i HNN — — —— ——— —s = | =) —— - — eT i CORNELE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Cornell University Library BV 3265.W25 Wi ii All books are subject to recall after two weeks. Olin/Kroch Library DATE DUE GAYLORD PRINTED IN U.S.A E. Fr. AND P. E. WARD DAUGIITERS ETIEDL, BESSIE AND LOUISA Echoes From Bharatkhand By ERNEST F. WARD WITH ADDITIONAL CHAPTERS BY MRS. PHEBE E. WARD Introduction by REV. WALTER A. SELLEW FREE METHODIST PUBLISHING HOUSE 14 NogtH May S8t., Cuicago, ILLINOIS 1908 W. B. Ross, Agent Copyright 1908 TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. WuHo ARE THE HINDUS - - - - 9 II. Home anp VILLAGE LIFE - - - - 15 III. Some Native Traits - - - - - 29 IV. HINnDUISM—CASTE - - - - - 37 Vv. Hrnpurism—IpoLatTry - - - - - 45 VI. HINDUISM, PANTHEISM, FATE, ASCETICISM - 56 VII. MoHAMMEDANISM - - - - - 64 VIli. A TROPHY OF GRACE 2 - - - - W7 IX. REMINISCENCES OF OPEN-AIR MISSION WorK 87 X. REMINISCENCES—CONTINUED - - - 101 XI. Poverty oF THE PEOPLE AND FAMINE REM- INISCENCES - - - - - - 112 XII. EXPERIENCES IN FAMINE ORPHAN WoRK - 122 XIII. A Missionary HERITAGE IN THE HEART OF INDIA - - - - - - 132 XIV. A Missionary HERITAGE—CONTINUED - - 140 XV. CENSUS OF THE OLD Wun DISTRICT - - 149 XVI. MISCELLANEOUS - - - - - - 155, INTRODUCTION Yes, another book on India. This marvelous country must of necessity continue to cause books to be produced so long as time shall last. The con- ditions that now exist in that strange land, and that have existed for so many centuries, are so pe- culiar and so strikingly unique, even to the tray- eler of long and varied experiences, that those who see them and know about them must continue to write about them. This is especially true regarding religion and religious conditions. India has a greater quantity of religion than any other country in the world; and, it may almost be said with truth, more than all other lands combined; and the religion found there and which exists in so many various forms, is so deep, so varied and so peculiar, that nearly all classes of people who have ever come in contact with it, are compelled to be interested in it. Furthermore, these types of religion materially affect every phase and condition of human exist- ence to such an extent that in very many cases they dominate all social and political life. The simple touching of a bit of food, a drinking vessel or a cooking utensil would be considered an offense meriting severe punishment, and the unlucky of- fender would be fortunate if he escaped a mobbing. 4 INTRODUCTION The infinite variety of detail connected with all conditions of life there gives to any one who has anything to tell about India an excellent oppor- tunity and a full warrant to go ahead and tell it. The Rev. Ernest F. Ward and his wife, Phebe EK. Ward, who have written this book, have been missionaries in India for more than twenty-five years. They are entirely competent to speak on the various phases of India life, as they are well acquainted with the customs, history and _ tradi- tions of that wonderful land. The writer of this introduction, when in India, traveled quite exten- sively through the central and northern parts of that country, and had the privilege of having Mr. Ward as a companion as well as a guide and in- terpreter during the greater part of that itinerary. He proved himself to be thoroughly familiar with all conditions met with during the trip, and made it both enjoyable and instructive. Mr. and Mrs. Ward have three daughters now attending the Seattle Seminary, at Seattle, Wash- ington, and in order that these young ladies may receive a suitable education, Mr. and Mrs. Ward are living on one-half salary, so that the other half may be applied toward the education of their daughters. By strict economy and by much self- denial they have been able so far to do this, and by the assistance of some friends as well as by the liberality of those in charge of the Seminary at Seattle, they have so far succeeded in their efforts in this direction. They are publishing this volume primarily to excite and extend the interest now ex- INTRODUCTION 5 isting among the Christian people in the evangel- ization of that dark land to which so many years of their lives have been devoted, hut the hope is also entertained that the sale of this book may be sufficiently large to produce some profit that may be applied toward the very desirable end of giving to these young ladies an education which cannot be obtained in that land where both love and duty now hold the parents. May the publication of this book accomplish all, and more, than the authors hope. Watter A. SELLEW. PREFACE While aiming at a general plan in the order of the events and incidents related herein, our readers will doubtless discover that the arrangement is more or less crude. We have not designed in this little work to recount in logical and chronological order, the experiences and happenings of our mis- sionary life. These pages have been written while engaged in numerous missionary duties. Here are recorded mainly echoes from memory, pictures from daily life, and extracts from ramblings through many books on a vast theme. Other faults will also be noticed in wording and style. We be- speak therefore the kind indulgence of our readers for the seeming “shreds and patches” character of the book, as well as its other literary defects. We are aware that many will be familiar with some of the historical and geographical facts re- corded. But we trust our readers will understand that the main object of these repetitions is to give the needed background to our own sketches. Ernest F. Warp. Darwah, India, November Sixteenth, 1907. CHART SHOWING THE RELATION OF ENGLISH ENGLISH Mother Father Brother Daughter Widow Heart Sweat Red, ruddy Serpent Yoke Anger Wit West Name Young, youth Day Night Mead (honey wine) Star Path Want, desire, wish Truth Mind New Fox, jackal Servant Tree Corner TO SANSCRIT SANSCRIT matra pitra bhratra duhitra widhwa hriday swed rudhir (blood) sarp yugum angar (coals of fire) widhya (learning) ast (setting of sun) naman yuva diva nisha madhu (honey) stara path (course of action) wantch eatyarth manas nawa sragal sevante (they serve) taru kona WHERE FounD Matt. 10: 36 % 10: 36 10521 14:6 se 23:14 bee 1 29 Luke 22: 44 Heb. 11: 28 Matt. 7:10 te “T1229 John 21:9 Acts 26: 24 Luke 4: 40 Matt. 1:25 Acts 20:9 6693 24 se Or 24 Matt. 3:4 Rev. 9:1 Acts 19: 23 Mark 9: 35 John 18: 37 Rom. 7: 25 Eph. 4: 24 Matt. 8: 20 Rev. 7:15 Luke 23: 31 Eph. 2: 20 CHAPTER I. WHO ARE THE HINDUS? “He hath made of one blood all nations.” A little over one hundred years ago, when the learned men of England were searching into the ancient books of India, they made a great dis- covery. Digging down into the petrified remains of language, they unearthed facts which prove be- yond a doubt that these olive-brown Hindus are our near relation; nearer by far than the lighter colored Chinese, or even the Jews, Turks and Hun- garians. If we go back in time some 3,500 years, we shall most probably find the ancestors of the lighter col- ored Hindus, and the Persians, Greeks, Romans, Teutons, and Kelts, living together in the high- lands of Central Asia, perhaps in the valley of the Oxus and all speaking what is now known as the language of the Aryans. In process of time they separated, each family or tribe forming a new dialect of its own. No specimen of this common Aryan speech has come down to our day, but it is now largely believed that the ancient Sanscrit of India is the nearest in form to the original mother-tongue spoken by all 9 10 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND the tribes. The discovery of this curious old Jan- guage by European scholars brought to light addi- tional evidence of the unity of the human race. I have before me the New Testament translated into Sanscrit. This language has not been my spe- cial study; but being acquainted with some of the dialects of North India, I have no great difficulty, with the help of a concordance, in finding any sim- ple word I require. The reader will notice the chart given. Here is a brief list of words with the places where they are found in the Sanscrit Testament. Comparisons of this kind have established the fact that both languages sprang from the same original source; and in comparing Sanscrit with Greek and Latin, the similarity is still more striking. Especially note the word “duhitra” in the second column of the chart. It is derived from “duhan,” “to milk a cow,” and meant, originally, “she who milks the cow,” or, “milkmaid.” The ancient Aryans of India were a pastoral people as also tillers of the soil. Many of their prayers in the Rig Veda, supposed to have been written over 3,000 years ago, were for crops, cat- tle, sons and general mercies. They appear to have quite drifted away from Monotheism, and were still a bold and enterprising race. They drove back the aboriginal tribes and became the ruling people in the northern part of the peninsula. The ancient name for India was Bharat Khand. By this name it is still known among the Hindus, but with boundaries ill-defined. The former name WHO ARE THE HINDUS bl was given to it by the Greeks. Our knowledge of ancient India is very limited, although there are volumes of old religious and philosophical books, poems, legends, and so-called works of science. The Hindus were not historians and saw no neces- sity for recording plain facts for posterity. The ancient Greeks tell us that Alexander the Great invaded India about 300 B. C. Porus, the Hindu monarch who resisted him, was at length wounded and captured. On being asked by his con- querors how he would be treated, he replied, “Like a king.” This answer, it is said, so pleased Alex- ander the Great that he was restored to his king- dom, and the two thereafter remained fast friends. It is well known that the natives of India are not all of one stock. The ancient Aryans swept down through the passes of the Himalayas, and found the country already occupied by a dark-col- ored race, who had themselves most probably in turn invaded the territory from the North. These latter were not of the Negro type, but had straight black hair, dark eyes and broader noses than the Aryans and withal were a trifle shorter. The for- mer overcame and despised the latter, called them “ooat-nosed,” and treated them in much the same manner as the Anglo-Saxons were treated by the Normans. They in time, however, amalgamated with them, absorbed much of their native cults into the Aryan religion, at the same time dis- placing the former and also powerfully influencing the native tongues. Centuries rolled