impossible to tell from his dress to what class 
 of society a pilgrim may belong. They purposely 
 
ii8 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 cultivate a form of habit which will make it impossible 
 to say whether they are rich or poor ; for the priests 
 are so rapacious that they bleed them to the last 
 extremity. I was one day passing through the city 
 when I met a group of very woe-begone-looking 
 pilgrims. Addressing them, I asked their trouble, 
 when a young man, who was their guide and spokes- 
 man, said, ‘L am the leader of this party. At my 
 instigation they set out upon this pilgrimage. Our 
 funds were limited ; indeed, when we arrived in the 
 city, we had just on an average eight rupees each. At 
 the station we were met by a number of priests, w’ho 
 asked us from what district we came. When we told 
 them, a stout man with keen, piercing ej’es came for- 
 ward and said, “You are mine; come with me.” We 
 followed him, and when on the road he said, “You 
 must do all I tell you. How much money have you 
 got?” “Eight rupees each,” I replied. “Oh ! follow me; 
 you will want to get away soon, won’t you ?” “ Yes,” 
 
 I replied. And he took us away at once to a large 
 temple. On entering, he led us to a priest and said : 
 “ You must give this holy man one rupee each.” We 
 obeyed ; each gave him a rupee, and we passed on, 
 after receiving his blessing, to a great idol. “ 'This,” 
 said our guide, “ is a god who must be worshipped 
 with large offerings. You cannot offer less than two 
 rupees each, if you would escape his anger; if you 
 want his blessing you must give three rupees.” We 
 gave our money to the attendant priest to secure the 
 blessing of the god, and passed on. Our money was 
 half done; but our worship had only begun. He took 
 us to another temple, and there our remaining money 
 was swallowed up. Then he took us to another, and 
 told us to make an offering to the Brahmins. I said, 
 “We have no more; we have already given all we had.” 
 “What!” cried the priest, “do you mean to say you 
 have come into this holy place without an offering ? 
 Do you not fear the anger of the god ? Do you mean 
 to say you engaged me to guide you, and that now 
 
HINDUS. 
 
 U9 
 
 you cannot pay me for my services? Come, come; 
 this is mere pretence. You have plenty of money; 
 out with it.” I assured him we had no more. Then 
 he reviled us terribly; ejected us from the temple — 
 and here we are, no better for our pilgrimage, minus 
 our money, far from home, and knowing not whither 
 to turn for food and shelter.’ 
 
 Under the shelter, then, of the pilgrim habit rich 
 men sometimes travel with the bands, homing thereby 
 to escape detection and save their purse. But they 
 have a sharp class of men to deal with ; men who are 
 quite equal to any sti’atagem they may adopt ; and 
 they are quite equal to dealing with this one. One 
 of their number, attired like a pilgrim, is .sent out to 
 meet the approaching parties of pilgrims four or five 
 days’ journey from the city. Resting by the wayside, 
 he awaits their approach, joins himself to them, in- 
 gratiates himself into their favour, tells them all about 
 himself, where he comes from, what estates he has, 
 what his revenues are, and how he is about to cheat 
 the Brahmins. Of course the whole of it is false; but 
 it answers its purpose. They become equally talka- 
 tive, and convey a great deal of valuable infoi mation 
 about themselves ; all of which he makes a mental 
 note of, till, getting an opportunity, he commits it to 
 paper and sends it off by post to his friends. On 
 receipt of the letter they take action. If there is a 
 Rajah among them, they get up a procession and go 
 out to meet him. Coming up with the party, which 
 they easily recognise by the presence of their col- 
 league, they are led by signs to the Rajah, and hail 
 him by name. He expresses surprise they should 
 know him, or that they should be aware even of his 
 coming, and asks by what means they have learned 
 his secret. ‘From the gods,’ cry the lying priests, 
 ‘ from the gods ! They tell us everything. They told 
 us you were coming, and that, since you were bringing 
 an ottering to them of such magnitude, we, their 
 servants, should go out to meet you, and lead you 
 
120 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 into their presence with the honour befitting your 
 rank and merit.’ In this way the poor dupes are led 
 into extravagances which often impoverish them and 
 put them in the power of the money-lenders, who are 
 like the Dutchman who never charged more than one 
 per cent. When questioned as to the sum, he said, 
 ‘ I lend a man a shilling for a day, and I charge him 
 one shilling for its use. He pays me two shillings. 
 That is what I mean by one per cent.’ The money- 
 lenders of India manage business on much the same 
 principle, and they hold mortgages on the property 
 of many of the Rajahs who are believed to be rolling 
 in wealth ; as a matter of fact the latter are getting 
 poorer and poorer every year. But while I say this, I 
 do not wish it to be supposed that India is getting 
 poorer. It is getting increasingly wealthy; but the 
 wealth, instead of belonging as formerly to Rajahs 
 and ‘ Nabobs,’ is more difi'used. The wealthy are not 
 as rich as formerly ; the poor are not so poor. Their 
 position has greatly improved, and will continue to 
 improve as long as the present rise in wages con- 
 tinues. 
 
 But I must not allow the economic condition of the 
 country to lead me away from the subject. Pilgrims 
 are imposed upon, not in one but in many ways. 
 There is no limit to human credulity ; and credulity 
 is always greatest among peoples who give sight pre- 
 ference to faith, the physical to the spiritual. The 
 barefaced impositions that annoy or amuse the Euro- 
 pean, are implicitly believed by the Hindu. 
 
 There is an underground temple in one of the large 
 cities, in which a tree is pointed out by the priests as 
 one of the wonders of the universe. It is said to be 
 thousands of years old, and to have lived in the dark 
 all the time ; in evidence of which they point to a 
 twig, the point of union of which with the stump is 
 carefully hidden by a coloured cloth, which is, of 
 course, placed there out of veneration for the wonder- 
 ful life and to protect it from danger ! The European 
 
HINDUS. 
 
 I2I 
 
 can see through the trick easily ; the Hindu never 
 imagines that the twig is changed frequently and that 
 it is well supplied by moisture from some hidden 
 vessel. Thousands crowd to see it. I have seen the 
 underground passages crowded to suffocation with 
 eager devotees, who so thoroughly believed the atten- 
 dant priests that it was impossible to undeceive 
 them. 
 