by; new dia- lects were formed with Sanscrit as a base; new 12 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND communities and kingdoms sprang up; the caste system developed; and Hinduism, more nearly as it now is, took shape and spread over the empire. Something over 2,000 years ago, the ancient Hindus had established governments, lived in walled cities and towns, practised the arts and trades, and had a written language and literature; while the Keltic tribes of Britain worshiped the oak and mistletoe, practised barbarous rites, even sacri- ficing human beings like the wild Khonds of Orissa, they wandered about like savages, rudely clad in skins of beasts. The Anglo Saxons too, our more immediate ancestors who lived in the wilds of Germany, were not much in advance of the Kelts. During the centuries India has stood stock still, so to speak, until comparatively modern times, and in some respects has even retrograded. Britain, Gaul and Germany, and the other nations of Europe have steadily advanced. Why is this? Why have the nations of the West so far outstripped their oriental brothers in the race for civilization, in- telligence and virtue? Is it because we are nat- urally more righteous and clever than they? Is it because we from the start had more brain, and brawn and character? Is it because we were capable of a higher development? I think not, al- though some would have us believe so. The Hindus are not barbarians, much less say- ages. They are heathen, it is true, but they have a civilization which has come down from ancient times, which in many features is not to be de- spised. I grant that it is fast becoming effete; but WHO ARE THE HINDUS 13 these specimens of handiwork, material and intel- lectual, which remain, prove the natives of India to be a superior race, with the greatest possibili- ties; while it goes without saying that some of the noble minds of India of the present day, who are being developed under the new civilization which Christianity has brought in, are taking and will take a high place in the thought and influence that move the world. But why has this branch of the Aryan race lagged behind, and why have the _ occidental branches pushed ahead? In all probability we all started out from our ancient home with the same “capital stock.” We all have had our national calamities and great evils to contend against. We all have had to combat the same retrograding tend- encies. There can be but one answer to these questions, and already it has been suggested. It was our good fortune to have been picked up and restored by the Good Samaritan, while the Indian races have been perishing by the roadside. It was our good fortune to be under the benign influence of Christianity for nearly two millenniums, while our India brothers have been toiling, broiling and sweating under terrible taskmasters for perhaps three! What these taskmasters are, and how they have enslaved and degraded the millions of this land, we shall endeavor to show in the following chap- ters. We shall picture some of the vices, customs and superstitions of the people. This is done in no 14 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND spirit of contempt or ridicule for the natives of India, but rather with motives of pure benevolence and compassion. CHAPTER II. HOME AND VILLAGE LIFE “Because they were Ishmaclites.” In the Orient, and especially in British India, the inhabitants dwell for the most part in towns, The traveler looks over the country in vain for farm houses and barns and fences, such as are found in Europe and America. Ninety per cent of the population in this land are cultivators, living largely in villages having under one thousand in- habitants each. Often the villages dot the land- scape in picturesque beauty. When the houses are thatched it is difficult at some seasons of the year to distinguish them at a great distance, as their walls of earth are of a color with the ground and are not high. Villages are often concealed also by the foliage of the tamarind, mango, neem and other common shade trees of India. In some parts the villages are as thickly located as Zulu kraals in Africa, or as the plantations in some of the states of America. There is a high hill near Don- gargarh, Central Province, from the top of which I have counted some thirty-four villages with their adjacent ponds. Towns and villages are often named for the Hindu gods; for example. thirty-five BG 16 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND are named for Ram and Berar; but more often they take the names of trees. In Wun District alone are no less than forty villages named after the sacred peepul, which is one in every thirty. In former times most towns were surrounded by walls, and in the center there was a fort often having underground rooms to hide in. Since the peaceful period began, the result of British rule in India, these defenses have largely disappeared. Here and there, however, may be seen old crum- bling remains of rude fortifications, often covered with grass, shrubbery and trees. Considerable of the ancient walls of larger towns, such as Burhan- pur, Ellichpur and Amraoti, which were built more substantially of stone, are yet standing. That of the first named especially, is in a good state of preservation, with its time-stained bastions, towers and perforated breastworks. Old gates of some of the towns are studded with immense iron spikes to resist the butting of war elephants. The great majority of the buildings in the larger cities and towns are built of stone, brick or adobe, with tiled roofs. In the villages, they are very largely constructed of “wattle and daub.” The average hut of this kind is eight by ten feet in size and five feet high at the eaves. First a frame of wooden poles is erected, then on all sides bamboo wattles or hurdles of small sticks are tied securely, and plastered on both sides with clay. When dry, the walls and ground enclosed thereby are smeared with cow dung. This last process stops up all the cracks and prevents the walls, for a time at least, IVINGOWLR LV ASNOIE NOUSTIN ATIG HOME AND VILLAGE LIFE 17 from harboring fleas, bugs and scorpions. The roof is either of grass or tile. If of the former, it fur- nishes a good protection against both heat and rain, but many times is a hiding place for snakes, lizards, scorpions and other vermin. One of the first missionaries to Ellichpur heard an alarm during the night from a servant’s house on the compound. He immediately went out with a gun and shot a cobra six feet long, coiled up in the thatch. It was just ready to drop on some one’s bed. Brick and adobe houses are larger, more permanent, and often two or more stories in height. In all native houses of whatever size or material the rooms are generally small, the ceilings low and windows scarce. There are no chimneys to the fireplaces in these houses, as extra vents would be considered super- fluous. The smoke does not seem to annoy the na- tives seriously, and they appear to be satisfied with their present arrangements for cooking and _ heat- ing. At Bhaisdehi, Central Province, a native saw a missionary having a chimney built to his cook- house, and asked what it was for. “To let the smoke out,” answered the latter. “But,” replied the former, “haven’t you got the doors and win- dows?” We have had considerable experience with na- tive houses, having lived in eight or ten during our pilgrimage in the land. One may be made fairly comfortable (though not equal to a bungalow) by enlarging the rooms, elevating the roof and mul- tiplying the windows. Nowadays corrugated iron 18 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND for roofing is coming largely into use, and there is scarcely a village in this vicinity of any size which has not one or more buildings with iron roof- ing. If this is true all over the East—and there are over 500,000 villages in India alone—it may ac- count in some measure for “billion dollar” iron trusts. Still for decades to come, on account of the poverty of the people, grass must continue to cover the huts of millions. While journeying through Central India we have many times lodged and found a comfortable shelter in the huts of friendly natives, cooked our food in their humble fireplaces and slept soundly on their beds. Sometimes not so soundly. Once while on a missionary tour I was entertained at the house of a Gond patel near a jungle. In the same room where I slept(?) on a cot (the room was only twelve feet square) were one other man, one boy, one cow, four calves and a dog. This was in the month of February, at the beginning of the hot season, and there was a fire burning most of the night in the middle of the room on the floor. I sur- vived the ordeal in spite of fleas, etc., slept some, and thanked my host on leaving. He had really denied himself in supplying my needs. Bungalow is the name given to the large, airy houses occupied by Europeans. They are com- monly one story, but have high roofs, large win- dows and doors, and are either thatched or tiled. Moreover they are built up from the ground, have verandas to protect the walls from the heat of the sun, and are ordinarily supplied with swinging HOME AND VILLAGE LIFE 19 fans. We have built and occupied several bunga- lows since coming to India. Buildings of this kind are indispensable to the comfort of most Europeans and Americans in this country—missionaries uvut excepted. Their occupants are usually less liable to take malarial fevers and are better prepared to endure the heat. They are not always secure against invasion of snakes, rats and other vermin. In our bungalow at Gondia, a venomous serpent crawled up and dropped from a curtain rod above the door. While at Wun in the space of six months we killed over one hundred scorpions, sey- eral rats, and a lizard two feet long, although the bungalow in which they were found was con- structed of stone walls, stone floors and a corru- gated iron roof. Houses in Indian towns and villages are com- monly huddled together promiscuously, little at- tention being paid to harmony of arrangement. Among some of the castes, three or more families live in one house. Thus the population is con- densed. Darwah, for example, where we now live, is a place of about 6,000 souls, all crowded into an area of one-fourth square mile. Such a town in America would occupy from four to eight times this space. The natives are careless about building their houses in a straight line or even parallel with their neighbors. They seem rather to avoid it. As a result, streets and lanes are for the most part very crooked. As one enters an Indian village he is very likely to be greeted with gruesome sights, discordant 20 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND sounds and unpleasant smells; and if a stranger withal, the uncanny bazaar dogs may beset you. There is no danger, though these things strike you repulsively at first; and if you are a missionary, you soon learn to accommodate your nerves and senses to them for the sake of the people. These things are not uninteresting when you come to know the people; and their sowls are precious. In the streets you meet all sorts of people, some of whom give you polite, oriental salutations, while others do not appear so friendly. Street quarrels are much in evidence in Indian towns. Given, a hundred families living in close proximity, the children mostly on the streets, the women ignorant and often idle, together with a heathen atmosphere, and the result can readily be imagined. The zenana system for the seclusion of women prevails in North India, but not so extensively in Central India where we are. Here the females of the lower classes and of most of the middle and upper, are allowed to go abroad. In many villages may be seen the wide-spread- ing banyan or glossy peepul, beneath the cooling shade of which the people come to lounge. Here stands the local god. I said stands, but I should have said sits, for most everybody and everything in India sits down. Writers, weavers, carpenters, siniths, baniyas, barbers, butchers, all take to “nother earth” if they can when plying their trades. There is a notorious dislike to active occu- pations among the Brahmins and adjacent castes, who aim to secure sedentary employment if pos- STUPE CURRY GRINDING R= COOKE INDIAN HOME AND VILLAGE LIFE 21 sible. Some years ago a railroad company in Cen- tral India, wanting about 200 station agents, clerks, ete., advertised for them. In a comparative- ly short time the company received 25,000 applica- tions, mostly from unemployed men of those castes. Near the center of every village, there is often seen a shed-like building called a “chowree,” which answers for a town-hall. Hear the headman holds his court, and respectable travelers are also some- times lodged. It is likewise the resort where caste- men meet to decide how big a fine (perhaps in the shape of a fat feast including liquor) some poor fellow who accidentally broke caste, will have to pay. Caste gatherings of this kind are called “panchayats,” and their deliberations are not ac- cording to Cushing’s Manual. The usual mode is for all to talk at once and the fellow who talks the loudest has the floor. Land is held largely by leasehold in India, the government being considered the real owner. The great mass of the cultivators are tenants. The he- reditary tax-collector of the village and surround- ing fields is usually the headman called “patel” in Central India. He is responsible to the govern- ment for the taxes or “land rent,” as it is called, and the general good order of the community. He occasionally decides petty cases. His pay often amounts to one-third of the sum collected. If land is to be bought or rented, he is the one to be con- sulted. There is also in every village an account- ant who makes out legal papers, receipts, etc., and is frequently the only person there able to read 22 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND or write. After papers have been drawn up they must be attested. When we bought land in the Bhandara District, the owner and two witnesses attested the deed by stamping the record with their thumbs dipped in lamp black. This is a very ancient, oriental custom. Tamerlane used to stamp his grants, so it is said, with his whole hand dipped in blood. Besides the two officers of the village mentioned above, there are seven other persons who draw an allowance from the local taxes. They are the priest, astrologer, barber, watchman, carpenter, smith, scavenger. The watch- man goes about the streets at dead of night and warns the inhabitants of thieves by crying out at the top of his voice, “Keep awake,” “Beware,” and “Look sharp.” The astrologer points out the lucky days for weddings, journeys, sowing, reaping, and undertakings generally. He is believed to be es- sential to the prosperity of the village. One of the best places to study native life is about the village well or tank, where, in the early morning, a motley throng is gathered. Most of the crowd, largely females, are after their daily supply of water. Some are bathing, some are beating their wet clothes on the rocks, some are scouring their brass utensils, while others are scouring out their mouths. This last operation is often very thor- ough, charcoal and water being used in abundance. Two fingers are thrust down the throat to induce coughing. These means, accompanied by a great deal of hawking and spitting, are believed by many not only to effectually purify the mouth, but to HOME AND VILLAGE LIFE 23 dislodge the devils which may have gone down during the night! In most of the empire except Bengal, the men among the Hindus wear usually a white or red tur- ban of muslin bound about the head; that is to say, when they go out. Often at home it is kept on, ex- cept at meal time and during the hours of rest. As the head is kept shaved, it is not so uncomfort- able as many suppose, and it is needed as a double protection both from heat and cold. The different castes, or groups of castes, have their character- istic turbans. The Marathi Brahmins, for example, wear a red one bordered with gold which resembles the wing of a bird sticking up. A few turbans re- semble a flaring bowl, some a mushroom, and others a cabbage head; while the Parsee hats of Bombay have been likened to the cone and crater of Vesuvius. Mohammedans who have been to Mecca wear a green turban. Reddish buff is the sacred color of the Hindu sadhus. The ordinary turban is made of from three to five yards of cloth, but I have seen them with twenty. The Deccani Brahmin’s turban when unfurled reveals a strip of muslin thirty yards long. The latter is not full width or it would be unbearable. The loin cloth is generally three to five yards long. Most Hindus wear cotton jackets or coats which are sometimes tied with a string on the right side, while the coats of the Mohammedans, if tied, are tied on the left. The women for the most part wear eight or nine yards of cotton cloth of various colors (full width) neatly bound around 24 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND the body from head to foot. A string is sometimes tied about the waist to keep the garment in place; and there are no buttons, hooks, buckles or pins in the whole garment, nor a stitch of thread. In our part of Central Province the women usually wear in addition to the above, a small, short- sleeved jacket or bodice, but in the East the ma- jority go without. Taking the whole of Central India, the average yearly clothing outfit of a man or woman of the agricultural classes is twelve yards of cotton cloth. Like all heathen, the natives of India are pas- sionately fond of ornaments. They literally load themselves down with silver, brass, copper, pewter, iron and glass. Ornaments are worn on the head, in the ears and nose, round the neck, arms, fingers, waist, legs, feet and toes. Our eldest child had a nurse, each of whose ears was punched with nine large holes, each one carrying a large silver ring. It is very common to see women with eight or ten bracelets on each arm; and there are some castes who load their arms nearly to their shoulders. Once, when traveling in the hills, my wife counted on one woman 216 ornaments distributed as fol- lows: One hundred ten strings of beads, one neck- lace of pewter, fifty-nine brass finger rings, thirty- two bracelets of metal and lacquer and fourteen anklets of brass. It is not our purpose to give a comprehensive view of the home life, manners and customs of the people of India. We shall seek rather to interest VIGNT NI ONIHSVAA TISTd HOME AND VILLAGE LIFE 25 our readers by relating things, for the most part, which have come under our own observation. These oriental folks have many customs which are quite unlike and even opposite to ours. For example: People in America dress up when they are to dine, whereas most of the Hindus—the men at least—undress, and keep nothing on but a loin cloth. In America, when entering a house, they take off their hats and keep their shoes on; here, they do just the contrary. There they serve the ladies first; here in India the women wait till the men and boys are fed. Women there gather their dresses behind; here the gathers are all in front. The tailor there pushes the needle toward himself; here he shoves it directly away. The carpenter pulls his saw forcibly one way, but pushes it gen- tly the other. A cow in America is always milked on the right side; here, always on the left. The same noise that is made there to urge a horse to go, is made here to cause him to stop. Horses and cattle in India are very commonly stabled in the front yard instead of in the back, as in America. There, to “whitewash” means to give a bad man a good name; here it means to give a good man a bad one. There they say a refractory boy should have his will broken; here they say his head. In Hindustani they read from right to left, and the writer of a letter signs his name at the top. In most Indian languages they have post-positions instead of prep- ositions. Hence it is “table on” and “man by,” in- stead of “on the table’ and “by the man.” In the Marathi account of the prodigal son, it. reads, 26 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND “ring in his finger,” and “shoes in his feet,” and in Gen. 8:8, it reads, “back of the ground,” instead of “face,” etc. Then in this odd language we read “foot finger” for toe and “hand stocking” for glove, while hub is a “wheel’s-pumpkin” and an anchor is a “ship’s plow.” When we first came to India we were surprised to discover that the cooks and dress-makers who worked for Europeans were men, while the hod- carriers were women. Such are their ideas of propriety in this strange land. In America a noisy school would not be tolerated; here, the more noise they make over their books in village schools, the more studious they are thought to be. Stu- dents chant the poetry in their readers, as well as the numerical tables. The Hindus generally are very fond of music. Their scale differs from ours and their ideas of music otherwise, are quite materially unlike ours. The drum seems to be the chief instrument in their crchestras, and there is a great variety of them. Talking with a young rajah one time on the sub- ject of “progress,” he remarked to me that “the English were ahead in most everything,” but that we must concede that the natives of India were ahead of us in music. The above are some of the many things which differentiate these Hindu-Aryans from their broth- ers in the Occident. However, I forbear making further comparisons lest I seem invidious. Too many Europeans are disposed to look derisively upon the native manners and customs in this land, HOME AND VILLAGE LIFE 27 and repudiate them wholesale. But this is not the habit of the missionaries. True missionaries seek to discover and commend all that is good, and con- demn only that which is positively wrong. As compared with other non-Christian people, the Hindus in the matter of their personal habits are very praiseworthy. Their garments, when the body is properly concealed, are quite well adapted, both to the climate and to their means. The diet of the better classes among the Hindus, except the excessive amount of condiments, is not distasteful, and I dare say, quite as healthful for a hot climate, if not more, as that of those Europeans who eat daily many courses of meat and top off their din- ners with wine. They are much given to bath- ing. (The Brahmins bathe the entire body daily as a religious duty.) They wash their clothes at short intervals; shave, pare their nails and scour their teeth frequently. [ have traveled in company with hundreds of © Hindus and other natives by rail, boat, tonga and other ways, as well as with other nationalities, and do not hesitate to declare that the natives of India generally, for traveling companions, compare most favorably from a hygienic standpoint, with the laboring classes in the Occident. They are, in fact, freer from unpleasant odors than those semi- pauper emigrants who are shipped from Europe to America. It is all important that missionaries learn to adapt themselves so far as practicable to the harm- less social customs, etiquette and hospitable ideas 28 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND of the natives. If they are indifferent to these mat- ters there is danger of giving needless offense. In calling at Hindu houses for example, as there are no chairs, the missionary should learn to take kindly to the floor, and not keep his friends stand- ing, as native decorum forbids their sitting down first. If it is a house of rank, or if there are re- ligious restrictions, he should leave his shoes at the door unless excused therefrom. If he asks a high-caste man for water, he should not seize the “lota” or cup from his hands, but improvise a cup with his own hands and drink therefrom, while the former pours the water in. He should never intrude on a native at meal time, unless invited, nor trespass on the precincts of his fireplace when the latter is cooking. Finally, if his native friend brings food cooked in native style and served on leaves or brass platters, he should try to eat it with good grace a-la-orient, remember- ing that the Hindus, too, are sons of Japheth, and the cleanest heathen on the face of the earth! S RSs ~ SAGE A SW — ‘ SS : SS SS WATER CARRIER OR A “BEESTIE, DRINKING FROM CHAPTER ITI. SOME NATIVE TRAITS “For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek.” There is a proverb in India—‘Hurry makes bad curry”—the moral of which is over much admired and exemplified by the natives. To illustrate: Suppose you are in urgent need of a box, or you want a door hung. You send for a carpenter to “come early the next morning and do the work at once.” Being duly called he agrees to come. Morn- ing arrives. You look anxiously for your man. Along about ten or eleven o’clock he appears, not to do the work, but to look it over. Then he goes away and the next day brings another fellow with him. The two sit down, take a smoke, talk the matter over with you. Then terms are Ssatis- factorily arranged. After this “ventilation” he agrees to be on hand promptly, and you are in- spired with hope. But hold on! Next day is a holiday, so your workman begs to delay the job one day longer. On the third or fourth day after engaging him, he turns up late in the morning with his kit of primitive tools. Now you think, “This is business, and the work will soon be done.” But 29 30 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND alas, it is only the beginning! If a board is wanted, instead of sawing it out lengthwise from a timber, he chips away the timber laterally with an adz, and leaves the board. If there is planing to be done, another man must be called to help shove the plane the other way. If a hole is to be bored, the carpenter himself holds the drill, but some one else must pull the string. Then if any work is to be plumbed with a cord and ball, it takes two and sometimes three men to do it. All this, together with the workman’s natural lethargy, plus his ap- parent indifference as to when the work will be finished, and you have a fair sample of some oriental traits which are most trying to occidental patience. In some such way as the above our grace is fre- quently put to a test in India. We are sometimes strongly tempted to snatch up the tools and as- tonish the natives by showing them how to work. The average native, however, has no enthusiasm on that line. It is neither in his bones, his creed or his conscience. One writer has said, ‘“There’s no use in trying to bustle the East.” Whether this is a wise resolution or not, I shall not now discuss. But so far as our modern Bharat Khandite is con- cerned, whatever his ancestors may have been, it seems at present clear that he won’t be expeditious if he could, and he cannot if he would, and to him there’s no virtue in it if he should. Hageling over the price of goods is the common practise in India. It is customary to charge, to begin with, from twenty-five to fifty per cent more FPAINIE MUSSULMAN SOME NATIVE TRAITS 31 than the proper price, and then they expect you to “beat them down.” This is not all. The shop- keepers have false weights and measures to use on occasions, adulterate flour, ghee, oil, ete., and pass bogus coin. The “baniya” (shopkeeper) is the most wholly consecrated man in the world, i. e., to get rich. He bows down and worships his pile of rupees and account books like any other idol one day in the year. It is a common saying that “He who is sharper than the baniya is mad.’ Many of them try to atone for their knavery by feeding sugar to the ants; and in Bombay many baniyas who belong to the Jain sect, support a hospital for sick cows, monkeys, cats, mice, etc. One ward is said to contain “inhabited” beds whereon fakirs are hired by wealthy baniyas to sleep and thus re- gale the bugs upon their blood! Conscience as regards truth-telling is a com- modity which needs to be largely imported into British India, as the original supply seems well nigh exhausted. It has been said that the prevail- ing evil trait of the oriental races is deception, while the occidentals are pugnacious. Be that as it may, one thing is certain, the great majority in India seem to act on the principle that honesty is not the best policy. We had an old man for cook when we first came to India who knew a little English. He did most of our buying and often professed to be making fine bargains for us. He used to put on a most indignant air when the trickery of other natives we dealt with was brought to light. Then when we ventured to do 32 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND our own trading, he would sometimes confidentially say, “They be all cheating to master, they be all great rogues, sir.” But in due time his own trick- ery was discovered and it turned out that he him- self was the biggest rogue of the whole lot. It is often the custom in India to have the cow which supplies you with milk brought to your door; and to insure the genuine article, she is milked in your presence. At one of our mission stations it so happened we bought milk of a woman who frequently diluted it by means of a bottle of water, artfully concealed in the folds of her dress. We wondered how it could be, seeing she milked her buffalo in front of the bungalow daily. But she was very sharp and watched her chance, and the moment no one was looking, she quickly dumped the water into the milk. At last her dodge was discovered by a native Christian, who, spying her through the crack of a door, ran out and seized the bottle while she was in the very act. Then she fell down at our feet, urging that this was only the first time, and begged vehemently to be excused for her “fault,” promising never to do so again, and positively to give us good milk in the future. 3ut having been long enough in the country to learn the usual palaver under such circumstances, we thought best to dismiss her at once. Indian servants as a rule have to be watched. Almost every householder carries a bunch of keys. Nearly all the stealing is of a petty kind, con- sisting of food, fuel, oil, and such small articles SOME NATIVE TRAITS 33 as could be readily utilized or disposed of in the bazaars. It is a common practise among army officers to have their horses fed in their presence, lest the native grooms steal the grain for themselves. While living in Nandgaon State, a woman em- ployed in our cook house, stole a large quantity of rice and hid it under a stone near the fire. She professed innocence; but after a thorough search was made, and the grain discovered, she threw up her hands and said, “Alas, what can I say! It is my fate! It is my fate!” This way of accounting for events is universal in the East, and the saying, “Who can rub out what fate has written?” is in most everybody’s mouth. Indeed, the general belief in Fatalism operates as a sort of an opiate both to the Hindu and the Mohammedan conscience. Missionaries in most parts of India, howsoever economical otherwise, are obliged to keep a cook, a washerwoman and a sweeper, with or without a recommend. In a large number of places a water- carrier or “beestie’ is also required. This last named servant, if a Moslem, generally brings your water in a leather bag (the bottle of Scripture), and is a most important man; in fact, he is indis- pensable in many places, for in the towns and vil- lages where wells are few, springs unknown, and there are no water pipes or mains, it is usually out of the question for you to lug your own supply. The well or tank on which you depend may be a 34 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND mile distant, and a water supply you must have in the tropics, clean, cold and constant. Beestie is a Hindustani word meaning, literal- ly, “the heavenly one.” In a dry and thirsty