 When the Hindus come into contact with an 
 aboriginal tribe, which they are constantly doing 
 
 THi£ SACRltU TiUtJB IN THE UNDEKUKUUND TEMPLE. 
 
 from national expansion, due to an alarming increase 
 of population, efforts are made to incorporate them 
 with the larger community. The mode of operations 
 is simple in the extreme. A mendicant takes his 
 place by the roadside, in a jungle or a village, and 
 
122 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 after attracting general attention, declares the oneness 
 of the tribal religion with Hinduism. Flattered by 
 the attention, the tribe is prepared to believe any- 
 thing, and the mendicant generally proves the identity 
 of their gods with those of the Hindu pantheon by a 
 miracle ! On a day, previously arranged, as many as 
 can attend are invited to see the god rise from the 
 earth to claim his own. But the night before the 
 miracle the mendicant places a large dish of peas in 
 the ground, and on the top he places the idol. When 
 the people begin to arrive, he makes selection of the 
 prepared place as the spot where the god will appear. 
 To help him on his journey, he refreshes the ground 
 plentifully with water ; the peas swell, and in swelling 
 force the idol upwards, much to the astonishment of 
 the witnesses of the prodigy, who instantly give in 
 their adhesion to the Hindu faith, and become one of 
 the low castes of the community! Hinduism believes 
 that all religions are equally good, and that the names 
 of the tribal gods are but appellations of the gods 
 they worship. They go so far as to assert that Christ 
 and Krishna are one and the same ; though, if living 
 now, Krislina would never be out of gaol. He was a 
 warrior and a libertine. His chief deeds, those by 
 which he is principally remembered, are distinctly 
 immoral ; and yet they dare assert his identity with 
 the Christ. The Brahmin claims superiority to the 
 gods ; mendicants, b}^ means of austerities, surpass 
 them in holiness, and deprive them of power; the 
 consequence is that they lay claim to the most extra- 
 vagant ability to do what we can only call the super- 
 natural. The people believe and fear. We put them 
 to the test, and by proving their powerlessness weaken 
 their authority. 
 
 I was walking in the garden one morning when a 
 fakir entered and asked me if I would give him a 
 few flowers. ‘ Certainly,’ I said, never dreaming to 
 what use he was to put them, and I never thought 
 of askinsf. 1 thoutjht he wanted them for the 
 
 O O 
 
HINDUS. 
 
 123 
 
 same reason as I myself would ask for a flower — be- 
 cause of their beauty and fragrance. On the follow- 
 ing morning he called again, and made a similar 
 request. 
 
 ‘ Are those withered V I asked. 
 
 ‘Oh, yes; I ottered them to the god,’ he replied. 
 
 When I heard his explanation, 1 said, ‘ You cannot 
 have any more ; I cannot give you flowers as an offer- 
 ing to an idol.’ 
 
 He seemed surprised, and began to threaten. 
 
 ‘ You will not give me flowers ! Very well, I 
 shall curse your garden. I shall curse every plant. 
 They will all die, and your garden will become a 
 jungle.’ 
 
 ‘ Oh,’ I said, ‘ you had better be off if you are to 
 use threats ! They are of no avail. They do not 
 frighten me, for I am not a Hindu, and certainly will 
 not consent to take abuse. Be off'!’ 
 
 Away he went; but as he left he cursed the ground, 
 he cursed the trees, he cursed me and mine. The 
 natives who heard him looked very frightened. They 
 expected it would all take place. 
 
 It happened that on this particular morning there 
 were quite a numl^er of buds ready to burst, and on 
 the following morning the garden was like a sea of 
 glory. The bushes were covered with flowers. The 
 natives smiled, shrugged their shoulders, and, let us 
 hope, lost faith in fakirs’ curses. 
 
 The natives fear to put them to the test ; for the 
 fakir claims the power and asserts it so constantly, 
 that I have not the least doubt he believes he 
 possesses it. 
 
 A friend, who had lived some years in equatorial 
 Africa, told me that the medicine men make the 
 same claim. On one occasion a medicine-man, in his 
 presence, drew a line, and told the natives they could 
 not pass over it. They believed him, and never ven- 
 tured to test his power. He himself had said it so 
 often, that he really believed he had the power. My 
 
124 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 friend rose up, accepted the challenge, and, of course, 
 crossed it without inconvenience. The medicine- 
 man’s reputation was gone, but my friend almost 
 regretted he had broken the spell when he turned and 
 looked at the poor fellow. So it is in India ; no one 
 dares try except the European, and the hlthy, in- 
 human fakir continues to enforce his demands by the 
 terror he inspires. 
 
 They try to frighten the European when his inten- 
 tions menace their positions, and, if carried out, prove 
 the falsity of their claims. When the engineers com- 
 menced the construction of the Dufferin Bridge at 
 Benares, I am informed that the Brahmins foolishly 
 tried to turn them aside from the enterprise by 
 assuring them ‘ Mother Ganges ’ would never allow 
 herself to be defiled by any such structure at a point 
 on her bosom so holy. They soon found, however, 
 they were dealing with men upon whom superstition 
 had no hold. The work went forward, the piers rose 
 above the water, when one day, without a moment’s 
 warning, one of them burst, the water rushed in, and 
 several men were drowned. They were jubilant. 
 ‘ You see you cannot desecrate Mother Ganges with 
 impunity ! The bridge will never go up. She will 
 not allow it; and you had better stop before greater 
 calamity overtakes you.’ 
 
 The damage was soon repaired. The bridge is open, 
 and now they say ‘The virtue is gone from the Ganges 
 and Benares.’ "I he fact is, familiarity breeds contempt. 
 It is too accessible to the pilgrim ; for when he feels 
 he can go at any time, the chances are he will not go 
 at all. When their revenues were first threatened 
 they protested ; now they are seriously menaced, and 
 to avoid the disgrace of final neglect and contempt, 
 they smooth the way by prophecy. They assure the 
 world that the railways and bridges have nothing to 
 do with the religious decline ; that the city’s allotted 
 Lime is spent ; its day of glory ended ! 
 
 Imposition is seen everywhere, but nowhere more 
 
HINDUS. 
 
 25 
 
 glaringly than in connection with religion. At a 
 religious festival it is as open, as defiant, and as 
 shameless as at an English fair. The quack and the 
 charlatan are honest in their roguery compared 
 with the host of impostors who line the roads in the 
 vicinity of a religious gathering in India. It is so 
 open, we can do no harm in looking on and criticising 
 aloud. 
 
 Here is the man who lounges on a bed of spikes, 
 smokes Indian hemp, and savours of sanctity. A holy 
 man, truly ! Well, he is to the Hindu ; for in his coat 
 of dust and ashes he is practising austerities which, 
 in their estimation, will give him power with the gods, 
 if they do not bring him merit exceeding even theirs. 
 There is nothing kindly, nothing gentle about him. 
 His features are coarse, not merely in cast, but 
 expression, and reflect a mind coarse in texture, if 
 not actually brutalised. Do not go too near bis bed, 
 lest you interfere with his sanctity. If you do, you 
 will discover that he has a tongue more vile than his 
 body, and a vocabulary that eclipses Billingsgate. 
 Perhaps he has a reason more powerful than your 
 uncleanness for objecting to your proximity. He 
 does not like your critical eye, your sober, matter- 
 of-fact investigation of his conduct. You do not 
 come with a belief in him, and your unsympathetic 
 nature is sure to handle him too severely. How can 
 it be otherwise ? Yes, he is on a bed of spikes, truly ; 
 but the points of contact are carefully protected by 
 pads that are amply sutticient to save his skin and to 
 prevent his suffering superfluous pains and aches. 
 The whole thing is so skilfully arranged that, while he 
 appears to suffer unimaginable torture, he is really 
 indulging a lazy, indolent nature. 
 