land, the regular advents of this needful messenger are not unlike angel visits. But remember we are in India still, and in justice to truth it is fair to state that these calls are not always such heavenly reminders. In fact, these mundane angels, like other earthly creatures, sometimes cheat. To ex: plain: Your beestie is supposed to take his sup- ply from the best well in town. You pay him extra perhaps for so doing, and he is ready to make his affidavit that he actually does, swearing by the Koran or the Kaaba stone, or if a Hindu, by the tail of the sacred cow. But alas, in point of fact, you find by investigation that he frequently fills it at the nearest, and perchance fever-infected well; and you are the sufferer, while he is the gainer. This is not all; they often bring very un- wholesome water for other people in their old goat: skin bottles which are sometimes filthy on the in- side. These receptacles running foul, they are not careful to scour them out before bringing your sup- ply. Such is life in modern Bharat Khand! Nevertheless the natives of this land are natur. ally patient and forbearing, more so perhaps than any other people; and this trait to my mind should count as a redeeming feature in their character. Indeed, their native gentleness and_ politeness ought to go a long way; not of course to atone for their many defects, but toward averaging up their A HINDU MILKMAID WITIT EARTIFEN POTS AND BRASS LOTTA IN HER HAND SOME NATIVE TRAITS 35 character as compared with Europeans generally. The natives of India—both Hindus and Mussal- mans—compare favorably in moral character with those nations who have been for centuries under the blighting influences of Popery. Such violent crimes which are so common among the criminal classes in European and American cities are un- common in India. The inhabitants of this land, as a whole, are a peaceful race, and not over difficult to govern. While it is true that deception and dishonesty are so prevalent everywhere, I have met some who, despite the corrupt teachings of the Shasters and the Koran, have a high sense of honor. The greatest virtue in the Hindu mind is to be unmoved under provocation, while in the West honesty is perhaps considered the paramount vir- tue. We must not forget that every principle of sin in the heart is equally vile in the sight of God; and His word declares that “Whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” A stream cannot rise higher than its source. Men do not gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles. The moral standard prevalent among the people of any nation cannot rise higher than that of the religious books in which they believe. The Nanava Dharm Shaster of the Hindus teaches that there are “five sinless lies” which a man of any of the three higher castes may tell. They are, first, to women; second, in joking; third, in the inter- ests of marriage; fourth, to earn his livelihood 36 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND when in difficulty, and fifth, to save the lives of Brahmins and cows. In the Koran also (28th Sipara) the message which came to Mohammed reads, “God hath allowed you the dissolution of your oaths.” If according to the Tamil proverb— “One grain of rice is sufficient to test a whole pot full,’ then these books are weighed and found wanting. But not only one grain, but the whole pot, and many pots have been analyzed and tried, and found full of the deadliest poison! May God hasten the day when floods from His Revealed Word shall wash away error and darkness from the land, and purify the heart and the conscience of the nation! CHAPTER IV. HINDUISM—CASTE “And there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast.” A foreigner visiting India for the first time will be struck with the unsightly caste marks which so commonly disfigure the faces and bodies of many of the Hindus. But on further acquaint- ance with the people, he will soon come to know that the whole community, from top to bottom, is more or less honey-combed with a system peculiar to the country, and having its counterpart in some of the tyrannical features of trades unions. According to the Hindu Shasters, the Brahmins or priests sprang from the mouth of Brahma, the Kshatriyas, or warriors from his arms, the Vais- yas, or traders, from his thighs, and the Sudras, or servile class, from his feet. Caste is an old in- stitution. Even in Manu’s time (the Hindu Moses who wrote perhaps 500 B. C.) there were one hun- dred different castes. Now castes are enumerated by the thousand. Caste feeling pervades the at- mosphere of this land, from shore to shore, and like the virus of the deadly cobra, permeates all the veins and arteries of society. Even Moham- 37 38 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND medans and the aboriginal tribes have been af- fected by it, and there are not wanting nominal Christians who proudly dote on their high caste origin. : Caste consists of social clans and guilds that enact arbitrary laws about eating, drinking, mar- riage, associating with, or even touching the per- son or property of those lower than one’s self. The violation of these rules brings down heavy fines and penalties upon the delinquent, who in the meantime is ceremonially unclean until the claim is met and the penances performed. The average Hindu also believes that the keeping of his caste inviolate, is one of the chief things in relig- ion, and has something to do with his fate here- after. I once was on a tour through North Berar, traveling in an ox-cart. A clever looking native walking behind, I fell in conversation with him, and after a while asked him to get up and ride. Im- mediately the cart stopped and my driver, who was of a higher caste than the other fellow, threat- ened to leave me in the lurch if I allowed the lower caste man to sit in the cart. The latter took no offense, said nothing and followed on as if noth- ing had happened. While living at Gondia, Cen- tral Province, we were obliged to bring water from a long distance because the public well near by, used by men of the farmer caste, was forbidden to our Christian boys who brought our supply. In Burhanpur one of our servants used to go a quarter of a mile to bring water for herself, INDLA Zz Or HINDUISM—CASTE 39 rather than take it from our faucet touched by a low caste man, though the source of supply was the same. Another servant would not lift a bed, or a chair, or even a mat with his inferior neigh- bor at the other end. One would bring eggs for us from the market, but would not touch fowls; while another would not touch either. Still an- other would not eat any of our food wet, but was quite ready to eat it dry before it was cooked. A man we tried to hire was willing to do all we re- quired of him, but could not bring our drinking water. He could water the garden, bring water to wash and bathe, but not to drink; while an- other could bring the latter, but could not touch the earthen vessels in which it was kept. I have unwittingly defiled the food of natives by touching some of their cooking utensils, in which event they were obliged to throw their food away. While building a bungalow, our carpenters and masons instead of drinking the clean water from our well close at hand, used to send off and bring unwholesome water from a distant stream. On another building job we had, four castes of workmen were employed. These gave us much trouble in adjusting the water question, as neither caste would drink from the hands of the others and arrangements had to be made in order to keep them on the work. By chance my wife touched the outside of one of their tin buckets with the end of her umbrella and the contents had to be thrown away. In like manner our eldest daughter, when a child, was one day playing top near a ser- 40 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND vant’s house, when the top rolled around and bare- ly touched an earthen jar. The latter was at once condemned as unfit for further use. The natives of India generally drink out of a brass pot called a “lota.” To touch the lota of a man of a higher caste is considered most reprehen- sible, and if done mischievously, causing the owner to break his caste, is a violation of the Criminal Code of British India. Some Hindus in drinking rater from a lota, do not allow their lips to touch the vessel, but hold it above, and skilfully let a stream fall into the open mouth. Others make a receptacle with one hand in front of the mouth, and drink from that, while the majority drink as we do. When we, or persons of inferior caste, ask water from high caste natives, they sometimes con- descend to pour the same into our hands made into a trough to drink from. This contrivance we never dislike if the water does not run down our neck and sleeves. No doubt many natives in one way or another frequently break their caste; but dire necessity has taught them how to evade the penalties. The whole system in fact, encourages hypocrisy. We have had wealthy Mohammedans drink water from our hands inside our bungalow, who did not dare to do so outside. Multitudes of natives admit that the system is wrong, but at the same time are too cowardly to ratify it openly in a practical way. Some months ago, while walking along the road to a village in this taluk, I happened to step over a small bundle tied up in a handkerchief. Thinking HINDUISM—CASTE 41 it to be the food some caste-keeping native dropped from his cart, I passed on without touching it. In a short time the owner coming back in his search for the missing property, said it was his lunch. He begged me humbly to let him know whether I had touched it or not. I assured him I had not, but at the same time gave him a severe reproof on the sin of keeping caste. He hung his head in shaine, acknowledged that all I said was true, but confessed he was afraid of his caste men. Fearing lest I should be offended, he sought to appease me by inviting me to get up in his cart and ride. There are many other illustrations of the va- garies of caste which have come under our observa- tion or into our experience. During the famine of 1897, many of the orphan children we first gath- ered in, died, and had to be speedily interred. Hav- ing eaten our food the corpses were reckoned as defiled, and as we kept servants who would not touch the dead bodies of such children, except the scavengers, I preferred to convey them in my own arms, rather than let that class of people do the work. After a while, some children we took in became strong enough to help their fellows, but in the meantime I carried fifty or sixty in the above way to the burial