 Here, again, is the man who never lies down — 
 when people are looking on ! He does not pretend to 
 be able to keep up without support. His deceit is 
 not in that ; but in the assertion that night and day, 
 week, month, year, he keeps on his feet. He is well 
 
126 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 supported by day. A stout pole is driven into the 
 ground, and from this a flat board is suspended by 
 means of strong ropes. These are passed under his 
 arms, so that his chest rests on the board, and in this 
 way he is able to keep on his feet — while daylight 
 favours observation. Darkness is kindly and favours 
 rest. 
 
 THE MAN WHO NEVER LIES DOWN. 
 
 Here is an interesting group — a middle-aged couple 
 with two handsome daughters. They have a piteous 
 tale to tell : one that touches the emotional side of 
 human nature, and makes the onlooker seek out the 
 spare coins he — or rather i^he may have in her pocket ; 
 for men are hard, and actually resist the pathetic 
 appeal as they pass smilingly onward. Let us listen 
 to the story. ‘ I am a poor Brahmin,’ says the man ; 
 ‘ this is my wife, and these two lovely girls are our 
 daughters. They are beautiful enough to excite love ; 
 but, alas ! men in this Age of Darkness are consumed 
 with avarice. Beauty alone is insufficient; they 
 demand it should be richly dowered. I am too poor 
 
HINDUS. 
 
 127 
 
 to pay what they demand ; and if I cannot raise the 
 amount, they must remain unmarried, to our eternal 
 disgrace. Oh ! help us in our trouble, and merit the 
 everlasting favour of the gods.’ It is evident the 
 story is irresistible. The proof is so tangible that 
 the unfortunate damsels have scarcely time to look 
 up, so busy are they gathering the money into a heap. 
 
 Here is a repulsive reptile ! Don’t be afraid; it is 
 not a snake nor a crocodile, but a man. Nor need 
 you be afraid of contagion, though he appears to be 
 writhing under the agonies of cholera. It is mere 
 simulation. There he will lie and simulate the disease 
 for days to come, if there is a continued prospect of 
 monetary sympathy. His son lies over him, crying 
 ‘ Father ! father ! My father is dying !’ Wonien stop 
 to listen, to ‘ eat deception,’ and to part with their 
 money to a worthless fellow whose proper place is the 
 inside of a prison. 
 
 Passing these, we reach a place occupied exclusively 
 by mendicants and fakirs. I do not mean to imply 
 that what they do is deception : juxtaposition is 
 entirely accidental. Much they exhibit has cost 
 suffering and eu durance far beyond our powers of 
 conception ; but the pain is long since past and gone, 
 and now the deformities of person have become a 
 means of livelihood. 
 
 Here is a sort of crib, and in it something that 
 bears a far distant resemblance to humanity. It is 
 a ball, with undeveloped legs and arms appended, but 
 they are neither useful nor ornamental. It is placed 
 there evidently to excite compassion and secure alms. 
 It cannot speak ; it cannot turn round ; but if you 
 throw a pice on the heap of coins already collected, it 
 will thank you by revolving the arms two or three 
 times, with as great a display of intelligence as the 
 automatic collecting boxes at railway-stations that 
 say ‘Thank you’ when you drop in a coin. Poor 
 wretch ! Death would be preferable to life in such a 
 body ; but those who own it, and reap a harvest so 
 
128 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 In the other case only one arm has been sacrificed. 
 The pain , must have been excessive till the limb 
 became fixed: now there is none. The arm is 
 shrunken and attenuated till it looks as if it had been 
 taken from a mummy. Still there is life in it, and if 
 it could be brought back to its proper position it might 
 regain its former roundness and strength, but the 
 pain of attempting this would be so great, that even 
 fanatics like these may well be pardoned their reso- 
 lution to allow them to remain as they are. Besides 
 
 plentiful from its possession, take such care of it, that 
 death is likely to be a far distant visitation. 
 
 Here are two fakirs who are certainly companions 
 in misery and helplessness. They are men who, in 
 fulfilment of a vow, have kept their arms up until 
 they have become so fixed and rigid that it is impos- 
 sible to take them down again. In one case both the 
 arms are fixed, and the finger nails have grown so 
 long that they have forced their way through the palm 
 of the hand, and coil themselves about like snakes. 
 
 THE FAKIRS WHO CANNOT TAKE THEIR ARMS DOWN. 
 
HINDUS. 
 
 129 
 
 which, rigid arms are valuable possessions, judging 
 by the piles of money that lie beside them, the offer- 
 ings of visitors Avho admire their fortitude, pity their 
 helplessness, and hope to share their merit. 
 
 Their popularity is shared by an object that excites 
 our disgust, though it calls forth the admiration and 
 the offerings of the Hindu. In a railed-off portion of 
 the grounds, about 14 x 14 feet, there is an old gray- 
 haired man, sitting in dust and ashes. His skin 
 ought to be a light chocolate colour ; now it is a dirty 
 gray ; for dirt and sanctity have a curious fashion of 
 pairing in the East. But he is holy, very holy ; so 
 holy, indeed, that the very ashes he sits upon have 
 become holy, and the people are all eagerness to secure 
 a pinch of it from his sacred hand, that they may 
 share his blessedness. None so poor but he can afford 
 to make an offering to swell the growing heap : none 
 so mean as to take the pinch of wood ash, and its 
 sanctity, without a tangible return. How far will 
 human credulity go ? And yet we are told the natives 
 of India are poor ! I do not know how much they 
 have to eat and live upon ; but I know from obser- 
 vation, they have a great deal to pour into the lap of 
 imposture, much for religion, and an overflowing 
 abundance for social occasions like weddings. At 
 these religious fairs the most noticeable things are 
 superstition, avarice and vice. There they are con- 
 centrated and make an imposing demonstration ; but 
 they are only the enlarged expression of what is trans- 
 piring less openly day by day in city and mart. 
 There is no private and, consequently, no public con- 
 science. I give two more illustrations, and then I 
 shall take iny leave of this phase of Hindu character. 
 
 A tea planter was obliged to bring an action against 
 a neighbouring Hindu planter for intercepting and 
 diverting a watercourse that watered his garden, 
 and upon which the fertility of his bushes depended. 
 His claim was just and good, and only required 
 to be shown to secure a decision in his favour. 
 
 9 
 
13 ° 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 Among others he summoned as a witness, a haboo 
 who served him in the capacity of clerk. This 
 man was put in the witness-box, sworn, and com- 
 menced his evidence. The first part was true and 
 relevant : the latter half, entirely false. When he 
 left the court his master asked him why he told so 
 many lies when his case was so good. ‘ Oh,’ replied 
 the baboo, ‘ why run the risk of losing a good case 
 for the sake of a few lies ?’ He Avas like the Scotch 
 tradesman who was summoned to give evidence in a 
 case of theft. When he had said all he had to say. 
 he appeared fearful lest the culprit should be let off 
 too leniently. To prevent this he continued : ‘ My 
 lord, this is nothing to some of his tricks. Not very 
 long ago he came at night and stole the signboard 
 from above my door ; and in the morning he came 
 and offered to sell it to me, remarking that he thought 
 it might be of more use to me than anybody else.’ 
 
 On one occasion I Avas asked to attend a patient 
 suffering from fever. I did so till he Avas quite 
 restored to health. Some months afterwards he called 
 upon me and told me he had received a summons 
 from the magistrate of a neighbouring town. ‘ I have 
 come,’ he said, ‘ to ask you to give me a certificate that 
 you are attending me for fever, and that I am so ill 
 it would be danger^tas for me to travel at present.’ I 
 stared at him in blank amazement. ‘ Why,’ I replied, 
 ‘ it is months since you Avere ill. You are as strong 
 and well as I am, and quite fit to attend the court.’ ‘I 
 know I am,’ Avas his unabashed rejoinder ; ‘ but then, 
 as I am defendant in this action, I want to get out of 
 it, and if you Avill be kind enough to favour me with a 
 certificate my presence will be excused.’ 
 
 ‘No,’ I replied, ‘I cannot comply with your re- 
 quest.’ 
 
 Several days afterwards I met him in the bazaar 
 and asked him when he had to go to A gurh. 
 
 ‘ I am not going,’ he replied ; ‘ I went to Dr. 
 G (naming a native doctor, in the Government 
 
INTERIOR OF A HINDU TEMPLE. 
 
HINDUS. 
 
 133 
 
 service) and asked him to treat me for fever. I went 
 twice and paid him six rupees for attendance and 
 medicine. Then I asked him for a certificate and he 
 gave it to me for five rupees more.’ Comment is 
 needless ! 
 
 The word temple is somewhat misleading when 
 applied, as it generally is, to every kind of building 
 used by the Hindus for worship. Some of them are 
 lar^e and stately ; the major portion are mere shrines, . 
 and would be unworthy of mention but for the amount 
 of decorative art usually expended upon them. In 
 many instances the carving is most elaborate and 
 chaste. To withhold admiration would be churlish ; 
 even though some of the figures almost approach in 
 scantiness of apparel the statuary in many of our art 
 galleries. 
 
 Where our disgust is excited is in seeing the uses 
 to which they are put. Imagine one of these beauti- 
 fully-carved buildings inhabited by a lot of filthy 
 monkeys. The image takes quite a subordinate place. 
 The priests appear to expend their time and attention 
 in fostering the mischievous community. In some 
 places they have increased to such an extent, that 
 they have become a nuisance to the people. In 
 cities where they abound, iron bars have been put 
 across the windows ; and in many instances the open 
 roofs of the courtyards have been covered over with 
 bamboo trellis- work to keep them out. Still, so great 
 is the annoyance to the people, that, though they dare 
 not interfere with them themselves, they would gladly 
 support any action the English authorities might take 
 to get rid of them, short of killing. 
 
 The monkey is a sacred animal ; I ought, to be 
 strictly accurate, to say a god ; that collectively they 
 are the incarnations of gods, and therefore worthy of 
 devout regard. This statement must seem like a 
 ‘ traveller’s tale ’ ; I shall, therefore, for the sake of 
 those who are not acquainted with Hindu mythology, 
 abridge their story from the Rdmayan, the sacred 
 
134 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 epic which gives an account of Ram : — one, it will be 
 remembered, of the incarnations of Vishnu. 
 
 Ravan, King of Lanka (Ceylon), a demon, was the 
 disturber of the peace of the universe and ‘ the enemy 
 of heaven.’ ‘ Shameless, pitiless, and ever bent on 
 mischief, the ten-headed miscreant thought to con- 
 quer Rama; whenever he found a stray Brahmin 
 
 SACRED MONKEYS. 
 
 he frightened him into payment of ransom,’ and 
 even began to exact tribute from the monks. ‘ The 
 sun and moon ; the wind ; Varuna and Kuver, fire, 
 time, and death, and every divine power ; Kinnars, 
 saints, men, gods, and serpents all were turned out 
 of their course. From one end of earth to the 
 other, every living creature, whether male or female, 
 was made subject to Ravan. All, in turn, do his 
 
HINDUS. 
 
 135 
 
 bidding, and crouch suppliantly at his feet ... By 
 his mighty arm he subdued the whole universe, and 
 left not a single soul independent, but, acting on his 
 own counsel, exercised dominion over the whole round 
 world . . . Whatever he told Indrajit to do was done 
 in less time than it took to tell ; hear now how the 
 other chiefs acted, to whom he gave orders. The 
 whole demon crew, villainous at heart and foul of 
 aspect, the torment of heaven, were ready for any 
 outrage, disguising themselves by the assumption of 
 various forms, and acting in every way contrary to 
 the Veda, in order to eradicate religion. Wherever 
 they find a cow or a Brahmin, they at once set fire 
 to the city, town, or village ; pious observances are no 
 longer anywhere in existence ; no respect is paid 
 either to Scripture, or Brahmin, or spiritual instructor ; 
 there is no faith in Hari, no sacrifice, no prayer, nor 
 almsgiving, and no one would ever dream of listening 
 either to Veda or Purana.’ 
 
 ‘ At a hint of prayer, or of penance, of sacrifice, vigil or fast. 
 
 Not a naoment’s rest, but he hied on its quest, with a vow it should 
 be the last. 
 
 The world was sunk in lawlessness ; all holy sounds were banned ; 
 
 To read a sacred text was death or exile from the land.’ 
 