ground, as not one of their own class would volunteer or could be hired to assist. The outcome of caste is not simply a lot of in- conveniences to us missionaries or to the natives themselves. This terrible system raises up social barriers between the classes, dries up the milk of human kindness, destroys the brotherhood of man 42 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND and blocks the moral, social and intellectual prog- ress of the nation. If a man becomes a Christian, he is boycotted in trade, ostracized from his caste people, and if a Brahmin, treated as a dead man by his relatives. If caste could have its way, he would thereafter be subjected to perpetual torture, or if that were impossible, doomed to walk the earth a friendless, penniless vagabond. A woman lay all day in the agonies of death by the roadside in an Indian village, but no one offered her even a cup of cold water, because, as they said, “she belongs to another caste.” Where we were camping in the Betul District of Central Provinces, a poor, blind Hindu woman of the blacksmith caste, afflicted with the leprosy, crawled out of her hut toward a river where she wanted to bathe and die. She was weak and unable to reach it and in danger of being attacked by wild ani- mals at night. As none of her village people would help her, a missionary lady and myself carried her back on a sheet. Next day during her dying hours, her neighbors, instead of giving her comfort and assistance, only yelled out abuse at her for bring- ing, as they said, a curse on their village. Most missionaries preach against caste as an abomination in the sight of God, a tyrannical bur- den on the people and a bar to their moral, spirit- ual and social advancement. I have met govern- ment officers who defended it as a good institution. Sir Lepel Griffin, who is well known as unfriendly to missions, says in the Asiatic Quarterly Review, “If England continues to rule with justice, modera- HINDUISM—CASTE 43 tion and impartiality, with clean hands and an honest and eager desire to work for the good of the people, there is no fear that the Hindus will ever turn against her. And the explanation of this security is chiefly to be found in caste, which, by depriving the people of ambition, has left each man content with his position in life. The late American Minister told us that one of the advan- tages of democracy was that it enabled a man to climb from a coal pit to the highest position for which he was fitted. But in India, fortunately for society and the government, the collier would have no inclination to climb at all. Every occupation, even thieving, is hereditary; and the rules of caste ordinarily compel a man to follow the occupation of his forefathers, except where English influence and education have displaced the conservative tra- dition in favor of a more democratic view of the rights of humanity. “The English embroidery is only upon the hem ot the mysterious garment of Indian life, and the great mass of the people are unaffected by the strug- gles of the young men of our colleges to obtain a share in the offices at the disposal of the govern- ment. Even with these, the spirit of caste is still strong, and a wise policy would encourage and not stifle it.” It is probable that this expresses the view of not a few. It is very evident that the writer is no real friend to the people of India, and at the same time an enemy to true Christianity. We are friends to the British government, and’ admit that 44 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND it is far superior in its administration, to all others which have preceded it in India; but we are also friends to the highest welfare of the natives, and are alive to the terrible evils of caste. Hence we must confess that we would gladly see the whole system annihilated, even if it involved the wiping out of the present government. Strenuous efforts have been put forth by a few educated Hindus in the past few years to create a general national and patriotic sentiment. But as the caste system is so interwoven witb the warp and woof of their religious and social fabric, as things now are, it is next to impossible for them to become united on a broad and sympathetic basis. The British Government has little to fear, no doubt, if the native leaders hold on to caste. There is hope, however, that the Indians will some day be- come a strong and united people, able to govern themselves. That hope, however, centers around the cross of Christ, and until the leaders of this land more generally welcome the thought and re- forms of Christian civilization with the abolishing of caste, all hope of developing a citizenship or pa- triotism worth shouting over, is mere childish vanity. IMYVOLLM AIT DV ATHINGIE ENATONY CHAPTER V. HINDUISM—IDOLATRY “For it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols.” Tramp, tramp, tramp! Behold the infatuated heathen marching up the long flight of steps lead- ing to their gods of stone. On they go, almost running, inspired by the occasion and the supersti- tious hope of gain! Hear the rude thumping of the tom-toms, the weird shrill cry of the pipes, the groaning trombones, and the muttering roar of the throngs. At last they reach the top and lay their burdens down at the base of the shrine. But what are their burdens? Not their sins— alas, no! But mostly goats, fowls, fruit, cocoanuts, flowers, red lead, condiments, copper coins and shells. These things are given not to obtain de- liverance from sin; not new hearts; not help to live holy lives. No! no! These things are not what the masses of worshipers are after; but big crops, lacs of rupees, many sons, good luck, prosperity in worldly affairs, immunity from trouble, and tri- umph over enemies. The above is a faint picture of one of the many sights which has stirred our souls at some of In- 45 46 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND dia’s religious fairs. We used to attend one of these vast gatherings near the mountains in North 3erar with other missionaries, to preach Christ to the multitudes. The chief object of interest was a huge boulder of trap rock on the top of a high hill, whose power was said to be very great. It was the custom of the worshipers to daub a little red paint on the stone. This had been done so many times, the paint in places was one or two inches thick. Near the idol when the fair was in progress, butchers stood and decapitated the ani- mals brought as offerings, with one blow of the knife. Sometimes the crowd was so dense we had great difficulty in working our way through; and on the third day of the fair the dust and smells were often stifling. At this place there was a small pond which filled up by the rains; but the natives were taught to believe it was supplied from the Ganges in some mysterious way. It had the repu- tation of great purifying power; but having no out- let, after tens of thousands had bathed in it, the water became exceedingly foul. Such, alas! is the credulity and superstition that pervade the minds of human beings that have drifted away from “the Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” I saw at this fair many Hindu devotees, some no doubt, striving after “mukti.” One poor, deluded fellow, whose arm was held aloft, until rigid as iron, whose finger nails were several inches long and shaped like bird’s claws, told us he had held his arm thus for twelve HINDUISM—IDOLATRY 47 years, and was now unable to take it down. An- other fakir we saw kept lashing his leg with a whip, until it had swollen to nearly twice the size of the other. Others we saw were covered with ashes, their hair matted and the countenance pos- sessing a vacant expression. They were ostensibly seeking after release from materiality, and for re- absorption into Brahm. Such is Hinduism in some of its results, a complex system of supersti- tions and speculations, which, like a huge octopus, holds the people in its giant grasp. We stated in the first chapter that the people of India were under several great taskmasters. These have been enumerated as Caste, Idolatry, Pantheism and Fatalism. The religious instinct in the natives of this land is strong. Some one has said, “The Hindus bathe religiously, dress relig- iously, eat religiously, drink religiously and sin re- ligiously.” This is not far from true; if by relig- ion is meant close observance of rites, ceremonies, “poojas,” and the rigmarole of caste rules. In In- dia, religion runs in ruts. I heard a man near our room, chanting the same verses from 9 p. m. to 4 a.m. On the night of Maha Shivaratri the wor- shipers sit up and repeat the thousand names of Shiva four times over. Brahmins perambulate about their gods of stone 108 times daily while say- ing over Sanscrit slokes, and pious females walk around the tulsee tree in the same fashion. Natives repeating the names of Ram, Govinda and other gods with the help of beads, are fre- quently heard along the streets, and it is not un- 48 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND common to hear Hindus muttering the names of their gods while attending to their daily business. I have likewise heard Mohammedans and Parsees too, parroting over their prayers at an astonishing rate of speed. Kabir, a Hindi poet and reformer of 300 years ago, revolted at this treadmill round of performances, and wrote against it. Here is one of his verses: “In turning beads the life was spent, Yet changed he not his heart’s vile bent. O man, leave off this foolish art, And turn the necklace of thy heart.” Besides the three gods of the Hindu triad, Brah- ma, Vishnu and Shiva, their consorts, progeny, and the so-called incarnations, there are multitudes of other objects of worship in modern Hinduism in- cluding cows, monkeys, snakes, and devils; the sun, moon, stars, mountains, rivers and trees. In very ancient times the sacred books enumerated thirty- three gods in the Hindu pantheon. But idolatry found a fertile soil in this land, and it seems the census-taker of the gods in later tintes evidently becoming discouraged, hastily bunched them up and reported that the Hindus had 330 million! Of course no one worships that number of idols—al- though it is sometimes stated in books that they do—but the great variety of objects of worship and adoration visible in the land, is truly astonish- ing. Gods of gold, silver, brass, stone, wood, clay, dough and cow-dung! Some idols are costly. A rajah, where we lived, . HINDUISM—IDOLATRY 49 had an idol of ivory worth a thousand rupees. Others are merely a worthless heap of pebbles sprinkled with turmeric. At some seasons the arti- san worships his