 ‘ The wieked all throve ; such as demons and gamblers, 
 and those who coveted their neighbour’s wife or 
 goods, those who honoured neither father nor mother 
 nor the gods, and those who exacted service from 
 better men than themselves. For people who act in 
 this way Bhavani resemble demons. Seeing the 
 general persecution of religion. Earth was terror- 
 stricken and dismayed ; “ the weight of mountains, 
 lakes, and seas is nothing so heavy as this one tyrant.” 
 She saw all faith perverted, and yet for fear of Ravan 
 could say nothing. After some consideration she 
 took the form of a cow and went to the spot where 
 the gods and saints were gathered together, and with 
 tears declared to them her distress. There was no 
 help to be had from any one of them.’ 
 
INDIA. 
 
 136 
 
 In their conscious helplessness they went to Brahma, 
 who encouraged them to remember Hari* ‘ who will 
 put an end to this cruel oppression.’ ‘ Glad at heart 
 and thrilled with delight,’ he began to chant his 
 praises : 
 
 ‘ To the Bang of heaven be all glory given, refuge of creation in distress 
 and care. 
 
 Priests and kine befriending. Hell’s brief triumph ending. . . . 
 
 Life's alarms dispelling, ail disasters quelling, comfort of the faithful, 
 be our succour now ; 
 
 All the gods implore thee, falling low before thee, with unfeigned 
 submission of body, soul, and vow.’ 
 
 ‘ Beholdinsf the alarm of the gods and earth, and 
 hearing this devout speech, a dread voice came from 
 heaven that removed all their doubt and anxiety.’ 
 The Lord promised to become incarnate, and ‘ remove 
 the whole of Earth’s burden.’ ‘ On bearing tbe 
 heavenly voice in the air the gods turned and were 
 consoled, and Brahma exhorted Mother Earth to 
 forget her fears in hopefulness.’ 
 
 Then Brahma proceeded to his own realm after 
 thus instructing the gods : ‘ Go and worship Hari 
 upon earth in form of monkeys.’ 
 
 The gods went every one to his abode, and, with 
 Earth, had rest. All the orders that Brahma had 
 given, they executed gladly and without delay. 
 Taking birth on earth as monkeys of incomparable 
 strength and dignity, warriors with rocks and trees 
 and claws for weapons, they confidently awaited 
 Hari’s coming, swarming in every mountain and 
 forest, and divided among themselves into orderly 
 troops.’t 
 
 Of these Bali was king, but Hari, in his incarnation 
 as Ram, sent him to heaven for his cruelties to 
 his brother. Hanuman — Son of the Wind — the 
 monkey god or chief, acted as leader, ally, and spy to 
 Ram in his march against Ravan. 
 
 ■* An epithet of Vishnu, tbe second manifestation of Brahm, of 
 which Ram is an incarnation. Here used of Ram. 
 
 + Growse’s translation of the Ramdyan of Tulsl Das. 
 
HINDUS. 
 
 137 
 
 Hence the sacredness of the monkey, and the reason 
 they are allowed to live in the temples. 
 
 In Muttra they swarm everywhere about the city, 
 and along the roads outside the cantonments. These 
 they never enter, though they will come as far as the 
 culvert and sit on the parapet. The fact is, the 
 soldiers may catch or kill them if they cross that 
 boundary line; they appear to know it, and always 
 keep to the safe side. 
 
 It is dangerous to touch them in the city. On one 
 occasion two officers were going through the city when 
 the monkeys ran after them as if they intended to 
 attack. They wounded one, and in wounding it 
 raised the priests and pilgrims against them. They 
 endeavoured to get away ; but without success. The 
 fanatics seized them, threw them into the river, and 
 drowned them before aid could arrive. 
 
 Near the place where the tragedy happened, I once 
 witnessed a sight I shall not readily forget — a fight 
 between a large male monkey and a portly Brahmin ! 
 It was about the possession of a brass goblet. The 
 Brahmin had set it down with something in it, and 
 as soon as he turned his back, the monkey came 
 down, put his hand in, grasped part of the contents, 
 and, of course, could not get his fist out. The 
 Brahmin returned, and at first tried endearing ex- 
 pressions to get it to give up the vessel ; but to no 
 purpose. Then he tried something a little stronger, 
 and emphasized it with the exhibition of a loaded 
 bamboo. To this the monkey replied by threatening 
 him with its teeth and armed fist. As I passed the 
 Brahmin stood with his stick at the ‘ present the 
 monkey with the brass goblet high over head as if it 
 would pitch it the instant he dared move. Yet the 
 Brahmin, who could be abusive to men, who could 
 rob the poor pilgrims of their all, would not venture 
 to touch the hateful brute. 
 
 We had a school in this town some years ago, at a 
 place near which the monkeys used to congregate in 
 
138 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 very lai'ge numbers. One morning I was examining 
 the pupils, but found it difficult to keep their atten- 
 tion, Something appeared to be amusing them. 
 It was evidently over my head, but as I had kept my 
 sun hat on to protect me from the heat, I could not 
 see what it was. Their amusement went on increas- 
 ing, till I could no longer resist the temptation to 
 follow the direction of their gaze. Looking up, I saw 
 a monkey stretched out on the trellis roof like a man 
 over a grating, its arm stretched out to the full, in a 
 frantic effort to seize my hat ! When I looked up and 
 stopped the fun, it grinned and chattered at me as if 
 I had been its greatest enemy. 
 
 Cows, bulls and monkeys, however, do not exhaust 
 the list of the lower creation that receive the homage 
 of the Hindus. Snakes, too, are favoured in this 
 respect, notwithstanding the Indian Government is 
 prepared to pay a small sum for every venomous 
 reptile they kill. They are sacred, I imagine, because 
 Vishnu reclines on the Great Mundane Serpent, 
 worshipped because the people fear them, and think 
 that by timely sufferings they may appease their 
 anger and avert unpleasant consequences. Notwith- 
 standing they are said to kill something like 20,000 
 victims every year. 
 
 Whatever may be the true cause of veneration, 
 there can be no doubt they hold a high place in 
 Hindu regard, and are the subject of not a few of 
 their stories and fables, some of which I proceed to 
 relate. 
 
 Caste, whatever justification it may have in Hindu 
 society, might be expected to stop short among a 
 people who have reduced social distinctions to a 
 science. But it will be seen from the following story 
 that this is not the case : 
 
 A large, fierce cobra took up its abode in a field, 
 and proceeded forthwith to clear out all other 
 occupants. The first to fall victims to its venom 
 were the poor cattle. One after another it bit them 
 
HINDUS. 
 
 139 
 
 till the herd was destroyed. The rainy season came 
 round, and the ploughman drove in his team to turn 
 up the soft, moist soil. He had hardly begun his 
 labours when, hissing and furious, the reptile stole 
 upon him, bit his heel, and then attacked the bullocks; 
 but, alarmed by the fate of their driver, they hurried 
 home, the plough trailing behind them. The com- 
 munity, startled by the unusual return of the animals, 
 set out in search of the ploughman. On arrival 
 at the field they found his dead body ; but while 
 they were lifting and arranging it for burial, the snake 
 attacked the party. Frightened by its size and 
 fierceness, they beat a hurried retreat, carrying the 
 body with them. A meeting of the villagers was 
 called, at which it was decided that a field occupied 
 by a serpent so dangerous should be left untilled. 
 This was done for several years ; but, as they had to 
 pay rent for it, they at last determined to put it under 
 cultivation once more. But who was to do it ? While 
 still pondering the problem, a stranger entered the 
 village and asked what troubled them. They told 
 him the story, and solicited his advice. 
 
 ‘If,’ he replied, ‘you are unable to find anyone 
 among yourselves to undertake the duty, supply me 
 with a team and plough, and I will till the land for 
 you.’ 
 
 They hailed his offer with delight. The bullocks 
 and plough were delivered to him, and away he went 
 for the field. He had hardly begun his work when 
 the snake, furious at the renewed invasion of its 
 domains, hurried out, its eyes glaring, and its tongue 
 darting out and in like the movement of an electric 
 needle. On it came, but the new ploughman did not 
 hurry ; indeed, he seemed to court the attack. At 
 length it reached him; raised its head to bite; lowered 
 it again without striking, and with a look of disdain 
 exclaimed : ‘ Disgusting ! The fellow has already 
 been bitten by all the low caste snakes and now he 
 actually expects that a high caste serpent like myself 
 
140 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 should condescend to do the same !’ The man was 
 allowed to till the soil in peace, and the land proved 
 more than ordinarily fertile for its prolonged rest. 
 
 The following must be the Indian version of the 
 goose that laid the golden eggs, with, of course, local 
 variations and colouring. 
 
 A snake, driven out of its hole by the inrush of 
 water, sought refuge in a stately dwelling. After 
 prowling about for some time without attracting 
 notice, it found a hole in the wall, and took posses- 
 sion. When its presence was discovered, the owner 
 thought the wisest policy would be to make it 
 his friend. This resolve once taken, he proceeded 
 to carry it out by placing a dish of milk at the mouth 
 of the hole for his self-invited guest. It hurried out 
 and commenced to partake of his hospitality. When 
 it had finished the milk, it repaid his kindness by pre- 
 senting him with thirty-two rupees. The friendship 
 was mutual ; every day the man brought the dish 
 of milk, and the snake gave him thirty-two rupees. 
 One day, being busy, he asked his son to feed the 
 snake. The youth put down the dish : the reptile 
 came out and began his repast. While he was drink- 
 ing the boy began to think. ‘ What,’ he reasoned, ‘ is 
 the use of feeding this wretched creature every day ? 
 Why wait while he doles out the money so slowly ? 
 One blow, and I can possess myself of his mine of 
 wealth.’ 
 
 He had, unfortunately for himself, a cane in his 
 hand at the moment, and, obeying the impulse, struck 
 at the cobra. The blow failed ; but the snake, irritated 
 by the attack, raised its head and bit him. When the 
 man came back he found the corpse of his son lying 
 by the hole and the supply of milk only half con- 
 sumed. He guessed the circumstances at once ; but 
 instead of trying to drive out the intruder, he brought 
 the offering of milk on the following day as usual. 
 The snake came to the opening, but refused to come 
 out. The man pled with it not to refuse his 
 
HINDUS. 
 
 141 
 
 hospitality. ‘ Do take it,’ he urged ; ‘ do not disgrace 
 me by a refusal,’ ‘No,’ said the serpent, ‘ I shall not 
 take it till you have healed my back and raised your 
 son to life !’ 
 
 And now I come to another story, from which I 
 find people draw very different morals. Under the 
 circumstances I leave it an open question, and content 
 myself with merely relating the fable. 
 
 In the depth of the Indian winter, a Hindu on a 
 journey, was passing through a forest ; he was very 
 cold, and seeing numerous twigs lying about, gathered 
 up a bundle and lit a fire. Indian fashion, he sat 
 down, brought his knees up on a level with his chin, 
 put his arms over them, and spread out his hands. 
 Just when beginning to feel the warmth, he thought 
 he saw one of the lower twigs move. Looking more 
 intently he saw it was a cobra, which, being stifi' 
 with the cold, he had mistaken for a twig and taken 
 to help the fire. The snake, thoroughly alive now, 
 cried out : ‘ Please take me out of the fire ; I am 
 burned all over.’ The traveller took it out and put 
 it down on the road. 
 
 ‘ Oh !’ said the snake, ‘ I am in agony ; would you 
 do me the favour of taking me down to the river and 
 cooling me ?’ 
 
 ‘With pleasure,’ said the man; ‘I shall do every- 
 thing in my power to oblige you.’ 
 
 With that he took it down to the river, dipped it in 
 the water, and when he had thoroughly cooled it, laid 
 it upon the bank. 
 
 Immediately the cobra raised its head, spread out 
 its hood, and with its eyes glaring, said : ‘ Now I am 
 going to bite you.’ 
 
 ‘ Bite me !’ cried the man — ‘ bite me ! Why, I have 
 only just saved your life, and now you say you are 
 going to bite me. Do you call that a fitting return 
 for my kindness ?’ 
 
 ‘ Aha,’ said the snake, ‘ I am only following the 
 custom of the world ! Do you not know that the 
 world always returns evil for good ?’ 
 
142 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 ‘No, no ; that is not true !’ cried the man. 
 
 ‘ Oh ! but if you disbelieve me,’ said the snake, ‘ I 
 can prove the truth of my statement.’ 
 
 ‘ Very well,’ said the traveller ; ‘ prove it.’ 
 
 With that they set off alon? the dry dusty road. 
 They had not gone very far when they met a man 
 coming along, leading an old cow by a halter. The 
 cow was very old and very weak — so weak that its 
 legs were bending under it and its knees rubbing 
 each other. Its hide was almost hairless, and every 
 bone could be traced through it. Altogether it was a 
 pitiable object. 
 
 ‘ Ask this cow,’ said the snake. 
 
 ‘ 0 cow, will you be good enough to tell me 
 whether you have found this snake’s statement true ? 
 He says the world always returns evil for good. Is 
 that so ?’ 
 
 ‘ Ah, yes ! Alas, it is only too true.’ 
 
 ‘ Come, come ; I really do not understand you ; 
 explain yourself,’ cried the man. ‘ How can you 
 possibly say such a thing !’ 
 