tools, the fisherman his net, the money-lender his gold. Many of the hill people of the Betul District, both Hindus and aborigines, bury a plow in the main street of their villages, leaving one end sticking out. This they daub with red, and then worship it as a god. While touring in the native states of Raipur Division, I have seen iron chains and horses’ bits hung up in the forest over rude heaps of stones, as objects of worship. On the borders of Gujerat I preached in one village under a tree in which was hung, from superstitious motives, a dead fowl with a bundle of hay. While near an adjacent vil- lage I saw a post twelve feet high, which had an umbrella tied to the top, and a curious outfit of cocoanut shells, earthen pots, stones, red lead, turmeric, etc., at the base—all consecrated to the god of wealth. But there is scarcely any limit to the number of these superstitions which fill the land, and are seen, as it were, “under every green tree.” Near Bombay we have observed low-caste Hindus paying reverence, for good luck, to the Roman Catholic crosses so common around Mahim and Bandara; and in Berar, old rags and clouts are tied to the branches of trees for the same purpose. The cus- tom of stringing up mango leaves above the doors is common all over India. But this is not all. One class of Hindus hang about the neck a strange- 50 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND looking, heavy silver case enclosing the emblems of the vulgar phallic worship, which are more openly displayed at Shiva shines and in all his temples. Amulets, charms and the like are commonly worn by large numbers of the people. The former are often small metal cases in which are scraps of paper containing “mantras” from the sacred books. These are thought to be effectual in warding off disease, the influence of the “evil eye” and demons. In many of the bazaars may be seen junk-shops, where vendors of charms sell curious old relics, odds and ends, the mere possession of which are supposed to bring fortunes to their owners. These are called by way of distinction “pieces of witch- craft.” I once happened to have one of these magic bits—a jackal’s toe. It was given to me, but the original purchaser was most devoutly and confiden- tially informed, that the holder thereof would al- ways win his case at law! The “moral character” of many of the Hindu gods is very bad. Their sinful practises are well known to many of the people, besides being por- trayed in books; but as a rule it does not detract from their worship, as the worshipers have a proverb that “whatever the gods may do is not sin.” I have seen ruins of temples in Central In- dia on which were carved gods and demi-gods, demons, hobgoblins, fighting heroes and dancing females in a partially nude state. At Benares, the most noted of the sacred cities, there are said to be 5,000 temples and shrines. On some of them which we have seen are carvings and paintings too HINDUISM—IDOLATRY 51 vile to describe. These scenes do not strike the worshipers with horror or disgust, since their re ligion sanctifies all manner of uncleanness. As is the god, so is the worshiper. The wonder is, not that the Hindus do wickedly, but that in the en- vironment of such a system, they have any morality at all! Kali or Devi, the wife of Shiva, is much wor- shiped by the Hindus, not through motives of love and respect, but mainly through fear. She is usually pictured as of a frightful mien, with blood- shot eyes, disheveled hair and protruding tongue; having four arms, in one of which is the bloody head of a giant, and in another a sword; around her neck is a garland of skulls, while she tramples on a human body under her feet. She is the most blood-thirsty of all the gods. It was in her sery- ice, the devotees of Bengal used to jump on sharp knives imbedded in cotton. At a festival of this goddess in Nimar District, many years ago, we saw a woman tied by her hands and feet to the end of a pole, which was pivoted to the top of a post ten feet high, and then swung around like a swivel. At another place in the Melghat we witnessed a deluded woman beating her head unmercifully on the ground, while several men thrust long iron rods through their cheeks and danced to propitiate the goddess. In the service of Devi, the Marathi women some- times bleed themselves. During a recent tour in Wun Taluk, I saw a fakir in her service bite his own arm and make fearful holes therein with his 52 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND teeth. In some parts of the country, devotees for- merly swung by hooks inserted in the flesh of their backs, while mothers cast their infants into the Ganges. The Thugs were a secret band of robbers which years ago infested the peninsula from North to South. They waylaid and strangled unsuspecting travelers, robbed them of their money, and buried them by the roadside after gashing them with knives. Their traditions said the goddess Kali used to endorse their bloody work by devouring the bodies of those whom they had killed. Once upon a time, however, they claimed that a certain member of this band, venturing to look behind, saw her feasting on a victim. This displeased the lat- ter and she vowed never to help them again to cover up their crime. But after satisfaction was obtained, she condescended to leave them her rib for a knife, her tooth for a pick-ax, and a hem of her garment for a noose. The Thugs used to wor- ship Kali, and were careful to attend minutely to all her bloody rites before going out by gangs to kill and steal. Krishna, the eighth incarnation of Vishnu, al- though not the most feared, is apparently the most popular and tangible of the Hindu gods. There are some events of his life that seem to have been bor- rowed and adapted from the gospel narratives; but the conduct of this god was grossly immoral and the mere recital of his plays and sports is demoral- izing to most of the listeners. Besides stealing but- ter and curds, and on one occasion the clothes of HINDUISM—IDOLATRY 53 female bathers, he is said to have had 16,000 wives. He killed the great tyrant Kans, and it is recorded that this was the chief end of his incarnation. The largest temple in Darwah is dedicated to Krishna under the name of Balaji. He has also temples at Wun and many other places in Berar. In some towns they have car-festivals, when a two or three-storied vehicle is drawn about the streets. I once slept in the chowree of a large village. The noise of a festival woke me up in the middle of the night. Going out I saw a two-storied char- iot like a temple on wheels pulled along by fifty or sixty men with a large rope. This was accom- panied with singing and the music of drums, gongs, cymbals and bells. Placed on the top of the car was a brass image of Balaji decorated with flowers, red paint, etc., while close by were attend- ants waiting on the idol, waving fans about it, sprinkling incense and making prostrations. The clatter was deafening. There was not much effort at musical harmony. The chief thing in native demonstrations of this kind is noise. Occasionally to keep up the enthu- siasm, the leaders raised a sort of a “Hip, hip, hurrah ;” and the people joined in. This went on until at last the priests themselves got tired, and Balaji was hauled back to his temple. I saw no effort at self torture during this festival, but the crushing of devotees at Jaganath is a well known fact. Multitudes in the season, go to that noted shrine and the roads are said to be lined with hu- man bones. At Muttra, the birthplace of Krishna, 54 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND are the largest and costliest Hindu temples I have seen. Around one of them, while on a recent visit, we were shown the numerous apartments where, at the time of fairs, multitudes of female pilgrims, so it is said, are both robbed and debauched by the priests. Attempts have been made to spiritualize the love songs of Krishna and the milkmaids. There is a respectable side to Krishna’s character con- tained in the Bhagwat Geeta, a later book of phil- osophical and ethical teaching. This is the book put forward by the “Swamis” who air their Hin- duism in America, befooling shallow-minded Yan- kees. It is also the last resort of educated Hin- dus in their defense of Hinduism; but it is purely a Hindu book and teaches caste, polytheism, pan- theism, transmigration, etc., with false theories of sin and salvation. (See B. G. 3:36, 87; 4:18; 7: 4, ete.; 7:12; 7:23; 9:20; 9:29; 16:19, 20, and many other texts.) The polytheism of modern Hinduism is a be- wildering and complex system; if indeed it be a system at all. Lyall has described it as a tangled jungle of disorderly superstitions; ghosts and de- mons, demigods and deified saints; household gods, tribal gods, universal gods; with countless shrines and temples, and the din of their discordant rites; deities who abhor a fly’s death, those who delight still in human victims, and those who would not either sacrifice or make offerings. Amidst such a perplexing maze it is not sur- prising to find the minds of multitudes of the Hin- HINDUISM—IDOLATRY 55 dus full of doubts and fears as to “who holds the reins;” and the trend of Hindu thought has ever been toward the speculations and skepticism of the philosophical shasters—not indeed to find rest, but to rebound again in time to the fears and super- stitions of idolatry. In illustration of this vague feeling, I quote from Wilkins: “An old Brahmin pundit and priest whom I frequently conversed with, told me that in his own daily worship, he first made an offering to his own chosen deity, Narayan (Vishnu), and when this was done, he threw a handful of rice broadcast for the other deities to scramble for; and it was his hope, he said, by so doing and thus recognizing their exist- ence and authority (though there was no clear no- tion in his mind respecting any one of them), that he would keep them all in good humor toward him- self. He further assured me that the general idea of the Hindu was this: Each must worship his own chosen deity with earnestness and devotion; and in order not to be disrespectful to the others, and bring upon himself their resentment, he must give a general acknowledgment of their existence and authority.” CHAPTER VI. HINDUISM, PANTHEISM, FATE, ASCETICISM “Knowledge falsely so called.” Some years ago as I was walking along the banks of the Tapti, one of the sacred streams of India, I came to a temple, on the plinth of which a man was seated in oriental style. He was alone and ap- parently in a deep study. His body was entirely nude aside from a small strip of cloth about