 ‘ Say such a thing !’ exclaimed the cow in anger — 
 ‘ say such a thing ! Why, because I know how true 
 it is. Once I was a young cow : now I am old. I 
 have had quite a number of calves in my time. They 
 are grown up, ploughing the land, carrying water, and 
 drawing carts ; indeed they are the humble slaves of 
 men. In my time I have given a great deal of milk. 
 With it men have fed their children, and made butter 
 and ghee. Now I am a poor old cow, and can give no 
 more, they forget my past services, refuse to give 
 me anything to eat, and have sold me to this butcher, 
 who is taking me away to kill me. Is not that return- 
 ing evil for good ?’ 
 
 O O ^ , , 
 
 ‘ Well, well, well !’ cried the man, ‘ this is extra- 
 ordinary. I never thought of all this before. But 
 surely this is an exceptional case — not the rule of the 
 world. Come, I am not convinced yet; more proof, 
 if you please.’ 
 
HINDUS. 
 
 143 
 
 ‘ Very well ; as you will,’ said the snake, and moved 
 forward. 
 
 They had not gone very far when they heard the 
 ring of the woodman’s axe. Guided by the sound, 
 they came to the stump of an old tree which the 
 wood-cutter was busy cutting. 
 
 ‘ Ask this tree,’ said the snake. Approaching, the 
 man said : ‘ 0 tree, is it true that the world always 
 returns evil for good ?’ 
 
 ‘Yes, alas! as I know to my sorrow,’ replied the 
 decaying stump. 
 
 ‘ But how is that ? Please explain.’ 
 
 ‘ Ah,’ said the tree, ‘ I was once young and vigorous. 
 I shot my head up into the heavens, and kept it erect 
 when the tempest bent, rocked, and swayed my neigh- 
 bours. I stretched out my brawny arms on either 
 side and covered them with a graceful foliage. By 
 day I cast a dense shade, under which the weary 
 pilgrim rested, and in the dry season, when the hus- 
 bandmen could not get grass for their cattle, I threw 
 out fresh, succulent leaves, with which they kept 
 them alive. Now I am old, my head has fallen oft', 
 my limbs droop and decay : and this man is cutting me 
 down to make firewood of me. Is not that returning 
 evil for good ?’ 
 
 ‘ Alas, alas !’ cried the man. ‘ I never thought this 
 was the case. But, if you please, one favour, O snake; 
 I have a wife and family. Give me permission to go 
 and take farewell of them.’ 
 
 ‘ Certainly,’ said the snake. ‘ Be quick, I shall stay 
 here till you come back.’ 
 
 Away went the man. When he reached home he 
 related his adventure to his wife, who inquired : 
 
 ‘ What do you propose doing ? Do you intend 
 returning ?’ 
 
 ‘ I hardly know,’ said the husband. 
 
 ‘ Oh, but you must 1’ was the reply ; ‘ and I shall 
 accompany you with the children.’ 
 
 When all arrangements were completed, they set 
 
144 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 out, and found the serpent ready waiting them. As 
 he saw them coming along, his teeth watered in anti- 
 cipation, and he was all eagerness to strike his fangs 
 into his victim, when the wife interposed : 
 
 ‘ One moment, if you please. When you have bitten 
 my husband, and he has succumbed to your poison, 
 what shall 1 do with all these children ?’ 
 
 ‘ This is somewhat embarrassing,’ said the snake. 
 ‘You were not here when I said I would bite him; 
 and of course I never thought of you nor the children. 
 But I tell you what I will do. I have been about a 
 good deal, and in my travels have come upon a very 
 destructive powder; it is so powerful, that if you but 
 put a very little of it on your greatest enemy, he will 
 shrivel up, and crumble into dust.’ 
 
 ‘ Excellent !’ cried the woman. ‘ Give me some 
 before you bite my husband.’ 
 
 The unsuspecting snake gave the powder. As soon 
 as she received it, she cast it on the reptile, and 
 reduced it to dust, thereby returning evil for good to 
 the end, 
 
 A great many have wished they had this powder. It 
 would be an inestimable blessing to residents in the 
 tropics ; for it is perfectly safe to say there is no 
 antidote known for snake bite. A friend of mine 
 would have been very glad to have possessed it when 
 placed in the following very trying position : He 
 had gone on a visit to a family living in a country 
 district. The way was long, the heat intense, so 
 that before he reached his destination he was ready 
 for the luxury of a bath. On arrival, he hurried 
 into his room, undressed, and plunged into the tub. 
 After immersing his head once or twice, he sat up 
 and brushed the water from his face, when, to his 
 horror, he discovered a huge cobra in the doorway. 
 What was he to do ? How was he to get out? At 
 first he tried the effect of water. That, however, was 
 useless. He was getting chilled ; yet it would not 
 move, except to follow his actions with its eyes. At 
 
A HINDU HOLT HAN AND IMAGE OF GOD. 
 
 10 
 
HINDUS. 
 
 147 
 
 last he got out, rubbed himself with the towel, tied it 
 about him, and went towards the snake. As he 
 approached, the reptile hissed and darted forward ; 
 but missed its mark. Again he approached ; again 
 the snake darted at him, and again it missed him. 
 He then began to think. He saw it did not move 
 from the spot, only raise its head, and from its action 
 could only strike the distance it raised itself. His 
 resolution was soon taken. He advanced rapidly, 
 and stopped ; the cobra darted at him, and before it 
 could right itself for a fresh attack, he sprang over 
 it and fled ! 
 
 Europeans run comparatively little danger from 
 them, although one occasionally hears of a death. In 
 the rainy season of 1880 I had the narrowest escape 
 I have ever had. I was returning to Delhi, about 
 9 a.m. one day, along the Agra road, when I saw a 
 bright, yellowish snake glide out from among the 
 tombs and come on to the road. I apprehended no 
 danger, and drove on, feeling confident it would get 
 out of my way as I went forward. In this I was 
 mistaken, for it stopped short in front of my horse. 
 The poor brute was paralyzed with fright, and stood 
 still. The snake was then by the footboard, and 
 before I could take in the situation it sprang at me. 
 I instinctively dropped the reins, and the horrible 
 thing flashed past, striking me on the tips of the 
 fingers and the knees as it passed. The spring carried 
 it over the conveyance, but it turned and renewed the 
 attack, and I could hear it distinctly beating against 
 the bottom. The syce added to the horror and con- 
 fusion by screaming, and for a time I could not tell 
 whether it was in the well of the conveyance or out- 
 side. Fortunately the horse, feeling the reins loose, 
 dashed off and broke the spell. When I drew him 
 up and looked back, it was still on the road as defiant 
 as ever. I had proved its springing capacity already, 
 and without a moment’s hesitation left it in possession 
 of the field. 
 
 10—2 
 
48 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 I found out subsequently that it was one of the 
 most dangerous of the snake tribe, the bite of which 
 meant death. 
 