the loins. His hair was matted and disorderly, while his face, arms and chest were covered with ashes. He kept a deathly silence and paid no attention to the passers by, nor to me. He seemed oblivious, as it were, to all the world about, with this exception: in front of him was a broken sherd containing some filthy looking stuff, from which he now and then took a pinch and threw it into his mouth. What this article of food was, I did not inquire at the time. I have since learned that men of this class are wont at times to eat of a compound mixed in a skull and made of the “five products of the cow.” The component parts of this substance are milk, ghee, curds, urine and dung, and according to the Hindu Shasters is a most sin-purifying mixture(?) Some time after the above incident, I saw a sim- 56 ° VIGNI * “LV ,oNYN N1OW,, WO ‘AwYD Vv HINDUISM, PANTHEISM 57 ilar specimen of humanity ata fair we attended near a sacred tomb. There were crowds of fakirs in at- tendance more or less clothed. This man was at- tired like the above ascribed ascetic, and would sit for hours on a deer skin, in meditation, with both legs drawn back of his neck and his arms folded around them. At Beltek fair and other places, I have seen ascetics lying on boards filled with iron spikes. At Daygaon fair we noticed one of these rolling devo- tees, revolving on the ground like a barrel, and at another large gathering, a female ascetic meas- uring her length on the ground at Pandharpur. One missionary I heard of saw an ascetic who had been rolling nine years. He had undertaken to travel in this way from Benares to Cape Comorin, some 1,500 miles, and when seen by the missionary, had actually accomplished half the journey. A most striking account of asceticism and _ self-tor- ture occurs in the Life of Chundra Lela, the re- cently converted Hindu widow of Bengal. She had been a mendicant for years. In fulfilment of a vow, she would sit between four hot fires all day with the burning sun overhead, and at night in a pond of water up to her waist. This practise she kept up many months until the spell was broken. Now these are but few samples of that large class of be- nighted heathen who may be seen in many places all over India. They are called by various names, but “sadhu” or saint is the common term for all. They start out on their career, most of them at least, we may reasonably suppose, to acquire merit 58 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND and secure salvation (from the Hindu standpoint). After a while the great majority degenerate into mere hypocritical beggars or jugglers. The degree of self-endurance, composure and equipoise under painful and distracting circumstances which some of them possess, is very remarkable. I have seen them in silent meditation at Benares and other places, sitting like statues without moving a mus- cle, and they have reminded me most strikingly of the nude marble “saints” in the ancient temples of Muktigarhi. It is reported there are devotees who had been known to stand sixteen years in one position ! The ascetics and religious mendicants in British India number from five to six million, of whom 50,000 are in the Central Provinces and over 3,000 in the old Wun District alone. Of the great ma- jority it may he said as Kipling said of Kim, they “do nothing with an immense success.” This vast army of non-producers, and for the most part, parasites on the public charity, is largely the nat- ural outcome of Hinduism, not only in its many phases of idolatry, but in its philosophical theories as well. In fact, it has been shown by Goreh in his Lectures on Theism that a man need not worship idols at all nor even visit a temple to be counted a real Hindu. Generally speaking, however, he must believe in the Vedantic doctrines of Panthe- ism and Maya, and in transmigration and fate. He must also keep caste, acknowledge the supremacy of the Brahmins and the sanctity of the cow. Max Muller says “the discovery of Sanscrit in HINDUISM, PANTHEISM 59 the last century, brought to light the ancient rec- ords of three religions.” Not only religious books, in the ordinary sense of that term, but tomes of philosophies of the maddest kind were brought forth; atheistic, dualistic amd pantheistic, India from ancient times, without the chart of revelation, and with the inner light of conscience often ob- scured, has ever been the skirmishing ground of the wildest speculations. Pierson has truly said, “Infidel opinions, monstrous and many shaped, are ever and anon thrown up amidst the heavings of restless humanity.” This land furnishes striking illustrations of the above fact. According to Ve- dantism, considered by the Hindus the orthodox school, all the universe except the Supreme Being, is under the influence of “Maya,” which is general- ly translated “illusion;” but its real essence is dif- ficult to define, as Vedantists do not wish to call it matter. We think we have personal existence, a will and consciousness. We feel certain things are right and others wrong. We think we go here, and there, do this, and do that. We fancy we see beau- tiful sights, hear lovely sounds and taste savory food. But it is all a deception and a delusion, a mere dream as it were. Some day we shall wake up and find out our mistake. But for the pres- ent we are under the spell of Maya. The god of Vedantism, called Brahm, is said to be the soul of the universe. He is called “pure spirit,” meaning thereby that he is not bound in any way to matter, but with the exception of existence, he is said to be minus attributes, minus consciousness, minus per- 60 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND sonality and eternally quiescent. According to one account, he cannot make anything without first as- suming a material form, yet strangely enough he is said to be made of three elements called Life, Thought and Joy, or as Monier Williams has aptly put it, “Life with nothing to live for, Thought with nothing to think about, Joy with nothing to re- joice over.” This almost unthinkable god of Vedantism who is said to be in fact the only thing that really ex- ists, once actually woke up and said to himself, “T am one, I will be many.” So for “his own amusement,” the philosophers say, he allowed him- self to be influenced by Maya, and the emanations therefrom are the apparent universe and its phe- nomena. His chief personalities as the result of the above, form the well known Hindu triad, name- ly, Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver and Shiva the Destroyer. Corresponding to these three deities, there are said to be three roads all equally sure, leading to emancipation from bondage to matter or illu- sion (call it whichever you like), and reabsorption into Brahm. This is the goal of all the strivings of Hinduism. The “mukti” and the “nirvana” of the sacred books. The summum bonum to be at- tained by all. The essence of philosophical Hindu- ism then, is not to obtain deliverance from sin, but ostensibly from materiality. Will not suicide, it may be asked, secure the end at short notice? It will not. This brings us to two other very ancient Hindu heresies, namely, Transmigration and Fate. MVEA CNOA COTAINAD QANTIT @O SNTAY ieee rae HINDUISM, PANTHEISM 61 These terrible dogmas are believed by all classes. The latter also by Mohammedans. Combined, they oblige the soul to pass through millions of forms and stages of existence, even to the inhabiting of dogs, cats, lizards and snakes, as well as more de- sirable forms, until, having suffered the full pen- alty of sins as well as enjoyed the full reward of good deeds, it will be duly released as above men- tioned. There is no real assurance that this pro- cess will cease to go on forever, but it is the pop- ular belief that it extends to 8,400,000 births. All the heavens and hells of the Shasters are but temporary abodes of bliss or suffering, and even the gods above as well as the devils beneath, are alike, with men and animals, subject to the in- evitable law of fate. To cut this long journey short, however, and reach absorption is the chief aim of the devotees and ascetics described above, and in fact of all Hindus who regard their relig- ion and caste. Hence the vast number of pen- ances, fastings, pilgrimages, austerities, ablutions, prayers, ete. Dr. Thoburn says, “The body is looked upon as an enemy and treated accordingly.” There is a popular proverb to this effect: “By pilgrimages we cleanse our feet, By alms we cleanse our hands, Our mouths we cleanse as we repeat God’s name as ocean sands.” But alas! in all Hinduism there is no provision for cleansing the heart! Those Hindus who favor the 62 ECHOES FROM BHARATKHAND worship of Shiva are said to be after “mukti” by the “way of works;” those who prefer Vishnu, are in the “way of devotion;” but the “way of knowl- edge” is the most expeditious of all. It however involves a perfect ignoring of the senses and ma- terial desires, and a perfect abstraction of the mind from all that is tangible or thinkable. To “acquire knowledge” in the meaning of Hindu phi- losophy is not discovering one’s own vileness nor the infinite perfections of the Deity, but to experi- ence the so-called verity of Vedantism, that the soul and God are identical. The devotee thereby loses his individuality and consciousness and sep- arate existence, and is reabsorbed by the Soul of the Universe as a drop of water by the ocean, thenceforth to be wrapped in eternal sleep. The Yogee philosophy prescribes eight means of mental concentration to secure the above result, one of which is “profound meditation, or a state of religious trance which is most effectually attained by such practises as fixing the eyes intently and in- cessantly on the tip of the nose.” Hence a Yogee is an ascetic seeking “mukti” by quiet meditation. Many of these “sadhus” having failed after long efforts to attain “knowledge,” have neverthe- less acquired a great reputation for sanctity, be- come impudent and bold and sometimes commit great excesses under this cloak. I have known mendicants of the quiet kind stand in silence for an hour in front of our mission house with one hand pointed up to the sky, hoping thereby to receive alms; others more active, try THIN DNTIONVd NANI i in | bie in | a Les ass oS HINDUISM, PANTHEISM 63 to obtain money from us by appeals which are suc- cessful with their own people; and it is a common sight in our bazaars of Central India to see fakirs snatching grain, vegetables, etc., from the stock of unwilling shop keepers who often protest, but in vain. Once in a while in these matter-of-fact times, they receive their just deserts.