 We were not greatly troubled with them in Benares. 
 Our compound swarmed Avith the mungoose, which 
 either drove them away or kept them down. On one 
 occasion, during the hot season of 1883, one of these 
 pluck}'^ little creatures gave battle to a cobra, seventy 
 inches long, in the centre of our garden. The noise 
 we made frightened them, and they went off, as fast 
 as they could hurry, in opposite directions. A man, 
 armed with a long bamboo, gave chase to the cobra, 
 Avhich Avas gliding off' towards an old Avail, and over- 
 taking it, gave it a blow Avhich broke the vertebrae 
 and arrested its progress. Tavo or three more Avell- 
 directed blows injured it so seriously that it lay as if 
 dead. We gathered round it, amazed at its immense 
 size, Avhen someone remarked : ‘ Take care : the air 
 may get into its lungs and revive it. If it does, it 
 may spring suddenly and bite some of us : bruiae its 
 head.’* 
 
 IloAvn Avent the bamboo again. Placing the end on 
 its head, the man crushed it betAveen the hard ground 
 and his stick. The jaAvbone Avas broken, the muscles 
 paralyzed, and the poison-glands destroyed. NotAvith- 
 standing, the snake coiled and tAAusted in the most 
 lively fashion, but its poAver to Avork mischief Avas 
 gone. Then I understood for the first time Avhat the 
 curse on the serpent meant : ‘ The seed of the Avoman 
 shall bruise the serpent’s head.’ 
 
 When Ave remember all I have said about their 
 religion, their morals, their gods, ascetics, and objects 
 of Avorship, we may feel inclined to despise the Hindus. 
 It Avill be Aveli, perhaps, to give them our pity instead, 
 that they should have been born under conditions 
 that make belief in these puerilities possible; for, 
 after all, Avith the great mass of mankind, beliefs 
 are ‘ more instinctive than volitional,’ and exercise a 
 
 * Genesis iii. 15. 
 
HINDUS. 
 
 1^9 
 
 terrible tyranny over the human mind. ‘ Hindus are 
 crooked in their ways,’ a gentleman once remarked to 
 me, ‘ because their religion is crooked.’ Given a pure 
 religion, we have a fine, noble race. They are not 
 without their good traits even now, but caste blights 
 and kills all expression of regard beyond a very narrow 
 circle. If not inventive, they are capital imitators, 
 and are not without a wit as refined as anything 
 we have in Europe. I close with a specimen : 
 
 Years ago, when the Moghul Emperors reigned in 
 the imperial city of Delhi, a policeman was walking 
 along one of the streets when he met a potter in 
 mourning, 
 
 ‘ O potter, for whom do you mourn ?’ he asked. 
 
 ‘ Sadamiya,’ was the reply. 
 
 ‘ Dear, dear ! is Sadamiya dead ?’ cried the police- 
 man, and hurried off to the corner where the barbers 
 sat plying their trade. 
 
 Sitting down before one of them, he said, ‘ Shave 
 my head and beard ;* I am going into mourning for 
 Sadamiya.’ 
 
 Shortly afterwards duty took the policeman to the 
 Kotwali,^ and as soon as he entered, the Kotwal asked 
 him for whom he was mourning. 
 
 ‘For Sadamiya, that illustrious person.’ 
 
 ‘ Ah, dear ! is he dead ?’ exclaimed the Kotwal. 
 ‘ Well, well, all die in turn ! Call the barber.’ 
 
 The barber was called, and the Kotwal, too, went 
 into mourning. 
 
 He had occasion to visit the Wazir,| who was sur- 
 prised to see him in mourning ; the more so as he did 
 not know that any of his family were ill. 
 
 ‘ Who is dead ?’ he inquired. 
 
 ‘ Alas ! your honour, that illustrious, high-minded, 
 dignified Sadamiya has been called away.’ 
 
 ‘Oh, dear me!’ exclaimed the Wazir ; ‘I am sorry 
 
 * This is the way in which they go into mourning. 
 
 t Kotwali, office of chief of police. Kotwali, chief of police. 
 
 + Vizier. 
 
150 
 
 INDIA . 
 
 to hear 5 "ou say so. What a loss ! Will you please 
 call the barber ?’ 
 
 The barber came, and the Wazir, too, went into 
 mourning. Duty took him into the presence of the 
 Emperor, who Avas startled at his changed appear- 
 ance. 
 
 ‘ Who is dead V he inquired. 
 
 ‘Your Highness, I grieve to inform you, but that 
 sublime custodian of goodness, of honour, and learning, 
 Sadamiya, has been taken.’ 
 
 ‘ Call the barber,’ said the Emperor to his attendants, 
 and in a very short time he, also in mourning, sought 
 the presence of the Empress. When she saAv him so 
 changed, she asked, ‘ Who is dead ?’ 
 
 ‘ Alas ! that 1 should have to say it ! Sadamiya is 
 dead.’ 
 
 ‘ But who is Sadamiya V she asked. 
 
 ‘ Sadamiya ! Sadamiya ! Well, I never thought of 
 asking, but the Wazir knows ; I shall ask him.’ 
 
 He Avent out and called the Wazir. When he came 
 he asked, ‘ Who is this Sadamiya we are all in 
 mourning for ?’ 
 
 ‘ Really, your Highness, I never thought of asking ; 
 but the Kotwal knoAvs ; I shall ask him.’ 
 
 The KotAA'al was summoned. 
 
 ‘ Who is this Sadamiya the whole State is in 
 mourning for?’ asked the Wazir on his arrival. 
 
 ‘ Sadamiya ! Sadamiya ! Why, sir, I did not inquire; 
 but the policeman knows ; I shall ask him.’ 
 
 The policeman Avas summoned ; but he, too, was 
 equally taken aback. He had never thought of asking ; 
 but the potter kneAA^ and he set off to ask him fur in- 
 formation. 
 
 When he reached the yard, the potter was busy at 
 his Avheel. He looked up in amazement when he saw 
 the policeman come in ; but this feeling gave place to 
 horror Avhen he saAV he Avas in mourning. 
 
 ‘ Who is this Sadamiya Ave are all in mourning for ?’ 
 asked the policeman. 
 
HINDUS. 
 
 >51 
 
 ‘ Y ou — you — do — not — mean — to — say — you — are 
 — mourning — for Sadamiya ?’ he stammered. 
 
 ‘ Yes, I am ; and so is the Kotwal, and the Wazir, 
 and the Emperor ; indeed, the whole State has gone 
 into mourning for him/ 
 
 ‘ Oh dear ! Whatever will become of me V cried 
 the potter. ‘ In mourning for Sadamiya ? Why — 
 Sadamiya is my — donkey !’ 
 
 THE END. 
 
 Elliot Siotiky Paitr/iosttr RoiCf London.